Assassination threat to President Lincoln? Don’t make me laugh

There doesn’t seem to be a newspaper called the Chicago Post any more. I’m only guessing, but could this be something to do with the prescience of this 1862 article about President Lincoln’s security arrangements? *

Visiting the capital, the Chicago reporter was struck by “the presence of an armed guard at the gates of the Executive mansion”, and gave a detailed description of the President’s arrival and departure:

About half-past 5 a mounted guard, numbering some 30 or more troopers, all armed with drawn sabres, extensive spears, dangling and rattling scabbards, fierce beards, and revolvers stuck in their holsters, dashed furiously through the streets and entered the ground north of the President's house. At the steps in front of the door, and under the archway, was a carriage. The officer, or one of the officers, of the mounted guard alighted and entered the house. In about ten minutes he appeared at the door and, giving the signal, the carriage door was opened, the guards put themselves in martial attitudes, commands were given, and then the President, bending under a weight of mental anxiety which has worked heavily upon his physical frame, appeared with a portfolio under his arm and, with one or more soldiers at each side, walked rapidly to the carriage and entered it. Two officers jumped in also, the door was slammed, the guard galloped into position, and the carriage containing the President of the United States was driven off, preceded by troopers, followed by troopers, and flanked on both sides by troopers. At a very rapid pace the party left the ground, and upon reaching the avenue proceeded at a hand gallop out Fourteenth street towards the Soldiers' Home.

So far, so good; anyone who’s seen those cavalcades of bullet-proof black limos zooming through Washington will get the idea. But the writer did not approve: “All this, we confess, appeared to us to be very ridiculous.”

Lincoln’s predecessor, Buchanan, he points out, “whose conscience, if it ever caused a President a thought as to his personal safety, ought, perhaps, to have been troubled as much as that of anyone who ever held the office”, used to walk everywhere unattended with no apparent fear of attack.

There have been rumours of recent assassination attempts, he says, but

We cannot bring our mind to the belief that any sane man ever has or ever will attempt the assassination of the President.

And he’s got a good reason, even if he was plain wrong. How terribly sad, now, to read such idealism and faith in the moral power of democracy, even while there's a Civil War going on, about to be so utterly crushed: 

For over 80 years the Union has lasted without an army to enforce its laws or to compel obedience to its Constitution. For the same period the Presidents of the republic have lived through their terms unawed by threats and untroubled by attempts at personal violence. Their serenity has been in the honour and respect of the whole people for the officer chosen by the majority to govern the nation.

At last it has become necessary to call armies into existence to put down armed resistance to the laws and the Constitution. Let us hope that, even in the destruction of Union, Constitution, laws, Government, and nationality, the world will not be shocked by the spectacle of a people who, unable to bear the might of adversity, have relapsed into barbarism, and made the dagger and the bullet the law of the land, and given to the assassin's hand the sceptre of power.

Let us hope that this armed guard of Mr Lincoln is only a passing show, got up for the amusement of a gaping crowd, and that it has not, and never has had, any foundation in a fear by the President or any of his friends that he was in danger of assassination.

*The Times was impressed enough with the article to reproduce it in full

Also in The Times Archive:

The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln: how The Times told the story
Times Archive topic: The assassination of President John F. Kennedy
Also in the Archive blog: Did President Lincoln really say that?

Comments

[pat]

yo simon and ryen,

you guys are smart americans!!!!! : D

there is hope!!

[Bailey]

lol. Poor taste?
The writer was saying the President should never be afraid of his own people. To do so would then render the army sworn to protect him, the Presidents greatest tool of oppression.

In short, Obama is like Lincoln, for both represent hope, there are people out there who would like to remove such hope from the world. When people are in dire straights and without hope then we become barbarians.

[Norman Clark]

I can appreciate the historic interest, but publishing this within a week of the inauguration is very poor journalism. All it does is rekindle the hatred expressed at some of the Republican rallies at the end of the campaign. It is not newsworthy and in bad taste.

[Antti]

Actually, the reporter had it all wrong: there had already been one assassination attempt; on President Andrew Jackson in January 30, 1835. The would-be assassin, one Richard Lawrence, failed when both of his pistols misfired.

[Ryen Brousseau]

Simon could not be anymore spot on. We have learned by now that there are some things in this world that are impossible to stop. We can slow them down, but as we've seen will always fail. 2 great examples; gravity, federal reserve

[simon lomax]

obama will make it through his first term because he shares none of the views of luther king, lincoln, jfk, andrew jackson or any of the founding fathers for that matter reinhardt, He's never going to do what those other presidents did in regard to issuing currency through the treasury. Obama IS completely controlled as was bush,jr and sr, clinton, and reagan. To liken obama to those presidents like you do just displays your lack of knowledge about united states history.

[Kevin]

All other leaders have had supporters as entralled with them as Obama's supporters are of him. To be mentioned with great people, one has to have accomplished something which is seen as great when viewed only over the more accurate prism of time. Obama may turn out to be a great leader and he may turn out to be a very poor leader- with time as the only gage. To refer to Obama as great before entering office is very arrogant and presumptuous. As a reminder... Hilter was a very popular ruler in 1930's Germany and we know how that turned out.

[Andrew]

The Chicago reporter was correct when saying "[no] sane man ever has or ever will attempt to assassinate the president" because John Wilkes Boothe, Lincoln's killer, was not a sane man.

[Reinhardt]

Jim, the fact of the matter is that Obama being the trailblazer he is has now crossed a line into a realm that Lincoln, Luther King Jr, the Kennedys had crossed before him. We all know what happened to the aforementioned individuals. I hope he makes it through his first term. I think hope is all that we can really do.

[MIke]

MIke I could not agree with you more. Poor taste indeed. I will keep the Obamas in my prayers

[jim]

I find the timing and juxtaposition of this "newsworthy" reprint in very poor taste.

[david tovar]

i guess in those times they thought it not possible. Little did they know...