How Assassinations

Of Famous Leaders
Around The World Impacted The United States

"Assassinated Presidents." For Kids

Edward Florescu
Adam Vanarsdalen
Ana Hernandez
Jenna Efthyvoulidis
Matthew Kim
March 5, 2016
1st Hour

Not often do people really think about where America might be if the things that
happened in the past didn't happen, at least, in great detail. An infinite amount of things could
have gone differently, and things would most likely not be the same as they are today. People
who were not inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. when he was alive but really started to
understand civil rights and segregation when he died may not be inspired or persuaded today
because he could have never ended up getting assassinated. So many unheard of laws today,
could have been put into motion in the past making the way the United States lived originally
completely different with a whole new set of rules to abide by. An interesting question developed
while researching was, How Did the Assassination Of Leaders Around The World Affect The
People Of The United States?. Prior to reading the informational book Kennedys Assassination
by Wilborn Hampton there was a relatively small amount knowledge in the group about the
topic. It was common knowledge JFK was riding in his motorcade, and he unexpectedly was
shot, the crowd watching him campaign most likely went into a mix of shock and chaos. A large
amount was learned over the course of reading out of the book and researching then what was
known originally. The questions asked, and answered, were chosen mainly because not many
people know much about people who are commonly looked up to have been assassinated and

how their death affected America, when the event took place, and how it affects today. In the
process of finding this research question there were many options but in the end learning more
about assassinations of leaders was most important.
"The Beatles." This

is a photograph of the Beatles.

To first start to look for information, the book, Kennedy Assassinated, was read. The
topic of assassinations was very interesting. A big topic question was formed after reading the
book. Then, a few sub questions were developed to dig deeper into the topic. Later, research on
Easybib and the book was used to gather our information. One of the most used research tool
was Easybib, this source was very helpful because it would show if the website is credible or not.
Therefore, giving us the right information to use in the research progress. There were many
interesting sources in the progress of gathering our information. One of the most interesting was
the person to person interview with Mr. Staugaard. Before this interview, the thought that the
Kennedy family was hated went into this process. After, Mr. Stougard said that the Kennedy
family was not hated and they were liked. This information was helpful because false

information was not given out the the viewers. Many problems occurred during this process.
Some include, not finding enough information to answer the questions. Also, finding credible
and reliable sources was a big challenge. To resolve this, the information given to us was used
and elaborated to create a informational research paper. Before, the questions developed were
tiny questions and all the same. For example, How did MLKs death impact America? Now it
is more elaborated Did Martin Luther King Jrs death impact America more than when he was
alive? This shows more effort and thought was used into the questions.
One of the famous leaders that was researched was John Lennon and he was the lead
singer of the Beatles, also known as the Fab Four. They are a music group that started the
culture of pop music (The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum). They started their debut in
1960 and after that they took off in the world of music. As one article states The impact of the
Beatles had often been noted but cannot be overstated. The Fab Four from Liverpool, England,
startled the ears and energized the lives all who heard them (The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame +
Museum). This means that the Beatles made a big impact on the United States and that they are
so good that they can not be praised enough. In September 1969, John Lennon silently
announced that he would be leaving the group. It was officially announced one year later, April
10th 1970 (The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum). The Beatles started a revolution, a new
kind of music. The Beatles were one of the first to make good rock and roll and pop music that
all of America heard and loved.("We Love Them, Yeah Yeah Yeah: 7 Ways the Beatles Changed
American Culture.") John Lennon was a dad of two, Sean Lennon and Julian Lennon, His wife
was Yoko Ono. He died at age 40 because of an assassination.(A&E Networks Television.) The
assassin was Mark David Chapman, a man from Texas who lived inside the book Catcher of the
Rye and was confused about his life. He was going to commit suicide or assassinate someone.

