Speaker 1: And we continue with our American stories up next, The short,
Speaker 1: happy life of Abraham Lincoln his final days. By all accounts,
Speaker 1: good Friday, just two days before Easter on April fourteenth,
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty five, was the happiest day of President Abraham
Speaker 1: Lincoln's life. It had most certainly been the happiest few
Speaker 1: weeks of his life, according to James Swanson, author of
Speaker 1: the New York Times bestseller Manhunt, the twelve Day Chase
Speaker 1: for Lincoln's killer. Here is what Swanson wrote. Lincoln had
Speaker 1: won the war. Richmond fell on April third, Lee surrendered
Speaker 1: on April ninth, and Lincoln gave his final speech from
Speaker 1: the White House grounds the evening of April eleven, the
Speaker 1: night before the night Lincoln was shot by his assassin.
Speaker 1: Local newspapers reported it being the most beautiful night in
Speaker 1: the history of Washington, as the city celebrated the ending
Speaker 1: of the bloodiest and costliest war ever fought on American soil. Fireworks, flares,
Speaker 1: and other sources of every imaginable variety illuminated the evening's
Speaker 1: sky again. James Swanson, one of the papers, said that
Speaker 1: the Capital Dome was so beautiful that night that it
Speaker 1: looked like a second moon had descended upon the earth
Speaker 1: as a sign of God's favor for the Union and
Speaker 1: for the victory. The very next morning, an idyllic spring
Speaker 1: morning on April fourteen, Lincoln met his son, who'd been
Speaker 1: working for General George Meade, and then he met with
Speaker 1: his cabinet. A rare visitor joined that last meeting Lincoln
Speaker 1: would ever hold with his staff none other than you,
Speaker 1: General Ulysses S. Grant. They discussed affairs of state, and
Speaker 1: things ended with Lincoln sharing a dream he'd had the
Speaker 1: night before. In it, he was at the head of
Speaker 1: a mysterious vessel moving towards a distant shore. He was alone.
Speaker 1: Lincoln added that whenever he had that dream, and he'd
Speaker 1: had it many times before during the war, something of
Speaker 1: critical importance transpired. I'm convinced something of major significance is
Speaker 1: about to happen, Lincoln told his men. When the meeting ended,
Speaker 1: he and his bride, Mary, took a carriage ride to
Speaker 1: enjoy the open air and talk about matters of the heart.
Speaker 1: Here again is James Swanson. During that ride, Lincoln told
Speaker 1: her he knew they'd been very unhappy ever since the
Speaker 1: death of their eleven year old son Willie in the
Speaker 1: White House in eighteen sixty two. The death count in
Speaker 1: the Civil War over six hundred thousand, had taken its
Speaker 1: toll on Lincoln two. It had been a crushing burden
Speaker 1: on him, and the two of them had grown apart
Speaker 1: during the war for so many reasons. He told Mary,
Speaker 1: we must be happy again. Mary even wrote a note
Speaker 1: later that day about her husband's rejuvenated spirit. You alarm me,
Speaker 1: she said, because I have never seen you this happy
Speaker 1: since just before the death of our child. Just two
Speaker 1: days before Easter, the day Christians around the world celebrate
Speaker 1: the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Lincoln had experienced a resurrection
Speaker 1: of his own. That night, he and Mary attended Our
Speaker 1: American Cousin, a popular comedy of the day by British
Speaker 1: playwright Tom Taylor. The couple arrived at Ford's Theater thirty
Speaker 1: minutes late, and the play was stopped immediately as the
Speaker 1: band rose and played Hail to the Chief went wild.
Speaker 1: They were celebrating their great leader. They were also celebrating
Speaker 1: the end of a terrible war. They too had borne
Speaker 1: the heavy burden of the greatest conflict on American soil.
Speaker 1: They too had the feeling of being reborn. That moment
Speaker 1: may well have been the happiest of Lincoln's life. On
Speaker 1: the day that marked a new and happy beginning to
Speaker 1: Lincoln's life and the nation's John Wilkes, Booth was plotting
Speaker 1: to make it the president's last Here's James Swanson on Booth.
Speaker 1: The twenty six year old was one of the most
Speaker 1: popular actors in America. Exceedingly handsome and athletic. Women and
Speaker 1: men would stop in the street to watch him as
Speaker 1: he passed. Generous, vain, funny, egomaniacal, politically motivated to be
Speaker 1: a lover of the South, and a supporter of slavery
Speaker 1: who once said slavery is the best thing that ever
Speaker 1: happened to the black man. On the day Lincoln gave
Speaker 1: his last speech from the White House, Crowns Both was present,
Speaker 1: seated not far from him. When Lincoln spoke to the
Speaker 1: adoring crowd about giving blacks the right to vote. Both
Speaker 1: turned to a Confederate sympathizer he knew well and said,
Speaker 1: that's the last speech he'll ever give. It turns out
Speaker 1: Booth had considered killing Lincoln before. At the president's second
Speaker 1: inaugural address, he sat a mere fifty feet from the
Speaker 1: man he hated. Here's James Wanson getting drunk at a bar.
