Fact check: Donald Trump Jr. retelling of Teddy Roosevelt surviving gunshot in Milwaukee Mostly True

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., referenced it during his Wednesday night speech at the convention, broadcast to millions of viewers across the country.

“At a political rally less than one 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.

Let’s dig in.

Roosevelt shot before speech; copy of remarks, glasses case slowed bullet

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.

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 while 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 prior to 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.

Our ruling

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 mid-rally, 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.

That fits here.

Sources

USA TODAY, “Trump wounded at rally in assassination attempt; gunman killed,” July 13, 2024

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “When Teddy Roosevelt survived a shooting and assassination attempt in Milwaukee,” July 14, 2024

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Donald Trump Jr. full speech at RNC, campaigns for father for president in 2024,” July 17, 2024

Library of Congress blogs, “The Pocket Items That Saved the Life of Theodore Roosevelt,” July 30, 2019

History.com, “How Teddy Roosevelt Crafted an Image of American Manliness,” July 6, 2018

Washington Post, “‘Manly’ Teddy Roosevelt survived a gunshot. Trump backers seek to tap his image,” July 16, 2024

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Donald Trump Jr. mostly true on claim about Teddy Roosevelt shooting