The Reason Lincoln Had to Die

[Gene C]

Speaking of Booth's diary, missing pages, the book taken apart and put back together, and laminating, here is something to ponder......

According to the attached web site, The archival community embraced lamination in the early 1930s as a means of strengthening fragile papers.
https://daige.com/history-lamination/

It is reasonably possible that many of the physical alterations to Booth's diary did not take place until the 1930's, with the exception to 18 missing pages
Based upon that article, it is certainly logical that it would be unlikely that pages were taken out and some laminated and put back in before the 1930's.
That would be long after Stanton was Secretary of War. That's my thoughts for now.

Trying to change the subject with an unrelated topic, we can't rule out a yet unknown connection of changes to Booth's diary and the shipwreck of the coastal tanker Pinthis and the passenger liner Fairfax on June 10, 1930 where 47 people died.
Add to that, the first mate's diary, and there is no written record that he did not keep a diary, was never found. Considering the timeline, it's just to coincidental not to not be connected.
Newspapers of the period were strangely silent regarding the governments involvement in this terrible tragedy.