Author and CNN contributing writer Bob Greene gives us a look into an earlier attempt on the life of President – then President-elect – John F. Kennedy in an on-line story today. He tells of the New Hampshire postal clerk who planned to kill JFK in Florida in December, 1960:

From an Associated Press dispatch, December 16, 1960, dateline West Palm Beach, Florida:

“A craggy-faced retired postal clerk who said he didn’t like the way John F. Kennedy won the election is in jail on charges he planned to kill the president-elect.

“Richard Pavlick, 73, was charged by the Secret Service with planning to make himself a human bomb and blow up Kennedy and himself.”

Events of the day including  a horrific collision of two airplanes over New York City that killed 134 people, let the Pavlik story slip under the radar. After stalking the president in Hyannisport, Georgetown and Palm Beach, it was his first attempt in a car loaded with dynamite that nearly robbed the country of its 35th President. The attempt on December 11th was aborted because Kennedy left for Sunday Mass that morning in Palm Beach accompanied by Jackie, Caroline and John, Jr.  Pavlik did not want to hurt the Jackie or the children.

By the next attempt on December 15th, the Secret Service had been alerted by a New Hampshire postmaster about some disturbing postcards sent by Pavlik. The course of history was changed.

Read Greene’s article with his observations about the incidents and the interesting New Hampshire connections here on CNN Opinion.