JWB and Fame

[Linda Anderson]

I think that Booth was jealous of Lincoln's fame, especially when he listened to the people cheering at Lincoln's speech on the evening of April 11. Booth also admired the way John Brown went to his death in 1859 but Brown was an abolitionist for years before he was executed.

Booth wanted the glory for himself. He thought one bullet would supplant all the hard work Lincoln did for years. Booth didn't earn the kind of fame he desired and he realized that before he was shot in Garrett's barn.