American Experience (TV Series) The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln (2009) User Reviews

Very well done.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 24 March 2012]

This episode of "The American Experience" is about the Lincoln assassination--the events leading to it, the killing and the aftermath. I was surprised, a bit, by this episode because I've seen several other documentaries on these events and "The American Experience" version stuck much closer to the actual facts. Very little supposition or talk of a more vast conspiracy were missing. For the most part, I appreciated this as some shows seem more interested in creating controversy than anything else--such as asking whether Secretary Stanton or guards were part of the plot (even though there really isn't any evidence of this). The only thing I wish they had questioned was the guilt or innocence of Dr. Samuel Mudd--as MANY historians have questioned whether his life sentence in very harsh conditions in the Tortugas was merited as he MIGHT have been innocent and might not have known who Booth was when he patched him up that night. Perhaps this might make for a good documentary by itself, as later Mudd became a hero, of sorts, during an outbreak of some plague and earned his release.

Aside from my questions about Mudd that were not discussed at all in the show, this is an outstanding episode of an outstanding series. Once again, PBS shows that their documentaries about America are simply the best you'll find. Well worth watching, thorough and interesting.

By the way, one portion of the film I really appreciated was talking about the 'Myth of Lincoln' following his death. He really was NOT a popular president and many hated him--yet when he became the first president assassinated, everyone suddenly thought he was among the very greatest men in American history!

Nice Job.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 7 December 2015]

I don't know that there's so much that's new in this presentation but it gives the viewer the general picture with just enough detail to be convincing and colorful.

We know, of course, that John Wilkes Booth climbed the stairs of Ford's Theater in Washington in April of 1865 and shot Lincoln through the head, killing him. "Now he belongs to the ages," said Secretary Stanton at the bedside. It's curious that one hundred and fifty years later the tragedy is still so moving. At least for some of us. For others, Lincoln remains the hated tyrant.

It's curious too that in murdering Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth effectively screwed up the reconstruction of his beloved South. Lincoln had intended that the Confederate states be welcomed back "as if they'd never left," or, as he put it in his second inaugural address, "with malice towards none and charity towards all." In Lincoln's place, the nation found itself with Andrew Johnson from Tennessee, a man who thought that the South should be just what it was before the war -- the Big House surrounded by cotton fields and slaves' quarters -- except that now the slaves would be paid servants. Of course the failure of Reconstruction wasn't all Johnson's fault but it's likely that the process would have been better handled under Lincoln.

Neither Booth, his supporters, or those who hailed him as a hero had failed to ask themselves what we don't bother asking ourselves today. If you remove a "tyrant," who are you going to replace him with?