American Assassins: The Darker Side of Politics

[L Verge]

Just purchased for $2 this thirty-year-old book by James W. Clarke and have read only the section on JWB, which has a few factual errors (one debatable one in particular - Booth committed suicide in Garrett's barn). However, I do appreciate the fact that Dr. Clarke understands the political mindset of Mr. Booth.

Now a purely non-scientific, non-academic comment: The pictorial section features photos of all of the presidential assassins or would-be killers from Booth through Sarah Moore and Squeaky Fromme. I was struck by the fact of how "normal" they all were/are in appearance. I was especially struck by the good-looks of Leon Czolgosz. Charles Guiteau has a somewhat rough appearance despite tie and coat - and looks like he could hold his own on WWE - but his photo is still nice looking.

John Schrank, who made the attempt on Theodore Roosevelt, could pass for a banker; and Sirhan Sirhan's photo makes him look like a scared young man. I was especially caught by James Earl Ray. For some reason, I didn't remember him looking so boyish - and Sarah Jane could be anyone's wife and mother.

Now that I have "matured," even Lee Harvey Oswald does not appear like a cold-blooded murderer to me. Just some rambling thoughts that things - and people - are not always as they appear to be.

Now, even though he was not a presidential assassin, Charles Manson appears the epitome of what a crazy killer should look like...