American history is trenched with political violence, from Lincoln to Kennedy to Martin Luther King some of the greatest leaders of our country have been murdered by passionate partisans or the archetypal unstable lone gunman. But the list of US congressmen who have been victims of assassination attempts is actually surprisingly short. In fact, the recent attempt on Congresswomanâs Gabrielle Gifford is only the fifth such assassination attempt on a politician serving in Congress. According to William Browning writing for Yahoo news, The official records of the House of Representatives mark four other times in which Congressmen were severely hurt or killed by violence. Here's a brief look at other attempts upon the lives of members of Congress.