December 19, 2025 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, The Civil War had ended. Washington was alive with celebration, and President Lincoln was finally stepping into a season that promised hope. But that new beginning never arrived. John Wilkes Booth cut it short. Our host, Lee Habeeb, shares the story in a way you may not have heard before—one that begins with the happiest day of Lincoln’s life just days before his assassination.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories up next, The short,
happy life of Abraham Lincoln his final days. By all accounts,
good Friday, just two days before Easter on April fourteenth,
eighteen sixty five, was the happiest day of President Abraham
(00:30):
Lincoln's life. It had most certainly been the happiest few
weeks of his life, according to James Swanson, author of
the New York Times bestseller Manhunt, the twelve Day Chase
for Lincoln's killer. Here is what Swanson wrote. Lincoln had
won the war. Richmond fell on April third, Lee surrendered
(00:53):
on April ninth, and Lincoln gave his final speech from
the White House grounds the evening of April eleven, the
night before the night Lincoln was shot by his assassin.
Local newspapers reported it being the most beautiful night in
the history of Washington, as the city celebrated the ending
of the bloodiest and costliest war ever fought on American soil. Fireworks, flares,
(01:19):
and other sources of every imaginable variety illuminated the evening's
sky again. James Swanson, one of the papers, said that
the Capital Dome was so beautiful that night that it
looked like a second moon had descended upon the earth
as a sign of God's favor for the Union and
(01:40):
for the victory. The very next morning, an idyllic spring
morning on April fourteen, Lincoln met his son, who'd been
working for General George Meade, and then he met with
his cabinet. A rare visitor joined that last meeting Lincoln
would ever hold with his staff none other than you,
(02:00):
General Ulysses S. Grant. They discussed affairs of state, and
things ended with Lincoln sharing a dream he'd had the
night before. In it, he was at the head of
a mysterious vessel moving towards a distant shore. He was alone.
Lincoln added that whenever he had that dream, and he'd
(02:20):
had it many times before during the war, something of
critical importance transpired. I'm convinced something of major significance is
about to happen, Lincoln told his men. When the meeting ended,
he and his bride, Mary, took a carriage ride to
enjoy the open air and talk about matters of the heart.
(02:44):
Here again is James Swanson. During that ride, Lincoln told
her he knew they'd been very unhappy ever since the
death of their eleven year old son Willie in the
White House in eighteen sixty two. The death count in
the Civil War over six hundred thousand, had taken its
toll on Lincoln two. It had been a crushing burden
(03:07):
on him, and the two of them had grown apart
during the war for so many reasons. He told Mary,
we must be happy again. Mary even wrote a note
later that day about her husband's rejuvenated spirit. You alarm me,
she said, because I have never seen you this happy
since just before the death of our child. Just two
(03:30):
days before Easter, the day Christians around the world celebrate
the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Lincoln had experienced a resurrection
of his own. That night, he and Mary attended Our
American Cousin, a popular comedy of the day by British
playwright Tom Taylor. The couple arrived at Ford's Theater thirty
(03:52):
minutes late, and the play was stopped immediately as the
band rose and played Hail to the Chief went wild.
They were celebrating their great leader. They were also celebrating
the end of a terrible war. They too had borne
the heavy burden of the greatest conflict on American soil.
(04:14):
They too had the feeling of being reborn. That moment
may well have been the happiest of Lincoln's life. On
the day that marked a new and happy beginning to
Lincoln's life and the nation's John Wilkes, Booth was plotting
to make it the president's last Here's James Swanson on Booth.
(04:37):
The twenty six year old was one of the most
popular actors in America. Exceedingly handsome and athletic. Women and
men would stop in the street to watch him as
he passed. Generous, vain, funny, egomaniacal, politically motivated to be
a lover of the South, and a supporter of slavery
who once said slavery is the best thing that ever
(05:01):
happened to the black man. On the day Lincoln gave
his last speech from the White House, Crowns Both was present,
seated not far from him. When Lincoln spoke to the
adoring crowd about giving blacks the right to vote. Both
turned to a Confederate sympathizer he knew well and said,
(05:22):
that's the last speech he'll ever give. It turns out
Booth had considered killing Lincoln before. At the president's second
inaugural address, he sat a mere fifty feet from the
man he hated. Here's James Wanson getting drunk at a bar.
Shortly after that, Booth pounded his fist on the table
(05:44):
and said to a friend, what an excellent chance I
had to kill the President on inauguration day. He was
almost as close to me as you are now. Then
came the catalyst that drove Booth into action. While visiting
Ford's Theater midday to pick up his mail, a woman
(06:04):
told the actor that Lincoln was attending the play that night. That,
according to James Swanson, set off the imaginary clock counting
down in Booth's head. What motivated one of the leading
actors of his day to do such a thing again,
James Swanson, Lincoln was an American caesar. To Booth, he
(06:28):
wanted to punish Lincoln the tyrant. He hoped to change history,
and of course he wanted eternal fame. He had it
in his lifetime. But Booth wanted to be immortalized as
a Southerner and ultimately an American patriot. The rest of
the story, what Herman Melville called that bloody awful night,
(06:51):
is embedded in the American memory. The details of the
assassination Notwithstanding, what Booth did that night was what James
Swanson called a new art form performance assassination. Woth wasn't
on a suicide mission. He had an actual escape plan.
