Trump Jr. mostly right on story about Teddy Roosevelt getting shot in Milwaukee

When former President Donald Trump arrived in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention, comparisons to the plight of another storied former president were plentiful. 

Trump, the GOP nominee to take on President Joe Biden this fall, flew to Wisconsin after a rally in Pennsylvania during which he was shot in the ear with a bullet that was meant to take his life. 

More than a century ago, former Republican President Teddy Roosevelt was visiting Milwaukee for a rally when he was shot and injured in an assassination attempt. 

That attempted assassination isn’t very well known, but it’s been a talking point at the convention this week as conservatives seek to tie Trump to Roosevelt, who carefully cultivated a manly image. 

Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., referred to it during his Wednesday night speech at the convention, broadcast to millions of viewers across the country. 

"At a political rally less than 1 mile from where we stand tonight, Teddy Roosevelt was struck by a would-be assassin’s bullet," Trump Jr. said. "But he didn’t quit, either. He finished his speech and kept fighting." 

Trump Jr. has the general idea right, but is off on a few details — which make the story of what happened to Roosevelt all the more interesting.

Roosevelt was touring the Midwest when he visited Milwaukee in 1912, campaigning for a third term as president because he was unhappy with the work of then-President William Howard Taft, according to a Library of Congress article on the incident.

He arrived in the city Oct. 14, 1912. He dined at the Gilpatrick Hotel — now the site of the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee — then set out to head to the Milwaukee Auditorium, now Miller High Life Theatre, to give his speech. 

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Joe Biden

stated on July 13, 2024 in a statement to the media

“The idea that there’s political violence or violence in America like this is just unheard of.”

Outside the hotel, he was shot by a man named John Schrank from New York City, who had followed Roosevelt through several states to attempt to kill him. Roosevelt fell back and the bullet pierced his chest, according to the Library of Congress article — but not before it was slowed by a metal eyeglasses case and a 50-page copy of his speech folded in half. 

After Schrank was taken into custody, Roosevelt was driven to the auditorium — about a block away — and delivered an hour-plus speech to the crowd with the bullet still inside him, using his bloodied shirt as a symbol of his resilience. He was then rushed to the hospital. 

So, although Trump was actively delivering his speech at a rally when he was shot, Roosevelt wasn’t in the exact same situation, as Trump Jr. claimed. He was shot before his speech and decided to give it anyway. (Granted, the security procedures for protecting a former president after an assassination attempt were likely much different in 1912 than they are today.) 

The attempt on Roosevelt’s life was one event that shaped his image as a "self-made cowboy soldier," History.com describes, who "embodied a new ideal of manliness." 

Republicans have been pitching themselves for years as "the party of manliness, the alphas, of the tough ones," American University assistant professor of public communications Kurt Braddock told The Washington Post. Drawing parallels between Trump and Roosevelt, Braddock said, feeds that idea. 

Trump Jr., in connecting the attempted assassination of his father to the one of Roosevelt in Milwaukee in 1912, said Roosevelt was struck at a political rally, "finished his speech and kept fighting." 

It wasn’t midrally, as happened to Trump, but Roosevelt certainly did press on, cementing a forceful image of himself that Trump supporters seek to have the public remember.

Our definition of Mostly True is a statement that is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. 

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