Lone Gunmen Who Changed the World

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.
 
Perhaps you read my RFK as John Kennedy.
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Yes, I did.

OldMarksman Robert Kennedy was indeed talking about getting out of Vietnam.
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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.
 
TruthTellers said:
[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.
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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.
 
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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.
 
Mark Chapman killing Lennon for sure changed the world

great artist often have a revival in old age, and Lennon is one of the biggest talents from arguably the most influental band ever. look at Johny Cash's last 4 albums, we missed those albums with Lennon

just look at what crap McCarthy did after the Beatles, nothing of particular weight, a reunion would have been sweet
 
Mustafa Ashu

Shot the King of Jordan in 1951. Said king was likely to make peace with Israel. Thus, shot as a prime minister was. That short circuited peace early on in the Middle East and fear of assassination in 1967 led King Hussein to join Nasser in the 6 Day war. That led to occupation of the West Bank and all the crap after that.
 
I have a "Which came first,the chicken or the egg?" question.
I hesitate to give some of these coward assassins that much credit.

Its not the assassin that changed the world . They killed ,in some cases,people who were changing the world.

For example,John Wilkes Booth was a nothing. Dime a dozen . He's still a nothing. Abraham Lincoln was significant to the world. Don't honor Booth with Lincolns achievements. Its not Booth that mattered. It was the death of Lincoln.
Vandals might destroy a Veterans grave yard or a work of art or a natural wonder.
Its not the vandal that we should remember.
 
Its not the assassin that changed the world . They killed ,in some cases,people who were changing the world.
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I never said these were good things. For the most part they were bad things. Even when the results may have been desirable such as the Nazi's that were assassinated prior to WWII it was turned around. They were held as Martyrs by the regime and used to justify more scourging of the Jews.
 
[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.
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He was not a "lone gunman", he was part of a conspiracy.
 
[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.
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That's one way of looking at it,I suppose.
The Ottoman Empire allied with the Germans in WW1.

There is a reasonably good two part documentary on youtube...it might be PBS or History...on Lawrence of Arabia.

That story has a great deal to do with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

Quid pro quo promises were made to the Arab people who fought the Ottoman.

"You may have the land from...."

A problem: France took issue with the Brits giving the land to anyone. France claimed it.Promise broken.
(Loosely)A Frenchman named Picot went in a room with a Brit named Sykes and they drew lines all over the map of the Middle East making up nations. The Picot/Sykes Agreement...or Sykes /Picot...(It IS the French and the Brits,after all...)
You might look that one up,too.
Which is one important part of the story...But its not the whole story.

Further discussion is likely to be controversial. I doubt the Moderators want us to go there.
 
We don't have to reply the entire historical chains. We could discuss why the British decision to deny Turkey new dreadnoughts led them to join Germany, blah, blah.

Just a person who started a chain of events is good enough.
 
Glenn E. Meyer said:
Mustafa Ashu

Shot the King of Jordan in 1951. Said king was likely to make peace with Israel... fear of assassination in 1967 led King Hussein to join Nasser in the 6 Day war.
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To be fair, Ashu was accused by the Jordanian government of having been part of a larger plot, and several alleged co-conspirators were arrested, convicted, and executed.

However, IIRC some historians consider this to have been a dog-and-pony show intended to scapegoat some irksome political dissidents while distracting the citizenry from the government's failure to protect their king at one of the holiest sites in Islam (he was killed on the steps of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem). Since Ashu was killed by the king's bodyguards at the scene, the truth will probably never be known.

One key fact about this assassination is that Hussein, then 15 years old, was standing next to his grandfather King Abdullah I at the time and was also shot by Ashu, but the bullet was deflected by a medal he was wearing over his heart, most likely saving his life. :eek: This is generally seen as a major factor leading to Hussein's fear of assassination and his wariness of being perceived as an Israeli sycophant.

IMHO another good nominee is Yigal Amir, the Israeli student who shot and killed Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.

Despite being on opposing sides, Amir and Ashu have several interesting things in common:
  • Both are seen by many as having been lone actors, conspiracy theories notwithstanding;
  • Both were alleged to be right-wing hardliners seeking to prevent Israeli-Jordanian peace;
  • Both are thought to have substantially set back the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
 
Leon Czolgosz killed William Mckinley in 1901 and the most interesting man who ever served as President took office.
 
I'm surprised I have not seen reference to the Stockton school shootings?

"Stockton shooting helped prompt a heated national debate about gun control, culminating in a landmark, 10-year federal ban on assault weapons, which expired in 2004. A shock to the national psyche, the schoolyard shootings and the testimony of Stockton officials, including then-Mayor Barbara Fass, first served as an emotional springboard to broad gun-control legislation in California before Congress approved its assault weapon ban in 1994."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...-tragically-familiar-pattern-repeats/2043297/
 
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carguychris said:
The Ottoman Empire would have dissolved anyway.

I would have said that the assassination hastened its dissolution.
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Austria-Hungary was looking for an excuse to declare war against Serbia, anyway.
The assassination was a perfect excuse, but the war was inevitable. So I
have to respectfully disagree that the Archduke's death changed much.
 
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