They've Killed President Lincoln

April 14 1865 the President of the United States attends a performance at Ford's Theater in Washington within two hours a single gunshot will kill the president deflect the course of American history and confront the stunned nation with unanswered question how food why why did this man call on the American vice president less than eight hours before he shot the president why did the Washington Telegraph fail that night moments after the fatal shot was fired why did this man say 50 people were joined in a conspiracy to kill the president why did this man leave the president unguarded why was the assassins escape route left unpatrolled why did this cabinet member suppress vital information a century after Lincoln's assassination these questions still haunt our history are the answers coincidence or conspiracy you Americans always have been quick to exercise the most precious right to disagree as there are divisions today so we have often been divided but survived because we found the common ground that unites us yet at least once in the Civil War our divisions threatened to destroy the nation the common ground became a battlefield in those crucial years America's hope rested on one man Abraham Lincoln in battle he struggled to hold the nation together in victory he sought reconciliation with the defeated south he was struck down but the assassin's bullet that killed a man called Lincoln could not destroy the living ideas he made part of the American faith the shock of Lincoln's brutal death still reverberates in our national memory but mystery still surrounds the event when John Wilkes Booth killed the president was it simply the lunatik deed of an actor seeking self glory or was it the climax of a far wider conspiracy today we shall return to the time and place of Lincoln's death we shall observe the event largely as newsreel cameras might have recorded it had they existed a century ago we shall examine the question still unanswered in one of the central tragedies of American history for four years the civil war has raged the nation is bleeding from Chickamauga to Auntie ate him to Gettysburg stretch the windrows of death six hundred twenty thousand men northern handsome the south is spent staggering but the slaughter goes on Washington itself has become a union arsenal close to the battle lines more than once it is heard the roar of guns as Confederate armies threaten the city largely formed by southern traditions and style Washington is a small town incomplete as the Washington Monument unfinished as the nation itself many streets are muddy not even cobblestone there's a stable on every block chickens and pigs are traffic hazards and animals graze wherever there's grass March 4 1865 as Grant's armies closed on Richmond the Confederate capital the president of all the United States takes the oath of office for the second time aware that the warned a end but not it's hatreds Lincoln again appeals for a compassionate peace his inaugural address lasts only five minutes with malice toward none he says with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds among the listening dignitaries clustered within a few yards of the president is one man unmoved by Lincoln's words John Wilkes Booth well-known actor who long has been noted for his outspoken support of the South directly below the president's platform are at least four other unlikely guests at the inauguration Lewis Paine 20 years old a wounded Confederate veteran and an escaped prisoner of war George Atzerodt a 33 year old unemployed carriage maker from Port tobacco Maryland David Herold 23 an unemployed drug store clerk and John Surratt 21 a Confederate courier and spy with booth these men are joined in a plot to kidnap the president then exchange him for the release of all Confederate war prisoners so the South can continue fighting the conspirators meet regularly at the boarding house owned by serrat's mother at 541 H Street in Washington already they have failed in at least one attempt to kidnap the president booth is the leader a widely popular actor who ends as much as twenty thousand dollars a year he is renowned as the handsomest man in America spoiled in childhood by his mother and older sister he is vain and imperious but as an actor he is overshadowed by his famed father Jr's and his brother Edwin he has spent the Warriors on more than stages and not on southern battlefields in spite of his belligerent vocal support of the Confederate cause he is called a coward for not joining the rebel army yet he vows that one day he will do something to help the south all the booths were crazy John was no different he always did the unexpected on and off stage I remember in 1864 we were doing a fellow and at that time John was playing Yago he offered me $3,000 and he said all I had to do was to shut off the lights in the theater open the back door at the backstage door while he and the others carried the president down they were going to tie him up in a sack and then lure him to the stage kidnapping he said there were more than fifty people involved and that they had a lot of money fifty people involved in a plot to kidnap the president is that just an actor embellishing a tale or is it booth bragging and lying in the first place David Herold one of booths accomplices were leaders say there were 35 or 40 involved in the plot Lewis Paine another accomplice will brag that only a few of them were ever caught but if there were fifty conspirators could all of them have taken to their graves a secret as momentous as this or a year booth has recruited his cast of conspirators it is a poor disreputable roster of players witless deadbeats drunkards and misfits the riffraff of bars