You know all about the successful assassinations of US presidents. In fact, you probably know too much about the conspiracy and conjecture surrounding John F. Kennedy's demise. You may even know about some attempted assassinations, but there have been many more credible attempts to claim the lives of the "leaders of the Free World" than you ever imagined.
你以为自己了解所有的总统刺杀事件吗？非也非也！你所了解的，恐怕只是肯尼迪刺杀案背后的各种阴谋与臆测吧。退一步讲，你可能还知道一些不成功的总统刺杀事件，但在美国这片"自由王国"的土地上，实际的总统刺杀案的数量可能超乎我们想象。
10.John F. Kennedy Was Almost Shot Weeks Before His Assassination
10.肯尼迪被害数周前曾遭刺杀
As we recently told you over at KnowledgeNuts, Richard Pavlick attempted to blow up President-elect John F. Kennedy in December 1960. Kennedy was lucky that Pavlick had a change of heart at the last second, but that was just the first attempt on his life. There were two other viable attempts before that fateful Dallas afternoon, and both took place, amazingly, in the same city on the same afternoon.
正如在《杂谈》中提到的：1960年12月，时值肯尼迪当选总统，但还未就职，理查德·帕维利克就想炸死肯尼迪，不过值得庆幸的是，帕维利克在最后关头改变了主意，但这仅仅是一个开始。早在达拉斯那个恐怖的黑色下午之前，肯尼迪已经两次遇刺，巧的是这两次遇刺都发生在同一个城市，同一天下午。
President Kennedy scheduled a trip to Chicago on November 2, 1963. The Windy City stop had a two-fold purpose—to hold a political meeting with the influential Mayor Richard Daley and watch the Army-Navy football game at Soldier Field. According to former Secret Serviceman Abraham Bolden, a group of four Cuban exiles, led by Homer Echevarria, plotted to assassinate Kennedy in Chicago. Echevarria and his team planned to fire automatic weapons at the Kennedy motorcade as it maneuvered around a turn at Jackson Street from what was then the Northwest Expressway. (It has since been renamed the Kennedy Expressway.)
1963年11月2日，肯尼迪动身前往芝加哥，风城（译者注：芝加哥的别称）之行有两个目标：和芝加哥颇具影响力的理查德·达理市长会晤；前往体育馆观看海军足球赛。据前情报人员亚伯拉罕·博尔登称，刺杀肯尼迪总统的是4名古巴流窜犯，头儿的名字叫做荷马·埃切维里亚，他们打算在总统车队在杰克逊大街转弯时用自动武器袭击，当时，杰克逊大街被称为"西北高速"，打那以后，这条街便被命名为"肯尼迪高速"。
A local landlady reported to police on October 31 that four men in one of her rooms had automatic weapons. Surveillance trailed the men, and after a poor driving decision by a Secret Service agent, their cover was blown. Two of the four men were detained, but a search of the boarding room revealed no weapons, so the two were released—and never seen again.With that crisis averted, the Secret Service immediately found another on their hands. At that very same intersection, a paranoid former Marine named Thomas Vallee was planning his own attempt. Vallee was a member of the far-right John Birch Society and had very strong negative opinions about Kennedy. Acting on a tip, the Secret Service observed that Vallee had high-powered weapons and 2,500 rounds of ammo at his hotel room. On November 2, the same day as Kennedy's scheduled appearance, police trailed Vallee as he headed toward the spot where Kennedy would make the slow turn on Jackson, and they pulled Vallee over when he failed to signal at a turn. A knife on the front seat and 750 rounds of ammo in the trunk were enough to detain Vallee.
10月31日，一名当地房东向警方透露，称自己的房子内住着的4名年轻人持有自动武器，随后，警方便对4人展开了追踪调查，但由于一个特工的错误驾驶决定，警方暴露了身份，抓获了2名嫌疑人，但在房间内并没有找到所谓的自动武器，2名嫌犯被释放，之后再没露面。一波未平，一波又起。情报机构很快又发现了另一起隐患：在同一个交叉路口，一名政治偏激的退伍海军托马斯·瓦来正伺机而动。瓦来是约翰波奇协会会员，对肯尼迪怀恨已久。根据线报，情报人员发现他在下榻的酒店房间内藏有高能武器及2500发弹药。11月2日是肯尼迪现身杰克逊大街的时候，警方追踪瓦来来到杰克逊大街，阻止了他的阴谋，汽车前座上的刀与后备箱的750发弹药已足够把他送进监狱。
Kennedy never made the trip to Chicago. That same day in Vietnam, President Ngo Dinh Diem was assassinated, and Kennedy canceled his appearance. Conspiracy buffs find it convenient that it was the assassination in Vietnam, not the threat in Chicago, that terminated the trip.As if Kennedy conspiracy aficionados need more ammo, there is a school of thought that Vallee was a patsy framed by the four Cubans. The information that led to their discovery came from an informer, and the only information about him is his name: "Lee." At least one person close to the plot is a believer: Vallee's sister, Mary Vallee-Portillo. She thinks that Vallee, who died in 1988, was "set up" for the JFK assassination attempt in Chicago. Like Lee Harvey Oswald, Vallee was a Marine, and he was stationed at the same U-2 base in Japan at the same time as the Dallas shooter. Of course, that's all just a coincidence—probably.
