John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth was an American actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, shooting him at Ford's Theatre in Washington during a play.
Booth, a Confederate sympathizer, leapt to the stage shouting "Sic semper tyrannis" (thus always to tyrants) before escaping.
He was tracked down and killed twelve days later.
His name sometimes appears as shorthand for political assassination or theatrical villainy.
Midwestern state capital
- Ford's TheatreHistoric Washington playhouse
- derringerCompact concealed firearm
- woundCoiled, or an injury
- triggerWhat initiates action
fatal shot · Mary Todd Lincoln · pistol · escape · manhunt · mourning
Extreme public disgrace
- notorietyFame from misdeeds
- villainWicked story antagonist
- disgraceLoss of honor
- pariahRejected, shunned person
reviled · condemned · ignominy · stigma · wanted poster · manhunt · capture · death
One who portrays characters
- stageRaised performance platform
- ShakespeareanOf the Stratford playwright
- thespianTheatrical performer
- matinee idolHandsome stage or film star
performance · dramatic · costume · Ford's Theatre · soliloquy · Julius Caesar · Richard III · Hamlet
Secessionist Southern government
- UnionNamed political entity
- secessionistOne seeking independence
- slaveryOwnership of people
- RichmondVirginia's seat of government
rebel · Lost Cause · war's end · Appomattox · surrender · divided nation · rebellion
Joint participants in schemes
- boarding houseResidence offering paid accommodation
- plotStoryline or land parcel
- schemeCalculated strategy, often secretive
- coded messagesEncrypted textual communications
treason · sedition · complicity · collusion · clandestine · intrigue · subterfuge · betrayal
Lincoln
Midwestern state capital
- Ford's TheatreHistoric Washington playhouse
- derringerCompact concealed firearm
- woundCoiled, or an injury
fatal shot · Mary Todd Lincoln · trigger · pistol · escape · manhunt · mourning
infamy
Extreme public disgrace
pariah · reviled · condemned · ignominy · stigma · wanted poster · manhunt · capture · death · shallow grave
actor
One who portrays characters
- stageRaised performance platform
- ShakespeareanOf the Stratford playwright
- thespianTheatrical performer
matinee idol · performance · dramatic · costume · Ford's Theatre · soliloquy · Julius Caesar · Richard III · Hamlet · touring company
Confederacy
Secessionist Southern government
- UnionNamed political entity
- secessionistOne seeking independence
- slaveryOwnership of people
Richmond · rebel · Lost Cause · war's end · Appomattox · surrender · divided nation · rebellion
co-conspirators
Joint participants in schemes
- boarding houseResidence offering paid accommodation
- plotStoryline or land parcel
- schemeCalculated strategy, often secretive
coded messages · treason · sedition · complicity · collusion · clandestine · intrigue · subterfuge · betrayal
- 1860sAbraham Lincoln, American Civil War, Appomattox, Confederacy, Confederate States
- Assassinationsassassination, assassin, Kennedy assassination, Lincoln assassination, MLK assassination
- Assassinsassassin, hitman, Lee Harvey Oswald, Brutus, Jack Ruby
- Lincoln assassinationFord's Theatre, assassination, derringer, 1865, conspirators
- Victorian TheatreHenrik Ibsen, proscenium, Oscar Wilde, footlights, backstage
- criminalsmurderer, thief, burglar, criminal, killer
John Wilkes BoothAbraham Lincoln
Civil War era leader
Frederick Douglass · Ulysses S. Grant · William Tecumseh Sherman · Harriet Tubman · John Brown
John Wilkes BoothAbraham Lincoln
Civil War era leader
Harriet Tubman · Mahatma Gandhi · Martin Luther King Jr. · Oskar Schindler · bodyguard