The Secret Service Protects Presidential Candidates

While I was watching "The Hunt For John Wilkes Booth" the other night, I was once again struck by the fact that Booth was able to gain such easy access to Lincoln on that fateful night. History well knows that the police officer assigned to guard Lincoln that night, John F. Parker, inexplicably disappeared from his post. Lincoln was left under the "protection"of his valet, and the rest is history.

Leaving the president unguarded is of course an impossibility today, thanks to the outstanding efforts of the United States Secret Service. The Secret Service was ironically founded in July 1865, just three months after the first assassination of an American president. However, the Service did not actually begin even unofficial protection to the president until 1894 during the Grover Cleveland administration. Official full-time protection was provided beginning in 1902, a few months after the assassination of President William McKinley. Today, the Service provides 24-hour protection to the President and his immediate family, former presidents and their spouses (unless the spouse remarries), children of former presidents until the children turn 16, and visiting heads of state.

Beginning in 1968 with the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, the Secret Service began protection detail for the major presidential candidates as well. This article I found in The Toronto Star contains some great information about how current Democrat candidate Barack Obama is protected, and how the protection began early. The fear of course is that as an African-American man, Obama may attract more attention of criminals than the other candidates. Many of the Secret Service techniques are classified, but as this photo of Obama shows, he is shadowed by tough-looking agents.

Even with the outstanding efforts of these incredibly brave men and women, tragedy has of course struck. John F. Kennedy was killed while surrounded by agents, but was riding in an open car. Presidents and the leading candidates rarely do this these days and motorcade routes are carefully guarded secrets. Buildings along those routes are secured to try to prevent another Dallas. And there have been even more assassination attempts: two on President Ford, Ronald Reagan was nearly killed, and a plot against the first President Bush was discovered. Presidential candidate George Wallace was shot in 1972 during his own campaign.

America is unfortunately one of the most violent countries in the industrialized world. Let's hope and pray that an assassin's bullet never strikes any president, or presidential candidate, again.

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Review: The Hunt For John Wilkes Booth

As I posted on December 20, 2007, The History Channel recently showed a two-hour documentary about the 12-day hunt for John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln. Thanks to the hectic schedule of the holidays, I didn't watch it until last night. I thought I'd share my own opinion about the documentary.

"The Hunt For John Wilkes Booth" is based upon Michael W. Kauffman's excellent book published in 2004, titled: "American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and The Lincoln Conspiracies." Kauffman serves as the principal expert on the show. Other people adding their two cents were a man from the U.S. Marshals Service, to provide expertise about techniques in manhunting, and Betty J. Ownsbey, a biographer of Lewis Powell, the man who nearly killed William Seward.

As The History Channel tends to do, there were many re-created scenes of the historical events being discussed, but the scenes are repeated ad nauseam. I specifically refer to the scenes depicting Booth and his co-conspirator, David Herold, running through the woods. Of course, Booth and Herold did spend many days hiding out in the Pine Thicket and other woods, but just how many times do we need to see the actors in the trees? One somewhat comical aspect of the scenes was the fact that "Booth" hobbled on his right leg sometimes and on his left leg at others. Of course, the real Booth broke his left leg.

The documentary makers were smart enough to show the actual sites of the assassination and the manhunt. Kauffman showed the Presidential Box at Ford's Theater, the room where Lincoln died, Mary Surratt's house, Dr. Samuel Mudd's house, and finally the site of the farm where Booth was shot and killed, which is today a wooded median strip in a highway. Filming at the various sites was especially informative to me as I've never been to the Surratt and Mudd houses.

There were some relatively minor omissions from the documentary, which might have added some context. One closeup showed the puzzling "Don't wish to disturb you. Are you at home?" that John Wilkes Booth wrote on a calling card and placed in the mailbox of Vice-President Andrew Johnson. Historians continue to debate the card to this day, and some theorists even believe it implicates Johnson in the plot. Nothing was discussed in the documentary about the card and it implied that this was the card that Booth gave to Lincoln's valet.