肯尼迪芝加哥之旅终未成行，就在那天，越南总统吴廷琰被害，肯尼迪便取消了芝加哥之行，有人说，肯尼迪没去芝加哥，不是因为芝加哥暗藏杀机，而是吴廷琰总统被害。但是好像很多狂热者并不愿意就此消停下来，他们猜测：瓦来只是4名古巴人训练出来的替罪羊，依据是来自一名知情者的信息，关于人们对这位知情者的了解，就只是知道他自称"李"，但至少有一个和这个阴谋有密切联系的人是相信这个言论的，那就是瓦来的妹妹玛丽·瓦来·帕蒂罗，她说："瓦来就是训练出来前往芝加哥谋杀肯尼迪的。"和李·哈维·奥斯瓦德一样，瓦来是名海军，和达拉斯刺杀者一同在日本的U-2基地服役，当然了，这也可能只是巧合而已。
9.Harry Truman Received A Letter Bomb
9.哈里·杜鲁门曾收到书信炸弹
In a well-publicized attack, a pair of Puerto Rican nationalists attempted to assassinate President Harry Truman in 1950, but another set of nationalists attempted to end Truman's presidency in his first term. In 1947, Zionist militants were in open battle with British troops. The most menacing of the militant groups was the Stern Group, whose activities looked exactly like those of today's terrorists. At the time, it appeared that prospects for a future state of Israel—the long-held dream of a Jewish homeland—were bleak. The Stern Group would stop at nothing to achieve their goal.
1950年，两名波多黎各民族主义者试图刺杀杜鲁门总统，媒体大规模披露了此次刺杀事件。但早在1947年，就曾有另外一拨民族主义者试图毁掉杜鲁门的总统梦。当时，犹太复国主义分子与英国正在奋战，其中最残暴的要数斯特恩集团，他们的行为和如今的恐怖分子毫无二致，犹太人都梦想着恢复旧地，重建国家，然而从当时情况看，这个梦想的前景一片渺茫，然而斯特恩集团誓死也要重建故国。
President Truman was quite sympathetic to the Israeli cause, but that didn't deter the Stern Group from attacking him in the form of a letter. Police were tipped off to the possibility of a letter bomb because of a similar attempt on a British politician. Sir Stafford Cripps, President of the Board of Trade, received a letter that contained an envelope filled with powdered gelignite, a pencil battery, and a detonator. Police determined that the blast resulting from such a combination would be powerful enough to kill a man. Sure enough, the letter Truman received was a similar type of letter bomb. Ironically, the US became the first country to formally recognize Israel in spite of this attack.
杜鲁门对他们的事业抱以极大的同情心，但是这并没免去他的灾难。警方收到举报，称可能会有人给杜鲁门总统寄书信炸弹，因为英国的贸易委员会主席，斯塔福·克里普斯爵士就收到一个装有葛李炸药粉、铅笔电池、雷管的书信炸弹。警方判断，装有这些东西的信封完全可以勾销一个人的性命，当然，杜鲁门总统收到的正是一个和上述差不多的炸弹。但讽刺的是，美国是第一个承认以色列的国家。
8.Osama bin Laden Almost Got Bill Clinton
8.比尔·克林顿险些丧命本拉登之手
Osama bin Laden didn't become a household name until September 11, 2001, but prior to that, he was known in government circles as a major troublemaker. Terrorists had previously attacked the World Trade Center on President Bill Clinton's watch in 1993, so the presidential detail was on heightened alert when abroad. Bin Laden wasn't in on that attack, but he had other plans for Clinton.
2001年9月11日之前，本拉登还不是一个家喻户晓的名字，在美国政客眼中，本拉登充其量也不过是一个爱惹事的人。早在1993年，世贸大厦就曾遭恐怖袭击，然而本拉登并没有参与其中，他把矛头瞄向外出受到高等保护的克林顿，并制定了自己的计划。
In 1996, President Clinton was in the Philippines as part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Clinton arranged a visit to a local politician, traveling a route that would take him over a bridge. Just prior to the trip, though, a Secret Service agent picked up an odd transmission in his earpiece. He repeatedly heard the words "bridge" and "wedding" and determined those to be code words for "blow up the bridge when the President is on it." Clinton's motorcade was quickly rerouted and no harm fell upon him.
