Campaigning in Milwaukee in 1912, he was shot by an anti-third term fanatic. Biographer Nathan Miller recounts, 'He'd once been told when he was in the army to [try to] cough up blood to see if he'd been wounded internally.... He did not cough up blood, so he knew that it was not a very serious wound. He immediately demanded to be taken to the hall...and stood for ninety minutes giving the speech while he had a bullet in his chest...)