History Was Lincoln's security inept?

[Lord Sovereign]

Having looked into the assassination, I can only conclude Lincoln's security were morons. How else was an armed man able to walk into the President's box, mortally wound him, then flee the scene?

The bloody Praetorian Guard would have foiled this without much trouble. What excuse did Lincoln's security have?

Edit: For point of reference, imagine Booth trying this with a European monarch at the time? If by some miracle he got within a mile of his target, managed to get close and do the deed, he wouldn't leave the scene alive. So what was different about the President of the United States?

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Before Lincoln, US presidents weren't considered sovereigns like we think of them today. Before Lincoln, the US wasn't an Empire. It was a voluntary loose alliance of countries, with the president being its chairman with little power. For example, people identified as Carolinans, with Carolinia just happening to be a part of an alliance called the US with other countries. Their sovereigns were their local elected governors. So the president didn't need a royal guard like he was the king of a huge empire. It was Lincoln who turned the US from a voluntary alliance into an empire, with the states being turned into provinces, and states that wanted out were crushed.

 

[Terthna]

Having looked into the assassination, I can only conclude Lincoln's security were morons. How else was an armed man able to walk into the President's box, mortally wound him, then flee the scene?

The bloody Praetorian Guard would have foiled this without much trouble. What excuse did Lincoln's security have?

Edit: For point of reference, imagine Booth trying this with a European monarch at the time? If by some miracle he got within a mile of his target, managed to get close and do the deed, he wouldn't leave the scene alive. So what was different about the President of the United States?

Presidents didn't really have security in those days, not until the Secret Service assumed the responsibility of protecting them in 1902. Lincoln's only bodyguard that night, a policeman by the name of John Parker, decided to go drinking in a nearby saloon instead of guarding him like he was supposed to. What's incredible is that he was not fired for this; in fact, he was actually later assigned to guard Lincoln's widow, who promptly blamed him for her husband's death and ordered him from her room. He was eventually fired from his job as a police officer years later, after being caught one too many times literally sleeping on the job.

 

[The Immortal Watch Dog]

Having looked into the assassination, I can only conclude Lincoln's security were morons. How else was an armed man able to walk into the President's box, mortally wound him, then flee the scene?

The bloody Praetorian Guard would have foiled this without much trouble. What excuse did Lincoln's security have?

Edit: For point of reference, imagine Booth trying this with a European monarch at the time? If by some miracle he got within a mile of his target, managed to get close and do the deed, he wouldn't leave the scene alive. So what was different about the President of the United States?

No, it's not that. There's actually a lot of compelling evidence to suggest that Lincoln, like Caesar may actually have known about the plot and allowed it to go forward any way. Since they were both suicidal.

Caesar due to his old age, his epilepsy becoming severe and him supposedly having chest pains.

Lincoln because he had been chronically depressed most of his life, he had lost a son and the ACW tore him apart psychologically. There's a lot of anecdotal evidence from his peers and critics and friends that Mary Todd abused him and he had been suffering from chronic migraines since a horse kicked in the side of his head when he was a teen.

Lincoln was also a former pro wrestler and those guys tend to have an expiration date consistent with the age Lincoln himself was approaching and that date hasn't really changed in a century and a half of the "sport" existing.

Tldr: part me thinks the assassination happened because Lincoln was a heart broken, deeply sick and very sad man consumed by guilt who wanted an out.

The same can arguably be said for Kennedy.

 

[PsihoKekec]

For point of reference, imagine Booth trying this with a European monarch at the time? If by some miracle he got within a mile of his target, managed to get close and do the deed, he wouldn't leave the scene alive.

Apart the fact that there were multiple assassinations of European monarchs and close calls? Franz Joseph was nearly murdered early in his reign, his aide and random passerby saving his life, his wife was murdered forty years later, neither had serious protection.

 

[Free-Stater 101]

Lincoln didn't have any security nor did any president back in those days. It was standard practice back then that anyone be able to see the President, it wasn't some pick and choose selectively affair like it is now for publicity.

In fact, it wasn't uncommon during that point and history for the president to find petitioners that were complete strangers curled up asleep on the floor outside the oval office in some circumstances because they were willing to wait in such a way as to speak to him the next time he was available.

Before Lincoln, US presidents weren't considered sovereigns like we think of them today. Before Lincoln, the US wasn't an Empire. It was a voluntary loose alliance of countries, with the president being its chairman with little power. For example, people identified as Carolinans, with Carolinia just happening to be a part of an alliance called the US with other countries. Their sovereigns were their local elected governors. So the president didn't need a royal guard like he was the king of a huge empire. It was Lincoln who turned the US from a voluntary alliance into an empire, with the states being turned into provinces, and states that wanted out were crushed.

There is a grain of truth to this but I disagree on the technicalities of it as I think you got a few of the details wrong or mixed.

 

[Navarro]

Worth looking at as well is that nobody had tried to assassinate the POTUS earlier, so nobody thought there needed to be high levels of security.

 

[The Immortal Watch Dog]

Worth looking at as well is that nobody had tried to assassinate the POTUS earlier, so nobody thought there needed to be high levels of security.

Jackson

 

[Lord Sovereign]

Apart the fact that there were multiple assassinations of European monarchs and close calls? Franz Joseph was nearly murdered early in his reign, his aide and random passerby saving his life, his wife was murdered forty years later, neither had serious protection.

