Could Lincoln Avoid Assassination?

aside from any potential butterflies concerning events in Ford's Theater, what does everyone think about Lincoln avoiding assassination if the ACW had ended earlier (lets say in 1863)?
 
Lots of things would be very different had the Civil War ended earlier.

An evil individual with or without acomplices could have tried to murder President Lincoln in that other time line
 
I think the pertinent question here is not "can the civil war be changed to butterfly Booth" so much as "can Lincoln be convinced to be less cavalier about his own safety, so more careful precautions are taken to protect him?". It's true that before then no US president had been assassinated but I do recall him being urged to pay more attention to his own security, so perhaps if one of the failed plots against him is more of a near-miss and he finds out about it or if Booth's plot is uncovered at the last minute it might force him to admit he needs better security.
 
Lincoln got his hat shot off by a confederate soldier once, IIRC. If that didn't scare him into taking precautions, then nothing will.
 
aside from any potential butterflies concerning events in Ford's Theater, what does everyone think about Lincoln avoiding assassination if the ACW had ended earlier (lets say in 1863)?

Well, in my TL the Civil War ends in July of 1863 and Lincoln avoids assasination and goes on to serve a second term. ITTL Lincoln dies of natural causes in 1887 at the age of 78.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Abe Lincoln: We going to the theater tonight, Mother?

Mary Todd: *something crazy*

Abe Lincoln: You know what, I think I'm just gonna stay in.


THE NEXT DAY

VICE PRESIDENT AND SECRETARY OF STATE AVOID ASSASSINATION!
FAMOUS ACTOR BELIEVED CONNECTED TO CONFEDERATE CONSPIRACY!

-The New York Times
 
Well, in my TL the Civil War ends in July of 1863 and Lincoln avoids assasination and goes on to serve a second term. ITTL Lincoln dies of natural causes in 1887 at the age of 78.

Same here in my book with an end near the end of 1863 and it mostly over by early fall. The key is that the shorter the war, the less the Southern antagonism and resentment that led to Booth's actions. Not that he was the only one,a nd he was loony enough to try something nutty (won't say what:)), but it's much less likely Lincoln gets shot at.
 
If Presidential security was taken a little more seriously at the time, there would have been at the very least a soldier or a policeman at the back entrance to the Presidential box.
 
Honestly if you truly wanted, you could say Booth's pistol failed or he tripped as a POD, I mean it's not ASB and stranger things have happened.
 
Or maybe the timing could've just been screwed up. The conspirators had their attacks staggered out IOTL when they should've been simultaneously occurring at 10 pm, so if the Lincolns arrive a bit later at Ford Theatre than IOTL (they arrived late anyway IOTL), it could be enough time for word to circulate about the other assassination attempts taking place against Seward and Johnson in time for Lincoln's security detail to get serious. Maybe a 30 minute or 45 minute delay would be just enough for something like that to happen.
 
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