Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected President of the United States in the election of 1932 and was scheduled to be sworn in on March 4 1933. During this period he decided to take a Florida vacation and found himself in Miami before sailing to the Carribean.
Roosevelt had agreed to meet his constituents and give a short speech on the night of February 15th. Among the people who showed up to see the President-elect was the Mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak. Cermak was standing next to Roosevelt when shots were fired by Giuseppe Zangara, an Italian immigrant and naturalized citizen.
Zangara had purchased the handgun only days before. He fired five shots in total and hit five people, none of them Roosevelt. Rooevelt stayed with Cermak on his trip to the hospital and visited all five victims.
Cermak died 19 days later from an infection and Zangara was charged with first degree murder. He was executed on March 20th, 1933, a little over a month after his attempt on FDR’s life.
