142 years ago today, President Lincoln went to the theater

[BOSSHOG]

with his wife to see the Play "Our American Cousin."

[CrazyOrangeCat]

1. "O Captain, my Captain . . ."

:patriot:

[TahitiNut]

2. Too bad Chimpolini McCodpiece can't possibly sit still when someone else is on the stage.

:evilgrin:

[Name removed]

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[NightWatcher]

8. Sic Semper Tyrannis

[jobycom]

4. "Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, what did you think of the play?"

Not trying to be funny. Trying to point out that that is the level and awareness of reporting and questioning of our current media on issues like Iraq, Iran, Katrina...

Quite a difference in leadership skills between then and now, eh? Then again, Lincoln came after several terms of presidents who dodged important issues and let the many problems of the nation fester.

[MADem]

10. Oh, Geeeeeeeeeeeeeez. I'm going to HIDE today, because I know a few people

who, if they realize the date, WILL come out with that punch line and cackle uproariously.

You may be old enough to remember Johnny Carson, who, every so often, would do a Lincoln joke, and then, after the audience would groan, would give us that small grin and ask "Too soon??"

I have to admit, I was in the "Too soon" camp when it came to Lincoln jokes--but times sure have changed since Carson asked that question. I'd be considered a fuddy-duddy if I objected to one of those smartass jokes nowadays.

Hell, I still have a hard time imagining people whose loved one is murdered going on TV a day or so after the incident, but we see it play out on the TV news all the time. There's no "mourning periods" or (I guess antiquated) expressions of grief anymore. People sure do live their lives in the public eye--and those salacious and dramatic stories certainly do take over the news cycle, while deaths far away in Iraq--the ones that SHOULD get some coverage--but are without footage, without available filmed drama, can be so easily ignored.

Hopefully, our next president will have the leadership talents of Lincoln, but better luck against those wishing the officeholder ill.

[jobycom]

11. Well, again, the comment wasn't supposed to be about Lincoln

but about the questions our modern media asks, always missing the important aspect of a story.

[MADem]

15. I realize that, but your subject line was a warning to me. NT

[Journeyman]

5. Most serious Lincoln scholars are in agreement. . .

if the 16th President had not been assassinated that evening, he'd be dead now.

[Monkeyman]

6. History Never Changes But Boss is old enough to remember LOL

[BOSSHOG]

9. I was going to the play that night

but I gave up my tickets.

[mopinko]

7. he belongs to the ages, now.

yes, he does.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

12. He took a carriage ride with Mary

and talked of going to Europe and then fulfilling his dream of seeing the Pacific Ocean.

Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight

In Springfield, Illinois

By Vachel Lindsay


IT is portentous, and a thing of state
That here at midnight, in our little town,
A mourning figure walks, and will not rest,
Near the old court-house pacing up and down.

Or by his homestead, or in shadowed yards
He lingers where his children used to play;
Or through the market, on the well-worn stones
He stalks until the dawn-stars burn away.

A bronzed, lank man! His suit of ancient black,
A famous high top-hat and plain worn shawl
Make him the quaint great figure that men love,
The prairie-lawyer, master of us all.

He cannot sleep upon his hillside now.
He is among us:—as in times before!
And we who toss and lie awake for long
Breathe deep, and start, to see him pass the door.

His head is bowed. He thinks on men and kings.
Yea, when the sick world cries, how can he sleep?
Too many peasants fight, they know not why,
Too many homesteads in black terror weep.

The sins of all the war-lords burn his heart.
He sees the dreadnaughts scouring every main.
He carries on his shawl-wrapped shoulders now
The bitterness, the folly, and the pain.

He cannot rest until a spirit-dawn
Shall come;—the shining hope of Europe free:
The league of sober folk, the Workers’ Earth
Bringing long peace to Cornland, Alp, and Sea.

It breaks his heart that kings must murder still,
That all his hours of travail here for men
Seem yet in vain. And who will bring white peace
That he may sleep upon his hill again?


Change a few words and this, sadly, relates to today and not WWI.

[Name removed]

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[Itchinjim]

14. Didn't I read somewhere on DU that Bush 41 was in the audience....

on that fateful night?

[NightWatcher]

16. yea, but he cant remember it if you ask him

....kinda like Dallas, hmmmmm

[rasputin1952]

17. On a serious note...If Booth had not shot Lincoln that night, this nation

would be an entirely different place, and I don't hesitate to add, a better one.

I believe that Lincoln would have handled Reconstruction in and entirely different way, and the suspicion that the South was somehow behind the assassination would have never cropped up. It took nearly 70 years to bring the South back to pre-CW production and population. The long lasting implication of Reconstruction still take their toll today, in the ranks of the KKK and other hate groups, which may, or may not have cropped up if Lincoln had not been shot. Lincoln was a strong president with the idea that the South should re-enter the Union w/a minimum of problems and no demands for restitution etc would have come about.

Lincoln also believed that aid was necessary to get the South back up to par, and had been planning his own type of "Marshall Plan", long before George Marshall was born. By the end of the Summer, I am willing to surmise that he would have given a blanket pardon for all in the South, and that would have been it. When Booth entered the box that night, he signed the plan for the troubles the South would see for decades. Booth thought he would be a hero, but Southerners knew they were in for a hard time for many years to come when word of the assassination got to them. They may have disliked/hated Lincoln, but he was their hope; that hope was extinguished in Ford's Theater.

The overflow went in many directions, right down to Major Rathbone, who w/his fiance were in the box that night. Rathbone went on to marry his fiance, then murder her and commit suicide. Stanton effectively became an American dictator for about 8-10 hours, and he treated the Constitution and law w/contempt until Johnson was sworn in. Radical Republicans demanded heads on platters and got them.

Booth, shot in the neck in a barn by Boston Corbett a Sgt in the Federal Army who had castrated himself several years before, after deciding that an event w/a prostitute was a sin. Lived long enough to be in excruciating pain and realizing he had become the most nefarious person in America to that point. No hero he, but rather a coward that shot a man that could have kept this nation from imploding further.

Two or three times a year, I sit and think what this nation would be like if Lincoln had lived. I always come to the conclusion, we would have been much better off. I could be wrong,but I feel that Lincoln's compassion would have a long way in healing the wounds of the CW.