While the documentary of course included Mary Surratt and her role in the conspiracy, it did not mention that she was the first woman executed by the Federal Government. It also didn't discuss the frantic efforts to get her sentence reduced to life or less. Perhaps the documentary makers didn't think that was important in the context of the manhunt for Booth. But it did go on to show photos of the hanging of her, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt, so I do think the extraordinary fact of excecuting a woman should have had been briefly discussed.

The documentary closes with a "what happened to" summary of the other conspirators: the hangings of course; and the sentencing to prison of Edmund Spangler, Dr. Mudd, and Michael O' Laughlin. I'm surprised, though, that it didn't have a follow-up about Mary Surratt's son, John. He ended up escaping punishment entirely, although he was tried for murder in a civil court in 1867. Had he been caught and tried by the military tribunal, he most likely would have been hanged along with his mother.

As in his book, Kauffman equivocates about the role of Dr. Samuel Mudd in the conspiracy. His brief discussion in the show seemed to imply to me, at least, that Mudd knew Booth, but that Mudd didn't know about the plot to kill Lincoln. This is in contrast to other historians' opinions, most notably that of Edward Steers, Jr. I tend to agree with the historians who believe Mudd had a very large role in the conspiracy and was by no means an innocent man, no matter the protestations of his family.

All in all, I found the documentary to be very informative and quite well done, unlike some other History Channel documentaries I've suffered through. Kauffman is an engaging expert and having the U.S. Marshal explaining manhunt techniques was quite clever. I found the biographer for Powell to be superfluous. I'd recommend this documentary to anyone who might wish to view it. The History Channel website currently lists it for sale on DVD.

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First New $5 To Be Spent At Lincoln Cottage

According to this news release, the first newly redesigned $5 bill will be spent on March 13, 2008 at the recently re-open Lincoln Cottage. As my post of November 5, 2007 discussed, the sprawling 34 room mansion on the site of the former Soldier's Home in Washington, D.C. served as President Lincoln's getaway retreat and was the site of his work on the Emancipation Proclamation.

My post of December 13, 2007 discussed the redesigned $5 bill. Sorry, but it still looks like Monopoly money to me.

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Does Experience Lead To Presidential Greatness?

In every presidential election cycle, much is made about the "experience" that candidates bring (or do not bring) to the table in order to sway voters. This is especially true during our current election campaign. For the first time in many decades, neither a current U.S. president nor a current U.S. vice-president is running for election to the nation's highest office.

In our current cycle, Hillary Clinton touts her experience as a "doer" in Washington and claims that she had many influences in the Clinton White House. John McCain reminds voters that he is strong in foreign policy experience. And Barack Obama is almost daily compared to Abraham Lincoln because of Obama's same lack of experience in Washington which Lincoln lacked, the implication being that limited experience is good.

Just how much should experience count in the country's decision for president? When Abraham Lincoln ran for President of the United States, his total political experience was limited to a single term in the U.S. Congress, and a handful of terms in the state legislature in Illinois. (for a more detailed recounting of his political experience, click here). He ran for U.S. Senate and was defeated. He was involved in failed businesses (although their failures were not his fault). He was a successful lawyer, but there was nothing in his background to suggest to the nation's electorate that he would go on to become such a towering figure in American history.

Other men who served as U.S. President brought enormous political experience to the White House, but were considered to be ineffective at best during their term or terms in office. A classic example is John Quincy Adams. JQA was by all accounts brilliant. He served as Secretary of State, as foreign minister (ambassador) to Russia and to other countries in Europe. Yet from the beginning of his term in office (after being elected by the House of Representatives), his presidency was a failure. Congress ignored his initiatives, supporters of Andrew Jackson were furious that Adams was chosen by the House over their candidate, and government was more or less paralyzed for four years.

