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Their mistakes, rather than their deadly accomplishments, made Secret Service men shudder. Collazo, who was charged with murder, admitted that neither man had any idea whether the President was at home when they arrived. Neither had been moved to read a line in Washington newspapers—if they had done so, they would have known that they could have had a free shot at the President when he left for Arlington, or when he spoke there.
It was just such irrational, unpredictable behavior that made the Secret Service's job so tough. A President need have little fear of cold, well-planned political murder, since the Government of the U.S. cannot be overthrown simply by killing the Chief Executive. But he is always a target for crackpots. Said Calvin Coolidge: "Any well-dressed man who is willing to die himself can kill the President of the United States." Of the nation's 32 Presidents, three—Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley—were murdered while in office, and assassins had tried to kill Andrew Jackson, and Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt.
Harry Truman, however, seemed unmoved by the assassination attempt; although extra guards accompanied him, he took his usual walk the next morning. Said he: "A President has to expect those things." To Admiral William Leahy he added: "The only thing you have to worry about is bad luck. I never have bad luck."