Lone Gunmen Who Changed the World

[MTT TL]

The release of the Kennedy papers got me to wondering about this. Throughout history I can think of a couple of examples where lone gunmen have changed the world, either by their acts or by people using their actions as an excuse to cover their actions.

For example Oswald (whether you believe he acted alone or not that is what we will go with for here):

- Change of government for the US, with many policy changes
- GCA of 1968

I was wondering what other examples were out there?

[BarryLee]

The dude who shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand helped start WW1. I think it was more complicated than that, but I'll toss that out anyway.

[2damnold4this]

That is a good answer Barrylee. Gavrilo Princip did change the world.

[Buzzcook]

Charles Guiteau shooting James Garfield. There is speculation that Garfield would have been much better on civil rights than any other president of the post war era. He was also an internationalist. The US might have been a better place had he lived.

[tony pasley]

John Wilkes Booth, By killing Lincoln he changed reconstruction after the war.

[TruthTellers]

Originally Posted by 2damnold4this

That is a good answer Barrylee. Gavrilo Princip did change the world.

-Led to the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, which is largely the reason for the strife we see in the MidEast today.
-Led to the Russian Revolution of October 1917. The world is still reeling from the lies of Marxism.
-Tanks, planes and submarines ushered in the change of warfare.
-Germany's defeat and post-war humiliation led to the next great war.

No assassin ever did more to alter world history than the one who killed Franz Ferdinand.

[Scorch]

Oswald did not lead to GCA68. That honor goes to Sirhan Sirhan and Teddy Kennedy.

[MTT TL]

Oswald did not lead to GCA68. That honor goes to Sirhan Sirhan and Teddy Kennedy.

It is fair to say he got the ball rolling. There was a lot of angst over rifles through the mail.

[T. O'Heir]

GCA of 1968 had nothing to do with Oswald. Other than the expansion and prolonging of the Viet Nam war by Johnson, JFK's death didn't do much either. Stuff that happens in the U.S. doesn't affect much of anywhere, but the U.S.
Gavrilo Princip was really the only single shooter who changed history. Pretty much set the stage for every stupid thing that goes on now. Mind you, a lot of that sits on the Allies making stupid decisions about how they divided up the world at Versailles.

[OldMarksman]

Thomas J. Dodd, the architect of GCA '68, introduced his first version in December,1963, amid an avalanche of editorial demands.

[MTT TL]

Stuff that happens in the U.S. doesn't affect much of anywhere, but the U.S.

I wish that were true with all my heart.



For more on the GCA68:

https://www.newyorker.com/books/doub...ern-gun-debate

The modern gun debate began with a shooting. In 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald bought a bolt-action rifle—an Italian military-surplus weapon—for nineteen dollars and ninety-five cents by ordering it from an ad that he found in American Rifleman. Five days after Oswald assassinated President Kennedy, Thomas Dodd, a Democratic senator from Connecticut, introduced legislation restricting mail-order sales of shotguns and rifles. The N.R.A.’s executive vice-president, Franklin L. Orth, testified before Congress, “We do not think that any sane American, who calls himself an American, can object to placing into this bill the instrument which killed the president of the United States.”

The "Dodd Bill" eventually passed.

[RAEIndustries]

It wont be vegas because it wasn’t a lone gunman?

[Mainah]

John Hinkley gave us the Brady Bill. But I think he made Reagan more popular, and that worked out well for the most part.

[MTT TL]

Had not thought of Hinkley. But it did give me a sad thinking of Mark David Chapman.

I think Chapman's impact was greater because Reagan lived and remained healthy while Lennon died and the world lost a renowned and talented singer/ song writer.

[Buzzcook]

Other than the expansion and prolonging of the Viet Nam war by Johnson, JFK's death didn't do much either.

Johnson pretty much followed Kennedy's policy with Vietnam. RFK was the signaling he would get us out before he was gunned down.

[OldMarksman]

RFK was the signaling he would get us out before he was gunned down.

That oft-repeated assertion directly contradicts what JFK said about the situation in his last public interview before the assassination.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

In the world of counter factuals, we never know - there could be some kid shot somewhere who would have fathered or given birth to the greatest leader that the world would have but will never see.

One candidate - Yigal Amir, who shot Rabin. That ended what might have been a successful peace initiative in the Middle East. Same for the killing of Anwar Sadat - but that was more of a coup, than a lone gunman.

[44 AMP]

Among the others mentioned, I would nominate Jack Ruby. (or at least give him (dis)-honorable mention)

Without Oswald alive to be brought to trial, America was left with only the Govt.'s explanation, and I believe that the Warren report was the beginning of the modern era's distrust of government's honesty and motives.

Had Oswald been brought to trial, I think his defense (if it was anything other than a sham) would have laid to rest at least some of the questions and inconsistencies the Warren Commission's report did nothing to resolve.

Probably wouldn't have eliminated all the conspiracy theories, but I think it would have at least sent them in different directions.

[Hal]

The gunman, George Hennard,

The place ---Luby's in Texas.

The survivor - - - and a person every concealed carry holder in the US owes a large "Thank you" to - - - Suzanna Gratia Hupp.

Her efforts paved the way for so many laws it's impossible to count them.

[Buzzcook]

OldMarksman Robert Kennedy was indeed talking about getting out of Vietnam.
http://alphahistory.com/vietnamwar/r...e-speech-1968/

Perhaps you read my RFK as John Kennedy. JFK was at the time of his death still committed to a military solution in Vietnam. People who say he wasn't are revisionists.
I recommend David Halberstam's book on the subject
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/..._the_Brightest

[Mainah]

I remember my dad telling me about driving past National Guard troops stationed in our neighborhood following the riots after James Earl Ray killed Martin Luther King. Who knows how racial politics in the U.S. would have evolved with MLK's influence.

[OldMarksman]

Perhaps you read my RFK as John Kennedy.

Yes, I did.

OldMarksman Robert Kennedy was indeed talking about getting out of Vietnam.

I read that speech as a balanced discussion of how it was necessary for South Vietnam to stand on its own--nothing markedly different from things that JFK had said on several occasions.

And let's keep in mind that at the time, RFK and LBJ were getting along very poorly indeed.

[carguychris]

Originally Posted by TruthTellers

[Gavrilo Princip's assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand] led to the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, which is largely the reason for the strife we see in the MidEast today.

The Ottoman Empire would have dissolved anyway.

I would have said that the assassination hastened its dissolution. However, I heartily agree with the latter half of your statement—WWI led to the ill-advised British and French pseudo-colonial partition of the Levant, which IMHO proverbially pushed over the first domino leading to today's situation in the Middle East. If there had been no Balfour Declaration and Sykes–Picot Agreement, there would be no Daesh (ISIS)—something this organization has itself loudly declared.

[Mainah]

Princip was part of an organized plot to kill Ferdinand. It failed. Ferndinand was in a motorcade on his way out of town that got lost. They ended up in front of the place where Princip stopped for a meal, and Princip literally lucked into the opportunity.

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast has a great episode about this.

[Husqvarna]

Ghandi being shot by Godsay must be up there