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24HourForums.com > The Top 10 Supported Forums > Aethelred's History Chamber > the man who tried to kill FDR |
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Lady Cop Pioneer100© Member  BAH HUMBUG
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FDR shooting attempt in Miami to be retold Posted on Thu, Sep. 20, 2007  PETER ANDREW BOSCH / MIAMI HERALD STAFF A frayed original front page of The Miami Herald on the day after the assassination attempt by Giuseppe Zangara on FDR at Miami's Bayfront Park on Feb. 14, 1933. Russell Caldwell, wounded that night along with four others, kept the newspaper for years Long before Lee Harvey Oswald, James Earl Ray and Sirhan Sirhan, there was Miami's Guiseppe Zangara, a troubled man who nearly altered the course of U.S. history on a February night in 1933 when he arrived at a packed political rally at Bayfront Park with a .32-caliber pistol hidden in his pocket. His target: President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt. On the night of Feb. 15, 74 years ago, FDR's life or death rested on the aim of Zangara, an Italian immigrant, an unemployed bricklayer and self-described anarchist itching to assassinate what he saw as a symbol of capitalism. Zangara, who had purchased the pistol for $8 at a local pawnshop, mingled among a record crowd of 25,000 people who had come to catch a glimpse of the famed FDR. The drama that unfolded on that night has been largely erased from the collective memory of much of Miami. Today, few recall that Chicago Mayor Anton ''Tony'' Cermak died from a bullet meant for FDR; four others were wounded by Zangara's errant shots. But tonight , the story of FDR's visit to Miami will be retold at a symposium at the Historical Museum of Southern Florida in downtown Miami, a stone's throw from the courthouse where Zangara was sentenced to die. ''This is an important moment in history that has all but been forgotten,'' said Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Scott J. Silverman, fascinated by the case for years. ``It's one of the biggest `what ifs' of the 20th century. What would have happened if FDR had died that day?'' Featured for the first time in decades: rare film footage of the assassination attempt. `NEVER SEEN BEFORE' ''This is footage we had never seen before and had no idea even existed,'' said Silverman, who located the black-and-white gem at the University of South Carolina's film archives. The newsreel was donated by Twentieth Century Fox. Silverman is founder and trustee of the 11th Judicial Circuit Historical Society, a new group created to preserve South Florida's legal history. It is sponsoring the event. Symposium goers will also hear a 1975 taped interview of Russell Caldwell, who survived the shooting after getting struck between the eyes by a bullet from Zangara's gun that ricocheted back to the crowd. In 1975, Caldwell, who had kept the slug, donated it to the museum and sat down with museum officials and told his story. Blaise Picchi, a Broward County attorney who in 1998 published the definitive book on the assassination attempt -- The Five Weeks of Guiseppe Zangara: The Man Who Tried to Kill FDR -- will be the keynote speaker. ''It's one of the most fascinating cases in South Florida -- and few know about it,'' Picchi said. FDR's visit to Miami had been a last-minute thing, Picchi said. In early February 1933, as FDR planned his Cabinet, he decided to vacation in sunny Florida. The popular president, he said, was to stop in Jacksonville for a rally and then board a yacht owned by his millionaire friend, Vincent Astor, for a two-week Caribbean vacation before his inauguration on March 4. On the day of the shooting, Astor's yacht docked at the city marina, where FDR greeted reporters and the mayor of Miami, Redmond Gautier, who escorted him to Bayfront in a green Buick convertible. The polio-stricken FDR was driven to an elevated area of the band shell at the park at about 9 p.m. Miami was abuzz about FDR's visit, Picchi said. ''This was a very big event; thousands were expected -- and they showed up,'' Picchi said. Party bigwigs were coming to shake his hand. Among them: Joseph Gill, president of Florida Power & Light, and his wife, Mabel, and Cermak, in from Chicago to meet with his powerful friend. Also on hand: several spectators who would become a footnote in history. Caldwell, then 22, a private chauffeur for a local woman, arrived at the park about 5 p.m. SHOTS RANG OUT ''My employer heard Roosevelt was going to be at Bayfront Park, and she wanted to see him,'' Caldwell said in the 1975 interview. The two sat on the second row of benches. Zangara, all five-foot-one, was there, too, with a gun and