I think the producers are using it as a double meaning. Obviously, the day of his physical death, but how it also marked the death of his name and career, although I would argue that this started long before his death. In some quarters his poetry began to decline in critical acclaim as early as the 1920s, and especially his last collection, Honey and Salt, received some poor reviews.
Best
Rob
Abraham Lincoln is the only man, dead or alive, with whom I could have spent five years without one hour of boredom.
--Ida M. Tarbell
I want the respect of intelligent men, but I will choose for myself the intelligent.