As a country, the United States of America is addicted to scandals and the nation’s capital has been the epicenter for scandals since its establishment in 1800. Although scandals can sometimes be hard to define, they all have defining secretive features that tend to shock the public once the truth of the event has come to light. Many of the scandals that take place in Washington, D.C. mark major historical events in the country’s history. Two prime examples of scandals taking place during landmark moments in the city’s history are the cases of Lincoln assassination conspirator, Mary Surratt and Washington’s former Mayor Marion Barry. Surratt, as the first women to ever be executed in the United States, and Barry, as the fourth mayor of Washington and major civil rights advocate, are appropriately labelled as major Washington scandals. Assassination has and always will be a hot topic in scandal living circles but in 1865 the topic became even more volatile when Mary Surratt was found to be guilty of conspiring to kill Abraham Lincoln. Surratt, a widow of an abusive husband trying independently support …show more content…
However, her sex alone is what really made this case controversial because it symbolized the government’s willingness to look pass gender to see the crime at hand, despite how uncomfortable it may make some observers feel. According to Laura Kipnis’s How to Become a Scandal, a society’s culture needs scandals as a “social purification ritual”. They are necessary to define what a culture will or will not stand for and by scandalizing the actions of Mary Surratt the people of the United States established itself as a country who will not discriminate against murders depending on their gender. It established cultural boundaries that the country had yet to
The book Chasing Lincoln’s Killer is about the world famous story of assassinating President Abraham Lincoln. This book takes the reader into the lives and minds of the four main conspirators responsible for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the attempted assassination of the Vice President, Andrew Johnson , and the Secretary of State, William H. Seaward. Not only will the reader learn about the details of the planned assassinations but the background of all conspirators involved, each one of their motives for committing the crimes, and all the differences between the actual killings and what was supposed to happen if everything went according to plan. In this gripping novel the writer, James Swanson, takes the reader through a key point in American history in order to learn the truth of what must have happened while chasing Lincoln’s killer.
“ Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer”, was written by James L. Swanson, a dedicated Lincoln scholar and attorney. He details in his book the incredible escape of John Wilkes Booth’s from authorities, with immaculate descriptions of little-known facts in the case of Lincoln’s Killer. Swanson’s nonfiction book dives into actual pieces of literature written at the time of Lincoln’s assassination by individuals who actually took part in the real-life drama, including John Wilkes Booth himself.April 14, 1865 is a day of infamy in United States history,it is the day that John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln. Swanson delves deep into the minds of Booth and his accomplices , analyzing their every move. Booth flees the scene of the crime with Davey Herold, who has been a willing participant in Booth's secret plots to kill Secretary of State William Seward, Abraham Lincoln, and Vice President Andrew Johnson.
In Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, by James L. Swanson, the main characters were; John Wilkes Booth, Dr. Leale, Abraham Lincoln (even though he dies.) When John Wilkes Booth (a.k.a Booth) found out that the North had won the Civil War, he felt anger and disgust but he could do nothing. Booth had one plot that the book talked about and that was to kidnap the president and sell him to the leaders of the South but that plot never got put into action. When booth went to Ford's theatre got a letter, Booth worked at the theatre, the letter that said that the President of the United states would be visiting ford's theatre quickly he put a plot into works. First he went to get accomplices and they too would kill someone that night. When the time had come to Booth snuck into the President’s box, not even noticed he pulled out a gun and shot a bullet into the left side and under the left ear of the President's head. That didn’t kill the President, yet. When Booth tried to leave he was stopped by General Henry Rathbone, they had a knife fight while trying to stop both of them from leaving, although Booth got away jumping from the President's box and onto the stage shouting "Sic Semper Tyrannis" (Chasing Lincoln's Killer, by James L. Swanson.)
The mystery of how John Wilkes Booth pulled off the most influential and notorious assassinations in history is revealed in Killing Lincoln. The author of this book, Bill O’Reilly, built up the plot of the story through vivid historical details and pieced them together like a thriller. He tries to explain all of what happened on one of the most interesting and sad days in American history. Many conspiracies and Civil War ideals are on full display in the book. I agree with most of O’Reilly’s ideas but there are some that I am not really sure about because of his point of view like many of the conspiracy theories. Killing Lincoln by Bill O’Reilly was a very compelling read which described the Civil War, lives of the conspirators, and the eventual assassination of the sixteenth president of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln.
A man and woman, both soldiers, were killed in a helicopter accident in Fort Bragg, NC. The accident occurred due to an equipment malfunction that happened while the soldiers were doing maintenance work (“2 Soldiers Killed While Working on Helicopter” 7A). Meanwhile, in Texas, Karla Faye Tucker became the first woman to be executed in Texas in over 130 years. Tucker was accused of beating a man and woman to death. Although she pleaded for mercy, she was given no pity, for there was a 16-0 vote for her to be executed (Holmes 7A). In the medical world, there was a tremendous breakthrough in the treatment of AIDS. The number of patients with AIDS in the U.S. lowered 44%. This is largely due to the newest treatment of AIDS, which was benefiting all races and genders. Over 21,000 patients died of AIDS in 1996, but numbers plummeted to 12,000 by 1998 (Haney 7A). One of the most talked about happenings in the U.S. is the affair between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Monica refused to confess to the famous affair that was brought to federal courts. The judges believed that Clinton had told her to keep quiet, so the 24 year-old ex-White House intern diligently obeyed (Yost
Most Americans know John Wilkes Booth as the assassin of Abraham Lincoln- shot at a play at Ford’s Theater on April 14th, 1865. However, the names of the conspirators that surrounded Wilkes Booth are relatively unknown, especially that of Mary Surratt. Mary Surratt, a mother and boardinghouse proprietor, was arrested and tried for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln along with her son, John Surratt. Pleas from her family, lawyer, and fellow conspirators did not allow her to escape her fate, and she was hanged for her crimes on July 7th, 1865. Even from the scaffold, Lewis Powell, another conspirator condemned to die, cried, “Mrs. Surratt is innocent. She doesn't deserve to die with the rest of us.” So who was this woman, and most importantly, what role did she really play in the assassination of the President of the United States? Was she simply blindly aiding her son and thus innocent, as claimed by Lewis Powell, or did she have a more involved role in the plot? Mary Surratt opened up her home to conspirators and ended up paying the price for her decision.