and streets all are dispirited nonentities quickly willing to follow a leader only one has some claimed respectability the boarding house owner mary surratt the forty-five year old widow who wittingly or unwittingly harbors these criminals one of her boarders is Louis Weichmann who reports what he has over heard about the kidnapping plot to a war department click about March 25th Louis Weichmann came to me and told me about how a group of men were plotting to do away with President Lincoln if these men and he named them as Booth the actor John Wilkes not Edwin Lewis Paine and John Surratt and some others and he named them were actually plotting this at the house at 5:41 8th Street I took the information seriously because I knew Weichmann lived there shared a bed in fact with John Surratt and knew these men so I reported it and I know that captain McDevitt and Lieutenant sharp also filed reports to Secretary of War Stanton office but nothing was ever done about it the reports filed by captains Gleason and McDevitt and lieutenant sharp were never found in the War Department files were they ever filed and if they were who removed them and why weren't booth and his accomplices now known to be conspiring against the president's life arrested this is the first of a series of incidents with some field implicate the Secretary of War Edwin McMaster Stanton we don't know that he ever saw these reports but if he did why didn't he act on Secretary of War Stanton is a man many people oppose in Washington he is known as an arrogant ambitious stubborn and according to some a deceitful man habitually late to cabinet meetings he treats even the president with scant courtesy because Stanton does not send war dispatches to the White House the president is forced to come to him in the War Department for news from the front Stanton has in the past openly showed his contempt for the president calling him a baboon or a gorilla Lincoln one of the most astute judges of men ever to live in the White House simply refers to Stanton as the God of War Mars he says his Secretary of War is the most indispensable man in the cabin of course the President and I disagree on some things we disagree as to the policy to be pursued with regard to the Confederate state and their leaders once the war is over Lincoln would deal with them with a velvet glove I believe in the iron hand but with regard to the prosecution of the war gentlemen on that the President and I are in complete agreement as grant prepares the final assault on Richmond Lincoln visits field headquarters to make certain that when surrendered comes compassion not vengeance shall prevail the war which began only six weeks after Lincoln had come from he'll annoy to start his presidency has lasted much longer than anyone has expected immensely weary his face carved by for anguish years lincoln is no longer that shrewd Prairie politician who first entered the White House he has found in himself the strength to carry an intolerable burden to learn the wisdom that lies beyond hate he knows that it is not enough to win the war the nation must survive the peace he'd come to discuss the end of the war and the surrender terms to be asked to General Lee's Army's the end was near and mr. mr. Lincoln hope thee and come without more bloodshed not another big bag that seemed unlikely looking ahead the president contemplated no harsh measures he wanted us to get the men of the rebel army back to their home let him down easy is how he put it let him down easy on April 2nd Richmond Falls and with it the last hopes of the South the Confederacy is no more than a broken shell all that remains to be done is formal surrender Booth's plan to kidnap the president to regain prisoners of war for the southern armies no longer has any point or purpose ladies twelve-year-old son tabbed Lincoln visits Jefferson Davis's mansion in the still burning Confederate capital slavery is ending the nation has been kept whole but at a staggering price Lincoln says thank God I have lived to see this now the nightmare is over but in another man's mind a new nightmare is taking shape Booth's older sister recalls for my brother John it was the beginning of something terrible he became very desperate he felt very deeply about the south and he blamed Lincoln for everything he wrote me that but this country was formed for the white man not the black man and the south was fighting to keep themselves free he loved the south he wasn't insane he was sane if he was mad if he went mad his mind lost its balance after the fall of Richmond on April 9th Palm Sunday generally lays down his arms he says he has surrendered as much to Lincoln's goodness as to grant such an early with the announcement of vast celebration erupts in Washington and across the country in a conscious gesture of friendship toward the south Lincoln asked the bands to basic see a song he says he has always liked it is the happiest moment in Lincoln's life Tuesday April 11th a crowd has gathered on the White House lawn expecting to hear a rousing victory statement from Lincoln instead the president delivers a long sober speech outlining his program for the reconstruction of the south in the card is John Wilkes Booth his kidnap plot no longer has any purpose now for the first time as he listens a darker plan forms in his mind he tells a companion that's the last speech Lincoln will ever make on the fateful morning of April 14th the nation begins its fifth day of peace it is been Friday in Washington some of the devout will go to church with hangovers it has been a hard week many have not drawn a super breath since news of Lee's surrender at Fort Sumter where the first shot of the Civil War was fired there's a victory