Talk:Giuseppe Zangara

[Untitled]
It's a minor point, but FDR was not President at the time of the assassination attempt, but President-elect. He had been elected the previous November, but inauguration did not occur until March.
 * by tradition once a person wins the election he is called Mr. President. --David.snipes (talk) 18:17, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

was zangara experienced with guns or wasn't he? both are stated here.

Another minor point: his last words as shown here are different than on Famous Last Words.

Leo44

Contradiction about number of fatalities (see Anton Cermak's own page)
This page claims that Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak was "the only fatality" of the shootings, and that others who were shot were only injured. But the current version of Anton Cermak's page claims that one other person, a woman, died from the shooting as well. A reference is given there, but it's to a book so I can't easily verify it.--Karl Fogel 19:29, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Zangara's gun skill
Zangara was a soldier of the Italian Army during WWI, but his experiences as an enlisted man, whatever they were, would have centered around a rifle. The pistol he used at Bayfront Park was purchased after he learned from newspapers that Roosevelt was arriving in Miami, and he had no practice with it. In short, he had experience with firearms, but not the sort of experience required. Reporters and police were very diligent about tracking down information on the gun Zangara used. I'd posit that, more than experience, he needed a great deal of luck. And few people have had more luckless lives than Joe Zangara. BUT in this article, the argument that Zangara was a skilled gunman is in the "conspiracy theory" section, where it belongs. Even Frank Freidel's multi-volume biography of FDR contains contains extensive notes on the conspiracy theories surrounding this event -- it's difficult to ignore them simply because they are so utterly preposterous and make such good reading.

Short time from crime to execution
I've often wondered how it came about that Zangara went through the entire legal process and was executed only two weeks after commiting the crime. I don't know the standards of the day, but it wasn't the Old West. What were the standards of the day in terms of time between conviction and execution, and how did Zangara's time compare? SnappingTurtle 22:30, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

Zangara pleaded guilty. No need to have a trial.Bellczar (talk) 08:17, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

References?
In the second paragraph there seems to be a lot of factual statements without any documentation. At no point does the author indicate how he/she knew of Zangara's "supernatual" belief in FDR causing his pain. What mental conditions did he suffer from? How did the author know that Zangara was flatulent? This is a highly opinionated piece with no sources. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 139.76.128.71 (talk) 19:42, 5 March 2007 (UTC).

yeah better yet where does the FBI blame his 'flatulence'

http://digital.library.miami.edu/gov/FDRAssn.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.136.66.222 (talk) 19:25, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

- As far as supernatural issues go, it's a weird coincidence that over his life he had this weird not well explained abdomen pain and then he killed the Chicago mayor with an abdomen wound. Rakovsky (talk) 06:30, 9 January 2024 (UTC)

Anarchist?
Did I miss something? I didn't catch any mention in the article of Zangara being an anarchist, yet he is included in the listing of "executed anarchists". If he is "known" to have been an anarchist then we should properly source that. It sounds (to me) more like the was just mentally deranged by his physical pain and irrationally blamed FDR for his problems. - Mark Dixon 22:42, 26 June 2007 (UTC)


 * I would have to agree. I've never heard of this person -- he is not mentioned in any of the standard histories of anarchism. I'm removing anarchist until someone provides some evidence that he was one. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.40.192.31 (talk) 11:20, 30 July 2009 (UTC)
 * It looks like the anarchist categories were re-added (without any mention in the article). Looking through the sources, there seems to be disagreement about whether Zangara was an anarchist. Although there are several conspiracy theories that branded Zangara as an anarchist, and although he apparently disliked "leaders of any kind", he didn't personally identify as an anarchist or belong to any anarchist groups. I'm going to re-remove the categories. Kaldari (talk) 17:39, 9 April 2018 (UTC)

Verify Dates
A document in possession of The Florida Archives, lists his conviction date as one day earlier than this article places the crime.

https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/166308 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ltfp (talk • contribs) 14:03, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

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Mortally wounded?
The page states Zangara mortally wounded Cermak, implying the bullet caused his death. But Cermak's page states he died of something different, and that the bullet wound had actually healed. Which is it?--1.126.104.196 (talk) 04:10, 21 November 2019 (UTC)

Joe?
I have not seen a sentence ever calling him Joe 174.242.206.207 (talk) 22:01, 14 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Good catch. Single edit by IP user w no sourcing some years back. Removing. Anastrophe (talk) 23:13, 14 March 2022 (UTC)

Far-fetched assumption, not backed by novel
I removed the assertion that in «  The Man in the High Castle », «  Zangara succeeded in assassinating President (rather than President-elect) Roosevelt sometime in 1934 ». In the novel no date is given for the event (neither 1933 nor 1934), but there is nothing to suggest that Dick meant it to take place at a different time and place than February 15, 1933 in Miami, and instead « sometime in 1934 ». In the novel the only reference to FDR assassination (attempted or successful), is in Chapter 5, and in the context of a discussion between Rita and Wyndam-Matson over the novel-within-the-novel « The Grasshopper Lies Heavy »  (addressing an alternate reality within the alternate reality of the novel). There Rita says: « If Joe Zangara had missed him, he would have pulled America out of the Depression […] », and two pages later even explicitly mentions the  real location: « Roosevelt isn’t assassinated in Miami ». It would be rather far-fetched to believe Dick had intended to have Zangara miss FDR at the very same place, Miami, but one year later, in 1934. Sapphorain (talk) 11:21, 14 May 2023 (UTC)

Zangara's attire
The photo shows Zangara at least shirtless, possibly wearing only a towel, but I can't find any explanation in the article. If there is a sourceable explanation, would someone please add it to the article? --Trovatore (talk) 01:03, 1 June 2024 (UTC)