He decided to take away the life of John Lennon. Mark Chapman asked John Lennon for his
autograph and then pulled the trigger four times on John Lennons back. After Mark Chapman
assassinated John Lennon, he regretted his decision of assassinating him ("A Look Back at Mark
David Chapman in His Own Words."). The moment when John Lennon died the whole world
knew about it in a matter of hours. Before the Beatles, Americans listened to country, and
rhythmic blues. The Beatles started to make pop and rock and roll music and that changed the
way people listened and thought about music. Nowadays, one of the genre most listened in
America is pop and rock and roll music. Without the Beatles, pop and rock and roll music would
probably not be as popular as it is today. John Lennon changed Americas beliefs in music and
energized anyone who heard their music. This is a graph that shows the number of albums the
Beatles sold in 25 years. ( How Many Records Did the Beatles Actually Sell?") Another leader
who got assassinated was Martin Luther King Jr. He was a baptist who changed Americas path
with segregation. According to the source "Martin Luther King Jr. Biography." Bio.com. A&E
Networks Television, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2016 MLK was born in Georgia on January 15, 1929.
His father fought against prejudice and believed that racism was against Gods will. In 1941
MLK Jr. attempted suicide after finding out that when he was out to see a parade against his
father's wishes his Grandmother died of a heart attack. Later in his life he became a priest of his
church and told people that blacks and white are equal and segregation is against God's word
along with many black priest at that time. Around the time Rosa Parks was arrested MLK
became the president of the Civil rights movement.In his first speech as the group's president,
King declared, "We have no alternative but to protest. For many years we have shown an
amazing patience. We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we liked the way
we were being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us

patient with anything less than freedom and justice." (Martin Luther King Jr. Biography). had on
the civil rights movement this was his first big step to this famous I had a dream speech (Martin
Luther King Jr. Biography). Plans were in the works for another march on Washington to revive
his movement and bring attention to a widening range of issues. In the spring of 1968, a labor
strike by Memphis sanitation workers drew King to one last crusade. On April 3, in what proved
to be an eerily prophetic speech, he told supporters, "I've seen the promised land. I may not get
there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the promised
land." The next day, while standing on a balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel, Martin
Luther King Jr. was struck by a sniper's bullet (Martin Luther King Jr. Biography). This section
talks about how MLK prepared the people for his great movement. This talks about how he died
and how he died. Its shows he was a honorable person and died for a great cause. the person who
killed him was named James Earl Ray. No one is sure why he decided to Kill MLK but they do
know he was known for some small crimes and lived a hard life. One thing I would like to

further explore would be his religious life as a priest.

This graph shows Segregation from 1890 to 2010, and how it changed over time. During
the time of 1950-1960, segregation was very common in America. Nowadays, segregation has
decreased majorly. (Desilver, Kings I have a dream speech, by the numbers).

Another great leader was John F. Kennedy, he was the 35th president of the United
States. He wouldve most likely had a second term, if he hadnt been shot. Kennedy was
campaigning for his second term in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963 and he was driving in
an open-top convertible. Sitting beside his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy, he was shot by Lee
Harvey Oswald, who was supposedly sitting at his apartment. It is not proven that Oswald was
Kennedys murderer, but all evidence points to it. For example, when the police was going after
him, he shot one of them and killed them. This shows that Oswald knew he did something
wrong, but even if he didnt, he should've gone to jail anyways, since he just killed a police
officer. John F. Kennedys family and the rest of the United States was affected. To answer the
question, How did assassinations of Leaders around the world affect the people of the United
States, Kennedys death had one main impact on the people of the United States, sadness.
People were crying and mourning Kennedys death. There is no reason for anybody to be happy
about his death, except for the fact of people not wanting 24 years of the Kennedy family
running our country (John F. Kennedy Assassinated) John F. Kennedy had three brothers, Robert

F. Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, and Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Joseph died serving in World War II on
August 12, 1944. John was not the only one of his brothers to run for president, Robert and Ted
also ran for president. Robert ran for president in 1968, but, like his brother, was assassinated.
In 1980, Ted ran for president, but didnt make it far. This was because he had made poor
decisions since his brothers deaths. One example is a car crash he was in and he didnt die, but
another person did, which left a bad mark on Ted (Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.). That is why most
people didnt vote for him. A lot of people think that if he didnt make poor decisions, he
wouldve became president and had two terms. Also, people think he wouldnt have made poor
decisions if his brothers werent assassinated. Many people thought John was going to have two
terms and many people thought the same for Robert. If they havent been assassinated, Ted
wouldnt have made poor decisions and he wouldve most likely had two terms too. That would
be 24 straight years of the Kennedy family running the United States of America. All that was
ruined by the assassinations. It is hard to think about how it would be like if America had 2
decades and a half of one family being our president (Life of John F. Kennedy). John F. Kennedy
was born on May 29, 1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts. He had three brothers: Joseph P.
Kennedy, Robert F, Kennedy, and Edward M. Kennedy. Joseph died in World War II at age 29.
Robert was Johns attorney general before John was assassinated. Robert was assassinated in
1968 at age 42 while running for president. Edward, people called him Ted, died of cancer in
2009 at age 77. Johns father was the oldest son of Patrick J. Kennedy, who was a politician and
Johns mother was the daughter of John F. Fitzgerald, who was the mayor of Boston. John ran
for president in 1960 and won as a democrat. Unfortunately, he was assassinated on November
22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas (Life of John F. Kennedy). Prior knowledge was put into presentation
and good questions made it easier to research to find out more about John F. Kennedy and his

