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.
Lee Harvey Oswald was born on the 18th of October in 1939. In 1956 Lee had entered the United States Marines. Within 2 months he scored 212 on a marksman's test. He departed from the military in 1959. Roughly 8 days later he departed the U.S and headed to Russia. He had spent some time all over the world until his final destination in Dallas, Texas. In November 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald set up his rifle on the
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During his childhood he had 9 siblings. His father Junius was a well known actor at the time and when John was 17 he performed in the play Richard III, Written by William Shakespeare. Many people loved the plays he performed in, so he got to tour around the country with the Shakespearean Acting Company. Abraham Lincoln watched John Booth perform The Marble Heart at Ford’s Theater. Booth had respiratory issues so he left the acting company. In the 1850’s, he was a confederate secret agent, and a member of the “Know Nothing Party”. In March 1865 John Wilkes Booth attempted to kidnap Abraham Lincoln, but failed. April 14th, is when John walked into Ford’s Theater while Abe was watching “Our American Cousin” and shot him in the back of the head with a .44 caliber hand cannon. He hopped off the balcony seats and landed on the stage. He yelled “The south is avenged” then once he hopped off the stage he broke his leg. He made it to his get away horse and took off. After 12 days hiding out, he finally got shot in the neck and was paralyzed for 3 hours before he passed
When John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, it was a life changing event for the whole country. It took many days for the country to know that Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated. Then, everyone wanted to know why. Why did John Wilkes Booth assassinate Lincoln? Did he do it to be evil or did it for a specific reason? The fact that John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln was unexpected. He was a famous actor that had no criminal background. Nobody had any clue why he chose to do what he did, or did they? There were many motivating factors of why John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, and many people knew about it.
The two most discussed assassinations out of the four within the position of the United States President are that of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. There are many similarities between the two and there are also some differences. There are many similarities associated with the assassination of Lincoln and Kennedy. They were both assassinated on the same day, and the men that were caught for the crime were born a century apart from each other and they were both killed before their trials. A difference between the two men is Lincoln was poor and worked his way to the top and Kennedy was born into a wealthy family in which his father was a large political figure. Both men had
John F. Kennedy was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald on November 22, 1963. Caesar was killed by Brutus and other conspirators on March 15. John Kennedy and Caesar were both strong beloved leaders to their public. Although, President John Kennedy and Julius Caesar were both assassinated, there are some distinct differences between their assassinations. Some important differences are, the relationship between the victim and the killer(s), how many people worked together to assassinate the victim, the motive behind the killer(s), public knowledge of who killed the victim, the public’s reaction, and how the victim died.
The assassination of John F. Kennedy is said to be, as from the Warren report, a murder. The Warren report states that a man, Lee Harvey Oswald, fired 3 shots from the 6th floor of the Texas Book State Depository building. One missed the President’s motorcade completely; another hit President Kennedy in the neck, and the last hit him in the head, which was later said after an autopsy, to be the cause of death.
John Wilkes Booth had a very mischievous plan to kill the president. It was sneaky and skillfully arranged.
The United States would not be the same today if Abraham Lincoln was never assassinated on the unfortunate night of April 14, 1865. His killer, John Wilkes Booth, had a strong resent for the Union that subsequently caused a dramatic shift in history. This hatred was caused by many factors, such as his background and where he grew up, his lust for power and fame, and his mental illness. John Wilkes Booth, a master assassinator and conspirator, hoped to strengthen the confederacy by killing Abraham Lincoln. However, this murder created an even stronger opposition to the South than ever before.
John Wilkes Booth, the murderer of Lincoln, had many reasons for his actions. This is very important to people because there still might be some unknown factors for why John Wilkes Booth slaughtered Lincoln. Booth thought that assassinating Lincoln was a good idea, but it really only turned him into a hated and despised
“ I will be the first man to ever kill a president.” ~ John Wilks Booth. 150 years ago the 16th president of the United States of America was assassinated. There had been many threats against Lincoln during his presidency, but at the end of the day John Wilks Booth was the one who was successful. (O’Reilly 77)
Throughout American, history there have been multiple assassination on presidents of the United States. There is one assassination that is intriguing, the murder of John F. Kennedy. Mr. Kennedy’s assassination is known throughout American history. There is controversy whether this assassination was justified or unjustified. John F. Kennedy’s assassination is unjustified because murder is wrong and he had a family. Though they may or may not have been a reason for Oswald to kill JFK there is no right in murdering someone.
