Description

On May 13, 1958, US vice president Richard Nixon's motorcade was attacked by a mob in Caracas, Venezuela, during Nixon's goodwill tour of South America. The event was described at the time as the "most violent attack ever perpetrated on a high American official while on foreign soil." Close to being killed while a couple of his aides were injured in the melee, Nixon ended up unharmed and his entourage managed to reach the U.S. embassy. The visit took place only months after the overthrow in January of Venezuelan dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez, who in 1954 had been awarded the Legion of Merit and was later granted asylum by the United States, and the incident was allegedly orchestrated by the Communist Party of Venezuela. U.S. Navy Admiral Arleigh Burke mobilized fleet and Marine units to the region, compelling the Venezuelan government to provide full protection to Nixon for the remainder of the trip.