When you’re in the public spotlight – especially if you’re a politician – there’s always an element of risk to life and limb. In light of the events of January 6th, 2021, where some politicians talked of fear for their lives when Conservatives protested at the Nation’s Capitol Building, I thought it might be helpful to review a few “sensational brushes with death!” among some of America’s politicians.

Note while the events are true the quotes are how I believe they might have described it; they aren’t actual quotes from history. (Would you believe my lawyer made me write that?)

1835: President Andrew Jackson

“A man tried to assassinate me so I beat him over the head with my cane.”

1912: President Teddy Roosevelt

“I got shot and then gave a speech with the bullet still in my chest.”

1975: President Gerald Ford

“Someone tried to shoot me, but the gun didn’t fire, and then 17 days later another person fired two shots at me from close range and missed.”

1981: President Ronald Reagan

“I didn’t know I had a near-fatal bullet in me until I was at the hospital.”

1996: Senator Hillary Clinton

“I had to run to escape (nonexistent) sniper fire at the Bosnian airport!”

2009: Vice President Joe Biden

“My body was struck by echoes of mortar shells which landed nowhere near me!”

2021: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez

“A police officer frowned at me and I almost died.”

Perhaps, at least for Democrats, the legendary bard William Shakespeare was correct when he wrote:

“Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.”
- William Shakespeare, “Julius Caesar”, Act II, Scene 2, (1599)

Thanks for Reading! (and, a tip of the Red Sox cap to Matt Walsh @MattWalshBlog for the tweet which inspired this post!)