"MR. TRUMAN AWAKENED BY SOUND OF GUNFIRE"

WHITE HOUSE POLICE OFFICER KILLED IN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON PRESIDENT

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On November 1, 1950, an assassination attempt was made on President Harry S. Truman here in the Nation's Capital.

The President was taking an early afternoon nap on the second floor of the Blair House* on Pennsylvania Avenue when the sound of gunshots awakened him.  Mr. Truman went to the window to see what was going on, but secret service agents quickly moved him to safety.

Two armed Puerto Rican nationalists had walked in opposite directions down the sidewalk toward the Blair House gate when a gun battle ensued with presidential protective security.

White House police officer Leslie Coffelt was mortally wounded but was able to get of a shot off that killed Griselio Torresola.  The other Puerto Rican, Oscar Collazo, collapsed at the steps of Blair House with a bullet in his chest.

*The Blair House is known as the President's guest house.  It is located at 1651 Pennsylvania Avenue NW & has 4 floors & 119 rooms including 14 bedrooms & 35 bathrooms.  BH actually has more floor area than does the White House.  The Coffelt Memorial Room, dedicated in 1990, is located in the basement.

SOURCE

Harry S Truman Presidential Library and Museum, Independence, Missouri, www.trumanlibrary.gov 

 

 

The Blair House

Washington, D.C.

Photo by John White (2003) 

ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON TRUMAN

JFK+50:  Volume 5, No. 1761

TRUMAN ESCAPED ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT 65 YEARS AGO

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Sixty-five years ago this afternoon, November 1, 1950, President Harry S Truman escaped an assassination attempt as he was napping on the second floor of Blair House on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Two Puerto Rican nationalists, or "independistas", walked down the sidewalk toward Blair House from opposite directions.  The nationalists wanted full independence from the United States.

They had arrived in the Capital the day before on a train from New York City. The pair were armed with two 9mm semiautomatic pistols--a Luger and a Walther P-38.

On one of Washington's hottest days, the President was lounging at the Blair House which was his temporary residence while the White House was undergoing rennovations. 

At 2 p.m., the would-be assassins, who approached Blair House by walking down the sidewalk from different directions, became involved in a desperate gun battle with White House police officers and secret service agents. 

At one point, Truman, awakened from his nap, came to the window to see what was going on outside.  He was quickly ordered to take cover by agents.

One of the Puerto Ricans, identified as Griselio Torresola, was killed by Officer Leslie Coffelt, who himself was mortally wounded in the gun battle.  The other man, identified as Oscar Collazo, managed to reach the steps of Blair House before he collapsed from a bullet in the chest.

Collazo had fired 9 rounds from the P-38 with only 1 hit, while Torresola, who was killed by a shot in the ear, fired 8 rounds from the Luger.  He was attempting to reload when he was killed.

Two other police officers, Donald Birdzell and Joseph Downs, were wounded but survived.  Officer Coffelt died that afternoon from multiple gunshot wounds.  The Truman family had a single fresh red rose placed on his grave at Arlington every day. 

Oscar Collazo was found guilty of homicide on March 7, 1951.  He received the death penalty but that sentence was commuted to life in prison by President Truman.  In 1979, Collazo became a free man by the commutation of President Jimmy Carter.

SOURCES  

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, Independence, Missouri

True Crime:  Assassination, Editors of Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, 1994.

Blair House

Washington, D.C

Photo by John White (2003)