life. At first, it was hard to find good facts about John F. Kennedy, but then it was narrowed
down to certain words which made it easier to find good information. The book, Kennedy
Assassinated, helped in finding out more about Kennedy. It also showed the point of view of a
regular person and how he felt. The book was the most interesting source because it was written
by a regular person and it showed how he was impacted by Kennedys death. The practical
problem in finding good information about Kennedy was the websites. Most of them were not
credible, but there were also some credible ones with a lot of information. The problem was
easily solved by being able to figure out which sites were credible and which ones were not.
Only the credible websites were used. At first. the questions used were like Who assassinated
who? and Why was this person assassinated? Those questions then changed into questions
like How did this assassination impact regular people? and How did this assassination impact
the killers or the victims family? These questions changed in a good way because they got
deeper into the assassination and helped solve some of the questions.

One interesting thing about the Kennedy family is that three out of four of the brothers
ran for president. John F. Kennedy became the 35th president of the united states and got shot
while running for his second term. He most likely wouldve had a second term which wouldve
been eight years of Kennedy being our president. About five years later, Robert F. Kennedy ran
for president, but he also got assassinated. He wouldve most likely gotten two terms if he
wasnt killed which wouldve been sixteen years of the Kennedy brothers being our president. In
1980, Ted Kennedy ran for president, but a lot of people disliked him because of the poor choices
he made, which caused him to lose the presidential race. Ted Kennedy most likely wouldnt had
made those poor decisions if his brother werent killed and he wouldve most likely had two
terms of presidency also. That would be 24 straight years of the Kennedy family running our

country. If people really think about that, its astonishing. 24 years of United States history
wouldve been different if the two assassins hadnt made the choice they made (John F. Kennedy
Presidential Library & Museum). Another interesting topic is Johns assassin, Lee Harvey
Oswald. Oswald didnt confess that he was the killer, but all the evidence points to it. When a
police officer went up to Oswald. Oswald shot him. This shows that Oswald knew that he did
something wrong, killing the president. Even if Oswald didnt assassinated Kennedy, he still
wouldve been arrested, since he just killed a police officer. Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby
while Oswald was being transported to a different jail. Its hard to think about what wouldve
happened to the United States if big and little things happened differently (A&E Television
Networks). What if John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy werent assassinated? What if
there were 24 years of one family running our country? What if Jack Ruby hadnt shot Lee
Harvey Oswald? Would Oswald have escaped prison and killed other people? There are a lot of
questions that can never be answered, but, in the end, the United States ended up with great
leaders who impacted the this country tremendously, such as Martin Luther King Jr. In the end,
famous leaders around the world affected people in the United States positively and negatively.
One example of how the effects were positive is Martin Luther King Jr. His death motivated
African American to fight for civil rights and equality. One example of how the effects were
negative is John F. Kennedy. When he was shot, the country was out of control until Lyndon B.
Johnson, Kennedys vice president, became president. Other questions that could be explored
are What reasons are there for someone to want to kill another person, and What do people
feel like when someone they liked or disliked was killed?

