by Joe Rhatigan
After a short convalescence, Roosevelt resumed his campaign. He lost the nomination to Taft, but ran as part of the brand-new Bull Moose Party. Taft and Roosevelt both lost in a four-way contest to Woodrow Wilson.
Booth Saves Lincoln’s Life
Okay, not that Booth and not that Lincoln. In an interesting coincidence of history, Abraham Lincoln’s son Robert was once saved from serious injury by John Wilkes Booth’s brother, Edwin.
Edwin was an actor like his brother; however, while John was known as a competent-if-not-inspired actor, Edwin was perhaps the finest Shakespearean actor of the nineteenth century. The two brothers were not close. Edwin was a Unionist and staunch Lincoln supporter. When he told his brother he had voted for Lincoln’s reelection, Edwin wrote, “He expressed deep regret, and declared his belief that Lincoln would be made king of America; and this, I believe, drove him beyond the limits of reason.” Another reason for the rivalry between the brothers was that Edwin was perhaps the most famous actor of his day and John was struggling as an actor. A recent book by Nora Titone called My Thoughts Be Bloody asserts that this intense rivalry between brothers led the younger one to kill Abraham Lincoln.
The incident between Lincoln’s son and his assassin’s brother happened on a train platform in Jersey City, New Jersey. And although the exact date of the incident is not known, it probably took place in late 1863 or early 1864—in the midst of the Civil War. Robert Lincoln wrote of the incident in a letter to the editor of The Century Magazine: “The platform was about the height of the car floor, and there was of course a narrow space between the platform and the car body. There was some crowding, and I happened to be pressed by it against the car body while waiting my turn. In this situation the train began to move, and by the motion I was twisted off my feet, and had dropped somewhat, with feet downward, into the open space, and was personally helpless, when my coat collar was vigorously seized and I was quickly pulled up and out to a secure footing on the platform. Upon turning to thank my rescuer I saw it was Edwin Booth, whose face was of course well known to me, and I expressed my gratitude to him, and in doing so, called him by name.”
Edwin Booth didn’t know who he had saved that day until months later, when he received a letter from a friend who heard Robert Lincoln relate the story. It gave Edwin some comfort after the assassination, knowing he had saved the president’s son, even as his brother took the president’s life. After the assassination, Edwin retired from acting for about a year and worried that he would never be able to perform again. However, when he once again took to the stage, he received a prolonged standing ovation.
SIDE NOTE: Robert Todd Lincoln, the only one of Lincoln’s children to survive into adulthood, seems a bit lost in the shadows of history due to his famous father. However, he was President James Garfield’s secretary of war, minister to England under President Benjamin Harrison, and also president of the Pullman Car Company. The Republican Party even briefly considered him a potential presidential candidate.
RESOURCES
Beyer, Rick. The Greatest War Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from Military History to Astonish, Bewilder & Stupefy. New York: Harper Collins, 2005.
Browne, Ray B. and Kreiser, Jr., Lawrence A. The Civil War and Reconstruction. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003.
Boller, Jr., Paul F. Not So!: Popular Myths About America from Columbus to Clinton. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Brinkley, Douglas. The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America. New York: Harper Collins, 2009.
Bruns, Roger. Almost History: Close Calls, Plan B’s, and Twists of Fate in America’s Past. New York: Hyperion, 2000.
Coren, Stanley. The Pawprints of History. New York: Free Press, 2003.
Crawfurd, Raymond. Last Days of Charles II. Oxford: Clarendon Press
Farquhar, Michael. Treasury of Great American Scandals. New York: Penguin Books, 2003.
Haught, James A. Holy Horrors: An Illustrated History of Religious Murder and Madness. New York: Prometheus Books, 1990.
Hughes, Lindsey. Peter the Great: A Biography. Bethany, CT: Yale University Press, 2002.
Leish, Kenneth (ed.). The American Heritage Pictorial History of the Presidents of the United States. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989.
Long, Kim. The Almanac of Political Corruption, Scandals, and Dirty Politics. New York: Bantam Dell, 2007.
O’Connor, Jane. If the Walls Could Talk: Family Life at the White House. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004.
Pearson, Will; Hattikudur, Mangesh; Hunt, Elizabeth, eds. Mental Floss Presents: Forbidden Knowledge: A Wickedly Smart Guide to History’s Naughtiest Bits. New York: HarperCollins, 2005.
Poliakoff, Michael B. Combat Sports in the Ancient World. Bethany, CT: Yale University Press, 1987.
Powell, Michael. Curious Events in History. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 2008.
Roberts II, John B. Rating the First Ladies: The Women Who Influenced the Presidency. New York: Citadel Press, 2003.
Sheinkin, Steve. Two Miserable Presidents: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn’t Tell You About the Civil War. New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2008.
St. George, Judith. So You Want to Be President? New York: Philomel Books, 2000.
Thornton, Brian. The Book of Bastards: 101 Worst Scoundrels and Scandals from the World of Politics and Power. Avon, MA: Adams Media, 2010.
Vennson, Anne Cipriano. United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, 1995.
