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History: 4 members of Congress assassinated, 10 killed in office

Posted Jan 10, 2011

Dylan Smith
TucsonSentinel.com

More than 60 members of Congress have died in office of something other than natural causes.

Most were killed in automobile or plane crashes, while some committed suicide, according to a 2002 Congressional Research Service report.

Only four Congress members have been assassinated. At least 10 were killed while in office:

Rep. Leo J. Ryan (D-Calif.) died from gunshot wounds received while visiting Rev. Jim Jones' religious commune in Guyana on Nov. 18, 1978.
Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.) was assassinated on June 6, 1968.
Sen. Huey Long (D-La.) was assassinated. Shot Sept. 8, 1935, and died two days later.
Rep. John McPherson Pinckney (D-Texas) was assaulted and killed on April 24, 1905.
Rep. James Hinds (R-Ark.) was assassinated on Oct. 22, 1868.
Rep. Cornelius Springer Hamilton (R-Ohio) was killed on Dec. 22, 1867, by his insane son.
Sen. Edward Dickinson Baker (R-Ore.) was killed on Oct. 21, 1861, in the Battle of Ball's Bluff during the Civil War.
Sen. David Colbreth Broderick (D-Calif.) wounded in a duel on Sept. 13, 1859, and died three days later.
Rep. Johnathan Cilley (D-Maine) was killed on Feb. 24, 1838, in a duel with Rep. William J. Graves of Kentucky.
Rep. Spencer Darwin Pettis (D-Mo.) died Aug. 28, 1931, in a duel with Major Thomas Biddle, who also died.

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