1996年，克林顿正在菲律宾参加亚太经济合作论坛，正打算拜访一位当地政要，而拜访途中会经过一座桥。在拜访前，情报人员从耳机里捕捉到一段奇怪的对话，这段话一直重复着"桥"和"婚礼"两个词，经鉴定，这段话的意思是"在总统车队驶过桥时炸死总统"，克林顿便立刻更改了路线，逃过一劫。
The Clinton White House never revealed the assassination attempt, so news outlets didn't pick up the story until 2009. Al-Qaeda had admitted to assassination attempts on Clinton in the past, but it wasn't until this story emerged that it was revealed how perilously close they came to success. Even when the Clinton Administration attacked Afghanistan in an attempt to eliminate bin Laden in 1998, they never mentioned the 1996 assassination attempt as a motivation.
克林顿政府一直将那次刺杀对媒体隐瞒了起来，直至2009年，基地组织承认在过去曾经试图杀害克林顿，在此之前人们都不清楚克林顿曾经命悬一线。尽管在1998年，克林顿曾派军攻打阿富汗，但也始终没有把这件事拿出来当噱头鼓舞士气。
7.Hoover's Term Almost Ended Before It Began
7.胡佛总统之路险胎死腹中
Herbert Hoover isn't recalled fondly as a president. He had the misfortune of holding office during the 1929 stock market crash, and everything he tried to do to contain the damage only made it worse. But as a candidate, he was very popular, winning quite handily over Al Smith. Hoover decided to parlay that popularity into a trip abroad prior to taking his oath of office.
在人们印象中，胡佛并不是一位称职的总统，他运气确实不大好:甫一上台就遇上1929年证券市场崩溃，每推出一项政策，总会出现新情况将其打击得体无完肤。但作为总统候选人来说，胡佛是很受欢迎的，轻轻松松地击败了对手艾尔·史密斯。在正式就职前，胡佛希望带着自己的人气拜访其他国家。
In December 1928, President-elect Hoover traveled to Central and South America to promote his plan for a trade partnership with the region. While in Argentina, a known anarchist named Manuel Scarzo was detained after a search of his home found guns, bombs, and—most incriminating—a rail map with Hoover's path highlighted in red. Scarzo allegedly got the train route from Hoover's own itinerary, which had been leaked. No one is sure how close Hoover came to death. Clearly, given the details the anarchist possessed, it could have ended poorly for the president-elect. Hoover downplayed the incident, including tearing the newspaper article about it out of his newspaper so his wife wouldn't see it and become upset.
1928年12月，胡佛前往拉丁美洲，推进美国和拉美地区建立贸易伙伴关系，在走访阿根廷时，一位名叫曼纽尔·司佳佐的无政府主义者被捕——警察在他家中发现了大量的枪支炸药，一张用红线标出胡佛总统行程路线的地图更是可谓证据确凿。没人知道当年胡佛曾和死亡擦身而过，很显然，根据这名无政府主义者的胡作非为，胡佛政府确实低调地处理了这件事。胡佛也竭力掩盖事实，他曾经把印有刺杀事件的报纸挑出来撕掉，免得妻子看见伤心难过。
6.George W. Bush Almost Caught A Grenade In Georgia
6.布什在格鲁吉亚险些丧命手榴弹
Let's face it—George W. Bush wasn't an extremely popular president. A 2006 movie revolved around a fanciful fictional assassination of the president in Chicago, but Bush actually did have a very close encounter in the Eurasian country of Georgia.
坦白讲，布什总统并不招人待见，2006年有部电影描述了一个发生在芝加哥的惊心动魄的总统刺杀故事，但布什总统的确在格鲁吉亚这个欧洲国家险些遇刺身亡。
In 2005, Bush was giving a speech in a crowded square in Tiblisi, Georgia. Suddenly, an object wrapped in a handkerchief came flying through the air. The threat wasn't immediately known, but it turned out to be a live grenade. Initial reports downplayed the incident, but the grenade landed less than 30 meters (100 ft) from the president and was very capable of harming him. Had the handkerchief not been so tightly wound around the grenade, it likely would have detonated.Vladimer Arutiniani admitted to throwing the grenade and was arrested. He received a life sentence for his attempt. Arutiniani explained that he aimed high to launch shrapnel over the bulletproof glass protecting Bush as he spoke, and had the grenade gone off, it's likely he would have been successful.
2005年，布什正在格鲁吉亚第比利斯一个人群涌动的广场上演讲，突然，一个用手帕裹着的不明物体破空而来，刚开始人们都没注意到是什么东西，最后才发现是一个引燃的手榴弹。最初的新闻报道都对此次事件一笔带过，但手榴弹落在离布什总统不足30米（100英尺）的位置，如果不是手帕裹得太紧，手榴弹很可能会爆炸，伤及布什。事后，弗拉基米尔·亚努提尼亚尼认罪伏法，被处以终身监禁，他说，当时是想把手雷扔过高耸的防弹玻璃。如果当时手雷顺利爆炸了，他也就得逞了。
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