Hero?

[Southern Man]

It is obviously American doctrine to try and kill the enemies president.
We bombed Muammar Kaddafis house in the middle of the night.
We bombed all of Saddam Husseins houses.
If an American could go out and kill the enemies president single handedly, he would be considered a hero. John Wilkes Booth did that.

 

[larry_cockerham]

Boothe was considered a mere murderer.

 

[ole]

With the AoNV already surrendered and Johnston's forces in dire straits, assassinating Lincoln could accomplish nothing to restore Confederate fortunes. As such, it was murder. And, in fact, damaged the south more than we can ever know.

Taking out Hitler might have changed the course of the war. Taking out that Japanese Admiral probably did change the course of the PTO. Can't think of any other attempts or successes where assassination might be considered an act of war rather than murder.

In any case, assassination of a leader has always been considered reprehensible, and officially considered only in the most desperate circumstances.

Ole

 

[johan_steele]

Booth was a coward and a murderer; when it came time for his act he took a pistol put it at the back of a mans head and pulled the trigger. He never served the CS in the line; never did much more than act. An Alec Baldwin of 1865. deserving of about as much attention before his cowardly act of murder.

 

[Southern Man]

In any case, assassination of a leader has always been considered reprehensible, and officially considered only in the most desperate circumstances.

Ole

So are you saying the bombing of leaders houses in the middle of the night by US aircraft is also reprehensible or do you have double standards?

 

[matthew mckeon]

With Booth, what was he trying to accomplish? The Dahlgren raid in 1864(although there's is controversy about the purposes of the raid) probably targeted Davis and his cabinet for capture(at least). But that was while the war was in full swing and had the objective of winning a victory. Certainly the CS soldiers who shot at Lincoln at Fort Stevens during Early's attack(let's pretend they knew who they were shooting at), were shooting at a legitimate target.
The Booth assassination of Lincoln, once you know the story, seems as squalid as any murder, but it is also senseless--what could Booth hope to achieve for the South? His motives were personal; revenge or compensation for a sense of racial fear, rage and humiliation.

By the way Shane, last I checked Alec Baldwin hadn't murdered anyone, let alone a president. Disagreeing with a politician isn't a crime--yet anyway.

 

[ole]

So are you saying the bombing of leaders houses in the middle of the night by US aircraft is also reprehensible or do you have double standards?

I don't think either of these actions were expected to actually take out the leader; rather, they were intended to scare the bejeezus out of them. In both events, nobody was bragging about an attempted assassination.

Ole

 

[Southern Man]

Mr McKeon Sir. Im glad you mentioned the Dahlgren affair.

Seems the North was also trying to kill the enemies president.

 

[matthew mckeon]

Southern Man,
The point still remains, by April of 1865, what was Booth trying to accomplish?

 

[Southern Man]

Southern Man,
The point still remains, by April of 1865, what was Booth trying to accomplish?

Obviously he was trying to terminate Lincolns' Presidency and he succeded.

Maybe he was upset by the fact that Lincoln illegally arrested and held without charges members of his states legislature. Maybe he considered that kidnapping.

 

[whitworth]

Well one wonders . . .

if someone's great-great....grandfather thought victory was easily obtainable for the Confederacy, and that at wars end he had a cabinet full of worthless confederate bonds and money, lost all his slaves without compensation, lost his plantation and its future wealth, I'm sure his future kin might be a little provoked that they couldn't hoist a few mint juleps on g-g-g grandfather's old money.

 

[ole]

The future kin should blame the ggggrandfather for betting on the wrong horse.
Ole

 

[samgrant]

The future kin should blame the ggggrandfather for betting on the wrong horse.
Ole

Where did the ggg-grandfather get involved in this?

 

[larry_cockerham]

Horse bets

To respond to Sam's question: Brigadier General William Henry Jackson returned to Nashville after the war and married the daughter of William Harding, hence inheriting the Belle Meade Plantation. He is credited with starting the thoroughbred horse industry. Betting on the nags had been going on long before that. I think they bet on turtles too, but it took too long.