10 World Leaders That Survived Assassination Attempts

The recent assassination attempt on former United States’ President, Donald Trump has not only stirred insinuations for the American presidential race but has also indicated that politics is not a very “clean game” to play.

With questions on who would want a political opponent dead or most likely benefit from them, assassination attempts on political leaders are not entirely new, underscoring the harsh realities of political competition.

Some presidents from other nations have been lucky enough to survive suicide attempts on their lives, while some others were not so lucky.

We present below 10 from among those fortunate world leaders that have survived assassination attempts:

1. Muhammadu Buhari (Nigeria): The former President of Nigeria was almost assassinated in 2014 when a bomb was detonated in his convoy at the Kawo local government area of Kaduna State.

Buhari, a former military Head of State who was elected as a civilian president a year later in 2015 himself confirmed that he was lucky to have survived the bomb attack even as his cars were affected and casualties recorded from the incident.

2. Nelson Mandela (South Africa): Mandela was an iconic South African independence and anti-apartheid movement leader with global reputation who did not only had his fair share of prison struggles but also assassination plots.

A former Ethiopian military officer recounted in 2022, about sixty-six years after Mandela was trained in guerilla warfare in Ethiopia, that there was a foiled attempt to assassinate Mandela on the training ground.

Twenty-one members of the far-right Boeremag or “Farmer Force” were sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2002 over a foiled assassination attempt on Mandela.

3. Vladimir Putin (Russia): Russian news media have recorded that Putin, who is the incumbent president of the country, has survived at least six assassination attempts on his life.

The Russian president is presently the second most protected president in the world coming only after the American president with currently has Joe Biden as president.

In May 2023, The Kremlin disclosed that it shot down two drones launched by Ukraine, accusing Kyiv of attempting to assassinate President Putin.

4. Adolph Hitler (Germany): Popularly known for his roles as Chancellor and leader of Nazi Germany, Hitler survived so many assassination attacks. One of the most popular attempts known as Operation Valkyrie occurred on July 20, 1944.

Colonel Clause von Stauffenberg had placed a bomb in Hitler’s conference room which caused casualties among his staff with Hitler himself suffering injuries, burns, and a perforated eardrum from which he later recovered.

Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators were executed, and Hitler used the event as justification for further purges within the military and civilian leadership, thereby solidifying his grip on power until the end of the war.

5. Jacob Zuma (South African): The immediate-past President of South Africa survived at least two widely known assassination attempts.

Zuma who mourned the loss of his bodyguard, Patrick Maphumulo in 2011 recounted that while he was deputy President of South Africa, the deceased thwarted an assassination plot by his military superiors.

South African media recently reported in March that Zumawho was almost ‘deliberately assassinated’ when a drunk driver hit his car on motion overnight.

6. Hugo Chavez (Venezuela): Hugo Chavez who was one-time President of Venezuela decried assassination attempts on his life throughout his tenure in office, BBC reports Chavez allegedly foiled assassination attempts on his life in 2002, 2006, 2011, and 2013.

In September 2013, Chavez narrated that a sniper with a long-range gun and a motorcycle to escape on, had planned to shoot him as he exited a helicopter on a recent trip to Western Venezuela.

Chavez added that the suspected assassins comprised Columbians and some Venezuelan ex-military men.

7. Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana): A New York Times publication of 1964 revealed that Kwame Nkrumah survived five assassination attempts. The assassins were always in close range to attack him but his miraculous survivals made Ghanaians to dub him “Nkrumah the immortal”.

The first assassination attack made on him was in 1956 before Ghana attained independence when a bomb blast was reported to have occurred in Nkrumah’s residence in Accra, the nation’s capital.

8. Theodore Roosevelt (America): Roosevelt’s assassination attempt has been reported to be the most epic of all foiled assassination plots, because he was reported to have been saved by his speech.

Roosevelt was campaigning for a third term in office when he was shot in the chest by John Schrank in 1912. His folded speech and glasses in his breast pocket slowed the bullet, and Roosevelt continued delivering his speech with the bullet lodged in his chest.

9. Charles De Gaulle (France): De Gaulle, the former President of France was being driven to the airport with his wife, Yvonne De Gaulle when a hit squad attacked them on 22 August, 1962.

De Gaulle who was 71 at that time with his wife was able to escape the assassins unharmed. French news media reported that bullets were passing a few inches away from his head. Military investigators retrieved 187 bullet casings from the horrific scene after the ambush which lasted 45 seconds.

10. Donald Trump (America): The former President of the United States on Sunday July 14, 2024 survived an assassination attempt at his campaign rally venue in Pennsylvania.

Trump who was wounded in his right ear was quickly rushed out of the scene by secret security agents but at least, two persons were reported to have lost their lives in the attack including the shooter identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks.