The Plot to Kill FDR
Giuseppe Zangara entered the United States from Italy on September 2, 1923 and became a naturalized citizen several years later. Uneducated, Zangara was a brick-layer, managing to earn a better than average salary. In 1926, however, he was no longer receiving jobs. The 1929 Wall Street Crash further left him bitter. This “little man with a big boast” (Philadelphia Inquirer, March 18, 1933) decided to kill the President. Although Herbert Hoover was the target, Zangara saw an opportunity on February 15, 1933 while living in Miami. President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt was scheduled to deliver a speech at Bayfront Park.
Zangara’s Assassination Attempt
Zangara arrived in Miami from Paterson, New Jersey weeks before FDR’s visit to the city. Intending to travel to Washington to shoot Hoover, Zangara elected to remain in Miami and kill Roosevelt instead. According to FBI memoranda, he bought a cheap 32 caliber pistol at a local pawn shop. (FBI memo to J. Edgar Hoover from Agent C. D. McKean) At Bayfront Park, Zangara unloaded all five shots, 25 feet from Roosevelt who was just completing his speech. Several in the audience were wounded but only Mayor Cermak of Chicago would eventually die.
Analysis of an Assassin
In a January 10, 1934 New York Times article, Dr. Adolph Meyer of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland stated that Zangara had a “normal brain.” At his trial, Zangara was fully conscious of his actions and vocally defended them saying that he hated all kings and presidents. He had no remorse for the innocent by-standers that had been wounded, including Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, on vacation in Miami, who would die days later from Zangara’s stray shot.
Courtroom testimony reprinted in the Miami Herald (February 21, 1933) however, disclose that Zangara was found to be a “social misfit” with a “psychopathic personality.” But the issue of an insanity defense was never raised. The 1964 Warren Commission Report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy contained a chapter on “Presidential Protection.” Appendix 7 summarizes previous assassinations and assassination attempts. It states that Zangara had “a professed hatred of capitalists and Presidents.”
Was Zangara Part of a Larger Conspiracy?
FBI files indicate that within days of the attempted assassination, reports were received that Zangara was acting on the part of an Italian Anarchist group and may have had accomplices. This track, furthered by Italian authorities and even Fascist leader Benito Mussolini, (Philadelphia Record, March 18, 1933) would have helped the propaganda effect of European fascism over Communism. Although “leaked” by an Italian consular official the day after the Miami shooting (FBI files), the story was further enhanced by allegations that Zangara had participated in the Philadelphia house-bombing of a leader with the Sons of Italy. (Philadelphia Record)
Another theory tied Zangara to Chicago gangsters. This theory is mentioned in the Warren Report. The FBI investigated claims that a check had been found on Zangara, drawn on a defunct Chicago bank, and signed by a reputed mobster. Although the check was never found, and no other ties were established in the investigation, the theory is still brought up, particularly since Chicago Mayor Cermak was killed. Cermak was a reformist mayor and, allegedly, was the target of a “mob hit.”
Trial and Execution of Giuseppe Zangara
The initial trial of Zangara took place days after the assassination attempt. According to the Miami Herald, Mayor Cermak stated, “They certainly mete out justice pretty fast in this state” after hearing that the shooter was given an 80-year sentence. Cermak, however, died shortly thereafter from the gun shot and Zangara was sentenced to death. He was electrocuted on March 20, 1933. According to Florence King, Zangara’s death was “the swiftest legal execution in this century.” (Florida Department of Corrections “Time Line”)
Notes:
The FBI file on the Zangara attempt is archived by the University of Miami
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