Who, When, Why What

[Julie-the-Cheesehead]

Thanks for the email about this thread! I would love to share why I am a Lincoln buff.

1. Who inspired you to become interested in the Lincoln Assassination? Probably my high school social studies teacher, Mr. Foulke. He showed many documentary movies in history subjects, not only Lincoln and his assassination, but also the Holocaust, the Russian Revolution, the murder of Charles Lindbergh's young son, and WWII. All of those documentaries and the images in them moved me so much and I felt an emotional connection to the tragedies. I wanted to read more and more about all of those things.

2. When did you become interested? Probably in high school and more so in college. In college, I read any book I could find about both the Lincoln and JFK assassinations.

3. Why are you interested? The idea that a President could be snuck up on and killed while doing something as mundane as watching a play is fascinating, and JWB was such an intriguing character. Then I read about the conspirators and the fact that they were hanged, one of them a lady, and wanted more details on them as well. There was nothing much on them I could find until American Brutus and Manhunt were published.

4. What does it mean to your everyday life? Not a whole lot other than I avidly read about the topic, both online and books, and the personalities, especially Booth, have become icons and archetypes in my head. When I am watching a movie and someone is an arrogant, charming ladies' man, I think "He's such a Booth." I have written a few short fictional accounts of events surrounding the assassination too, so it was a creative muse.