Samuel Byck

Samuel Byck

Interment Location Visited  
Glenolden, PA February 18, 2024  

Photographed February 18, 2024.

Richard Nixon’s presidency would end prematurely in 1974. That is how Samuel Byck correctly saw it. Though, if he had his way, Nixon would not have resigned that August; he would not have lived that long. For on February 22, 1974, Byck tried to kill the president of the United States. The incident was adapted to the screen in the 2004 film The Assassination of Richard Nixon. Byck (whose name is spelled as “Bicke” in the movie) is played by Sean Penn.

Samuel Byck held a series of jobs after his 1956 discharge from the U.S. Army, including that of tire salesman. Prone to depression, his wife divorced him by 1972 and received custody of their four children. A few years prior, the Small Business Administration rejected his application for a $20,000 loan. Byck was “convinced that his inability to find economic success was a direct result ‘of a corrupt, constitution-subverting political regime in Washington'” and that the denial of his application was, author James Clarke writes, “simply another example – indeed, further evidence – of the injustice and dishonesty that characterized the Nixon Administration.” As Byck’s fixation on the president ballooned, he was photographed wearing a sign with the text, “Impeach Nixon Now! Before Inflation Drives The Cost Of Impeachment Sky-High! Had Enough Inflation, Impeach — The Inflator!” On Christmas Eve 1973, he protested outside the White House dressed as Santa Claus. At some point, Byck determined that his demonstrations would not get the results he wanted. He escalated his thoughts from protesting to assassinating. The method: hijacking an airplane and crashing it into the White House.

Photographed February 18, 2024.
Photographed February 18, 2024.

In the early morning hours of February 22, 1974, Byck mailed to Washington Post journalist Jack Anderson a tape recording which detailed his “Operation Pandora’s Box.” A few hours later, shortly after 7:00 a.m., he arrived at Baltimore/Washington International Airport, 30 miles northeast of the nation’s capital. On his person he had a briefcase which contained an improvised gasoline bomb. Under his raincoat he concealed a .22 pistol, which he stole from a friend. Byck strode to the front of the line at Gate C, where customers were queued to board DC-9 Delta Air Lines Flight 523 to Atlanta, Georgia. Maryland Aviation Administration policeman George Neal Ramsburg was facing away from Byck, who shot him twice in the back. As would-be passengers fled, Byck hopped over the security chain and made his way into the airplane. After firing a bullet in the cabin, he entered the open cockpit, where pilot Reese Douglas Loftin and co-pilot Fred Jones were stationed. “Fly this plane out of here!” Byck barked. Loftin explained that the ground crew had not yet removed the wheel blocks, and it was not possible to back the aircraft away from the gate yet. Angered, Byck shot Jones in the stomach and screamed at Loftin, “The next one will be in the head!” Erratic, he went back into the cabin and grabbed a passenger, ordering her to help Loftin fly the plane. Soon more shots were fired — some by Byck, and some by Anne Arundel County police. One bullet pierced Byck’s stomach. A second entered his chest. He fell to the ground, fumbled for his gun, and turned it on himself. Byck ended three lives that day — Ramsburg’s, Jones’s, and his own — but not the president’s.

As I turned left into Mount Jacob Cemetery to visit the grave of this flight-related criminal, I came across a turkey vulture perched atop a gravestone just inside the entrance. Although it hopped onto the next monument over when I lowered my window to take a video and photos, the avian appeared rather unbothered by my presence.

Photographed February 18, 2024.

Fast Facts

Born: January 30, 1930 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Spouse: Unknown (m. 1957-ca. 1972)

Military Branch: U.S. Army

Died: February 22, 1974 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland

Cause of Death: Gunshot Wound

Age: 44

Last Words: “Help me.”

Interment: Mount Jacob Cemetery, Glenolden, Pennsylvania

"If I had the power to give everyone something, I'd get them to give a damn."
- Samuel Byck
December 24, 1973, while dressed as Santa Claus outside the White House in Washington, D.C.

Sources Consulted and Further Reading

IMDb. “The Assassination of Richard Nixon.” Accessed February 20, 2024. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364961/.

New York Times. “Hijacker Had Picketed White House.” February 24, 1974. https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/24/archives/hijacker-had-picketed-white-house-condition-is-grave.html.

Oliver, Willard M., Nancy E. Marion, and Joshua B. Hill. Introduction to Homeland Security: Policy, Organization, and Administration. 2nd ed. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2021. https://books.google.com/books?id=iyCyDwAAQBAJ&dq=samuel+byck&source=gbs_navlinks_s.

Patterson, Hyrum Wright, “Playing Sam Byck: Analysis Of Text And Performance In Sondheim’s Assassins.” M.A. thesis. University of North Dakota, 2012. https://commons.und.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2267&context=theses.

Witkin, Richard. “HIJACKER KILLS 2 AND THEN HIMSELF.” New York Times. February 23, 1974. https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/23/archives/hijacker-kills-2-and-then-himself-police-at-baltimore-airport-shoot.html.

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