Like John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy was shot. Robert was born on November 20,
1925. His parents Rose and Joseph had seven other children one John F kennedy the future

president of the United States. The Kennedy family moved to Britain when Joseph was named
the ambassador of Britain. They then moved back when world war two threatened to come over
to Britain. Robert applied to Harvard after going to Milton Academy prep. After that his brother
Joseph died from world war two. Then Kennedy joined the navy. In 1946, he then when back to
harvard and got a degree in government. Later that year he fell in love with his sisters
roommate Ethel Skakel later to be his wife. A while after graduating, Kennedy joined the U.S.
Department of Justices Criminal Division in 1951. Later in his life he worked for senator
McCLellan and found uncovered the corruption from union leader Jimmy Hoffa. On blank blank
blank Ethel and Robert got married. They then had eleven children. Soon after Kennedy very
own brother became the US president. Robert then became JFK's closest advisor. While JFK was
in car he was shot the soon died. After JFKs death kennedy resigned. A year later he was elected
the senator of New York. Sirhan Sirhan then killed him while campaigning for the presidential
election. On June 5, 1968, following his victory speech at the California Democratic Primary at
the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, Kennedy was shot several times by gunman Sirhan
Sirhan. He died the next day at age 42, his promising presidential administration over before it
began. The last of Kennedys 11 children was born six months after his untimely passing.
Robert Kennedy Biography by Bio. This talks about how he died and what was happening while
he died. After asking our alternative source Mr. Stougard about the Kennedy family he said the
family was liked so after searching it turns out the same website had a biography about Sirhan
Sirhan and he was opposed to Kennedys idea of supporting Israel in the 1967 war. It is based on
research brought up Sirhan Sirhan might have been afraid that Kennedy would become President
and carry out his idea for supporting Israel. Therefore he may have assassinated him thinking
that was his only way for stopping Kennedy from being elected. According to Bio. Sirhan is still

alive and is serving his life sentence in jail after being sentenced guilty of murder. I would like to
know a little about his school life.

Another leader who was assassinated was Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12,
1809 in Kentucky.. Lincoln was originally a lawyer and he earned his nickname, Honest Abe.
After his terms as a lawyer, Lincoln was elected on to the House of Representatives on 1846.
He was then elected as president of the United States in the year 18. The Civil War soon was in
effect as Abraham Lincoln was shown to be a smart strategist helping the north to ending
slavery. He was soon later assassinated in 1865 at Fords theater by John Wilkes Booth. The
country responded quickly to this action and began a massive manhunt for John Wilkes Booth.
A bounty for the assassin was soon placed on his head for his capture or death. The country
was soon in chaos due to the murdering of people who looked similar to the assassin. The real
John Wilkes Booth was found in a log cabin by law enforcers in the area. The assassin was soon
found guilty of his crimes and was hanged on July 7th, 1865. A lot of people would like to know
what was the purpose behind the assassination and what was the United States course of action
after the assassination of the president of the United States of America.
Many people look up to a president or a leader because of something that that leader has
done that has changed their life for the better. All of the people in this research project are well
known as good people and have done something to shape the way life is today. When the
president dies, the next person in line to become president is the vice president. This means the
people the voted for the original president that got assassinated may or may not like this new
president and they way he does things. For example, Lyndon Baines Johnson became the
president after Kennedy's assassination, which conveniently most people were happy with.

There are other questions that would be interesting to explore about assassinations. One of them
would be, Why did the assassins decide to assassinate this person? Although, that question
would be hard to answer since there would need to be a lot of evidence from the assassin.
Another question could be, Where would the assassinated person have been if he/she wasnt
assassinated? That would also be difficult to answer since there would need to be a lot of
evidence for why they ended up in a certain way.
In conclusion, finding more credible and more informational is one way that shows
improvement in finding information and how to check if a website is credible or not. Developing
as researchers was a big key in this project. Before making a research paper and presentation, the
thought of it never occurred. Now, making a research paper and presentation is easy and well
know. Unlike now, making a topic question and subquestions were a confusing topic. Now it is
easy and clear. Organizing an outline for the research paper and taking more time on the project
are some improvements expected to make on the next project. Learning how each and every
leader improved America and learning how the leaders changed history, brought many thoughts
on if they did not do the things they did, how would America act and how would it be like.
Feeling happy about what you have and feeling happy that you are alive are two things anyone
should be happy about after learning about the many leaders that were assassinated.

Bibliography

"Assassinated Presidents." For Kids ***. Web. 06 Mar. 2016

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2016.
"KENNEDY, Robert Francis - Biographical Information." KENNEDY, Robert Francis Biographical Information. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2016.
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Martin Luther King Jr. Biography. Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.
"Mohandas Gandhi." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2016.
"The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum." The Beatles Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar.
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"Were the Kennedy's Hated?" Interview by Mr. Staugaard.