1950 — Nov 1, Puerto Rican Nationalists try to assassinate President Truman, Blair House, DC-2

–2  AP. “2 Puerto Rican Rebels Fail in Try to Kill President.” Bluefield Daily Telegraph, WV, 11-2-1950, p1.

–2  Truman Library & Museum. “FAQ: Assassination Attempt on President Truman’s Life.”

 

Narrative Information

 

Truman Library: “Two Puerto Rican nationalists, Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola, attempted to assassinate President Truman on November 1, 1950. They arrived in Washington D.C. the day before from the Bronx in New York City, where they were active in the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. They thought the assassination would call attention to Puerto Rico and advance the cause of Puerto Rican independence.

 

“On the morning of November 1, they prepared for the assault. Torresola, a skilled gunman, taught Collazo how to load and handle a gun. They familiarized themselves with the area near Blair House, across the street from the White House, where they would stage the assault. (The Truman family stayed in the Blair House during renovation of the White House from 1948 to 1952). Collazo and Torresola planned to approach the house from opposite directions and shoot their way inside. In the ensuing gun battle, Collazo and Torresola traded gunfire with White House policemen and secret service agents. They wounded three White House policemen but never reached the interior of the house. One of the wounded policemen, Private Leslie Coffelt, managed to fire one bullet and hit Torresola in the side of the head, killing him instantly. Coffelt died later that day at the hospital. Two other policemen, Donald Birdzell and Joseph Downs, were each hit more than once but recovered from their wounds. Collazo reached the steps of Blair House before collapsing with a gunshot wound to the chest. It was later found that only one shot fired by Collazo had hit anyone – his first shot, which wounded Private Birdzell. Torresola had inflicted all the other gunshot wounds on the three White House policemen. President Truman was taking a nap upstairs in Blair House when the shooting began. He rushed to a window and saw Collazo below on the front steps. A White House guard saw the President in the window and shouted to him to him to get down. The President obeyed.

 

“Collazo was sentenced to death for the attempt; one week before his scheduled execution in 1952, Truman commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. President Carter commuted the life sentence of Collazo in September 1979, and he was freed from prison. He died in Puerto Rico on February 20, 1994 at the age of 80.” (Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum. “FAQ: Assassination Attempt on President Truman’s Life.” Accessed 12-28-2017.)

 

Newspaper

 

Nov 1: “Washington, Nov. 1 (AP) Two Puerto Rican revolutionaries stormed President Truman’s official home with blazing pistols today in an attempt to assassinate him, but alert guards thwarted the plot in a roar of gunfire. One of the assassins was killed, another wounded. Three guards were wounded, one so severely he died on a hospital operating table less than four hours later.

 

“The scene was the historic Blair House. Mr. Truman was home at the time, taking a nap. The shots awakened him, but he was unhurt. Those killed were:

 

Griselio Torresola, from New York, one of the gunmen.

Pvt. Leslie Coffelt, 40, of the Secret Service. He was shot in the chest, stomach and legs in his valiant — and successful — defense of the president.

 

“The other two guards were critically injured, as was the remaining gunman.

 

“The gun battle took place on the very doorstep of the Blair House. One gunman went down stretched out across the bottom of the mansion’s steps. The other fell amid shrubbery nearby.

 

“Thus, Mr. Truman escaped the fate of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley, all of whom died of assassins’ bullets.

 

“Mr. Truman was taking a nap in his underwear, getting a rest before time to go to Arlington cemetery to help dedicate a monument to the late Sir John Dill, the British wartime chief of state.

 

“The president once peered out of the window to see what the shooting was all about. He was quickly waved back by frantic guards. Thirty minutes later he attended the Arlington ceremonies as scheduled. He made an address pleading for understanding among peoples.

 

“The dead man was identified by the Secret Service as Griselio Torresola, shot through the head from ear to ear. He was described as a young man from New York. In his pocket were two letters from Pedro Albizu Campos, leader of Puerto Rico’s violently anti-United States party.

 

“The injured man was Oscar Collazzo, 37, of the Bronx, New York. He was shot in the chest and may live. In New York, Mrs. Collazzo said her husband belonged to the Nationalist party whose revolution in Puerto Rico was put down earlier this week with a loss of more than 30 lives.

 

“Puerto Rico is a possession of the United States, but elects its own local officers and governor.

 

“The Nationalist party has said it started the revolution in an attempt to get independence. Gov. Luiz Munoz Marin has described the rebels as members of ‘a conspiracy against democracy helped by the Communists.’

 

“Mrs. Collazzo said of herself and husband: ‘We voted for Roosevelt and Truman because they promised us independence and we did not get it. Roosevelt is dead so we can’t blame him. We are both Nationalists.’ She said her husband polished pocketbook frames for a living and earned $71 a week.

 

“The connection between Torresola and Collazzo was not immediately clear. But in one of the letters Campos, the revolutionary leader, told Torresola: “If for any reason it should be necessary for you to assume the leadership of the movement in the United States, you will do so without hesitation of any kind.’

 

“And Collazzo told secret service agents: ‘We came here for the express purpose of shooting the president.’

 

“Only a few hours before the attempted assignation an unidentified man hurled two blazing gasoline bottles into a crowd at the Puerto Rican government labor office in New York….

 

“The Blair House is across Pennsylvania avenue and up the street about a block from the White House. The Trumans are living there while the White House is being repaired….” (AP. “2 Puerto Rican Rebels Fail in Try to Kill President. Secret Service Man Slain Defending Home of Truman.” Bluefield Daily Telegraph, WV, 11-2-1950, p. 1.)

 

Sources

 

Associated Press. “2 Puerto Rican Rebels Fail in Try to Kill President. Secret Service Man Slain Defending Home of Truman.” Bluefield Daily Telegraph, WV, 11-2-1950, pp. 1, 3. Accessed 12-27-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/bluefield-daily-telegraph-nov-02-1950-p-1/

 

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum. “FAQ: Assassination Attempt on President Truman’s Life.” Accessed 12-28-2017 at: https://www.trumanlibrary.org/trivia/assassin.htm