INDEX
335 Years’ War, 112
Adams, John, 19-20, 30
Adams, John Quincy, 49, 63
Al-Qaddafi, Muammar, 36
Amin, Idi, 59-60
Antoinette, Marie, 87-88
Apollo 13, 143
Archimedes, 123-124
Basquete, Lina, 60-61
Baseball, 91-92
Battle of the Bulge, 101-102
Bethlem Royal Hospital, 71-72
Blahyi, Joshua Milton, 124-125
Bonaparte, Napoleon, 36, 90, 132
Booth, Edwin, 147-149
Booth, John Wilkes, 144
Borden, Lizzie, 92
Boyd, Maria “Belle”, 115-117
Brooks, Preston, 52-53
Brown, Henry, 142-143
Burr, Aaron, 28
Bush, Neil, 42
Caligula, 42-45
Carter, Billy, 40-41
Carter, Jimmy, 38-39, 40, 50
Carter, Rosalynn, 62-63
Catherine the Great, 87
Charles II, 49
Charles VI, 37
Charles the Fat, 16
Charles the Simple, 16
Civil War, 104-105, 112, 115-117, 126, 140-141
Cleveland, Grover, 17
Clinton, William, 17
Coolidge, Calvin, 50, 64
Cures, ancient, 74-75
De Poitiers, Diane, 61-62
Declaration of Independence, 132-135
Doubleday, Abner, 91
Drakulya III, Vlad, 81-82
Drunken War, 120
Dueling, 55-56
Ethelred the Unready, 16
Extramarital affairs, 24-25, 28
Fashion, 77-80
Ferdinand, Franz, 129-130
Foo Fighters, 114-115
Football War, 100
Forrest, Nathan Bedford, 104
Founding Fathers, 7, 28-29, 132-135, 143-144
Franklin, Benjamin, 30
Frederick II, 48-49
Gacy, John Wayne, 62-63
Garfield, James, 50
Graham, Calvin, 122-123
Great Emu War, 113-114
Griswold, Roger, 53-55
Hamilton, Alexander, 28, 55
Harding, Warren, 50
Harrison, Benjamin, 64
Harrison, William, 136-137
Hayes, Lucy, 61
Hedley, J. H., 122
Heliogabalus, 20-22
Henri II, 61-62
/>
Henry IV, 17
Henry VI, 37, 101
Henry VIII, 141-142
Hitler, Adolf, 60-61, 101-102, 126
Hoover, Herbert, 65
Hyde, Edward, 23
Ibrahim I, 31-32
Ivanovna, Anna, 33, 35
Jackson, Andrew, 18, 63, 135-136
Jefferson Thomas, 19-20, 29, 41, 63
Jefferson, Randolph, 41
John III, 95-96
Johnson, Andrew, 64
Johnson, Lyndon, 41-42, 66
Johnson, Richard, 25
Johnson, Sam Houston, 41-42
Jong II, Kim, 36, 50-52
Justin II, 45
Kennedy, John F., 4-25
Khan, Genghis, 26-27, 36
King, Charles D. B., 19
Lead poisoning, 68-69
Lincoln, Abraham, 41, 55, 64, 139-140, 144
Lincoln, Mary Todd, 41
Lincoln, Robert, 147-149
Long-sleeved Kimono Fire, 81
Louis XI, 75-76
Louis XV, 17
Ludwig II, 45
Lyon, Matthew, 53-55
Magellan, Ferdinand, 86
Mary, Queen of England, 17
McKinley, Ida, 61
Mercury poisoning, 69
Merkel, Angela, 36
Musical instruments, 75-76
Nelson, Horatio, 111
Nero, 27
New France, 132
Nineteenth Amendment, 130-131
Nixon, Don, 42
Nixon, Richard, 35, 42, 56-58
O’Neill, James, 103
Patton, George S., 103
Peter I, 33-34, 35, 82-83
Pichegru, Jean-Charles, 110
Pig War, 108-109
Pledge of Allegiance, 90-91
Pork and Beans War, 108
Predictions, 137-139
Presidential pets, 63-66
Putin, Vladimir, 36
Quick comebacks, 47
Quicksilver, 101-102
Ramses II, 118-120
Reagan, Nancy, 62
Reagan, Ronald, 38-40, 62
Religion, 83-84
Revere, Paul 88-89
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 36, 65-66
Roosevelt, Theodore, 64, 146-147
Ross, Betsy, 86-87
Sacred Band, 123
Salem Witch Trials, 145
Sedgwick, John, 112
Selling wives, 67-68
Sports, 72-73
Sticky bomb, 115
Sumner, Charles, 52-53
Taft, William, 64
Tasadays, 93-95
Thirty Years’ War, 109-110
Thurmond, Strom, 56
Tojo, Hideki, 105-107
Torture, medieval, 69-71
Tsunayoshi,
Tokugawa, 31
Tuck, Dick, 56-58
UFOs, 38-40
Van Buren, Martin, 63
War of 1812, 121-122
War of the Oaken Bucket, 107
Washington, George, 25, 29, 35, 100-101
Watergate, 58
Whipping boy, 74
White House tub, 93
William the Conqueror, 32
Wilson, Edith, 62
Wilson, Woodrow, 64
Witch of Ridley Creek, 145-146
World War I, 117-118, 122
World War II, 101-102, 105, 114-115, 126, 145
Yankee Doodle Dandy, 120-121
Yarborough, Ralph, 56
York, Alvin Cullum, 117-118