Presidential assassination: an American problem.

Assassinations of Heads of State of foreign countries have usually been carried out by organized political groups seeking to overthrow the government or change its policies. In the United States, on the other hand, Presidential assassinations and threats and gestures of assassination have been the work of mentally disturbed individuals. The only exception is the attack on Blair House in 1950, by Puerto Rican nationalists attempting to assassinate President Harry S. Truman. The nationalists claimed that the United States was illegally occupying their country and that the purpose of the act was to call the world's attention to the cause of Puerto Rican independence.