John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838 – April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor and Confederate sympathizer who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.
Booth was born into a family of famous actors and had built a successful career himself. Athletic and dark-haired, he was widely known in the papers as the most handsome man in America. His talent and looks made him a hit with audiences and he had a long string of financial success under his belt. His most recent productions before the assassination were Julius Caesar (the only time he appeared alongside his brothers professionally) and Romeo and Juliet. His brother, Edwin, is considered to have been the best actor in America of at least the 19th century, if not of all time. However, he could never shake the shadow of being the brother of a man who assassinated the president.
He also conspired with at least eight other people, four of which were executed for their involvement. Several other government officials were targeted, including Secretary of State William Seward, who was attacked by Lewis Powell but later recovered, and Vice President Andrew Johnson was never attacked as his attempted assassin, George Atzerodt, ended up getting drunk while waiting and chickened out.
Booth himself went on the run with David Herold for two weeks until they were cornered by Army soldiers at a tobacco barn owned by farmer Richard Garrett on April 26, 1865. Herold surrendered and was later prosecuted and hanged, along with Powell, Atzerodt, and Mary Surratt, but Booth, though ordered to surrender, replied "I prefer to come out and fight." The barn was set on fire in an attempt to flush him out, but Sergeant Boston Corbett acted against orders to take him alive and shot Booth in the neck through a gap in the wall, breaking three vertebrae, partially severing his spinal cord, and eventually leading to his death as increasing paralysis prevented him from breathing. Just before dying, he said "Tell my mother I died for my country," then asked for his hands (which he could no longer move) to be moved into his field of vision, at which point he said "Useless, useless", then died at the break of dawn on April 26.
Media
- In Army of Frankensteins, Booth's attempt to assassinate Lincoln is foiled when the Frankenstein Monster takes the bullet intended for the President.
- The Birth of a Nation (1915): He is played by Raoul Walsh.
- The Day Lincoln Was Shot: Rob Morrow plays him in the TV film.
- The Farmer Takes a Wife, set circa 1850, features a cameo by a juvenile John Wilkes Booth, played by Philip Cooper. Upon hearing speculation that a "man out west" named Abraham Lincoln might become famous someday, the young Booth replies, quite innocently, "I bet he'll hear of me when I grow up. I'm going to be famous too."
- Zoolander: A flashback reveals Booth, played by James Marsden, was in league with the fashion industry, who were upset about the end of slavery because slaves were the primary manufacturers of powdered wigs.
- In the second book of the President's Vampire series (titled the same), John Wilkes Booth was an Unwitting Pawn of the Order, the Shadow Company's earliest incarnation who was duped into assassinating Lincoln in the belief he was doing the right thing. He then subsequently faked his own death and went into hiding, only to re-emerge years later, drunkenly confessing to his actions out of guilt. By the time Nathaniel Cade tracks Booth down, the latter has been poisoned with cyanide-laced whiskey by the Order to silence him, though Cade allows Booth to die peacefully from the poison rather than resort to his usual methods when he realises Booth's remorse for his part in Lincoln's assassination is genuine.
- Young Sherlock Holmes: In Red Leech, Holmes discovers that Booth survived the fire in the tobacco barn, but badly disfigured and going mad. Duke Balthassar locates him and intends him to use him as a figurehead for a conspiracy of Confederate supporters planning to invade Canada and have it become a new Confederate country: Booth's insanity preventing from serving any other useful purpose. After the plot is foiled and Balthassar killed, the US Government takes Booth into custody, explaining that he will be confined to an asylum for the rest of his life with no one knowing his true identity.
- Bones: In an episode of the show, Seeley Booth is mentioned to be a descendant of John Wilkes Booth, a fact that he doesn't want others to mention.
- Manhunt (2024) follows the manhunt for the racist and narcissistic Booth following his assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
- Timeless: In the second episode, Garcia Flynn goes back to arm Booth and his co-conspirators with modern guns in order to both give them a confidence boost to go through with the whole Decapitation Strike and make sure it's successful, even taking steps to assure that Grant stays in town and goes to the theatre with Lincoln so that he can be targeted too. However, Flynn grows frustrated with Booth's stubborn insistence on using a period-appropriate gun for dramatic flavor (which would render him incapable of killing both Lincoln and Grant), and eventually knocks him out to take his place. Thanks to the heroes' interference, history is preserved, with only Lincoln dying. Lucy even goes out of her way to report Booth to the authorities to make sure that he's still arrested.
- The Twilight Zone (1959): In the episode "Back There", a man named Peter Corrigan is sent back in time and tries to prevent Lincoln's assassination. Booth, played by John Lasell, pretends to be a friendly man named John Wellington, only to knock him out with a drugged drink. By the time Peter wakes up, the assassination has happened.
- 1865: Booth's assassination of Lincoln kicks off the main plot. A three episode prequel miniseries was also released that focuses on Booth’s life.
- Assassins prominently features him as the spiritual instigator of every assassination and attempt thereof after Lincoln. His solution to every problem is "Have you tried shooting the president?" He also plays a key role in the second number, "The Ballad of Booth", which recaps his death.
- BioShock Infinite: The city of Columbia which is ran by the Knight Templar overtly religious and American ultranationalist Father Comstock, views and portrays Abraham Lincoln as a demonic figure and thus see Booth as an American hero. While he's not important to the plot, statues and references to him can be seen through the game.
- Batman: The Brave and the Bold: In "Mitefall!", Batman travels to a parallel universe and saves Lincoln from Booth, voiced by Dee Bradley Baker, who is portrayed as a steampunk cyborg. Booth gets killed when Lincoln strikes a valve on his body with an axe, causing him to explode.
- Pops up in a few Family Guy episodes. In one, a Cutaway Gag has him shooting Lincoln because he was annoyed by him talking through the play and being unable to see past his hat, with the last straw being when Lincoln starts talking on his cell phone. In another, he's featured in a parody of a Mentos ad, where he gets the idea to shoot Lincoln from the gum.
