Guisseppe Zangara was born, like so many American political assassins, in poverty. Born in Ferruzzano, in southern Italy, on Sepatember 7, 1900, his mother died when he was two years old. His father remarried a widow with six daughters. Zangara soon found himself an outsider in the large reconstituted peasant family. He began to attend school, but one day his father came to the school and roughly removed him, saying that he had to work. He dated his ever present stomach problems, that were to torment him throughout his life, to this time. He joined the Italian army at the age of 16 or 17, but did not thrive under its discipline. It was during this period, however, that he began to see the cause of his problems--and in fact, of the problems of the poor and downtrodden generally--as political leaders. These thoughts stayed with him when in 1923 he emigrated to American with his uncle. In Phildelphia they lived together, and Zangara found work as a bricklayer. His last social contact was broken when his uncle married and he was forced to move.

Zangara was a competent and industrious bricklayer, and the money he saved during his period of employment enabled him to travel. Nothing he saw pleased him, however, due to the pain in his stomach. One doctor suggested removing his appendix, but it brought no relief. He was also becoming increasingly anti-social. He rented two $10 a month rooms in Hackensack--one to live in and the other to prevent anyone from living next door to him. With the onset of winter in 1932 he migrated to Miami. His withdrawals from a postal savings account reflect a frugal lifestyle--so that his savings might have supported him indefinitely, had he not started gambling at the dog track, winning occasionally, but making more withdrawals than deposits. This was the height of the Depression. Many people were out of work, blaming Hoover and the capitalists for their misery. It was easy for Zangara to fall into this bag also. But he resolved to take action.

On Monday, Feburary 13, 1933, Zangara went to a pawn shop on Miami Avenue and purchased a .32 caliber pistol for eight dollars. He thought to take a bus to Washington DC to shoot Hoover; however, he happened to pick up a newspaper that revealed that President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt would be in town the next day, after a fishing trip on Vincent Astor's yacht, making an evening speech at Bayfront Park. It was winter, and Miami appealed to Zangara more than Washington; therefore, he readusted his plans. At Bayfront Park great crowds of people gathered in the balmy Miami night to greet Roosevelt and Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, whose help in getting out the Chicago Democrats had been important to Roosevelt's victory. Zangara, who was notoriously short even for an assassin--barely 5 feet tall--was forced to commandeer a rickety wooden folding chair from which to take aim and open fire. The five bullets struck 3 bystanders in the head and another in the stomach; Mayor Cermak staggered against the President-elect's car, a bullet in his right lung. Roosevelt was uninjured. Zangara was mobbed, but rescued by the police.

Zangara showed little interest in his defense. He said things like: "I decided to kill. . . and make him suffer. I want to make it fifty-fifty since my stomach hurt. I get even with capitalists by kill the President. My stomach hurt long time." When told he was facing a possible murder charge if Cermak died, Zangara said, "I no care. I sick all time. I just think maybe cops kill me if I kill President. Somebody hit my arm when I try it." It was suggested the Zangara had been paid by the mob to shoot Cermak, whose mob connections were well known, but he said. "I no want to shoot Cermak or anybody except Roosevelt. I aimed at him. I shoot at him. But somebody move my arm. They fools. They should let me kill him." This attitude persisted to the end. When the judge sentenced him to die in Florida's electric chair, he responded. "You give me the electric chair. I'm no afraid that chiar. You're one of the captialists. You is crook man too. Put me in electric chair. I no care." The autopsy revealed his stomach was fine. However his gallbladder showed damage that likely was the cause of his lifelong suffering. Zangara's execution took place 13 days after Cermak's death, a record even for American political assassins. He was buried in an unmarked prison grave.

Source: Clarke, James W. American Assassins. Princton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1982.

Who was Anton Cermak?