In its relatively short history, America has spawned a unique breed of political assassin: mentally deranged loners who take out their failures and frustrations on public officials. Unlike religious fundamentalists and political extremists who tend to target politicians in the rest of the world, these Americans rarely kill in the name of ideology. Instead, forensic psychiatrist Park Dietz tells NEWSWEEK, they are "motivated by much more personal reasons." He adds, "the exact person who is harmed may be less relevant [to the assassin] than earning a place in history, or attacking symbolic targets." Here's a look at the country’s strange and sordid history of political assassins, whose aims are anything but political.
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