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Reflections on A Contagion of Assassination *
Author(s) -
Rothstein David A.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
suicide and life‐threatening behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.544
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1943-278X
pISSN - 0363-0234
DOI - 10.1111/j.1943-278x.1973.tb00978.x
Subject(s) - abdication , politics , criminology , psychoanalysis , history , interpersonal communication , psychology , law , social psychology , political science
Intrapsychic factors and events in close interpersonal relationships are supplemented by events in the political climate which can affect a potential assassin so as to lower his defenses against homicidal assassination impulses and facilitate or precipitate an overt act. Such events can include another assassination, a natural death, or an abdication of a president or leader. The “contagious” nature of killing is discussed with respect to previous and recent assassinations. The paper explores the potential effects upon James Earl Ray of President Johnson's “abdication” speech, upon Lee Harvey Oswald of the assassination of President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam, and upon Arthur Bremer of President Nixon's Vietnam escalation speech.