Assassinations and Near Misses: 32 Shocking Stories You’ve Never Heard

Gerald Ford was subject to two assassination attempts, both by women whose names were Sara Jane Moore and Lynette Fromme. These are the only two presidential assassination attempts by women in US history.

27. Egyptian politician Anwar Sadat made peace with Israel in 1979, the first Arab nation to do so. For this, Sadat won the Nobel Peace prize, Egypt was suspended from the Arab League, and Sadat was assassinated.

28. US President Dwight D. Eisenhower personally ordered the first democratically elected leader of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba, to be assassinated by poisoning his toothpaste.

29. A disgruntled postal worker named Richard Paul Pavlick got close enough to assassinate President-elect John F. Kennedy using dynamite but didn’t because children were around.

30. Queen Min, the last Queen of Korea, was killed by Japanese assassins in her own palace as she forged closer ties with Russia to counter the growing Japanese Empire.

Otto Skorzeny was a Lieutenant Colonel in Hitler's SS who was once called “the most dangerous man in Europe” by Allied intelligence. Years after the war, Skorzeny became an agent for the Israeli Mossad and assassinated Heinz Krug, an ex-Nazi rocket scientist.

32. South Korea created a secret military unit to assassinate Kim Il-sung. When the unit's mission was canceled they killed their handlers, staged a mutiny, and were all either killed or committed suicide.