21st Century: Query 177 (John Wilkes Booth & Abraham Lincoln)
“I have too great a soul to die like a criminal.” ~ John Wilkes Booth was an American actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the prominent, 19th-century Booth theatrical family from Maryland, and a famous actor in his own right, Booth was also a Confederate sympathizer who, denouncing President Lincoln, lamented the recent abolition of slavery in the United States . How might Booth’s assertion be ironic, given the manner of his own death? How might Booth himself view the historical record of his life, actions, and “great soul”? What current person of note expresses a similar high opinion of him or herself? How does this person act out in the public area? How might this ignoble figure end up dying “like a criminal” despite his or her assertion of greatness?