1950 - DETROIT NEWSPAPER - PUERTO RICANS ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE PRESIDENT TRUMAN

Description

Item for sale is an original 16 page, front section, of the November 2nd, 1950, edition of the Detroit Free Press newspaper; the headline of the day concerned the assassination attempt by two Puerto Rican revolutionaries from New York City on the person of President Harry Truman. The men, both Puerto Rican nationalists, would get no further than the front door of the Blair House, the President's temporary residence in Washington D.C., while the White House was under renovation, before they would be mowed down by White House Police officers and a secret service Agent who were guarding the President. One of the gunmen would be killed outright, the other seriously wounded, in a spectacular gun battle. A White House police Officer would die during the shootout and two others would be wounded, one seriously. President Truman would be at home during the assault and would peer out of a window before his Secret service detail would pull him back into the room; he would be unharmed in the incident and a half hour later go to Arlington Cemetery to participate in a memorial service. The surviving gunman, Oscar Collazo, would draw a life sentence and in 1979, President Jimmy Carter, would commute his sentence to time served. Collazo would go back to his native Puerto Rico, where he would die in 1994. This is a great original item. Once again it is a 16 page front section only, but has a detailed account of the event. There are two small tears on the front page, but they do not detract from the item as a whole. This is a great, historic, 67 year old item that is in good condition.