Luigi Lucheni was apprehended almost immediately though. He was a deranged lunatic with no escape plan because he knew he wasn't escaping, hence the audacity of the assassination (indeed, he had a goal of being martyred). Similar thing happened with Archduke Franz Ferdinand. And these freaks jumped their targets in the street, in broad daylight, which is a bit different to how Booth carried out his killing.

But, to build upon the answers given here, would I be wrong in saying that whilst genuine incompetence was involved, Lincoln's death was caused more by a sort of American cultural naivety towards assassination?

 

[stephen the barbarian]

Lincoln didn't have any security nor did any president back in those days.

he had a guard, who decided to go get a beer at the bar across the street

edit: if you want the details, well here you go.
Lincoln's Missing Bodyguard

 

[edgeworthy]

Having looked into the assassination, I can only conclude Lincoln's security were morons. How else was an armed man able to walk into the President's box, mortally wound him, then flee the scene?

The bloody Praetorian Guard would have foiled this without much trouble. What excuse did Lincoln's security have?

Edit: For point of reference, imagine Booth trying this with a European monarch at the time? If by some miracle he got within a mile of his target, managed to get close and do the deed, he wouldn't leave the scene alive. So what was different about the President of the United States?

Many Roman Emperors were assassinated, several by their own bodyguard.

In 1802 Tsar Paul I was assassinated, his grandson Alexander II was likewise in 1881, having survived previous attempts in 1866, 1870 and 1880.
The First President of Greece was Assassinated in 1831. The Prime Minister of Romania was assassinated in 1862. The Ruling Prince of Serbia in 1868. The Prime Minister of Spain in 1870 and again in 1897.

 

[S'task]

I mean... it's pretty telling that despite an actual Civil War going on, it doesn't appear that the actual Confederate government even thought of the idea of assassinating Lincoln. Heck, as far as I know, assassination wasn't a tool either side really thought of in the entire Civil War. Now, maybe that was because neither side wanted to give the others martyrs that would make them look bad, but I also think it was because there was a certain lack of even considering that as an option due to how, for lack of a better term for it, gentlemanly both sides tended to see each other, especially their leadership.

I also think it was because neither side really saw the leadership of the other side as anything more than elected officials. Assassinating Lincoln or Davis or any other Union of Confederate political leaders wouldn't actually change policy by that side, since they were seen as representatives elected by the people, and thus, eliminating them would only give their supporters a martyr and they'd just put in a new leader whom would continue the policies of the previous one.

Bear in mind, the modern equivalent of what happened with Lincoln would be if Tom Cruise had assassinated President Trump at a screening of Avengers: Endgame. That sounds utterly ridiculous, doesn't it? It's not something you'd expect to happen nor something that sounds particular feasible. But that's more or less what happened.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Bear in mind, the modern equivalent of what happened with Lincoln would be if Tom Cruise had assassinated President Trump at a screening of Avengers: Endgame. That sounds utterly ridiculous, doesn't it? It's not something you'd expect to happen nor something that sounds particular feasible. But that's more or less what happened.

Gotta new spec script for Hollywood right here... just switch around a few names and places and events to make it all fit that disclaimer that everything in the film is fictional and purely coincidental.

EDIT:

Aaaaaand lets get this greenlit people!

https://www.the-sietch.com/index.php?threads/terminators-versus-predators-1865-edition.6367/

 

[Aldarion]

Edit: For point of reference, imagine Booth trying this with a European monarch at the time? If by some miracle he got within a mile of his target, managed to get close and do the deed, he wouldn't leave the scene alive. So what was different about the President of the United States?

Actually, that is not true. At least not when it comes to Austria-Hungary. Habsburg monarchs in fact regularly walked among and talked to common people, and were not surrounded by an army when doing so. In fact, President of modern-day Croatia probably has more extensive security than they did! Unlike modern-day presidents however, Habsburgs generally did command a degree of respect, if not always love, of the common people - personal respect which Franz Joseph commanded was probably the main reason why the Monarchy lasted until 1918.

This did change as leftist and other radicals become more widespread, however - a Hungarian nationalist nearly succeeded in assasinating Franz Joseph with a kitchen knife. Emperor was only saved by the fact that his uniform had a tall and rather rigid collar whose purpose was precisely protection against such attacks.

 

[Free-Stater 101]

he had a guard, who decided to go get a beer at the bar across the street

edit: if you want the details, well here you go.
Lincoln's Missing Bodyguard

I am not stating the president didn't have any guards period before the Lincoln assassination, just that it was mostly relegated to specific times during war or to private individuals and police depts to protect the President upon his request.

The guard detail you mention for an example was only made in 1964 with four members to guard Lincoln 24/7 despite the fact that Lincoln had survived just fine for over three years up to that point without one.

Heck, one of the things you will notice is by the time he got bodyguards it was generally accepted that the South was going to lose which was going to make people go after him when they got disgruntled that their generals couldn't anymore.

 

[PsihoKekec]

Emperor was only saved by the fact that his uniform had a tall and rather rigid collar whose purpose was precisely protection against such attacks.

Well, similar attacks, as officer uniform it was meant more to protect against saber slashes, a leftover from previous century.

 

[Bassoe]

He got assassinated while under their supposed protection, so I'm gonna have to go with 'yes'.