Speaker 1: Shortly after that, Booth pounded his fist on the table
Speaker 1: and said to a friend, what an excellent chance I
Speaker 1: had to kill the President on inauguration day. He was
Speaker 1: almost as close to me as you are now. Then
Speaker 1: came the catalyst that drove Booth into action. While visiting
Speaker 1: Ford's Theater midday to pick up his mail, a woman
Speaker 1: told the actor that Lincoln was attending the play that night. That,
Speaker 1: according to James Swanson, set off the imaginary clock counting
Speaker 1: down in Booth's head. What motivated one of the leading
Speaker 1: actors of his day to do such a thing again,
Speaker 1: James Swanson, Lincoln was an American caesar. To Booth, he
Speaker 1: wanted to punish Lincoln the tyrant. He hoped to change history,
Speaker 1: and of course he wanted eternal fame. He had it
Speaker 1: in his lifetime. But Booth wanted to be immortalized as
Speaker 1: a Southerner and ultimately an American patriot. The rest of
Speaker 1: the story, what Herman Melville called that bloody awful night,
Speaker 1: is embedded in the American memory. The details of the
Speaker 1: assassination Notwithstanding, what Booth did that night was what James
Speaker 1: Swanson called a new art form performance assassination. Woth wasn't
Speaker 1: on a suicide mission. He had an actual escape plan.
Speaker 1: What he really wanted, Swanson noted, was to be seen
Speaker 1: and celebrate. Again. Here's James Swanson when he crept to
Speaker 1: the President's box and shot Lincoln and jumped to the
Speaker 1: stage of Ford's theater. Wuth wasn't wearing a disguise, He
Speaker 1: hadn't shaved his mustache. He did nothing to conceal himself
Speaker 1: when he turned to the audience and faced them and
Speaker 1: cried out the state motto of Virginia. That motto, sick
Speaker 1: semper tyrannus is a Latin phrase meaning thus always to tyrants.
Speaker 1: Those words were followed by the last words Booth ever
Speaker 1: uttered on an American stage, the South is avenged. As
Speaker 1: he left the stage, alted to himself, and only few
Speaker 1: people heard it, I have done it. Booth then escaped
Speaker 1: to the back of the theater, jumped on his waiting horse,
Speaker 1: and rode off into the night. The largest man hunting
Speaker 1: American history ensued. Booth was found twelve days later outside
Speaker 1: of Port Royal, Virginia, trapped in a tobacco barn, the
Speaker 1: cavalry set the building on fire to force him out.
Speaker 1: When he reached for his rifle and headed for the door,
Speaker 1: Sergeant Boston Corbett pulled his pistol and fired only once,
Speaker 1: striking Booth in the neck and severing his spine. He
Speaker 1: would die within hours, a slow, miserable death. Back at
Speaker 1: Ford's Theater on Good Friday, America's beloved president lay dying
Speaker 1: in his box. He was attended by three doctors, who
Speaker 1: had concluded quickly that the wound was mortal and that
Speaker 1: the theater was simply not an appropriate place for a
Speaker 1: man like him to die. So those men carried him
Speaker 1: from his box, down the stairs and into the street,
Speaker 1: looking for a place to make the President of the
Speaker 1: United States as comfortable as he possibly could be, and
Speaker 1: the few hours of life he had left to live.
Speaker 1: A person staying at the Peterson House, just across the
Speaker 1: street from Ford's Theater, was quick to help. The doctors
Speaker 1: rushed Lincoln in and took him directly to the back
Speaker 1: of the bedroom, where he died the next morning, on
Speaker 1: April fifteenth. As he died that night, a light, cold
Speaker 1: rain began to fall over Washington. It was as if
Speaker 1: the very heavens wept at the loss of our beloved President.
Speaker 1: Thus ended the short happy life of the Great Emancipator
Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln. The opening stanza of Walt whitman epic poem,
Speaker 1: when Lilacs last in the dooryard bloomed, captured the nation's
Speaker 1: grief in Way's mere prose could not when lilacs last
Speaker 1: in the dooryard bloomed, and the great star early drooped
Speaker 1: in the western sky in the night, I mourned, and
Speaker 1: yet shall mourn with ever returning spring, ever returning Spring. Trinity.
Speaker 1: Sure to me you bring lilac blooming, perennial and drooping
Speaker 1: star in the west, and thought of him. I love
Speaker 1: the short happy life of President Abraham Lincoln, his final
Speaker 1: days here on our American stories.