Lincoln Falls: A President Dies at Ford's Theatre
He died with his thumb still pressed against the spot where Booth's bullet had torn through his brain. The theater lights stayed bright while the nation held its breath, waiting for a man who would never wake. Andrew Johnson took the oath in a dim hotel room just hours later, inheriting a country that needed healing but got a harsher hand instead. You'll remember this not as the end of a war, but as the moment democracy nearly choked on its own grief before it could speak again.
April 15, 1865
161 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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