The Republican National Convention (RNC) will take place next week two blocks away from the spot in Milwaukee where President Teddy Roosevelt survived an assassination attempt in 1912.
A display at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, marks the site of the attempted assassination of former President Teddy Roosevelt in 1912. (Matthew Perdie / Breitbart News)
Roosevelt, then a former Republican president campaigning on the “progressive” Bull Moose Party ticket, was shot by saloon owner John F. Schrank outside the Gilpatrick Hotel, now the site of the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
MILWAUKEE, WI, UNITED STATES – 1912: John F. Schrank, a New York saloon keeper who attempted to assassinate U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt on October 14, 1912 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Harlingue/Roger Viollet via Getty Images)
There was no political motive; Schrank was mentally disturbed.
Roosevelt survived when the bullet was stopped by papers he was carrying in his breast pocket. He insisted on completing his speech before receiving medical attention.
MILWAUKEE, WI, UNITED STATES – 1912: Gun used by John F. Schrank in his assassination attempt on U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, on October 14, 1912 in Milwaukee, WI. (Photo by Harlingue/Roger Viollet via Getty Images)
The convention will begin just two days after former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, with the shooter’s bullet just grazing his right ear.
Breitbart News spoke to Republican delegates at the hotel, who suggested that Democrats’s rhetoric had created an environment that encouraged Saturday’s assassination attempt, which claimed the life of one attendee at the rally.
The president is said to be fine and events at the convention are set to proceed on schedule — though likely with added layers of security.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.