celebration elsewhere men of the Armed Forces relax the vigilance required doing 4/10 years of war at Appomattox the McClain family poses in their house where Lee surrendered generally himself gratefully prepares to return to civilian life at the White House the Lincoln's plan to attend a victory entertainment at Grover's theatre John Wilkes Booth plans to attend the same performance at the National Hotel a few blocks from the White House booth Rises early it is only 7 a.m. but already his plan is in motion George at solid checks in at the Kirkwood house booth has given him the assignment to murder a resident of that Hotel Vice President Andrew Johnson there Axelrod is given a room almost directly above that of the vice president Lewis Payne is still asleep in another Washington hotel he has been given a mission which he shares with David Herold booth has told them to kill the Secretary of State William Seward booth has reserved for himself the main target the president begins his day with an hour in his office before breakfast a restless sleeper often disturbed by troubling dreams he is more relaxed than usual this morning back from Appomattox his son Robert brings more cheerful news at breakfast he gives his father a first-hand account of Lee's surrender that morning I gave my father a picture of Lee's a joke I don't think he was amused he simply said Lee had a good face they had asked me to go to the theater with him that night but I said no it was my first day home all I wanted to do was crawl into a real bed between some clean sheets and I should have gone at 9 o'clock Lincoln begins his round of morning appointments most accessible of presidents he receives an endless stream of callers politicians businessmen and ordinary private citizens among his visitors today is former senator Hale of New Hampshire newly appointed ambassador to Spain Hale is eager to take his daughter Lucy abroad and out of the arms of her paramour the actor John Wilkes Booth at 10:30 on his wife's insistence the president sends a messenger to Ford's Theatre to request seats for the evenings performance of Laura Keene in our American cousin mrs. Lincoln as often happens has had a change of mind she no longer desires to see the show at Grover's I was delighted to hear the president was coming Holy Week is a slow week in the theater and audiences are especially than a good Friday performances we had a house of 1700 seats and with the announcement in the afternoon paper that the president is coming we could sell them all out even at 75 cent top when did booth first show up at the theater that day about 11:30 my brother used to manage Wilkes Booth and he still used the theater as his mailing address booth went to the theater that morning to pick up his mail and I guess I looked happy because he asked me why I was so happy I told him the President and General Grant were coming to the show that night well he sort of went pale I startled by news that the president will attend Ford's Theatre instead of Grover's booth at once changes his plans a familiar figure at Ford's he listens to a rehearsal as he again studies the plan of a building he already knows in Internet detail here booth himself has played before the president now he carefully plans the most favorable moment to kill him that moment will come about 10:15 late in the play the laugh line when only a single actor would be on stage you suck Dortch izing old mantrap shortly before noon the president's cabinet gathers at the White House General Grant attends as a special guest of the president the main purpose of the three-hour meeting is to deal with the reconstruction of the southern state governments Lincoln's policy of reconciliation with the South has met strong opposition within his own cabinet secretary Stanton late as usual for the cabinet meeting is fearful that the rebel southern leaders will undo the gains achieved by the war he is adamant on pursuing a sterner policy against the south the Secretary of the Navy remembers the president had told us that we had to extinguish our resentments if we expected harmony and union and secretary Stanton whom I have had many disagreements with had independently prepared that day a proposal for reconstruction it was very severe and in my mind and conflict with the principles of self-government which I know the president deemed essential I rather thought that Stanton was reaching for overreaching for broad power while the cabinet meets stable hands prepare booths horses for the flight south into Virginia where he confidently expects to find sanctuary as a southern hero afterward he visits the Surratt boarding house to arrange provisions for the journey this night mrs. Surratt's daughter Ann remembers booth came here at about 2:00 p.m. that day he had a package for my mother she didn't know what was in it and he asked her to take the package with her to surrattsville that's the town named after my father where she was going anyway to see mr. Lloyd we had an old tavern there it has been said that she went to inform the tavern keeper to get things ready for booth that night guns and whisky but it's not true she went to see about some money owed her booth used her as the cabinet meeting ends General Grant unexpectedly informs the president he will be unable to attend the theatre with him as grant leaves with his punctilious aide Colonel Porter it is 2:20 p.m. about to join mrs. Lincoln for a late lunch of fruit and milk the president faces the uncomfortable task of telling his wife of grants refusal he knows it will provoke an exclusive response mrs. Lincoln had a famous temper she had several known incidents of public blow ups Julia that's general Grant's wife she couldn't abide mrs. Lincoln