History Notes Special: The John Lennon Assasination

On December 8, 1980, the legendary musician and former Beatle, John Lennon, was fatally shot outside his residence in Manhattan. The 40-year-old artist, known for his immense contribution to music and advocacy for peace, succumbed to gunshot wounds at the Roosevelt Hospital.

The incident occurred at approximately 10:50 p.m. as Mr. Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, returned to their residence at the Dakota, a luxury apartment building on the Upper West Side. As the couple stepped out of their vehicle and headed towards the entrance, a lone gunman approached, fired multiple rounds at close range, and then fled the scene.

Eyewitnesses recounted the moments that followed, describing the chaos and panic that erupted outside the Dakota building. Police were swiftly summoned, and Mr. Lennon was rushed to the hospital, where attempts to revive him proved futile. The suspect, identified as 25-year-old Mark David Chapman, was apprehended at the scene.

That day

Press interest in Lennon was still high as Christmas approached and Lennon and Ono took part in a photo shoot with Annie Leibovitz for Rolling Stone magazine at their apartment at the Dakota building, just opposite New York’s Central Park.

Lennon and Ono then gave an interview to San Francisco DJ Dave Sholin. In the chat, Lennon claimed that he was keen to play his new music live, having never properly toured as a solo artist. “I’m so hungry for making records because of the way I feel,” he told Sholin and his associates. “I wanna make some more records before I tour. So I’d like to make at least one more album before actually making that decision.”

John ended the discussion by signing an autograph for the DJ, adding “I’m a fan of people, too, you know? I like people to sign their books when they give ’em to me and all that…”

After the radio interview, Lennon and Ono left the Dakota around 5 pm for the Hit Factory, the studio situated across town. Yoko had recorded a song called Walking On Thin Ice. The session was scheduled to mix the record–John wanted to issue it before Christmas.

As the couple left the Dakota, they walked through the usual throng of fans that had started to congregate around the building in the Upper West Side of the city, ever since Lennon had started to become a public figure again. One of the fans offered a copy of the new album Double Fantasy and Lennon duly signed the sleeve.

That fan was Mark David Chapman.

Chapman said that he was motivated by fame. A Beatles fan since childhood, he became disillusioned with Lennon and the other Beatles because of how rich they’d become.

Mark Chapman was born in Texas, but in 1980 lived in Hawaii with his wife Gloria. Now 25 years old, he had been a Beatles fan as a teenager, but as a born-again Christian was angered by John Lennon’s claim in 1966 that the Liverpool band was “more popular than Jesus”.

His animosity towards the musician intensified once John started to appear in the media again in 1980. Chapman couldn’t understand that the man who preached “All You Need Is Love” was now living as a millionaire in New York.

Chapman traveled to the city in October 1980 to murder the former Beatle, but something changed his mind and he returned home. When Chapman traveled to New York again on 6 December with a .38 caliber revolver, nothing would prevent him from carrying out his mission.

Chapman left his belongings at a hotel together with a copy of a book by the American author J.D. Salinger, The Catcher In The Rye. The killer later said that the novel would form his “statement”: the book was first published in 1951 and concerns a troubled teenager called Holden Caulfield who rails against all the “phonies” he meets. The short novel has long been a popular text with disaffected youths around the world. Lennon, in Chapman’s mind, was such a “phony”.

For most of Monday, 8 December, Mark Chapman joined the group of Beatles obsessives hanging around outside the Dakota building, waiting for a glimpse of their hero. He missed Lennon arriving at the apartment early in the morning but had a chance later on to see John’s son Sean turn up with his nanny.

At about 10.50 pm that night, John Lennon and Yoko Ono returned to the Dakota in their limousine after a successful session mixing Walking On Thin Ice. John considered the record to be Yoko’s best chance yet at a chart hit. The couple walked across the pavement and through the archway that led to the building’s entrance.

As Lennon walked by, Mark Chapman fired five bullets from his revolver into Lennon’s back. 

As news of John Lennon’s tragic passing spread, tributes and expressions of grief poured in from fellow musicians, political figures, and fans across the globe. Candlelight vigils and gatherings are being organized in various cities, underscoring the profound impact his music and message had on people worldwide.