I don’t know if any of you took an American history course at UT taught by Professor George Forgie (let me tell you you missed the fuck out.)
his classes were like going to theater on the history of the US. Anyway, one of my favorite classes was on the assassination attempt on Andrew Jackson. Forgie acted out the whole attempt while quoting a passage from a book. His classes were legendary. I took every single class he had. A link to George Forgie:
https://notevenpast.org/celebrating-george-forgie/
“On a cold, wet January day in 1835, an unemployed house painter named Richard Lawrence hid behind a pillar at the entrance to the Capitol Rotunda. He awaited the arrival of an important Capitol visitor—President Andrew Jackson—who was attending a congressional funeral.
As the president approached, Lawrence stepped forward, raised a derringer single-shot pistol, took careful aim at Jackson’s heart, and fired.
The cap exploded, noise and smoke filled the air, but the powder failed to ignite. Misfire!
The aging president was in ill health, forced to lean on a colleague and use a cane, but he remained defiant.
As Lawrence pulled a second pistol and again took aim, Jackson charged his assailant with cane held high. Lawrence pulled the trigger.
Again, misfire!
Quickly, bystanders tackled the would-be assassin to the floor while the president was hustled away. Jackson was saved from the first known attempt to assassinate a U.S. president.”
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