Presidential protection

[gary]

Thanks to Sam Grant, I read Charles P. Stone's account of protecting the President during his arrival to Washington and along his inaugaration route. It was pretty extensive and a lot of similar methods are done today. For instance, uniformed men to keep the crowd at bay. Access control to the platform to prevent the placement of explosive devices. Moving escorts that obsure the line of sight during the ride to the inagural site. Marksmen placed on rooftops as counter-snipers. Plain clothes men mixed among the crowd to deter and apprehend any assassin.

So, what happened at Ford's Theatre with only one soldier outside the box?

[ole]

Gary:

Your conspiracy gene is acting up again. There was nothing like today's Secret Service then. Protecting the president was in the hands of the army. 'Nuff said?

Ole

[gary]

Ole, other than Boothe and his comrades, I don't think there was a greater conspiracy or something like that to assassinate Lincoln. Rather, the protection of the President-Elect before his inauguration was attributable to (according to himself) Charles P. Stone. Stone took the fall for Ball's Bluff and thus Stone wasn't around in '65 to look after Lincoln's safety. What Stone did in '61 was quite comparable to what is done today. Intelligence to deter threats. Secrecy of movement to thwart some efforts. Route security with marksmen on roof tops. Access control with armed uniformed soldiers (modernly police) keeping the crowd at a distance. Undercover police to detect potential assassins. The Secret Service modernly does all the same things for the President today.

Today a threat assessment is conducted and from it the level of security and security measures are implemented. I know during Lincoln's Presidency someone could drop their card off and the White House and may be invited to dine with the President. In the 19th Century, the thought of harming the President was unthinkable to many Americans.

I'm wondering why no one thought to pass down the lessons learned from '61? Was Stone the only fellow smart enough or who cared enough to take such advanced measures or was the general in charge of the garrison of Washington some political appointee more concerned with his career and ignorant of his duties?

[Freddy]

Originally Posted by gary

Ole, other than Boothe and his comrades, I don't think there was a greater conspiracy or something like that to assassinate Lincoln...

According to Come Retribution: The Confederate Secret Service and the Assassination of Lincoln by William A. Tidwell, James O. Hall, and David Winfred Gaddy there was a wider conspiracy and Booth was a member of the Confederate Secret Service.

[ole]

Freddy:
Was aware of the some of the activities of the Confederate Secret Service, but have accepted the idea that it had nothing to do with Lincoln's assassination. Haven't read the book you cited. Does it say differently?

Ole

[Freddy]

It gives evidence that Booth was connected to a much wider conspiracy than what we have been told from the government findings.

[ole]

You're saying that this is another book which I ought to acquire but never get around to reading?

Ole

[Hanny]

Originally Posted by ole

You're saying that this is another book which I ought to acquire but never get around to reading?

Ole

I can skip you to the end, Stanton/Wade were in it with Booth to get Abe off screen, they saw him as now part of tghe problem not part of the Solution, Booths diary of mettings with each, is ment to be in the 18 missing pages from it when it was captured, and removed by Stanton and these pages are supposed to be in the Staanton family possesion to this day, showing a conspiracy.

Its always a great conspiracy read, its just plausable to be convincing, but always has no supporting evidence, a classic in every sense of the term.http://home.att.net/~rjnorton/Lincoln74.html theres plenty of version to chose from.