Talk:John Wilkes Booth

Intro
It mentions Booth was upset at the fact that slavery was recently ended, but it didn't end until the 13th Amendment was ratified in December 1865. Kentucky and Delaware had slavery all the way until December 18. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.25.126.181 (talk) 05:03, 1 October 2023 (UTC)

LAW This passage states it was Lincoln's sister in law however, it was Mary Barr Clay, daughter of Cassius Marcellus Clay. Research through the White Hall website. The passage to be corrected: Lincoln's sister-in-law was sitting with him in the same presidential box where he was later slain; she turned to him and said, "Mr. Lincoln, he looks as if he meant that for you."[56] The President replied, "He does look pretty sharp at me, doesn't he?”

Addition to Films portraying John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth is played by Chris Conner (uncredited) in the Director's Cut of "Gods and Generals" (2003). The theatrical version edited out this subplot, but it was put back into the Director's Cut. "Gods and Generals" is a Turner Production based off the novel of the same name by [|Jeffrey Shaara] (son of author [|Michael Shaara], author of "The Killer Angels", the book that was the basis of the movie [|"Gettysburg"](1993).)  --Nsstember (talk) 20:40, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

John Wilkes Booth is played by Christian Camargo in National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007). — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nickvmi40 (talk • contribs) 18:31, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

Booth’s wound and condition
The article mentions Booth was struck in the neck and not the head. Should we do correct this using sources from the Boston Corbett article? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.8.200.125 (talk) 17:35, 21 March 2020 (UTC)

Successor to Abraham Lincoln
This articles discusses how John Wilkes Booth wanted to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward, to take out the two immediate successors to Abraham Lincoln. But, in 1865 the immediate successor to the President after the Vice President was the Senate President Pro-Tempore, before the Speaker of the House who was fourth in line and there was nobody after that position. The Secretary of State was not in the line at the time. This position was not in the line of succession until 1886, when the Senate President Pro-Tempore and the Speaker of the House were removed and the third in line was indeed the Secretary of State, but 21 years after Lincoln was assassinated. In 1947, the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro-Tempore were brought back in line of succession, immediately after the Vice President, but in reverse order.

Please advise if this can be removed from the article. Evidently, there was another reason Booth wanted William H. Seward killed the night Lincoln was assassinated. Dkf12 (talk) 23:07, 23 April 2020 (UTC)


 * I saw that you removed the sentence from the article though that edit was reverted. I've added an additional sourced sentence that notes the 1865 order of succession. —ADavidB 09:56, 29 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Thank you for your edit. The article is more accurate with your edit. Dkf12 (talk) 16:18, 29 April 2020 (UTC)

"Seward, severely wounded, recovered..." Wait, what? How did Seward get wounded? Who wounded him?
I think some clarification is needed here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:588:4200:35:DDB2:6D15:EF08:B8F7 (talk) 19:50, 11 December 2020 (UTC)
 * The top, or 'lead', section is a summary of the article. There is more detail later in the article about what happened to Seward, along with a link to another article with more details. —ADavidB 05:53, 12 December 2020 (UTC)

John Wike Booth last words were "Useless". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:6C42:7600:1739:8D05:FDD5:E7B3:7188 (talk) 21:38, 27 January 2021 (UTC)

Theories of Booth's motivation / lede
Motivation: Could the editors of this entry use sources 1 and 68 to add the theory among Booth scholars that he was motivated to murder Lincoln by racist anti-Black animus and white supremacy? (Or add these to sections discussing Booth's support for the Confederate cause and contempt for Lincoln?)

The editors of the latter volume made this case in their introduction to Booth's writings, pointing to Booth's stated belief (in the sealed letter mentioned in this entry, citation 1) that "This country was formed for the white not for the black man," and to Booth's reported suspicion, as quoted by his sister in her memoir, that Lincoln himself was a "half-breed" — half Black and half white. The volume also includes the written speech in which Booth, beyond just calling slavery a "happiness" for the enslaved, called Lincoln's policies a threat to "liberties that had long been the birthright of free, white Americans." In other words, the authors' assertions appear to be well-supported by the subject's own words.

Lede: One more separate correction that also seems relevant to this point, which is why I'm lumping it in here: Booth killed Lincoln within two months of Lincoln signing the 13th amendment to send it to the states (though his signature was unneeded to do so, constitutionally). That coincidence seems worth mentioning whether or not Booth ever said abolition was his motive for murder, which I don't think he did on record anywhere.

