Few are aware that would-be presidential assassins are anything but a rarity, and that's in part because most historians have overlooked or downplayed the many threats modern presidents have faced, and survived. Author Mel Ayton, an expert on the Kennedy assassination, sets the record straight in his new book "Hunting the President: Threats, Plots and Assassination Attempts-From FDR to Obama," telling the sensational story of largely forgotten-or never-before revealed-attempts to kill America's president. Supported by court records, newspaper archives, government reports, FBI files, and transcripts of interviews from presidential libraries, "Hunting the President" reveals: how an armed, would-be assassin stalked President Roosevelt and spent ten days waiting across the street from the White House for his chance to shoot him; how the Secret Service foiled a plot by a Cuban immigrant who told coworkers he was going to shoot LBJ from a window overlooking the president's motorcade route; how a deranged man broke into Reagan's California home and attempted to strangle the former president before he was subdued by Secret Service agents; how in early 1992 a mentally deranged man stalking President George H. W. Bush turned up at the wrong presidential venue for his planned assassination attempt; and, the relationships presidents held with their protectors and the effect it had on the Secret Service's mission. "Hunting the President" tells the dramatic story of how many of our commanders in chief have come within a hair's breadth of assassination.

The boss -- General -- Scorecard -- Lancer -- Volunteer -- Searchlight -- Passkey -- Deacon -- Rawhide -- Timberwolf -- Eagle -- Trailblazer -- Renegade -- Epilogue: notoriety and the "copycat effect".