On February 22, 1974, he attempted to hijack a plane flying out of Baltimore/Washington International Airport, intending to crash into the White House in the hopes of killing President Richard Nixon.

[2][3][4] Born to poor Jewish parents in South Philadelphia, Byck dropped out of high school in the ninth grade in order to support his impoverished family.

[5] Byck came to the notice of the Secret Service in 1972, when he threatened Nixon,[5] whom he had resented since the Small Business Administration had turned down his loan application.

[1] Byck had also sent tape recordings to various other Jewish public figures (including scientist Jonas Salk, Senator Abraham Ribicoff of Connecticut, and composer Leonard Bernstein)[8][9] and had tried to join the Black Panthers.

It has been suggested (for instance, by the 2004 film dramatization of his life) that Byck was inspired by news reports of the buzzing of the White House by U.S. Army soldier Robert K. Preston in a stolen UH-1B Huey helicopter on February 17.

[11] Because he was already known to the Secret Service and his legal attempts to purchase a firearm might have resulted in increased scrutiny, Byck stole a Smith & Wesson Model 17 .22-caliber revolver from his friend to use in the hijacking.

[12] All through this process, Byck made audio recordings explaining his motives and his plans; he expected to be considered a hero for his actions and wanted to fully document his reasons for the assassination.

[2] It was subsequently discovered that Byck had sent a tape recording detailing his plan, which he called "Operation Pandora's Box",[9][20] to news columnist Jack Anderson.

[27] The 9/11 Commission Report mentioned Byck's attempted assassination of Nixon on page 561 in note 21:[28] As part of his 34-page analysis, the attorney explained why he thought that a fueled Boeing 747, used as a weapon, "must be considered capable of destroying virtually any building located anywhere in the world."