But two things: The lede incorrectly identifies this passage through Congress as slavery's "recent abolition," when the amendment wasn't ratified by the states until December 1865. Furthermore, the letter published posthumously in the New York Times, cited as evidence in this entry that Booth "lamented" abolition, was written in 1864, months before passage in Congress, so couldn't have shown Booth's state of mind about that political development. "Lament" seems like a loaded verb, anyway, furthermore. How about something like this for the lede: "Booth ardently supported slavery, and murdered Lincoln within two months of the president seeing the 13th amendment, which abolished slavery, passed by Congress." Or something. Thanks for considering! — Peter S. Scholtes — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.72.240.125 (talk) 23:20, 20 February 2021 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 19 June 2021
In the section In popular culture, sub-section Film, we can add the name of Philip Cooper portraying John Wilkes Booth as a teenager in the movie The Farmer Takes a Wife (1935) Alexyves13 source : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026338/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

Semi-protected edit request on 12 July 2021
In the section "Aftermath", at the end of the first sentence, I suggest adding an internal Wikipedia link as follows:

"for the trip back to Belle Plain"

becomes

"for the trip back to Belle Plains, Virginia"

This is needed because a search for "Belle Plain" using the Wikipedia search box results in a disambiguation page in which neither of the options point to the correct geographical location, while a Google search of Belle Plain points to an unrelated ghost town in Texas. I believe Belle Plains, VA, is the specific location where the body was loaded onto the ironclad. AvianB (talk) 19:03, 12 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: per MOS:REPEATLINK Morneo06 (talk) 20:17, 12 July 2021 (UTC)

Who is Jett? He's only mentioned once. As far as I can see.
Please add a full name and link and maybe context with who he was. 82.19.72.123 (talk) 22:13, 22 March 2022 (UTC)


 * He's only mentioned once by last name in the Death section, though his full name (William S. Jett) and short description are included two paragraphs prior in the 'Reaction and pursuit' section. More information is in the Ford's Theatre source provided there as well. —ADavidB 01:45, 25 March 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 13 April 2022
MJCordray12345 (talk) 14:20, 13 April 2022 (UTC) i would like to update the facts i know .
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 14:26, 13 April 2022 (UTC)

Reaction and pursuit section
the "Reaction and pursuit" section is written a lot like a story, and I dont have suffeciant autherization to fix it, so can some one else please do it? 98.109.7.37 (talk) 22:21, 26 April 2022 (UTC)
 * I've done some rewording and believe at least most of what you described has been corrected. —ADavidB 12:42, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 7 May 2022
John killed the president on the 15th of April 1865, not the 14th Higgins 2007 (talk) 21:10, 7 May 2022 (UTC)
 * ❌. WP:RS, but also pretty sure it was the 14th. Lincoln died on the 15th. ◢  Ganbaruby!   (talk) 21:43, 7 May 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 7 July 2022
Cause of death in the info box should be edited from Homicide to Justifiable homicide, common excusing conditions for Justifiable homicide include Where the person's death is inflicted by the effecting of lawful arrest or prevention of lawfully detained person's escape Basicguy25 (talk) 23:50, 7 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Reliable source for verification? —ADavidB 18:30, 8 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Where the person's death is inflicted by the effecting of lawful arrest or prevention of lawfully detained person's escape, quelling riot or insurrection when the use of force is "no more than absolutely necessary" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justifiable_homicide#cite_note-:0-2 Basicguy25 (talk) 20:27, 8 July 2022 (UTC)
 * That's not what is being asked for; we need a citation that uses that terminology. It doesn't matter that in your opinion the event fits the definition, we need independent reliable sources that can be verified that use that terminology. 331dot (talk) 20:31, 8 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Show me your source that he was killed via Homicide, because either way that is for sure incorrect. None of the sources in the section title 'Death' support homicide either. Source 144 doesn't even go to its attributed article. Set it however you FEEL words should be interpreted. Basicguy25 (talk) 13:16, 15 July 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 1 September 2023
Change ""The killing of Booth, the assassin - the dying murderer drawn from the barn where he head taken refuge, on..." to ""The killing of Booth, the assassin - the dying murderer drawn from the barn where he had taken refuge, on..." 68.13.105.27 (talk) 21:27, 1 September 2023 (UTC)


 * Done. TY so much for letting us know. jengod (talk) 21:53, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

Inconsistent values
Under 1850s: As the 1850s drew to a close, Booth was becoming wealthy as an actor, earning $20,000 a year (equivalent to $700,000 in 2023). Under Business ventures: He withdrew from the oil business on November 27, 1864, with a substantial loss of his $6,000 investment ($1,168,851 today). How can $20k be worth under a million, but $6k be worth more than a million? Ansatsusha (talk) 06:59, 27 April 2024 (UTC)

Ironic or Suspicious?
It's ironic and perhaps suspicious that Lincoln signed legislation creating the U.S. Secret Service about one hour prior to being assassinated. There was also an investigation in the Kennedy assassination with a photo of a Secret Service agent following the presidential car; the agent is shown standing & holding an assault rifle that reportedly had misfired. There was speculation that the shot possibly hit Kennedy in the head. This information was released 50 years after the assassination Rwright51 (talk) 15:53, 30 May 2024 (UTC)