and mrs. Lincoln once accused her of coveting her position in the White House well mrs. Graham just refused to go to the theatre with her instead she insisted on going immediately to see her daughter in a school in New Jersey besides secretary Stanton had urged the general not to go to the theatre why did Stanton urged General Grant not to go to the theatre why did he himself refuse the president's invitation was it only their wives displeasure at being with mrs. Lincoln it must be said that secretary Stanton had also urged the president not to go out in public he was always cautioning Lincoln that Washington was a southern town he always asked the president made you Thomas Eckert Stanton's aide is asked by Lincoln to accompany him to the theater as a safeguard against possible danger having no one to go with him to the theater it came over to the War Department he asked me to go with him and mrs. Lincoln to Ford's to be his bodyguard it was always amused at my strength and he often related the story that I could break Pope is over my arm but I said no I couldn't go with him to the theater because secretary Stanton had asked me to work late that night and the president asked the secretary if I could be relieved and he said no I had work to do as it turned out Stanton sent me home early that night two of the conspiracies intended victims meet at three o'clock as Lincoln receives Vice President Andrew Johnson they have not met since Johnson appeared drunk at the inauguration six weeks ago the Vice President does not attend cabinet meetings yet today for unknown reasons Lincoln feels the need to brief Johnson on his reconstruction policy the third intended victim Secretary of State Seward is at home in a brace recuperating from a recent carriage accident while Johnson is with Lincoln booth appears at the hotel where the vice president lives and where accomplice George Atzerodt also is now staying but there is controversy over whom booth came to see Atzerodt or Johnson booths friend mr. adds Rock was registered here but I'm certain it will smooth as to see the vice president he came in here and asked me I remember it very well if the vice president mr. Johnson was in I told him no then he he made out a calling card he wrote I don't wish to disturb you are you at home and he signed it J Wilkes Booth now I put that card right here in the vice president's mail booth wouldn't have been so formal with his friends now would he did John Wilkes Booth call him the vice president as the clerk insists and if he did what are the implications of such a visit later in the afternoon booth writes a confessional letter the world he says may censure me for what I'm about to do but I am sure that posterity will justify me he gives that letter to a friend an actor John Mathews who is in the cast of our American cousin he asks Matthews to deposit the letter with the Washington paper the next morning Matthews does not open and read books later if he had history might have taken a different turn 5:00 p.m. the president takes his usual carriage ride with mrs. Lincoln it is customary for some of mrs. Lincoln's friends to accompany them but today the president is expressed to desire to be alone with his wife their coachman Francis burns remembers now the president was in a very good mood and mrs. Lincoln she said well how surprised she was to find him so cheerful he said that they'd been the both I'm very miserable those were his words very miserable and that they must try to be more cheerful in the future he talked about going to Europe and California he said that there was only one city he really wanted to see before he died and that was Jerusalem and I remember he was so open and cheerful that at one point mrs. Lincoln she said that she was frightened don't you remember she said that's how you felt just before our Willie died it is nearly 6 p.m. both returns to the empty theaters alone he rehearses the drama he is prepared for this night soon the dress circle will be filled after the murder he cannot return through the audience the president's guard was sit at this door to gain entrance to the small corridor leading to the president's box both will have to kill the guard two inches of plaster must be cut from the wall then a wooden bar fitted into place to brace the door against intruders through a hole drilled in the door both will see the president afterward there will be with one path of escape across the stage and into the alley to his waiting horse 6:00 p.m. the president and mrs. Lincoln dine on cold meat and potatoes then as is his habit Lincoln returns to his office to work at seven o'clock his guard John Parker reports for duty three hours late at the same time John Wilkes Booth has dinner in the restaurant at his hotel then returns to his room he is drinking heavily you will rest then dress for the evenings work when he leaves the hotel booth will tell the desk clerk to be sure to see the show at Ford's Theater he promises him there'll be some fine acting there tonight it is 8:05 April the 14th 1865 the president's wife has had to interrupt him at work and urge him to hurry the president who enjoys the theater is reluctant to go this evening his wife's theater party to celebrate the end of the war has fallen apart 12 people have refused presidential invitations this night the president will be late the curtain at Ford's Theater goes up without him tell miss Georgina I've been American cousin of yours about my American cousins well he's about 70 Deena or he'll take his tomahawk and scalping Ivan scalpel immediately it is almost 9 p.m. the presidential carriage arrives outside Ford's Theater so Lincoln's on that by John F Parker the only guard is signed tonight to protect the