Video: 'News Coverage of Pres. Truman Assassination Attempt'

(Wednesday, November 1, 1950, 2:15 p.m. EST) — Quick-shooting White House guards cut down two militant Puerto Rican pro-independence activists this afternoon as they attempted to assassinate President Harry S. Truman.

Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo, aware that Truman was staying at the Blair House while the White House was undergoing repairs, attacked the residence at 1651 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. in Washington, D.C.

Collazo tried to break in through the front door, and shot U.S. Capitol police officer Donald Birdzell in the knee, but was wounded by three other Secret Service agents.

Torresola fired multiple shots at White House police officer Leslie Coffelt and mortally wounded him, but Coffelt returned fire and killed Torresola instantly. Coffelt died several hours later.

Video: 'Assassination Attempt on President Harry Truman by Puerto Rican Nationalists, November 1, 1950'

Taking his usual afternoon nap, Truman, 66, was roused by the burst of gunshots. He looked down from an upstairs bedroom but was unarmed in the attack.

Just 35 minutes after the attack, Truman departed Blair House for Arlington National Cemetery, where he would speak at ceremonies at the grave of British Field Marshal Sir John Dill.

Collazo would be sentenced to death, but Truman would commute his sentence to life imprisonment.

On September 6, 1979, Collazo would be released after his sentence was altered to time served by U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and pass away on Feb. 21, 1994.