In The Murder of Helen Jewett, Patricia Cohen uses one of the most trivial murders during the 1800’s to illustrate the sexiest society accommodations to the privileged, hypocritical tunneled views toward sexual behavior, and the exploitation of legal codes, use of tabloid journalism, and politics. Taking the fact that woman was made from taking a rib from man was more than biblical knowledge, but incorporated into the male belief that a woman’s place is determined by the man. Helen had the proper rearing a maid servant, but how did she fall so far from grace. Judge Weston properly takes credit for rearing her with the proper strictness and education. Was Helen seduced at an early age and introduced to sexual perversions that were more persuasive that the bible belt life that the Weston’s tried to live? Was Helen simply a woman who knew how to use what she had to get what she wanted? Through personal correspondence, legal documentation, census reports, paintings, and newspapers we are able to make our own determinations. Cohen provides more than enough background and history to allow any one to make their own opinion how the murder of a woman could be turned into a side show at a circus.
Throughout the 1960s and 70s, the United States was experiencing disorder and hysteria as domestic and foreign issues; created stress and tension within the nation. In the late 1960s, when Richard Nixon was running for president, the nation saw the death of two influential people, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, brother of John F. Kennedy. Following the death of King, race riots broke out across the country. To add to the anger and tension, many students and young Americans began to protest the war in Vietnam. Nixon promised to restore order to the country if he were to be elected. Unfortunately for Nixon, the Democrats, who had control of both sides of Congress, were prepared to block many of Nixon’s initiatives. Thus, CREEP (the committee to re-elect the president) began its corrupt path towards getting Nixon into office, even going as far as to break into the Democratic Party's National Committee headquarters located in the Watergate office in the nation’s capital ("Watergate: The Scandal That Brought Down Richard Nixon"). The Watergate scandal, which led to the first resignation of a United States President, changed the political landscape of the nation through its impact on Americans' trust in the government and its employees, its effect on government ethics, and its influence on journalism and the rise in investigative reporting.
Throughout the history of our country, there have been multiple crimes and events that have caused great havoc and tragedy to our nation. From Nine Eleven to the Boston Marathon, crimes have impacted millions of people all over. None of these events, however, have had such an impact on our nation like John Wilkes Booth. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 15th, 1975 by John Wilkes Booth. Booth had no motive to kill our great president other than the fact that he despised the union. To this day, it is still mind boggling that such a successful actor such as Booth would go out of his way to take away a great man 's life and ruin his own. After reading Dante 's Inferno, I 'm certain that Booth will be in one of the deepest circles of them all. Life long pain and torture will be bound to find its way towards the man who killed our sixteenth president.
Was Abraham Lincoln killed by a conspiracy? While Lincoln and his guests were watching “Our American Cousin” he was shot by John Wilkes Booth. The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War. Lincoln was the first American president to be assassinated. Lincoln had been the subject of an earlier assassination attempt by an unknown assailant in August 1864. The assassination of Lincoln was planned and carried out by the well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth, as part of a larger conspiracy in a bid to revive the Confederate cause. Booth's co-conspirators were Lewis Powell and David Herold, who was assigned to kill
Marion Barry had dominated the city’s political landscape in the final quarter of the 20th century, also serving for 15 years on D.C Council, whose seat he held until his death. His personal and public live was filled with high scandals and drama. He
July 7, 1865 Mary Surratt was hanged for her suspected part in the killing of Abraham Lincoln. Mary Surratt should not have been executed. Surratt had conspirators that defended her and she also maintained her innocence throughout the trial.
Everyday citizens often live unaware of their government’s inner workings. The knowing of political espionage is often too heavy of a subject to be inducted in conversation. True, prima facie, modest twists and turns of information may not be considered substantial, but this inconsideration leaves much to be uncontrolled. It is easy for political leaders to become power crazed, to not realize the massive implications that come of their actions. Only after all is said and done do the people actually realize their government is an opaque mask of deception. The Watergate Scandal substantially impacted Americans’ trust in their government.
On June 17, 1972 a group of several men, dressed as hippies decided to break into a Democratic National Committee located at the Watergate buildings in Washington D.C. They broke into the committee to steal documents and wiretapping the phones from the government. It was all going good until the a security guard noticed that there was duct tape over a door lock. He removed that piece of tape, left, then came back later to another piece of tape on the door lock. The security guard called the Washington D.C. Police. The cops showed up at the watergate buildings to check it out. A cop named Alfred C. Baldwin III was in a restaurant watching a horror movie and a policeman named Barrett called to tell Baldwin the situation. Baldwin did not respond until later; he asked what the suspects were dressed as and in response, the walkie talkie said they were dressed in suits and ties. Baldwin did not believe it
During Richard Nixon’s presidency, there were multiple events that changed politics, the presidency, and the media forever. The Watergate Scandal was one of the biggest political events in history. Five men broke into an office building that stored thousands of confidential documents containing plans for the Democratic side of the upcoming election. This caused one of the most explosive media outbreaks in American history, and certainly changed investigative journalism and the presidency forever.