Former Pres. Donald Trump and Gerald Ford survived 2 assassination attempts

The July assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump put the Republican nominee into an infamously grim club — as a sitting president or former president to survive multiple assassination attempts.

Gerald R. Ford was the sitting president when he survived two attempts in California within three weeks in 1975, while Sunday’s assumed assassination attempt on Trump at his Florida golf club puts his count at two in as many months.

More: Suspect in Trump assassination attempt charged, didn't fire any shots

The former president and Republican candidate for the White House was shot at during a Pennsylvania campaign rally on July 13, a bullet grazing his ear resulting in minor injuries. The gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired multiple shots atop a building close to the rally site, killing one bystander and injuring two others before a Secret Service sniper killed him.

On Sunday, Sept. 15, authorities apprehended a suspect near Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club in what appears to be a botched second attempt on Trump’s life.

Secret Service agents spotted a gun barrel in bushes along the course Sunday afternoon and opened fire at suspect Ryan Routh . He fled in a black Nissan SUV, according to the criminal complaint, leaving behind a loaded assault rifle, a backpack, two bags, a digital camera and some food.

Routh, who appeared in federal court Monday, never fired a shot, authorities said. He was being held on charges of possession of a firearm while a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Though details continue to emerge from the Sunday incident, and will continue to unfurl as multiple investigations from law enforcement and lawmakers get going, the FBI says the incident appears to be an attempted assassination.

The Congressional Research Service says direct assaults against presidents, presidents-elect, and candidates have occurred on at least 15 separate occasions. Of the 46 presidents, including President Joe Biden , 11 have experienced actual or attempted assassinations, roughly 23%. Four U.S. presidents were slain while in office : Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy.

Ford is the only other former or current president to have endured two failed assassination attempts, both of them occurring in California during his second year in office.

More: How many US presidents have been shot? A look back at history

The first attempt occurred on Sept. 5, 1975, while Ford was in Sacramento, California, to meet with then-California Gov. Jerry Brown. When he stopped to shake hands with a crowd gathered outside his hotel, a woman attempted to shoot Ford but misfired.

A Secret Service agent wrestled the gun away from the would-be shooter, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, a member of the infamous Manson family.

On Sept. 22, just a few weeks after the initial attack, Sara Jane Moore shot at Ford while in San Francisco but missed. A bystander grabbed her as she pulled the trigger a second time, sending the bullet in a different direction and injuring a taxi driver.

Moore was arrested for her attempt, which was motivated by radical revolutionary ideology, hoping to bring about “the upheaval of needed change,” according to a report from the Congressional Research Service.

The Sacramento attacker, Fromme, was subsequently arrested and tried for the attempted assassination, in which Ford provided a taped deposition for the prosecution, according to the Ford Presidential Library. The Charles Manson cult member received a life sentence and was paroled from prison in 2009. The San Francisco shooter, Moore, was imprisoned and released in 2007.

Kathryn Palmer is an elections fellow for USA TODAY. Reach her at kapalmer@gannett.com and follow her on X @KathrynPlmr.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Former Pres. Donald Trump and Gerald Ford survived 2 assassination attempts