president Parker has been given his mission despite a former police records showing 14 reprimands for drunkenness willful violation of police regulations and sleeping on duty with the President and mrs. Lincoln our major Henry Reed Rathbone and his fiancee Clara Harris both have been commandeered at the last minute by mrs. Lincoln a substitute theater 9:30 p.m. booth arrives at the theater news early he takes time for another drink in the bar next door he's not the only man to feel the need for a drink a very strange thing but Parker the president's card you should have upstairs guarding the president here he was sitting there not ten feet from booth Parker the president's coachman the footmen they all were in here drinking a stranger drunk toasted booth people always were doing that they always recognized him this one here is a little hostile he said Wilkes Booth would never be the actor his father was booth just smiled said he was going to be the most famous man in America Trenton we were just talking of your archery powers well I guess shooting with bows and arrows is just about like most things in life it is 10:00 10:00 p.m. John Wilkes Booth re-enters the foyer of Ford's this look straight who's wrong calculate the distance and shorten mostly as well as the club's only asked the opportunity of showing how they dispose that gold which others set such store by well I suppose collection scowling that old woman are trying to get me on the street like you were to come along as a suitor who wouldn't trust me like most folks do when you find out I'm not heir to the fortune not add to the foe to mr. Trenchard offering her my heart in hand just as she wanted them nothing nasty I am fine and that alone will excuse the impertinence of which you are guilty he'll know the manners of good society eh well I guess I know enough to turn you inside out oh yeah you suck dog izing old mantrap a young army surgeon dr. Charles Leal is the first to reach the unconscious president the wound is in the hip behind the left ear swiftly dr. Leale relieves pressure on the brain by removing a blood clot the president's breathing is shallow and the pulse is faint the decision is made to move the president to the nearest berth he cannot survive the journey to the wife of soldiers soldiers soldiers the president is carried across the street to the Petersen rooming house the mob was insane we had to push our way across the street the soldiers carrying the president waiting you're way too thick and was bleeding in the back of his head somebody shot it over here the crowd was shouting to burn down the theater they didn't know what to do someone said he was glad it happened he was nearly killed only the police save him from me hung at the same time Lewis Paine has carried out his murderous attack on Seward secretary Seward will live the assailant stabbed him several times about the facing chest Secretary's son Frederick is in more serious condition he tried to stop the assassin from entering the house there's multiple skull fractures the nurse another son Secretary's daughter the State Department messenger all of them were beaten or stabbed by this fat man inside the shabby rooming house as the family and friends of the dying president gather there are fears for the whole government bravo George Atzerodt was too drunk to move against the vice president Lewis Payne's attack on Seward signals a wider conspiracy it is Secretary of War Stanton who takes charge of the nation from this room next door to where the president lies dying Stanton mobilizes the city he confiscates Ford's Theatre arresting all of its employees he sets up roadblocks on every route leading out of Washington save one the one that Booth uses moments after the president is shot the telegraph wires in and out of Washington fail for no apparent technical reason and when they are restored secretary Stanton waits until morning before issuing arrest orders for John Wilkes Booth he waits in spite of the fact that hundreds of people saw booths leaped to the stage many of them so testifying that same night in this very room booth his leg broken in his leap to the stage please south toward Virginia with an accomplice David Herold in extreme pain booth must stop to have his leg set by dr. Samuel Mudd throughout the night Lincoln's life slowly observe a there is nothing to do but wait President Lincoln died today April 15th at 7:22 a.m. he was 56 years old about 10:15 p.m. last night a bullet struck the president behind the left ear entering the brain and lodging behind the right eye he was immediately rendered unconscious he did not regain consciousness throughout the night mrs. Lincoln Robert Lincoln and members of his official family were with him at the end dr. Gurley led us in prayer and then when it was over secretary Stanton said and now he belongs to the ages now at last Abe Lincoln goes home a hush follows the black draped funeral train across the land up from the Tidewater states were America took its first foothold on the future across the fallow fields of Pennsylvania New York back to the wide Midlands where he was born there's an outpouring of national grief unknown to the young Republic as millions of Americans pay homage to the gaunt sad man from Springfield twelve days after the murder as the train approaches Buffalo news comes that the assassin is trapped booth and Herold I've trapped on the Garrett farm in Port Royal Virginia there are cavalry force of 25 soldiers aided by Detective Lafayette C Baker corner the fugitives in a tobacco bar Carroll gives up quickly but booth refuses to surrender the orders are to take booth alive to smoke him out lieutenant Daugherty the officer in command orders the barn set afire both