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Byck protesting with an anti-Nixon picket sign. (Getty Images)
Early Life & Upbringing
Born on January 30, 1930 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Samuel Byck was the first child born to Joseph and Elizabeth Byck, a poor Jewish couple. At the time, South Philadelphia was marked by its working class and immigrant communities, which greatly influenced Byck’s upbringing.
As the oldest of the three brothers, Byck had more responsibility in terms of supporting the family. He dropped out of school in the ninth grade to work full-time to support his younger siblings. The nature of his early employment is not well documented, but it is clear that his early deparcher from education had a profound effect on the young man. Assuredly, this deprivation of an education had a significant hand in shaping the resentment that would define his later years.
Family & Work Life
Byck’s life could be described as a spire of mounting disappointments. He briefly served in the U.S. Army before an honorable discharge in 1956. After that point, he married Marie Andersen. The couple shared four children, and Byck quickly found work as a tire salesman in a friend's shop to support his new, growing family. Byck gained valuable experience in the sales industry and began to imagine opening his own business. With the pitch of a mobile tire store, he developed a model centered on bringing the product directly to the customer, whether at grocery stores, parks, or from driveway to driveway.
The entrepreneurial pursuits met a significant roadblock when Byck applied for a small business loan. Despite rigorous preparation and thorough work to meet all of the bank requirements, his loan application was rejected. This denial effectively removed Byck’s business as a possibility.
Following the rejection, Byck’s personal life began to unravel. His marriage to Marie, already tense from their financial troubles, began to worsen. Byck’s depression over his rejected loan led him to neglect his wife and children. The couple separated and divorced in 1972 after nearly a decade of marriage. This new personal tragedy, along with the disappearance of the failed business, led to Byck’s struggle to hold onto work. Byck began to take on any sales positions he could find, but could not seem to regain his footing in the workplace.
Gaps In the Story
The story of Byck’s early life is littered with gaps and uncertainties, much like that of many from impoverished backgrounds. His story has been somewhat reassembled via scant available records, however, his childhood and family life are largely unknown.
Gaps in Byck’s story highlight the larger societal tendency to erase the history of the poor and marginalized. These missing pieces not only diminish our understanding of Byck as an individual but also reflect how history tends to prioritize those in positions of power and fame. The disenfranchised, impoverished, and radicalized are more often than not left to be lost by time.
Declining Mental Health
The decline of Byck’s mental health can be tracked via the documented psychiatric interventions he required after his crises. In 1972, Byck faced his first hospitalization in a facility in Camden, New Jersey. Hospital records noted that he was in a very agitated state upon his arrival, expressing suicidal ideation and hyper-fixated on his recent failures. After a two-month stay, he was released but was inconsistent with his new medications, as well as his follow-up appointments with physiatrists.
By early 1973, Byck’s mental state had deteriorated even further, sending him to a second hospitalization. According to hospital records, this second stay was triggered by “increasingly paranoid behavior.” Hospital staff noted rapid mood swings, grandiose perceptions of his importance, and conspiracy theories over why he had been systematically denied so many opportunities.
Radicalization
Byck’s political radicalization started soon after his hospital stays. It was marked by a growing obsession with what he claimed was a systematic process of personal injustices placed against him. He held a brutal grudge against President Richard Nixon, whom he voted for, as he was angered by his refusal to deliver on campaign promises. Byck began to record his ramblings (listen to one below!), sending them to various public figures, including composer Leonard Bernstein and scientist Jonas Salk. Through these tapes, Byck would express his grievances in a seemingly rational tone that would gradually grow more angered and unstable.
Byck began to express increasingly hostile anti-Nixon sentiments, and while concerning, they did not quite cross any thresholds for legal action. He also began public demonstrations, often traveling to D.C. to picket alone in front of the White House. Byck would spend hours pacing the gate of the front lawn, carrying signs criticizing Nixon and big business. One Christmas Eve, Byck even dawned a Santa suit, carrying a sign reading: “All I want for Christmas Is my constitutional right."
When police question him about his increasingly erratic behavior, Byck demonstrated a chilling ability to placate and provide information that they want to hear. Byck presents himself to authorities as a passionate but ultimately peaceful protester, careful to avoid statements that could lead to criminal charges. But behind the calculated exterior, Byck meticulously documented his grievances and developed even more extreme views.
Planning
Byck's ultimate plan began to take shape in early 1974 and was inspired by Robert K. Preston, who had landed a stolen helicopter on the White House lawn just days before Byck would make his attempt on the president. Byck believed he could take over a commercial aircraft, take the pilots hostage at gunpoint, and force them to crash the plane into the Oval Office. Despite being legally prohibited from perching firearms due to his history of poor mental health, he managed to steal a .22 caliber revolver from a friend. Along with his firearm, Byck gathered the materials to make a makeshift bomb using two containers of gasoline tied to an igniter fuse.
Looking back at his proposed action, Byck seemed utterly unaware of the significant challenges his plan would present. Nonetheless, Byck continued. Over the days leading up to his attack, Byck continued to record his tapes, placing them in the mail and marking them to arrive to various public figures. Byck's final plan would occur on February 22-- the date itself was significant, being George Washington's birthday, but it remains unclear if this was a meaningful notion for Byck.
Assassination Attempt
At 7:00 PM, Byck arrived at Baltimore-Washington International Airport armed with his pistol, as well as extra ammunition. He chooses Delta Airlines flight 523, scheduled to fly to Altana. The flight chosen was not of any significance; rather, it was simply the next scheduled departure. He proceeded to shoot and kill Police Officer George Neal Ramsburg before storming onto the plane and into the cockpit. The pilots immediately took the threat seriously, and both agreed to cooperate with Byck's demands.
After an attempt to explain what protocols still needed to be completed before a talk-off could happen, Byck shot both pilots in frustration; one of them, Fred Jones, did not survive. An increasingly panicked Byck then chose a random passenger and demanded that they fly the plane.
Police officers managed to hit Byck's through the front glass with two bullets, significantly lowering his threat level. Two police officers were sent onboard, but by the time they arrived he had already shot himself in the head. Byck died shortly after, his final words were a desperate "help me" to the officers who had boarded the plane.
The cockpit of a DC-9, the model of plane Sam Byck attmepted to hijack. (TodayIFoundOut.com)
The movie poster of a 2004 film dramatizing Byck's life. (Wikipedia)
Why He Did It
Byck’s actions were a result of years of personal, professional, and mental collapse. In his eyes, Byck’s life was a processional of failures those of which he blamed on others, notably Richard Nixon. He developed immense parasocial relationships, truly believing that these people had some impact on his life and were responsible for his shortcomings. As the embodiment of his inability to succeeded.
Radicalization didn’t happen overnight. Initially, Byck’s frustrations were channeled into relatively passive forms of protest, whether picketing or writing letters to public figures, Byck did not begin by threatening violence. However, as his continued woes went ignored, Byck pushed and pushed until he believed he had no other option of being heard.
"I'm gonna drop a 747 on the White House and incinerate Dick Nixon.
It's gonna make the news."
Additional Resources
One of his tapes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHAWUby7V-A
Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKJ_XLaFPP0
Parasocial relationships: https://www.findapsychologist.org/parasocial-relationships-the-nature-of-celebrity-fascinations/
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