John Wilkes Booth Misses

Yeah I agree, the most likely scenario for Lincoln to survive the assasaination attempt is if Booth's pistol failed to fire.

The same thing happened not once but twice when an assasin tried to kill Andrew Jackson, as both of his pistols misfired before he was subdued.

Had Lincoln lived out his term, I still think he would have been one of the greatest presidents in American history.
 
No scenario, just blind randomness spawned by a dramatic childhood and my inability to focus on one thing seriously for too long unless it includes violence or sex.

Thanks for the sig I feel important.
 
Heck, WI Lincoln had more actual bodyguards protecting him in the Ford Theatre ? That'd be another good counter to Booth's attempted assassination...
 
I like the idea of Booth having a couple extra shots at the tavern beforehand (for courage!) and then forgetting to drop the lead ball into the pistol when loading it. The end result is lots of smoke and fire, some singed hairs and a very embarrassed Booth (who is immediately beaten to a pulp with the chair by Mary and Abe Lincoln). The assassination attempt becomes one of those "trivial" things - (Which assassin was so stupid he forgot to load his pistol?) and the phrase "pulling a Booth" or "Boothing it" becomes synonymous with forgetting a very obvious important step.
 
The Radicals do not get nearly the same mileage out of an injured Lincoln as they did OTL out of a martyered Lincoln, but I would still expect Congress to want to stomp on the South. Having Lincoln alive will soften the Reconstruction but it'll cost Lincoln his reputation - at least for the duration of his term (although a century and a half later, he's still one of the greatest of Presidents).

I think a plausible scenario is that there is a longer (maybe even until 1884 or so) but slightly more lenient and well-handled Reconstruction. Without Andrew Johnson ever becoming an important political leader (Lincoln knew how to shut up his Vice Presidents and fellow cabinet members), the anti-Reconstruction diehards won't have anyone to rally around.

Plus, Horace Greeley will probably keep supporting a Lincoln-run Reconstruction, so they'll be less division in the North. Things like the Freedmen's Bureau will still exist (there's no real way for them not to), but the South won't likely be carved up into military districts. No Confederate leaders will come back into Congress, though.

This would actually be a really interesting TL.
 
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