Theodore Roosevelt
Attempted assassination

On October 14, 1912, while arriving at a campaign event in Milwaukee, Roosevelt was shot by delusional saloonkeeper John Schrank, who believed the ghost of assassinated president William McKinley had directed him to kill Roosevelt. The bullet lodged in Roosevelt's chest after penetrating his eyeglass case and passing through a 50-page folded copy of the speech titled " Progressive Cause Greater Than Any Individual ". Schrank was disarmed and captured by Roosevelt's stenographer, Elbert E. Martin as he attempted to fire a second time, and might have been lynched had Roosevelt not shouted for Schrank to remain unharmed. Roosevelt assured the crowd he was all right, then ordered police to take Schrank and make sure no violence was done to him.

As an experienced hunter and anatomist, Roosevelt correctly concluded that since he was not coughing blood, the bullet had not reached his lung. He declined to go to hospital immediately and instead delivered a 90-minute speech with blood seeping into his shirt. Only afterwards did he accept medical attention. Probes and an x-ray showed the bullet had lodged in Roosevelt's chest muscle, but did not penetrate the pleura. Doctors concluded it would be less dangerous to leave it than attempt to remove it, and Roosevelt carried the bullet in him for the rest of his life. Taft and Democratic nominee Woodrow Wilson suspended their campaigning until Roosevelt resumed his. When asked if the shooting would affect his election campaign, he said to the reporter "I'm fit as a bull moose." The bull moose became a symbol of Roosevelt and the Progressive Party, and it often was referred to as the Bull Moose Party. He spent two weeks recuperating before returning to campaign. He wrote a friend about the bullet, "I do not mind it any more than if it were in my waistcoat-pocket."
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