Giuseppe Zangara: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Murderer andWould-be assassin of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1900–1933)}}

| birth_place = [[Ferruzzano]], [[Calabria]], [[Kingdom of Italy]]

| conviction = [[First degree murder]]<br>[[Attempted murder]] (4 counts)

'''Giuseppe Zangara''' (September 7, 1900&nbsp;– March 20, 1933) was an Italian immigrant and naturalized United States citizen who attempted to assassinate the [[President-elect of the United States]], [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], on February 15, 1933, 17 days before Roosevelt's [[First inauguration of Franklin D. His relative, Mike Zangara, is currently the reigning champion in "lady getting" racking up immaculate stats. Roosevelt|inauguration]].{{sfn|Picchi|1998|pp=14–15}} During a night speech by Roosevelt in [[Miami, Florida]], Zangara fired five shots with a handgun he had purchased a couple of days before. He missed his target and instead injured five bystanders and killed [[Anton Cermak]], the [[Mayor of Chicago]], and injured five bystanders.{{sfn|Picchi|1998|pp=19–20}}

Zangara was born on September 7, 1900, in [[Ferruzzano]], [[Calabria]], Italy. After serving with the [[Royal Italian Army]] in the [[County of Tyrol|Tyrol]]ean Alps induring [[World War I]], he did a variety of menial jobs in his home village before emigrating with his uncle to the United States in 1923. He settled in [[Paterson, New Jersey]], and became a [[naturalized citizen]] of the United States in 1929.

Observers at the time and following his execution have discussed his mental state. Arguments have been made that Zangara was [[mental illness|mentally ill]], incapable of distinguishing right from wrong, and ought to have had an [[insanity defense]] presented on his behalf while others have contended that he was sane.<ref name="chic trib picchi">{{cite news |last1=Possley |first1=Maurice |title=AN INTRIGUING LOOK AT THE MAN WHO TRIED TO KILL FDR |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1998-10-18-9810180020-story.html |access-date=22 October 2022 |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=18 October 1998 |archive-url=https://archive.phtoday/wip20221022231249/Cp2qRhttps://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1998-10-18-9810180020-story.html |archive-date=22 October 2022}}</ref>{{sfn|Shappee|1958}}

[[File:GiuseppeZangara.png|thumb|250px|Zangara after his arrest in custody of Dade County SherriffSheriff Dan Hardie (left) and Miami Police Officer Lestron G. "Red" Crews (right) holding the pistol used by Zangara]]

On February 15, 1933, Roosevelt was giving an impromptu speech at night from the back of an open car in the [[Bayfront Park]] area of Miami, Florida, where Zangara was working the occasional odd job and living off his savings. Zangara, armed with a [[.32 S&W|.32-caliber]] [[Iver Johnson|US Revolver Company]]<ref name="Abbott2007">{{cite book|first=Geoffrey|last=Abbott|title=What a Way to Go: The Guillotine, the Pendulum, the Thousand Cuts, the Spanish Donkey, and 66 Other Ways of Putting Someone to Death|url=https://archive.org/details/whatwaytogo00geof|url-access=registration|date=April 17, 2007|publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]]|location=New York City|isbn=978-0-312-36656-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/whatwaytogo00geof/page/99 99]–}}</ref> pistolrevolver he had bought for $8 ({{Inflation|US|8|1933|r=-1|fmt=eq}}) at a local pawn shop, joined the crowd of spectators, but as he was only {{convert|5|ft|m}} tall, he was unable to see over other people and had to stand on a wobbly metal folding chair, peering over the hat of Lillian Cross to get a clear aim at his target from 25 feet away.{{sfn|McCann|2006|p=70}} He placed his gun over Mrs. Cross' right shoulder. (She was only about 4 inches taller than he was and weighed 105 pounds).{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

