Lincoln assassination conspiracy theories
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Lincoln assassination conspiracy theories abound,[1] ranging from the somewhat plausible (Booth was assisted by public officials attempting a coup d'etat) to the most fantastical, one of which holds that the Society of Jesus played a major role in the plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln.[2] Unlike other events which have such events with such claims surrounding them, Lincoln's assassination is unusual for having unquestioningly already been the result of a conspiracy-by Booth and at least three others. However, these theories put in additional players with no real evidence. It was believed John Wilkes Booth had converted to Catholicism and had been encouraged by Jesuits to aid the infamous plot. There has never been a plausible explanation as to why Jesuits would want Lincoln dead.
Secretary of State William Seward and Vice President Andrew Johnson were also targeted by Booth et al. Seward survived a stabbing and Johnson's would-be assassin got drunk and lost his nerve. That Johnson was even a target conflicts with theories he was in on it (unless you claim this was to throw suspicion off him).
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[edit] Questionable testimony
A defrocked Catholic priest named Charles Chiniquy[3] claimed that he had spoken to Lincoln on several occasions after the 1860 Presidential Elections,[4] and that the President had reflected on the possibility that Catholics were conspiring against him.[5] Robert Todd Lincoln denied his father said any such thing, and lamented that many people have attempted to put words in his father's mouth.[6]
[edit] Booth's religion
The conspiracy declares that John Wilkes Booth converted to Catholicism later in his life, and joined the Knights of the Golden Circle, claimed to be a lay Catholic Organization.[7] This purported affiliation contradicts a New York Times article that describes the Order as profoundly anti-Catholic, with the intent to take over Mexico. After doing so, they intended to bar Catholics from office.[8]
There is no evidence of Booth's conversion to the Catholic faith. John Surratt, one of Booth's confederates, and his mother, Mary Surratt, were Catholic.[9] [10] but this is likely coincidence. Other conspirators were Protestant.
[edit] Veritas
John Wilkes Booth was believed to be in contact with a person code-named "Veritas" (Truth in Latin).[Who?] The identity of "Veritas" was never uncovered, but the conspiracy theory assumes Veritas was a Jesuit, as Jesuits study Latin. Educated men often knew a small measure of Latin-Abraham Lincoln himself would have learned some phrases in the course of his law career.
[edit] Who buys into this stuff?
- Jack Chick, who never read anti-Catholic propaganda he didn't like.
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ "LINCOLN ASSASSINATION THEORIES: A SIMPLE CONSPIRACY OR A GRAND CONSPIRACY?"
- ↑ The Jesuit Connection to the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
- ↑ Author of 50 Years in the "Church" of Rome, a "Conversion" tale
- ↑ Lincoln had represented Chiniquy years earlier in a libel suit, so they were not total strangers.
- ↑ "'The Jesuits Did it!' Charles Chiniquy’s Theory of Lincoln’s Assassination", Paul Laverdure
- ↑ http://dig.lib.niu.edu/ISHS/ishs-1976feb/ishs-1976feb-017.pdf "The Lincoln Writings of Charles P.T. Chiniquy", Joseph George, Jr.
- ↑ "John Wilkes Booth -Act One"
- ↑ "The Knights of the Golden Circle" The New York Times, August 30, 1861
- ↑ "John Surratt" In later life, Mr. Surratt was a Catholic School teacher,
- ↑ "Mary Surratt" Mrs. Surratt's remains are now buried in a Catholic cemetery,