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HT This Day: Nov 2, 1950 -- Daring attempt to enter Blair House
Three men were shot today while attempting to enter Blair House, the residence of President Truman
Three men were shot today while attempting to enter Blair House, the residence of President Truman. The area round about Blair House was thrown into wild confusion as secret servicemen shot down three men who had opened fire on them. President Truman was in Blair House at the time. President Truman is using Blair House as his Washington residence while the White House is being redecorated. One of the assailants fell, shot through the chest, on the steps of Blair House. Another was shot a few yards away.
The scene of confusion was seen by a Reuter correspondent who arrived there a few seconds after the shooting Blair House is almost opposite the White House. A third man seen by the Reuter correspondent was covered with blood and appeared to be dead. Ambulances arrived with a screaming of sirens from several nearby hospitals and police stations.
The man shot on the steps of Blair House was bleeding profusely from the chest and head but was still breathing.
Secret servicemen, White House guards and police arrived in large numbers but found difficulty in controlling the crowds which gathered on Pennsylvania Avenue between Blair House and the White House opposite.
The shooting took place as president Truman was preparing to leave B1air House for Arlington cemetery to attend the unveiling ceremony of a memorial to the F-M Sir John Dill, head of the British Military Mission to Washington in the last war, who died in 1944.
