Member-only story
How FDR Was Saved From An Assassin’s Bullet By a Purse Wielding Admirer
Former US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was nearly killed by an assassin just weeks after first taking office
Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, is one of the most recognizable politicians to hold the highest office in the land. Often ranked among the best and most effective Presidents, he still wasn’t universally popular. He once narrowly escaped an assassination attempt thanks in large part to the quick thinking of a woman named Lillian Cross who used her purse to help subdue the shooter.
The incident occurred on February 15, 1933, in Miami, Florida, where Roosevelt was giving an impromptu speech from the back of an open train car in Bayfront Park. It was just a few months after he had won the presidency for the first of three times. Giuseppe Zangara, an Italian immigrant with mental health issues and an anti-capitalist sentiment, joined the crowd with the intention of assassinating FDR. However, due to standing just five feet tall, he struggled to see over the crowd. As a result, he stood on a wobbly bench, which was next to Lillian Cross.
Zangara pulled out a.32-caliber revolver and took aim at Roosevelt, but before he could shoot, Cross noticed the weapon…