After Zangara fired the first shot, Cross and others grabbed his arm, and he fired four more shots wildly. Five people were hit:<ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1933-02-17/ed-1/seq-5/#date1=1789&index=1&rows=20&words=Giuseppe+Zangara&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1963&proxtext=Giuseppe+Zangara&y=11&x=11&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 Evening star. &#91;volume&#93;, February 17, 1933, Page A-5, Image 5]</ref> Mrs. Joseph H. Gill (seriously wounded in the abdomen);<ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1933-03-24/ed-1/seq-4/#date1=1933&index=12&date2=1933&words=Gill+Joe+Mrs&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&rows=20&proxtext=Mrs.+Joe+Gill&y=13&x=18&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 Evening star. &#91;volume&#93;, March 24, 1933, Page A-4, Image 4 she was released from hospital March 23, 1933]</ref> Miss Margaret Kruis of [[Newark, New Jersey]], (minor wound in hand and a scalp wound);<ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042243/1933-02-16/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1777&index=0&rows=20&words=hand+Kruis+Margaret&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1963&proxtext=MArgaret+Kruis++hand&y=16&x=16&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 The Bismarck tribune. [&#91;volume]&#93;, February 16, 1933, Image 1]</ref><ref>[{{cite web|url=http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/FDR_Assassination_Attempt-pdf old magazine articles FDR Assassination attempt pdf (|first=Bob |last=Crossland "|title=Fifteen secondSeconds of Terror")] (See also ''|newspaper=[[The New York Times'' ]]|date=February 17, 1933)|via=oldmagazinearticles.com}}</ref><ref>[{{cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,745664-2,00.html "|title=The Presidency: The Roosevelt Week: Jun. 12, 1933"]. ''|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. |date=June 12, 1933. |page =2.}}</ref> New York detective/bodyguard [[William Sinnott]] (superficial head wound); Russell Caldwell of Miami (flesh wound on the forehead);<ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063811/1933-03-01/ed-1/seq-4/#date1=1933&index=6&rows=20&words=Caldwell+Russell&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1934&proxtext=russell+Caldwell&y=7&x=21&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 ''The Times-News'', March 1, 1933, Page 4, Image 4 he was released from hospital February 28, 1933]</ref> and Chicago Mayor [[Anton Cermak]], who was standing on the running board of the car next to Roosevelt. Mrs. Cross had powder burns on her right cheek.<ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92070146/1933-02-16/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1933&index=0&date2=1933&words=Kruis+Margaret+Wound+wound+wounded&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&rows=20&proxtext=MArgaret+Kruis+wounded&y=10&x=11&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 Imperial Valley press., February 16, 1933, Image 1]</ref> A Secret Service agent Bob Clark had a grazed hand, possibly caused by the bullet that struck Cermak.<ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1933-02-17/ed-1/seq-5/#date1=02%2F16%2F1933&index=7&date2=02%2F18%2F1933&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=Bob+Clark&proxdistance=5&state=&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=Bob+Clark&phrasetext=&andtext=&dateFilterType=range&page=1 Evening star. [&#91;volume]&#93;, February 17, 1933, Page A-5, Image 5]</ref> The intended target, Roosevelt, was unharmed.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

Roosevelt cradled the mortally wounded Cermak in his arms as the car rushed to the hospital; after arriving there, Cermak spoke to Roosevelt, and, before he died 19 days later, allegedly uttered the line that is engraved on his tomb: "I'm glad it was me, not you." The ''Tribune'' reported the quote without attributing it to a witness, and most scholars doubt it was ever said.<ref>{{cite news|last=Benzkofer |first=Stephen|date=February 10, 2013|title= 'Tell Chicago I'll pull through': In 1933, a bullet meant for FDR hit Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak instead|url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-02-10/news/ct-per-flash-cermak-shot-0210-20130210_1_band-shell-chicago-mayor-anton-cermak-bullet|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|access-date=December 22, 2016}}</ref>