Today's issue of the Albany (New York) Times Union newspaper contains a well-written editorial which addresses this very topic. It starts off talking about a man who was poorly dressed, awkward in appearance, and who had a nearly total lack of political or leadership experience. The man was of course Lincoln. It also describes how John F. Kennedy brought almost no experience to the White House as well, but how his strong and determined leadership forced the Soviet Union to remove its Cuban Missiles. Kennedy also established the Peace Corps, a true example of the good which America can do. It also tells the story of Harry Truman, a former haberdasher, and selected for office by a corrupt political machine. He had no experience, yet was selected to be Vice-President and then ascended to the presidency when Franklin Roosevelt died. Truman showed a refreshing honesty and strength of leadership during his presidency. Today, many historians consider Truman to be one of the "near-great" presidents.

I agree with the conclusion of the editorial: experience (or lack thereof) does not mean everything when we select a president. As the editorial states: "...experience is in the final analysis no substitute for vision and character."

What do you think? Feel free to add your comments.

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Lincoln Assassination Police Log Surfaces

From Fox5 News in Washington, D.C. comes the exciting news that the official D.C. Police logs from Abraham Lincoln's assassination have come to light. A video report tells how the retired police chief of the D.C. police force has recently donated a log book to the D.C. Police museum which contains firsthand accounts of the events of the evening of April 14, 1865. Update: The book now apparently resides at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

In the video, officer Kenneth Stewart, the curator of the museum, shows the log book to the TV reporter, with the specific log entries from the night of the assassination and the aftermath. It begins by relating that "Lincoln, the president of the United States, was shot at the Ford's Theater on 10th Street." It then continues:

"The excitement was great throughout the precinct...but the people were orderly and quiet..the whole force were immediately put on duty by order of Superintendent Richards"

It then continues with a poignant and sad entry:

"The gloom that overshadowed the nation by the sad occurrence deeply affected the whole force and brought many heartfelt sympathies from the nation's loss"

The log book was recovered from the trash decades ago in a precinct station and eventually found its way to the retired chief who donated it to the police museum. That's a very noble gesture on his part, because he could have sold this book for hundreds or thousands of dollars to a private collector. Now, it's available for viewing and enjoyment by everyone.

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Harrison Ford In Spielberg's Lincoln Film?

Rumors circulating through cyberspace are saying these days that Harrison Ford is in talks with Steven Spielberg to star in Spielberg's long-awaited biopic of Abraham Lincoln. According to the rumors, Ford would be cast as Lincoln's second vice-president (and successor) Andrew Johnson. Liam Neeson is to star as Lincoln.

I've included this funny composite photo of Ford and Lincoln from the "/Film" blog to depict what Ford might look like as Lincoln. Just for fun. Blogs don't always have to be serious you know.

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The Plot To Steal Abraham Lincoln's Body

Even in death, Abraham Lincoln could find no safe haven from the plots which plagued him during his life. Body stealing was a fairly common occurrence in earlier times, with the stolen bodies either used for ransom money from the deceased's family or even being sold to unscrupulous medical schools. But the plot to steal Lincoln was organized by counterfeiters, of all things.

Seems as if this gang of counterfeiters had a compatriot in prison, one Ben Boyd, who was a master counterfeiter. So "Big Jim" Kenally, the leader of the gang, cooked up the plot to steal Lincoln's body and demand both $200,000 and the release of Mr. Boyd.

Thanks to some fine detective work by the fairly new Secret Service, the plotters were thwarted in the act. (It should be remembered that even today, the primary purpose of the Secret Service is to deter counterfeiters from polluting the U.S. money supply with bogus money. )

The thieves actually escaped the law for a time, but were finally captured on November 16, 1876. Unfortunately, there were no state laws against grave robbing at that time in Illinois, so the robbers were charged only with trying to steal the coffin itself. They were sentenced to one year in prison.

The photo I've included is a historical marker in Illinois on the spot of the gang's headquarters.

I had known about this plot thanks to other sources I'd read, primarily Candace Fleming's fine article in the Lincoln 140th Assassination Anniversary issue of American History magazine published in 2005. In that article, Fleming detailed not only this plot but the other struggles on how to properly bury Lincoln in his (finally) final resting place in 1901. It's a fascinating story.

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