"John Wilkes Booth" Topic

I am really starting to dislike the guy the more TV shows I see him in, and not just for shooting Lincoln.

Apparently, he was ed off at Lincoln and the North for 4 years. But what did he ever do about it? Did he ever enlist and fight alongside his compatriots? Or was he just like another blowhard actor?

Well OK but. What good does it do to dislike him. Certainly he was not a character you would want to emulate or honor. But it could be argued that he really did more for the South than he could have done had he enlisted, if you consider assasinating your foe's president a good thing. If anything it would have been better to assasinate Lincoln before the election of 1864 when McClellan might have had a chance of winning than after the war was really over. Yet few in the South at that time I think were willing to credit Lincoln with aiming at a peace and reconstruction that was aimed at reconciliation and not punative measures. But few of us are in a position at any time to see what the full and eventual consequences of our actions will be.

It is important to remember the role he played although minor in the espionage and intelligence of the Southern cause during the war. He and his coconspirators were heavily financed by the South.

VR
James Mattes

Well, the Boston Transcript did call Booth "the most promising young actor on the American stage"…

Then again, it may all have been a Papist plot. Or maybe not.

He and his coconspirators were heavily financed by the South.

Speculation there James…IIRC there is no proof that the CS government in any way, shape or form financed his plans and activities.

The guy was a jackwipe, plain and simple. He was one of those "armchair strategists" who lived his life in his delusions of grandeur. His actions did more to hurt the South, than anything else….

Well, the Boston Transcript did call Booth "the most promising young actor on the American stage"…

Yeah, I recalled that I read somewhere that, but for one little mistake, he was going to be a big name actor.

There's speculation he was compensating for being an illegitimate child…

The fact that he was well-known gives it a bizarre twist. It's like if Steven Baldwin shot the President.

You guys have got him all wrong.

I thought the way you did too, Booth is a blow hard do nothing actor sitting on the sidelines for the whole war then does something really stupid and shoots President Lincoln.

That was before I watched the documentary "Abraham Lincoln Zombie Killer". It explains everything that happened.

link

Booth was part of the secret service team that when to Georgia with Lincoln to wipe out the zombies there before it spread across the country and possibly the world. He was one of the few survivors.

Later, when Lincoln was bitten by a zombie just before going to Ford's Theatre, he went to Booth and told him what happened.

Lincoln knew he couldn't go to anyone else, if they hadn't been on the mission, they wouldn't understand. So Booth shot Lincoln to prevent him from turning into a zombie.

You can get the documentary on Netflix.

OK, just kidding. I like bad movies, but this one was so terrible that it really isn't worth wasting 90 minutes of your life on.

I read an excellent book about his older brother, Edwin Booth. It actually talks a lot about the family, and family dynamics. Basically, the father & sons (Edwin, John and Junius Brutus) were all very talented actors, but also, like most artistic types, suffered from the "artist's temperament" syndrome.

It's very similar to wargamer's syndrome, reenactor's syndrome, etc.

But, In an interesting twist of fate, not long before John killed Lincoln, Edwin saved Todd Lincon's life. It's recounted by Robert Lincoln himself:

Robert Lincoln recalled the incident in a 1909 letter to Richard Watson Gilder, editor of The Century Magazine.

The incident occurred while a group of passengers were late at night purchasing their sleeping car places from the conductor who stood on the station platform at the entrance of the car. The platform was about the height of the car floor, and there was of course a narrow space between the platform and the car body. There was some crowding, and I happened to be pressed by it against the car body while waiting my turn. In this situation the train began to move, and by the motion I was twisted off my feet, and had dropped somewhat, with feet downward, into the open space, and was personally helpless, when my coat collar was vigorously seized and I was quickly pulled up and out to a secure footing on the platform. Upon turning to thank my rescuer I saw it was Edwin Booth, whose face was of course well known to me, and I expressed my gratitude to him, and in doing so, called him by name.

Booth did not know the identity of the man whose life he had saved until some months later, when he received a letter from a friend, Colonel Adam Badeau, who was an officer on the staff of General Ulysses S. Grant. Badeau had heard the story from Robert Lincoln, who had since joined the Union Army and was also serving on Grant's staff. In the letter, Badeau gave his compliments to Booth for the heroic deed. The fact that he had saved the life of Abraham Lincoln's son was said to have been of some comfort to Edwin Booth following his brother's assassination of the president.

BTW: The book I was referencing is:

Prince of Players: Edwin Booth by Eleanor Ruggles (Sep 1988)

I think he's best remembered as the late, great Gore Vidal's answer when some nitwit interviewer asked "Who's your favorite actor?"

> His actions did more to hurt the South, than anything else….

Although certainly harmful, the worst action for the south was whoever fired on Fort Sumter. Someone said that person was the most effective abolitionist ever, and they were right.

Edmund Ruffin.

He was regarded as a great actor at the time. Of course how this shapes up to modern tastes is speculative.

I'd imagine we'd regard his work as "over-blown", melodramatic, even ham.

The line he delivered at the Ford Theatre "Sic semper tyrannis" seems to indicate an overly dramatic approach.

I could imagine him if living today, after being shown to a poor seat in a restaurant, demanding of the Maitre d' , "Do you know who I am?"
He'd probably have been married to Lindsay Lohan & to Brittany Speares (twice!), & been in & out of the Betty Ford clinic.

I think he would be in jail writing letters to Jodie Foster…

Just like actors today – big talk, not a lot of action (though Booth DID take things into his ow hands…)

Just like actors today

Well I'm sure that some actors served, IIRC James Stewart had qite a good war record…..

Jimmy Stewart is not an actor today – the Baldwins? Sean Penn? Johnny Dipp? Martin Sheen? Pretty much any of the political activists amidst them? No, they didn't serve.

Read the book Come Retribution:
link

It is a truly impressive investigation of Confederate involvement in the assassination. The actual Confederate plan was to capture Lincoln and bring him to Richmond, but with the Union capture of Richmond that was no longer possible, so Booth changed it to assassination.

Oh Sundance Martin Sheen served did you not see Apocalypse Now? And his son was in I think Platoon!

Booth and the financial support are talked about in the book Killing Lincoln if I remember correctly.

VR
James Mattes

> Sean Penn? Johnny Dipp? Martin Sheen? Pretty much any of the political activists amidst them? No, they didn't serve.

Pretty much the same can be said for almost any political activist, very few people serve in the military any longer. Never knew that serving was a requirement for political activity, if so then don't tell congress!

Of course, James, you are right. Silly me. And Martin probably still thinks he's president because he played one on tv.

"Just like actors today"

The only current Hollywood personage/veteran who comes to mind is Oliver Stone, who served in Vietnam.

A bartender/owner in Beijing informed me that "Oliver Stone like tequila". I'm sure she was right.

As for John Wilkes Booth, a waste of human space.

imdb.com/list/umHEaHMHPVw

List of actors who served, surprised by Don Adams, USMC wounded at Guadalcanal.

I don't believe that many people like political assassins, whatever their beliefs may be whether 2013 or 1865.

Lee and other CSA co's fought the good fight against their northern counterparts, only to have Booth jump in and upstage the final act by assassinating the very man who could have (and would have) assisted them against their vengeance-bent Radical Republicans.

I don't see how Booth helped the South in any way. After all, how many children are named after him today…excuse me, I was wrong, Cletus Spuckler on "The Simpsons" named one of his kids John Wilkes. Maybe forget everything I just wrote.