PRESIDENT-ELECT'S WOULD-BE ASSASSIN ARRESTED
West Palm Beach, Florida (JFK+50) On December 15, 1960, Richard Paul Pavlick*, a 73 year old retired postal worker, was arrested here in West Palm Beach for plotting to kill President-elect John F. Kennedy.
Pavlick's plan was to drive his dynamite-laden car into JFK's limousine, but fortunately before that could be done, police officer Lester Free saw Pavlick drive his vehicle across the dividing line. Free stopped and searched Pavlick's car and found seven dynamite sticks along with "spools of wire and a homemade detonation device."
Richard Pavlick was later declared legally insane and would be institutionalized until December 13, 1966.
Secret Service Chief U.E. Baughman** said...
"The closeness of the call was appalling."
*Richard Paul Pavlick (1887-1975) was born in Belmont, NH & worked as a postmaster until his retirement. RPP died at the VA Hospital in Manchester, N.H.
**Urbanus Edward Baughman (1905-1978) was chief of the United States Secret Service 1948 to 1961 serving under Presidents Truman, Eisenhower & Kennedy.
SOURCES
"Near Miss: JFK Assassination Attempt in 1960," by Steve B. Davis, Writings and Wramblings, www.stamperdad.wordpress.com/
"The Kennedy Assassin Who Failed," by Dan Lewis, December 6, 2012, www.smithsonian.com/