The Lincoln Assassination is the most important assassination out of all the four presidents who have been assassinated. John Wilkes Booth grew up on a farm. His dad, Brutus Booth, was a famous actor at the time, as was his brother. When John Wilkes Booth grew up, he decided to become an actor along with his family. Booth was furious when the North beat the South in the Civil War and he blamed this all on one man: Lincoln. Booth had an original plan to capture Lincoln, but he failed to be at the spot where they were expecting Lincoln. This leads to the Lincoln Assassination and how it was planned out and his killers.
Meanwhile back at the theatre, using a .44 caliber derringer pistol—a small, easily concealed handgun—Booth fired a single shot (timed so that that the audience’s laughter would mask the sound) into Lincoln’s brain at point-blank range before jumping to the stage and escaping into the night. (“TeachingHistory.com”:2010) The president’s friend, Major Rathbone, attempted to grab Booth but was slashed by Booth’s knife. Booth injured his leg badly when he jumped to the stage to escape, but he managed to hobble outside to his horse.(“History.com”2009) Booth was able to escape Ford’s Theater alive and he was on the run for 12 days, accompanied by another conspirator, David Herold. The pair went to the Surratt Tavern in Maryland, gathered supplies, went to see Dr. Mudd to have Booth’s broken leg set, and then headed through forest lands and swamps to Virginia. They were also aided by a former Confederate spy operative and by other Confederate sympathizers. Military forces were hot on their trail, and they found a person who directed them to a Virginia farm. At the Garrett Farm, Booth was fatally wounded and Herold surrendered. (“Fords.org”:N.D.) On July 7, George Atzerodt, Lewis Paine, David Herold, and John Surratt’s mother, Mary, were hanged in Washington. The execution of Mary Surratt is believed by some to have been a miscarriage of
He kept a horse out back for escape and after memorizing each scene he now knows how much time he has between performances to get into the box where Lincoln is sitting. The only thing he wanted now was a last drink. The scene he was in was using the whole stage so to get out of the theater he had to get beneath the stage. When, he came back in the theater it was now time to go in for the kill. He followed the path the Lincoln’s took to their box. Booth expected to see someone guarding the box, but the only person who was there was Lincoln’s servant, Charles Forbes. In the book, “Chasing Lincoln’s Killer,” the author says on page 38, “Booth showed Forbes something. To this day, no one knows what words they exchanged or what Booth showed him. Was it a letter? Or a calling card? A card with Booth’s name on it would open almost any door in Washington.” Forbes did not attempt to stop him. This very decision was what cost the president’s life. After that, he closed the door behind him so nobody could follow him and he only had one more door. He took out his derringer and he made sure the dialogue would cover the sound of him cocking the gun. This was the most intense point of the assassination and there was not turning
In April of 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States, was assassinated at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC. His assassin was John Wilkes Booth, who was a very famous actor at the time. Less than two weeks after he committed the horrible deed, Booth was cornered by the Sixteenth New York Cavalry in a tobacco barn in Virginia. John Wilkes Booth refused to surrender, so the forces responded by setting the barn ablaze. Although the Cavalry wanted to keep Booth alive, Sergeant Boston Corbett defied orders and shot Booth in the neck. The gunshot proved to be fatal and Booth died a few hours later. The body of Booth was identified by Dr. John Frederick May, who examined the body in Washington, DC. He may have
John Wilkes Booth, he went from a well-loved actor to a hated assassin. Booth was a well-known man because of his acting, and later on the assassination of Lincoln during the play, Our American Cousin. Booth was a famous Booth had assassinated Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president, with two weapons, but many reasons. Why he assassinated Lincoln, there are many factors, some might still be unknown.
“Our country owed all her troubles to him, and God simply made me the instrument of his punishment.” These are the words that John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, wrote in his diary after his crime. The sources used were Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, biography.com, and Booth’s diary. He felt that he had reasoning for killing Lincoln. There were many factors that motivated Booth to kill Abe Lincoln.