Two assassins tried to kill Harry S. Truman outside the White House
After learning that the October 30 insurrection had failed, Nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo in New York City devised a plan to assassinate President Harry S. Truman in order to draw attention to the Puerto Rican independence movement and the government's repression of the disturbances. They knew that while the White House was being repaired, Truman was residing at the Blair House. They anticipated that the action would increase awareness of Puerto Rico's independence movement.
The two stood outside Blair House, where Truman and his family were residing while the White House underwent renovations, both holding pistols. Blair House is located across the street from the White House. Following a shootout, a guard shot and killed Torresola but later passed away from his injuries. Collazo was shot, but he lived, and Truman eventually commuted his death sentence to life in prison (President Carter would later commute that sentence, too, and Collazo was released in 1979). At the start of the argument, Truman was dozing off upstairs; when he awoke and walked to the window, someone yelled at him to get down.
The two men understood that their endeavor was almost suicidal and that they would probably die as a result. Torresola, a proficient marksman, showed Collazo how to load and use the firearms they would be using because he had experience with other kinds. In order to scout the area, they rode the train from New York to Washington, DC. They began their operations on November 1st, 1950.
Nationalists from Puerto Rico attempted to topple the island's government two days before the attempted killing. Numerous communities experienced uprisings, including Jayuya, the hometown of the two would-be assassins and where their families currently reside. Truman backed a plebiscite in Puerto Rico in 1952 in recognition of the problems with the island's status. The continuation of Puerto Rico as a Free Associated State of the United States received 81.9 percent of the vote. Collazo was condemned to death after being found guilty in federal court, but Truman commuted the sentence to life in prison. Jimmy Carter commuted Collazo's sentence to time served in 1979, and Collazo was then freed.
