French President Charles de Gaulle escapes assassination, August 22, 1962
De Gaulle is virtually untouchable inside the Élysée Palace, where he lives and works. But terrorists of the Organisation de l’armée secrète, waiting in ambush in the suburb of Petit Clamart, open fire on the limousine in which de Gaulle and his wife were riding. One hundred and fifty-seven shots were fired. Fourteen bullets struck the car, puncturing two tires, but de Gaulle’s driver skillfully steered to safety. The leader of the assassination plot, Jean Bastien-Thiry, a disgruntled former air force officer, will be convicted and become the last man in France to be shot by a firing squad.