John F. Schrank



John Flammang Schrank (1876-1943) was a saloon-keeper from New York, best known for his attempt to assassinate former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Background
Schrank was born in Bavaria, and emigrated to America at the age of 13. His parents died soon after, and Schrank came to work for his uncle, a New York tavern owner and landlord. Upon their deaths, Schrank's aunt and uncle left him these valuable properties, from which it was expected he could live a quiet and peaceful life. But Schrank was heartbroken, having now lost not only his second set of parents, but his first and only girlfriend, in a ferry accident in New York's East River.

Schrank sold the properties, and drifted around the East Coast for years. He became profoundly religious, and a fluent Bible scholar whose debating skills were well-known around his neighborhood's watering holes and public parks. He wrote spare and vivid poetry. He spent a great deal of time walking around city streets at night. He caused no documented trouble.

Assassination attempt
It is unclear when his interest in domestic politics so flared that he would attempt to kill Roosevelt. It is known that he was a staunch opponent of a sitting President's ability to seek a third term in office.

Schrank did shoot Roosevelt, but the bullet lodged in Roosevelt's chest only after hitting both his steel eyeglass case and a copy of his speech he was carrying in his jacket. Roosevelt declined suggestions that he go to the hospital, and delivered his scheduled speech. He spoke vigorously for ninety minutes. His opening comments to the gathered crowd were, "I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose." Afterwards, doctors determined that he was not seriously wounded and that it would be more dangerous to attempt to remove the bullet than to leave it in his chest. Roosevelt carried it with him until he died.

He claimed, later, that he had nothing against the man himself, and he did not intend to kill 'the citizen Roosevelt', but rather 'Roosevelt, the third termer.' He claimed to have shot Roosevelt as a warning to other third termers, and claimed further that it was the ghost of William McKinley that told him to perform the act.

Doctors soon examined him and reported that he was suffering from 'insane delusions, grandiose in character' and they declared Schrank to be insane.

While millions of Americans wanted him executed, Schrank lived on in the Central State Mental Hospital in Waupun, Wisconsin, for 31 more years. In 1940, John learned that Theodore's cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was going to run (successfully) for a third term. Schrank's health began to fail and he died on September 16, 1943 - 67 years of age. A year later, FDR was elected a fourth time by a substantial margin.

Documents
While John F. Schrank was incarcerated, he wrote several letters to the doctor he was consulting at the Mental Hospital, Dr. Adin Sherman. The University of North Carolina at Wilmington possesses twenty of them. The letters are dated between 1914 - 1918 and document the correspondence. The accession number in the Manuscripts Collection is 148.