Most interesting unsolved non-serial killer cases

[sdreid]

Garfield seems to get shortchanged although he was on an 1882 Series $5 Bank Note and an 1882 Series $20 Gold Certificate. He was also on his 2011 Presidential Commemorative Dollar coin as were or will be every other President.

There are 41 people on the back of the intermittently issued $2 bill but I don't see where any were shot so apparently signing the Declaration of Independence wasn't a risky as we've been led to believe.

[Mayerling]

Forgot Jefferson - he fought for the rights of the agrarian population against Hamilton's reforms which were pro business and urban. Jefferson was opposed to the Bank of the U.S. and Madison would (unfortunately for the timing) listen to him in 1811. However on the plus side Jefferson's money conciousness led him to be the most successful President in one respect. With Albert Gallatin, his Secretary of the Treasury, he reduced the national debt far more than any other President.

By the way, Jackson was the last President to balance the National Budget. I forgot to mention that earlier.

Jeff

[Mayerling]

The reasons for the selections deal with what the parties did to aid the economy of the U.S. and it's currency.

Washington and Hamilton - created the National Debt (to reassure investors we stood behind our debts and paid them off) and the First Bank of the United States to be a stablelizer of the currency (like the Bank of England). Lincoln and Salmon Chase (who is on the $5,000.00 bill no longer needed) who in the Civil War created the "Greenback" national paper currency we still use. Madison (on the now not printed $10,000.00 bill) for chartering the the Second Bank of the United States in 1816 in the wake of seeing the damage his destruction of the First Bank in 1811 did to the economy in the War of 1812. Jackson for demonstrating in his confrontation with Nicholas Biddle that the Second Bank was indeed a danger to American Democracy and destroying it. Grant for passing the first attempt at a national income tax. Franklin for helping to get the French loans in the American Revolution and for assisting in printing our revolutionary currency (the infamous "Continental).
Cleveland ($1,000.00 - obsolete) and McKinley (the $500.00 - no longer printed) for their success in maintaining the Gold Standard from 1893-1914 (when the Fed Reserve was created), and for McKinley restoring prosperity in the 1890s after the Yukon Gold Strike. Finally Woodrow Wilson on the $100,000.00 bill (highest denominaton) for being the President who pushed the Federal Reserve Bill (with the help of Carter Glass of Virginia) through in 1914. I am not sure but the $100,000.00 was solely for large scale transfers between the branches of the Federal Reserve - it may still be in use.

Jeff

[sdreid]

Yes, I have noted elsewhere that half of the 6 men on our general use currency notes were shot; Lincoln, Hamilton and Jackson - not sure what that says about us. You also have McKinley on the currently old issue $500 dollar bill. On currently used coins, 2 of 5 with Lincoln again and Kennedy makes 4 out of 8 men on our generally used denominations were shot at least once.

[Mayerling]

In the wake of all the discussion this weekend about Dallas and JFK's assassination (and his place in American History), there is a side issue of some interest to me which almost fits this thread: Why are there some political assassinations that everyone always is willing to voice an opinion about, and others that just drift out of our consciousness?

The biggies among U.S. political assassinations are Lincoln's, J.F.K's, King's, Malcolm X's, R.F.K.'s, and (believe it or not) James Garfield's. I am basing this on the number of television shows, movies, and books written about these, and how others fall by the wayside. Garfield (I added0 because there have been three books (two in the last decade) about his murder, and the issues of what killed him (the bullet or infection by incompetent doctors), his two month ordeal before his death, the mental condition of Guiteau, and even how Alexander Graham Bell tried to help with a prototype of a mine detector to find the bullet. McKinley's death got two books in the last decade too, but otherwise (like Garfield) he has been the subject of biographies only.

But what of such attacks as those on Reagan, Ford, or even Andrew Jackson? Not a single book was ever written about the 1835 attack by that nut Richard Lawrence, so far the only American political assassin whose would-be victim beat him up with a walking stick. Few ever hear of Lawrence, and even less know that the attorney who got him committed to an asylum was Francis Scott Key!

And we haven't even touched on figures like Huey Long, Governor Steunenberg of Idaho (one book published five years back is all), and Governor William Goebel of Kentucky (killed on the day he was to be sworn in - he lived long enough to be sworn in). The Goebel Case in particular has never been satisfactorily settled. And there are others. Was Mayor Anton Cermak the real target of Giuseppi Zangara in Miami in Feb. 1933, or was he really trying to shoot FDR?

Any comments?

Jeff

[Mayerling]

It was a form of armed robbery however.

Have to agree with you there Stan - it was an armed robbery. It's just the total conclusion that leaves us forgetting how Cooper got that money he jumped with. Certainly a spectacular ending.

[sdreid]

It was a form of armed robbery however.

[sdreid]

Mixed feelings on D. Cooper's hijack, ransom, and jump. I don't support crime, but his showed some planning and daring - especially daring. Look at the tree infested forrest he planned to jump into! I suspect he did not make it, but I secretly hope he somehow did make it.

Jeff

I feel the same way also.

[Ginger]

Mixed feelings on D. Cooper's hijack, ransom, and jump. I don't support crime, but his showed some planning and daring - especially daring. Look at the tree infested forrest he planned to jump into! I suspect he did not make it, but I secretly hope he somehow did make it.

Jeff

I feel the same way. He stole an enormous amount of money, and terrified the poor people on the plane, but at the same time, he showed a remarkable amount of audacity and bravery, and in the end, no-one (except probably Cooper himself) got hurt, so...

[Mayerling]

By the way, I have the same mixed feelings about the three convicts who fled Alcatraz in 1963, but were never found. Again, remarkable planning and escape from the island, and daring in those strong San Francisco Bay currents in that raft. Again, they probably drowned, but I would not have been upset to hear they made it.

Jeff

[Mayerling]

Mixed feelings on D. Cooper's hijack, ransom, and jump. I don't support crime, but his showed some planning and daring - especially daring. Look at the tree infested forrest he planned to jump into! I suspect he did not make it, but I secretly hope he somehow did make it.

Jeff

[sdreid]

might have made it, that is.

If the parachute didn't open however then it would be much harder to find so not seeing the parachute could mean that he did make it and hid the chute or that he didn't make it.

[sdreid]

It seems we get a new candidate for Cooper every year or two.

[sdreid]

I tend to think that he perished but the fact the parachute was never found seems to argue that he might have.

might have made it, that is.

[sdreid]

I tend to think that he perished but the fact the parachute was never found seems to argue that he might have.