Video: 'Ultimate Guide to the Presidents- Andrew Jackson Fights Off Assassin'

(Friday, January 30, 1835) — In what is believed to be the first attempt to kill a sitting President of the United States, unemployed house painter Richard Lawrence aimed two pistols at President Andrew Jackson today just outside the Capitol Building in Washington, but both misfired.

Lawrence was apprehended after Jackson beat him severely with his cane. Lawrence was found not guilty by reason of insanity and confined to a mental institution until his death in 1861.