Chapter One The best assassins aren't the famous ones. John Wilkes Booth was a ham and a showboat

Sudden deaths can cause a loved one to question their whole belief system as they try to come to terms with their loss.

Lincoln, Malcolm X, Franz Ferdinand, all murdered, all with a purpose, all with a confirmed killer. Why did these assassinations happen? What caused these people to feel the need to kill such powerful people? While we know who killed many, and most of people, who were assassinated while in powerful positions, we have no idea who really killed Kennedy. Though many theories surround his death, we have no real evidence to confirm a killer. Could it have been the work of a single person, a group of people, maybe radicals, or even a conspiracy?

In the 1980s, New York was considered one of the most dangerous major cities in the United States. Crime was on an ultimate high, especially in Brooklyn, New York. The documentary, “The Seven-Five” directed by Tiller Russell, focuses on a police officer named Michael Dowd who worked in the 75th precinct. The 75th precinct was known for being the most dangerous area with the most crime. However, not only were individuals within the community committing crimes. Dowd, who’s been on the job for two years, went from being a good cop that followed all protocols to a corrupt cop that went down the path of crime. This documentary goes into details on Dowd’s crime streak, how he got caught, the case against him, and the testimonies of his partners in the police station. This case was considered a “major corruption scandal in New York City in the 1980s” (Michael Dowd, 2015).

Michael Dowd, dubbed the name “Dirtiest Cop in New York City”, prospered enough than any US President’s annual salary, calculating by the amount of money he stole in robberies he and his partner, Kenny Eurell, planned in their patrol car to the eight grand a week they were paid from a drug gang leader. He and his fellow partners-in-crime would use police tactics to rob dealers. Certainly, Dowd was not only intelligent in his mischievous ways, but he had balls and didn’t rat out on his partners, which made him fearless of the consequences that might follow. He may be nervous at times, but was never feared of being caught. He was determined, demanding, obnoxious, greedy individual, and would go after anyone that threatened him and owed him money.

Death of a loved one is never an easy pill to swallow. To completely understand the reasoning behind it may never be understood. Some may be more accepting of it or understand it religiously but there's always the question of why., at least for me it is. Although I don't have the dates of my first couple of recollection of deaths that have taken place I can clearly recall the others.

Although there have been numerous assassination plots and attempts, there have only been four successful presidential assassinations in the history of the U.S. Today I’ll be comparing and contrasting two different president killers: John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald. They lived almost a century apart, but still have many similarities. Lee and John basically did the same crime, assassinating a U.S President, however, they have numerous differences.

“Violence does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls into the pit which he digs for another” (Doyle). Assassinations have taken place countless times throughout history. Anyone can get assassinated, but political leaders have to worry the most since so many leaders have been killed in the past. In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Brutus and Cassius (along with the other conspirators) murder Julius Caesar. Although this is just a play, it is very relevant to real life. One situation similar to this Is the JFK assassination. Both situations (Caesar and JFK) are similar in that someone was killed, and it ended poorly for the assassin(s).

Buntin, J. (2017, July). In Extreme Community Policing, Cops Become the Neighbor. Retrieved October 15, 2017, from

The origin of James McKinley’s book was written just a little more than ten years after JFK’s assassination. It is a book compiled of the accounts of 12 famous political figures in American History. In Assassination in America, the purpose of the reading is to examine the complex circumstances surrounding the assassination by recreating the background and drama encompassing the murder. The value of Assassination in America is that it was written just ten years after Kennedy’s assassination, so one is able to recall details more precisely, giving a more accurate account than a book written fifty years after the event. The limitations of McKinley’s book include the fact that his book not only includes details about Kennedy’s assassination, but also the accounts of other well-known assassinations in our history.

There have been numerous attempts of assassinations on seating presidents of the United States. There have been about 20 attempts to kill not only sitting presidents but also sitting presidents, and also president-elects. Among the presidents, gunshot has killed them Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy. Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan are United States Presidents that were injured during assassination attempts. All the other presidents of America from John Kennedy have gone through attempts of assassinations. The majority of this assassination cases are connected to political ambitions with some cases being connected to political gains (Clerk, 2007). In this paper, the assassination of James Garfield and John F. Kennedy will be covered.

The name of John Wilkes Booth conjures up a picture of America's most infamous assassin, the killer of perhaps the greatest president of the United States. However, J. Wilkes Booth (as he was known professionally) led a very prominent life as an actor in the years preceding the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. This period of his life is often forgotten or overlooked.

The most common effect of death in a family is known as grief. When we understand it better, it makes the process a little less daunting. We have to realize as humans, we are not alone. Everyone has lost someone they loved and it's a natural thing to deal with. There is no normal way of dealing with death. It doesn't have patterns or a set way of dealing with it.

John Wilkes Booth had major plans to complete what felt was necessary for him. Booth had a personal feeling for the president “[Lincoln is] a false president yearning for kingly succession as hotly as ever did Ariston [an ancient Greek tyrant].” (Giblin 96). Booths hatred started when the civil war began during President Lincoln's term and Booth disagreed with many of his believes. As the war took a toll of casualties for both the North and the South, Booth had many plans for the South coming out victorious it was whether when was he going to take action. Before the war started, Booth was a well known actor. He served many famous plays for that

Losing a loved one is like having the rug swept from under you. We make plans for the day, and do not think twice about how those plans can be taken away in the blink of an eye. I never thought much about it myself, until I was faced with the shock, and undeniable truth of my uncle’s death. I do not think anyone really thinks about tragedy until they are actually faced with shocking news. It is amazing how we take life for granted. The tragedy never goes away. You just learn how to cope with it and keep moving on.

The death of a loved one is a tough thing to bear, it is even worse when that death comes from a