Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Lincoln Part 2: His Last Journey (Audio): The Assassination and Funeral of a President. With Jack Stanley
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Lincoln Part 2: His Last Journey (Audio): The Assassination and Funeral of a President. With Jack Stanley
CLICK HERE! To send us a message! Ask us a Question or just let us know what you think!
Abraham Lincoln's assassination at Ford's Theater on April 14, 1865, was more than just the murder of a president—it was a pivotal moment that launched an unprecedented national ritual of grief that would forever transform how Americans viewed their 16th president.
What many don't realize is that John Wilkes Booth wasn't just any assassin—he was arguably the most famous actor in America, a genuine celebrity heartthrob "with women tearing at his clothes." His star status gave him complete access to Ford's Theater, where Lincoln had gone to see "Our American Cousin" despite looking physically ravaged by the war at just 56 years old. While Booth succeeded in killing Lincoln, his co-conspirators failed in their attempts to assassinate Vice President Johnson and Secretary of State Seward (though Seward was severely wounded and disfigured).
The three-week funeral journey that followed stands as one of the most extraordinary public spectacles in American history. Lincoln's embalmed body traveled by train through city after city, retracing in reverse the route he had taken to Washington in 1861. At each stop, his body was displayed for public viewing while an embalmer fought a losing battle with decomposition—by the final stops, Lincoln's lips had shrunk to reveal a ghastly grin that required constant touching up.
Perhaps most fascinating is what happened after the funeral. For decades, Lincoln's remains faced repeated theft attempts, including a brazen 1876 plot that failed only because the robbers couldn't lift his 500-pound lead-lined coffin. For years afterward, his coffin was hidden under a pile of garbage in the tomb's basement. His son Robert eventually had his father permanently secured by encasing the coffin in ten feet of concrete—ensuring that the martyred president would remain eternally undisturbed, much like the mythologized image of Lincoln that Robert carefully curated by destroying personal papers and controlling his father's narrative.
The funeral procession didn't just bury a president—it birthed an American icon, transforming a deeply controversial wartime leader into the marble figure we revere today. Subscribe to hear more forgotten stories that reveal the complex humanity behind our nation's most mythologized figures.
View all episodes
By Steve - "The Judge"CLICK HERE! To send us a message! Ask us a Question or just let us know what you think!
Abraham Lincoln's assassination at Ford's Theater on April 14, 1865, was more than just the murder of a president—it was a pivotal moment that launched an unprecedented national ritual of grief that would forever transform how Americans viewed their 16th president.
What many don't realize is that John Wilkes Booth wasn't just any assassin—he was arguably the most famous actor in America, a genuine celebrity heartthrob "with women tearing at his clothes." His star status gave him complete access to Ford's Theater, where Lincoln had gone to see "Our American Cousin" despite looking physically ravaged by the war at just 56 years old. While Booth succeeded in killing Lincoln, his co-conspirators failed in their attempts to assassinate Vice President Johnson and Secretary of State Seward (though Seward was severely wounded and disfigured).
The three-week funeral journey that followed stands as one of the most extraordinary public spectacles in American history. Lincoln's embalmed body traveled by train through city after city, retracing in reverse the route he had taken to Washington in 1861. At each stop, his body was displayed for public viewing while an embalmer fought a losing battle with decomposition—by the final stops, Lincoln's lips had shrunk to reveal a ghastly grin that required constant touching up.
Perhaps most fascinating is what happened after the funeral. For decades, Lincoln's remains faced repeated theft attempts, including a brazen 1876 plot that failed only because the robbers couldn't lift his 500-pound lead-lined coffin. For years afterward, his coffin was hidden under a pile of garbage in the tomb's basement. His son Robert eventually had his father permanently secured by encasing the coffin in ten feet of concrete—ensuring that the martyred president would remain eternally undisturbed, much like the mythologized image of Lincoln that Robert carefully curated by destroying personal papers and controlling his father's narrative.
The funeral procession didn't just bury a president—it birthed an American icon, transforming a deeply controversial wartime leader into the marble figure we revere today. Subscribe to hear more forgotten stories that reveal the complex humanity behind our nation's most mythologized figures.