Samuel Joseph Byck (January 30, 1930 – February 22, 1974) was an unemployed tire salesman who attempted to hijack a plane from Baltimore-Washington International Airport on February 22, 1974. He intended to crash into the White House in hopes of killing U.S. President Richard M. Nixon. Byck shot and killed an airport security guard before storming aboard a DC-9, Delta Airlines Flight 523. After the pilots told him they could not take off until wheel blocks were removed, he shot both pilots, then grabbed a nearby passenger and ordered her to "fly the plane". The flight's captain recovered and resumed flying airliners five years later. The co-pilot died shortly after the hijacking. The plane never left the ground. President Nixon's schedule was not even affected by Byck's assassination attempt.

Byck was shot and wounded through a cabin door window by police. He committed suicide by shooting himself in the head; a briefcase containing a gasoline bomb was found under his body. It was subsequently discovered that Byck had sent a tape recording detailing his plan, which he called "Operation Pandora's Box", to news columnist Jack Anderson. A review of records disclosed that Byck had been arrested twice for protesting in front of the White House without a permit, and that he later dressed in a Santa suit for another protest.

Byck had first come to the notice of the Secret Service in 1972, when he had first threatened Nixon, whom he had resented ever since the Small Business Administration had turned him down for a loan. Byck had also sent bizarre tape recordings to various other public figures including Jonas Salk, Abraham Ribicoff, and Leonard Bernstein.

Born to poor Jewish parents in Philadelphia, Byck dropped out of high school. He enlisted in the US Army in 1954 and was honorably discharged in 1956. Byck married and had four children, but he experienced a number of business failures and spent two months in a psychiatric hospital being treated for depression. He began to believe that the government was conspiring to oppress the poor.

After Byck's failed assassination attempt and subsequent death, Byck faded into obscurity. While the news media reported on Byck's actions, they did not disclose why Byck attempted to hijack the plane. As a result, Byck and his assassination plot remained relatively unknown until the movie The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004) - which was based on this story - was released. The History Channel then aired a special on Byck's attempt to assassinate Nixon.

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