Presidential Assassins

[Jim Garrett]

(10-28-2012 05:52 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Oh, Tom, I fear you have kicked the hornets' nest with this one as it pertains to Booth!

I don't think Booth was insane. Do we consider a soldier who volunteers for a suicide mission insane? Does someone who puts his ideals above his own life insane? The idea of JWB's insanity came about two fold. The first was that JWB's family and fiends couldn't believe he did it. Ergo, he must have been insane. The second is looking at the event from a post Civil War perspective. The act was the act of a Southern patriot seeking retribution against the man responsible for all his country's woes. I don't think it can be argued that it was mis-guided and not well thought through. If the act had been commited six months to a year earlier, he might have been remembered as a great Southern hero. timing is everything.

Another dramatic difference, All the above mentioned assassins or would be assassins were losers, with literally nothing and nothing to lose. JWB was at the top of his game. He gave up everything including his life. There has been much written that JWB's acting career was on the wain. He had not had any engagements for quite some time. However, he did perform 5 months earlier with his brothers, and I believe he had numerous engagements lined at the time of the assassination.

Insane, loser, washed up? I don't think so. Mis-guided? Yep.