is in despair expecting a hero's welcome in the south he has received little help in his diary this day he has written that he is hunted like his dog with every man's hand against me sergeant Boston Corbett claims to have fire the shot which mortally wounds booth now the assassin will never be able to testify of the conspiracy both his two countries staring at his hair as he utters his last words useless useless his wallet pictures of five women and a diary are taken from him they are turned over to Secretary of War Stanton and so booth was silenced killed by a soldier who claimed his orders came from God some say those orders came to me Stanton yet though those who say that Booth shot himself and still others foolishly insists that the man shot in that burning barn was not booth and that the body was never positively identified before it was buried beneath the prison floor three different versions of a single incident yet one fact is clear John Wilkes Booth like Lee Harvey Oswald was killed before he could tell his story booster I told part of his story but his diary was suppressed by secretary Stanton for two years when it was released 18 pages were missing because of this some writers have accused secretary Stanton of being behind the plot to kill President Lincoln others speculates Stanton's suppressed the diary because in it booth had written he had acted alone perhaps too Stanton mrs. Lincoln's irrational and anguished cry they have killed the president underscored his sincere conviction that they the Confederate leaders had conspired with both to murder Abraham Lincoln in swift retribution the nation settles accounts with the known plotters fall go to prison for our to hang Louis pain George Atzerodt David Harold and mrs. Surratt the defendants have almost been bystanders at their own trial they go to the gallows without being allowed to testify in their own defense temporarily stanton is able to use the trials and the nation's grief to support his policy of vengeance only later with a nation rediscover itself in the conscience of the dead president in the terrible night at Ford's Theater thousands of persons were swept into the drama upon some of them time has made its judgments favoring Lincoln's moderate policies Andrew Johnson dismissed Stanton Congress then began impeachment proceedings against the new President Johnson was acquitted by a single vote Stanton never wrote his memoirs never told the world what he knew about the plot to kill Lincoln the Supreme Court appointment he always desired came to him on his deathbed Seward would be ridiculed for Seward's folly the purchase of Alaska for little over seven million dollars detective Lafayette Baker possibly poisoned died after allegedly writing a coded document accusing Stanton and 50 others of murdering Lincoln sergeant Boston Corbett the man who claims to have shot and killed John Wilkes Booth later was committed to an insane asylum John F Parker who left the President on guard at that night was never reprimanded he returned to his job at the White House as a presidential guard John Surratt booths accomplice escaped to become a Vatican guard in Rome extradited tried and released he became a traveling lecturer on the assassination dr. Samuel Mudd who set booths leg was sentenced to life imprisonment he was pardoned after saving the lives of hundreds of prisoners during a yellow fever epidemic major Rathbone and Miss Harris the young couple attending the theater with the Lincoln's that night were married later he was sent to an insane asylum for killing his wife mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln was certified mad in 1875 and sent to an asylum her son Robert signed the commitment papers Robert Lincoln later became Secretary of War he was present as an eyewitness at two other presidential assassinations Garfield and McKinley now century later taking into consideration all the we know some of us may see in the murder of Abraham Lincoln a conspiracy going far beyond the unhinged act of a single assassin just as some today see a conspiracy in the murder of President Kennedy others of us on the other hand we look upon the murder of Abraham Lincoln as the simple pathetic act of a desperate man seeking in John Wilkes Booth's own words to become not just a fine actor but a name in history the truth may never be known but this much we do know on April the 14th 1865 Abraham Lincoln had a plan to guide a shattered country toward a future of peace and understanding upon all of its people John Wilkes Booth destroyed that plan perhaps forever by firing into Lincoln's brain a 1 ounce ball of lead the heaviest bullet all things considered ever fired in American history history cannot be rewritten a pathetic madman may have ended Lincoln's life yet nothing could still Lincoln's voice of charity Lincoln towers in our national heritage the compassionate vision of America he voiced more than a century ago has forever inspired men to their loftiest ideals even to this day with malice toward none with charity for all but firm that is ever failing that writing they spiked and in that failing led us to the end a house divided against itself cannot as I might not on your slave so I will not be a mask let reverence for the laws become the political religions of the Catholics that the nation shall under God have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people by the people for the people shall not perish from the earth you

Channel: G Busey

Views: 188,743

Keywords: Lincoln Assassination, Abraham Lincoln (US President), David Wolper, Appointment With Destiny, They've Killed President Lincoln, Ford's Theatre

Id: oQHSBY7naMY

Length: 50min 34sec (3034 seconds)

Published: Sat May 09 2015