(07:11):
What he really wanted, Swanson noted, was to be seen
and celebrate. Again. Here's James Swanson when he crept to
the President's box and shot Lincoln and jumped to the
stage of Ford's theater. Wuth wasn't wearing a disguise, He
hadn't shaved his mustache. He did nothing to conceal himself
(07:33):
when he turned to the audience and faced them and
cried out the state motto of Virginia. That motto, sick
semper tyrannus is a Latin phrase meaning thus always to tyrants.
Those words were followed by the last words Booth ever
uttered on an American stage, the South is avenged. As
(07:58):
he left the stage, alted to himself, and only few
people heard it, I have done it. Booth then escaped
to the back of the theater, jumped on his waiting horse,
and rode off into the night. The largest man hunting
American history ensued. Booth was found twelve days later outside
(08:19):
of Port Royal, Virginia, trapped in a tobacco barn, the
cavalry set the building on fire to force him out.
When he reached for his rifle and headed for the door,
Sergeant Boston Corbett pulled his pistol and fired only once,
striking Booth in the neck and severing his spine. He
would die within hours, a slow, miserable death. Back at
(08:45):
Ford's Theater on Good Friday, America's beloved president lay dying
in his box. He was attended by three doctors, who
had concluded quickly that the wound was mortal and that
the theater was simply not an appropriate place for a
man like him to die. So those men carried him
from his box, down the stairs and into the street,
(09:08):
looking for a place to make the President of the
United States as comfortable as he possibly could be, and
the few hours of life he had left to live.
A person staying at the Peterson House, just across the
street from Ford's Theater, was quick to help. The doctors
rushed Lincoln in and took him directly to the back
(09:30):
of the bedroom, where he died the next morning, on
April fifteenth. As he died that night, a light, cold
rain began to fall over Washington. It was as if
the very heavens wept at the loss of our beloved President.
Thus ended the short happy life of the Great Emancipator
(09:53):
Abraham Lincoln. The opening stanza of Walt whitman epic poem,
when Lilacs last in the dooryard bloomed, captured the nation's
grief in Way's mere prose could not when lilacs last
in the dooryard bloomed, and the great star early drooped
(10:17):
in the western sky in the night, I mourned, and
yet shall mourn with ever returning spring, ever returning Spring. Trinity.
Sure to me you bring lilac blooming, perennial and drooping
star in the west, and thought of him. I love
(10:39):
the short happy life of President Abraham Lincoln, his final
days here on our American stories.
And we continue with our American stories up next, The short,
happy life of Abraham Lincoln his final days. By all accounts,
good Friday, just two days before Easter on April fourteenth,
eighteen sixty five, was the happiest day of President Abraham
(00:30):
Lincoln's life. It had most certainly been the happiest few
weeks of his life, according to James Swanson, author of
the New York Times bestseller Manhunt, the twelve Day Chase
for Lincoln's killer. Here is what Swanson wrote. Lincoln had
won the war. Richmond fell on April third, Lee surrendered
(00:53):
on April ninth, and Lincoln gave his final speech from
the White House grounds the evening of April eleven, the
night before the night Lincoln was shot by his assassin.
Local newspapers reported it being the most beautiful night in
the history of Washington, as the city celebrated the ending
of the bloodiest and costliest war ever fought on American soil. Fireworks, flares,
(01:19):
and other sources of every imaginable variety illuminated the evening's
sky again. James Swanson, one of the papers, said that
the Capital Dome was so beautiful that night that it
looked like a second moon had descended upon the earth
as a sign of God's favor for the Union and
(01:40):
for the victory. The very next morning, an idyllic spring
morning on April fourteen, Lincoln met his son, who'd been
working for General George Meade, and then he met with
his cabinet. A rare visitor joined that last meeting Lincoln
would ever hold with his staff none other than you,
(02:00):
General Ulysses S. Grant. They discussed affairs of state, and
things ended with Lincoln sharing a dream he'd had the
night before. In it, he was at the head of
a mysterious vessel moving towards a distant shore. He was alone.
Lincoln added that whenever he had that dream, and he'd
(02:20):
had it many times before during the war, something of
critical importance transpired. I'm convinced something of major significance is
about to happen, Lincoln told his men. When the meeting ended,
he and his bride, Mary, took a carriage ride to
enjoy the open air and talk about matters of the heart.
(02:44):
Here again is James Swanson. During that ride, Lincoln told
her he knew they'd been very unhappy ever since the
death of their eleven year old son Willie in the
White House in eighteen sixty two. The death count in
the Civil War over six hundred thousand, had taken its
toll on Lincoln two. It had been a crushing burden
(03:07):
on him, and the two of them had grown apart
during the war for so many reasons. He told Mary,
we must be happy again. Mary even wrote a note
later that day about her husband's rejuvenated spirit. You alarm me,
she said, because I have never seen you this happy
since just before the death of our child. Just two
(03:30):
days before Easter, the day Christians around the world celebrate
the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Lincoln had experienced a resurrection
of his own. That night, he and Mary attended Our
American Cousin, a popular comedy of the day by British
playwright Tom Taylor. The couple arrived at Ford's Theater thirty
(03:52):
minutes late, and the play was stopped immediately as the
band rose and played Hail to the Chief went wild.
