Joseph Palermo: So political assassination in 2008 is an impossibility?
Source: Huffington Post (Blog) (1-5-08) [Assistant Professor, History, CSUS. Bachelor’s degrees in sociology and anthropology from UC Santa Cruz, master’s degree in history from San Jose State University, master’s degree and doctorate in American history from Cornell University.] The French philosopher Michel Foucault called the unfolding of history the “exteriority of accidents,” which was his way of saying “shit happens.” Any historian will tell you that political assassinations are not surprising or new. As grade school students we all learned that Abraham Lincoln was the first president to be assassinated, shot with a pistol by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater. And Booth was part of a “conspiracy.” Charles Guiteau assassinated President James Garfield in Washington, D.C. with a handgun. And Leon Czolgosz assassinated President William McKinley in Buffalo, New York, also with a pistol. There was an assassination attempt on President Theodore Roosevelt. Introductory history textbo
