Putting a Penny on John Wilkes Booth's Grave

Let's talk about Robert Todd Lincoln. He was Abraham Lincoln's son, and in 1863 or '64, he slipped at the New Jersey train depot. He was almost crushed by a train car, but his life was saved when a man reached out and grabbed him, pulling him back. That man's name was Edwin Booth. Booth was traveling that day with his friend John T. Ford, and a year later, Edwin's brother, John Wilkes Booth, assassinated Robert's father at John T. Ford's Theater.

Robert was a half mile away at the White House when it happened, and that would turn out to be the furthest he would ever be from a presidential assassination in his lifetime. That's right; three presidents were assassinated during Robert's lifetime, and he happened to be near all three of them. He was at the Pan American Expo in Buffalo, New York, when McKinley was assassinated, and he was President Garfield's Secretary of War.

He was with him on the platform in D.C. and witnessed his assassination. He eventually decided to stop hanging out with presidents. Oh, by the way, I visited the grave of John Wilkes Booth a few years ago, and it's customary when you visit to leave a little copper portrait of his victim right there on his tombstone. [Music]