They were celebrating their great leader. They were also celebrating
the end of a terrible war. They too had borne
the heavy burden of the greatest conflict on American soil.
(04:14):
They too had the feeling of being reborn. That moment
may well have been the happiest of Lincoln's life. On
the day that marked a new and happy beginning to
Lincoln's life and the nation's John Wilkes, Booth was plotting
to make it the president's last Here's James Swanson on Booth.
(04:37):
The twenty six year old was one of the most
popular actors in America. Exceedingly handsome and athletic. Women and
men would stop in the street to watch him as
he passed. Generous, vain, funny, egomaniacal, politically motivated to be
a lover of the South, and a supporter of slavery
who once said slavery is the best thing that ever
(05:01):
happened to the black man. On the day Lincoln gave
his last speech from the White House, Crowns Both was present,
seated not far from him. When Lincoln spoke to the
adoring crowd about giving blacks the right to vote. Both
turned to a Confederate sympathizer he knew well and said,
(05:22):
that's the last speech he'll ever give. It turns out
Booth had considered killing Lincoln before. At the president's second
inaugural address, he sat a mere fifty feet from the
man he hated. Here's James Wanson getting drunk at a bar.
Shortly after that, Booth pounded his fist on the table
(05:44):
and said to a friend, what an excellent chance I
had to kill the President on inauguration day. He was
almost as close to me as you are now. Then
came the catalyst that drove Booth into action. While visiting
Ford's Theater midday to pick up his mail, a woman
(06:04):
told the actor that Lincoln was attending the play that night. That,
according to James Swanson, set off the imaginary clock counting
down in Booth's head. What motivated one of the leading
actors of his day to do such a thing again,
James Swanson, Lincoln was an American caesar. To Booth, he
(06:28):
wanted to punish Lincoln the tyrant. He hoped to change history,
and of course he wanted eternal fame. He had it
in his lifetime. But Booth wanted to be immortalized as
a Southerner and ultimately an American patriot. The rest of
the story, what Herman Melville called that bloody awful night,
(06:51):
is embedded in the American memory. The details of the
assassination Notwithstanding, what Booth did that night was what James
Swanson called a new art form performance assassination. Woth wasn't
on a suicide mission. He had an actual escape plan.
(07:11):
What he really wanted, Swanson noted, was to be seen
and celebrate. Again. Here's James Swanson when he crept to
the President's box and shot Lincoln and jumped to the
stage of Ford's theater. Wuth wasn't wearing a disguise, He
hadn't shaved his mustache. He did nothing to conceal himself
(07:33):
when he turned to the audience and faced them and
cried out the state motto of Virginia. That motto, sick
semper tyrannus is a Latin phrase meaning thus always to tyrants.
Those words were followed by the last words Booth ever
uttered on an American stage, the South is avenged. As
(07:58):
he left the stage, alted to himself, and only few
people heard it, I have done it. Booth then escaped
to the back of the theater, jumped on his waiting horse,
and rode off into the night. The largest man hunting
American history ensued. Booth was found twelve days later outside
(08:19):
of Port Royal, Virginia, trapped in a tobacco barn, the
cavalry set the building on fire to force him out.
When he reached for his rifle and headed for the door,
Sergeant Boston Corbett pulled his pistol and fired only once,
striking Booth in the neck and severing his spine. He
would die within hours, a slow, miserable death. Back at
(08:45):
Ford's Theater on Good Friday, America's beloved president lay dying
in his box. He was attended by three doctors, who
had concluded quickly that the wound was mortal and that
the theater was simply not an appropriate place for a
man like him to die. So those men carried him
from his box, down the stairs and into the street,
(09:08):
looking for a place to make the President of the
United States as comfortable as he possibly could be, and
the few hours of life he had left to live.
A person staying at the Peterson House, just across the
street from Ford's Theater, was quick to help. The doctors
rushed Lincoln in and took him directly to the back
(09:30):
of the bedroom, where he died the next morning, on
April fifteenth. As he died that night, a light, cold
rain began to fall over Washington. It was as if
the very heavens wept at the loss of our beloved President.
Thus ended the short happy life of the Great Emancipator
(09:53):
Abraham Lincoln. The opening stanza of Walt whitman epic poem,
when Lilacs last in the dooryard bloomed, captured the nation's
grief in Way's mere prose could not when lilacs last
in the dooryard bloomed, and the great star early drooped
(10:17):
in the western sky in the night, I mourned, and
yet shall mourn with ever returning spring, ever returning Spring. Trinity.
Sure to me you bring lilac blooming, perennial and drooping
star in the west, and thought of him. I love
(10:39):
the short happy life of President Abraham Lincoln, his final
days here on our American stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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