Opinion on j.w. Booth

What a great what if kind of question...
I'm not sure how history would view Booth had he committed the assassination in '62 or '63.
My guess is that the war would have ended with 2 Americas, and though he (Booth) would still be villified in the North, and would be considered a hero in the CSA.

That's right! Lawrence's gun misfired twice and then fired perfectly for everyone thereafter. Some other guy whopped Jackson in the head - think he'd fired him - and was whopped back then chased by a whole crowd of people. Jackson lived another ten years or so after Lawrence tried to pop him but he was not in the peak of good health when he was attacked. The wound from his earlier duel never healed right, being a chest wound, and his army life took a big toll. He was small, too!

If Booth had killed Lincoln very early, he would have killed just another politician. Lincoln was truly tried by war - very different man in '65 than in '60. Hamlin's an interesting proposition, though! One of those overlooked and mostly forgotten characters who might have made an interesting difference. (Would have been nice, though, if Lincoln had kept him as his running mate in '64. )

Booth was an abject coward, he had ample opportunity to serve the CS for four years... he succesfully avoided that. All he managed to do was shoot an unarmed man in the back of the head.

Unfortunately, there are those who view him as some kind of hero, by doing so they cheapen the sacrifice of real Confederate soldiers who actually served.

Booth was a murder with an ego. I wonder if he even did it for the Confederacy. I think he did it for J. W. Booth--the biggest performance of his life.

Boothe was a egotistical maniac. The act of shooting a man in the back was looked at a coward's act. Look at how southerners reacted to the act even after what they had been through during the war. They were outraged at the actions of Boothe. The morals of the time were much different than we can realize in today's society. he would have been looked at as a murderer and scorned by society, both north and south.

He was the George Clooney of the day, and I'm sure his mother loved him.

He certainly didn't do the south any good.

A friend of mine with a really weird "Sense of Humor" started a near riot in a bar one night 30 years ago by standing on the bar, raising his glass of beer and proposing a toast: "To that Great American Patriot, John Wilkes Booth!"

He then exited the premises immediately and long before the cops arrived.

If you were to do that today, most people would have no idea WHO John Wilkes Booth was. That is how bad out education system is nowadays.

Personally, I never, never want to see any elected official assassinated. If you really, really despise an elected official, then work to get him or defeated in the next election. For a true politician, losing an election is much, much worse than being shot!

Other than the Eastern Theater, when and where exactly were things really looking "somewhat good for the South"?

had he done it earlier he would not have gotten into Virginia....he was able to do that only because the bridge out of Washington was at that point not heavily or vigilantly guarded.

not entirely true. There were a lot of people back then who didn't see the act as dishonorable, including more then a few who helped him during hisvescape. And, indeed, some people today don't condemn the man or the act. I just read the book Manhunt about the assassination and then found an Internet forum on the Lincoln assassination and you might be surprised how booth and "the boys" as the co conspirators were sometimes called in that forum, are treated.

major Rathbone, and he actually did all anyone could do. He sprung up at sound of the shot and tried to grab booth but booth had a large knife and sliced the majors arm open from shoulder to elbow. Both then jumped from the box...Rathbone probably had all of about five seconds to react before he was wounded.

There was a civilian valet for the president outside the box that night but booth, who was widely known as a popular actor was able to sweet talk his way by, and my bet is ,he could have done the same to an army guard.

One reason booth acted when and where he did (ford's theater) was that he was intimately familiar with the layout of the theater, he knew all the staff and could go unchallenged through the theater,and he even knew the play (my American cousin) so he could time the shot to a loud laugh from the crowd.

I am up on this topic, having just read Manhunt by James Swanson....a great book which I recommend if anyone has an interest.

I think the South would have been treated better if Lincoln had not been assasignated. Booth just made things worse for Southerners by his actions.

Agreed. If he was such a patriot, why wasn't he in the army with the real patriots. Guess his actor's job gave him a financial incentive. Sort of like we have these days.

I still go with the Theory that the Assassination was planned and directed by Stanton and Vice President Andrew Johnson was somehow involved-after all WHO HAD THE MOST TO GAIN by the death of Lincoln? The Vice President.
Matter of fact, Booth went by and tried to see Johnson at his home the afternoon before the Assassination.

General Lafayette Baker, who investigated the Assassination and sent the Cavalrymen that captured Booth also traced the Assassination back to Stanton and Vice President Johnson. After the war, he wrote a book about his experiences as head of the Secret Service and was soon murdered. [A classic case of "A Man That Knew Too Much."]

Ironically, almost a Century later, another Vice President named Johnson is accused by many of being behind the Assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Obviously, LBJ had the most to gain by the death of Kennedy.

They point out that there is no question that LBJ did all in his power as President to conduct a "Cover-Up" of the Assassination. It was Johnson and Johnson alone that almost immediately ordered that the "Death Limousine" that JFK was riding in at Dallas to be sent to the Ford Motor Company to be "Overhauled."
What that effectively did was to destroy almost all the physical evidence left from the Assassination. For example, was the bullet hole in the windshield of the Limeousine caused by a bullet that came from behind OR from ahead of the car?
If the bullet came from AHEAD of the car, then that would validate the "Sniper on the grassy Knoll (or elsewhere) Theory."

Also, almost all the records and photographs of JFK's autopsy were sealed in the National Archives. Again, this prevents independent forensic pathologists from examining the records and drawing their own independent conclusions. Interestingly enough, after his death, LBJ was indicted by a Texas Grand Jury for being involved in several murders in Texas, but the sycophant national press never reported the news.

My point: Watch out for Vice Presidents named Johnson!!!

Conspiracy Theory, in both cases.

Unionblue

For example, was the bullet hole in the windshield of the Limeousine caused by a bullet that came from behind OR from ahead of the car?

A piece of pavement from Oswald's first and MISSED shot!

Conspiracy Theory, in both cases.

Unionblue is correct.

Kevin Dally