a handful of bullets in his pocket. FDR's motorcade slowly moved through the crowd before coming to a stop. FDR hoisted himself atop the back seat. FDR said a few words about enjoying his fishing vacation and promised to return. His breezy chat by the bay was over in less than five minutes. Suddenly shots rang out in the night, followed by the screams and pandemonium. Lillian Cross, a doctor's wife, ended up standing near the would-be assassin. Photos show Zangara peering over her hat. ''The first shot he fired was so close to my face I got powder burns from it,'' Cross told reporters. She tried to grab Zangara's arm; other horrified spectators did the same, tackling him to the ground. His errant bullets had missed FDR but fatally wounded Cermak, Mabel Gill and William Sinnott, a former New York police officer working security. Two others in the crowd who took bullets were Margaret Kruis, 21, a dancer from Newark, and Caldwell. `IT WON'T HURT' ''The bullet hit me in the head, and it knocked me back in the seat,'' Caldwell said. ``I expected any minute to take my last breath.'' In the melee, FDR asked that Cermak be brought to his car for the ride to the hospital. 'I said, `Tony, don't move; keep quiet. It won't hurt,' '' FDR later told reporters. Cermak would die of peritonitis in 19 days. FDR visited all the wounded. Caldwell said he wheeled himself into his room. ``He didn't have any high airs or anything. He was just real nice.'' At the jail in the Dade County Courthouse, Zangara confessed and expounded on his dislike for heads of state. ''I have the gun in my hand. I kill kings and presidents first and next all capitalists,'' he said. His first appearance in Courtroom 6-1 on the West Flagler Street courthouse was a worldwide sensation. But there would be no trial. Zangara pleaded guilty to the attempted murders of four people and was sentenced to 80 years by Judge E.C. Collins. As he was led out, Zangara gave the judge lip in broken English: ``Four times 20 is 80. Oh, judge, don't be stingy. Give me a hundred years.'' Collins, fully aware Zangara would most likely be executed if Chicago Mayor Cermak didn't make it, wryly responded:``Maybe there will be more later.'' Cermak died on March 6. He received a hero's funeral and his words that night to Roosevelt -- ''I'm glad it was me instead of you'' -- are inscribed in a plaque at Bayfront Park. The grand jury quickly indicted Zangara for first-degree murder in Cermak's death. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to die. `PUSHA DA BUTTON!' Zangara smiled on his way out of the courtroom. Within days, he was at Raiford State Prison. On March 20 -- after spending 10 days on Death Row -- he was executed. When it came time to die, Picchi said Zangara exploded when he learned no newsreel cameras would be allowed to capture his final moments, cutting short his 15 minutes of fame. It put him in a foul mood. So when asked if he had any final words: He spit back: ``Pusha da button!'' And someone did.
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librtyhead Original500© Member 
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 .................was this guy crazy or what!!!!!!!!!!!
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Lady Cop Pioneer100© Member BAH HUMBUG
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10 days to execution back then, not 10 years! florida didn't even have a death row. just a death cell. since zangara was 2nd in line to meet old sparky, death row was created!  Joseph Zangara, after his arrest in Miami, Florida. Last edited on 01:37 am by Lady Cop |
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librtyhead Original500© Member
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 What did they use 2 "D" batteries?..........He's a small fry!
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AuldFartte Original500© Member  Make the Scary Palin Go Away!!
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librtyhead wrote: .  I had no idea that film existed showing the attempt.
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shirohniichan Original500© Member  Obscurius per obscurum
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10 days to execution back then, not 10 years! florida didn't even have a death row. just a death cell. since zangara was 2nd in line to meet old sparky, death row was created! It appears he didn't have a chance to blame his actions on his parents or others, either.
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24HourForums.com > The Top 10 Supported Forums > Aethelred's History Chamber > the man who tried to kill FDR | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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