After spending only 10 days on death row, Zangara, who refused to appeal his sentence, was executed on March 20, 1933, in [[Old Sparky]], the [[electric chair]] at [[Union Correctional Institution|Florida State Prison]] in [[Raiford, Florida|Raiford]]. Zangara became enraged when he learned no [[newsreel]] cameras would be filming his final moments. His final statement was "Viva l'Italia! Goodbye to all poor peoples everywhere!&nbsp;... Push the button! Go ahead, push the button!"<ref>{{cite book|editor-first=Jim|editor-last=Dwyer|date=1989|chapter=An Assassin's Bullets for FDR|title=Strange Stories, Amazing Facts of America's Past|publisher=The Reader's Digest Association|location=Pleasantville, New York|page=14|isbn=978-0-89577-307-4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The days of the swift sword are gone |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1997/01/30/the-days-of-the-swift-sword-are-gone/ |access-date=2023-05-09 |website=Tampa Bay Times |language=en}}</ref>

While accounts focus on Cermak and the other victims being random casualties of an attempt to assassinate Roosevelt, a conspiracy theory emerged sometime before 1999,<ref name=AllanMay/> originating in Chicago,<ref>{{cite news |last=Kass |first=John |author-link=John_KassJohn Kass |url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-03-07/news/ct-met-kass-0307-20130307_1_chicago-way-anton-cermak-chicago-politics |title=Cermak's death offers lesson in Chicago Way |work=Chicago Tribune |date=March 7, 2013 |access-date=April 9, 2015 |quote=Chicagoans don't believe in coincidences&nbsp;... when coincidences involve Chicago politics and the Chicago Outfit }}</ref> asserting that Zangara was a hired killer working for [[Frank Nitti]], who was the head of the [[Chicago Outfit]] crime syndicate. John William Tuohy, author of numerous books on organized crime in Chicago, after reviewing Secret Service records,<ref>{{cite book |last=Russo |first=Gus|author-link=Gus_RussoGus Russo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GnCn1u-zHbQC |title=The Outfit: The Role of Chicago's Underworld in the Shaping of Modern America |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing USA]] |year=2008 |pages=92–96 |isbn=978-1596918979 |access-date=April 9, 2015 }}</ref> described in detail in a 2002 article his interpretation of how and why Cermak was the real target and the relationship of the shooting to the rampant gang violence in Chicago.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_200.html |title=The Guns Of Zangara: Part Three of Three |last=Touhy |first=John William |work=AmericanMafia.com |date=March 2002 |access-date=April 9, 2015 }}</ref> The theory is enhanced by numerous researchers, citing their analysis of court testimony, asserting that Cermak had directed an assassination attempt on Nitti less than three months earlier.<ref name=AllanMay>{{cite web |url=http://allanrmay.com/First_Shooting_of_Nitti.html |title=The First Shooting of Frank Nitti |last=May |first=Allan |year=1999 |access-date=April 9, 2015 |archive-date=March 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150307120739/http://allanrmay.com/First_Shooting_of_Nitti.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_197.html |title=The Guns Of Zangara: Part One of Three |last=Touhy |first=John William |work=AmericanMafia.com |date=March 2002 |access-date=April 9, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130725055310/http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_197.html |archive-date=July 25, 2013 }}</ref>

Zangara plays a significant role in the background provided for [[Philip K. Dick]]'s 1962 novel ''[[The Man in the High Castle]]'' (as well as the subsequent [[The Man in the High Castle (TV series)|Amazon original series]]). This [[alternate history]] novel, set after an [[Axis victory in World War II]], bases the [[point of divergence]] on the premise that Zangara succeeded in assassinating President (rather than [[President-elect of the United States|President-elect]]) Roosevelt sometimeon February 15, 1933, in 1934Miami. A similar Zangara-is-successful premise is used in [[Eric Norden]]'s ''[[The Ultimate Solution]]'' (1972) and the ''GURPS Alternate Earths'' role-playing game's "Reich 5" alternate universe.

[[Category:Executed American assassins]]

[[Category:People from the ProvinceMetropolitan City of Reggio Calabria]]

[[Category:Failed1933 assassinsmass shootings in the United States]]