The Day of the Weakling: Real-Life Assassins Are Never Glamorous; They're Just Frail Extremists in the Neighborhood

They just happened to be nearby when the President or candidate visited

Lee Harvey Oswald (JFK—upper left); Giuseppe Zangara (FDR/attempt—upper right); Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme (Gerald Ford/attempt—lower left); Sirhan Sirhan (RFK—lower right). All happened to be in the vicinity when the president or candidate decided to visit.

Frederick Forsyth’s 1971 novel, The Day of the Jackal,  offers the beau ideal of the glamourous…