Сын Авраама Линкольна стал свидетелем трех покушений на президентов США

John Wilkes Booth, 1865 Tragically, the first of those was John Wilkes Booth, who shot Robert Lincoln’s father, Abraham, on April 14, 1865. Lincoln’s son was not present at Ford’s Theater when the politically motivated actor became the first to assassinate an American head of state. Earlier that day, Robert Lincoln had declined an invitation to attend the showing of “Our American Cousin” with his parents. He told his father he wanted to retire early that fateful evening, having just returned to Washington after serving on Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s staff during the final days of the Civil War. James A. Garfield, 1881 Over the next 15 years after his father’s death, many Republicans tried to persuade young Lincoln to run for political office, but he always declined. Lincoln suspected the party’s interest in him becoming a candidate was more about his surname than anything else. However, in early 1881, he agreed to serve as President James Garfield’s secretary of war. On July 2, 1881, Lincoln was 40 feet away and walking towards Garfield and Secretary of State James Blaine at Washington’s Baltimore and Potomac train station. Just then, Charles Guiteau, a mentally deranged man who had been denied a political appointment, shot Garfield twice at close range in the back. Lincoln immediately took charge, sending for a doctor and ordering four companies of soldiers to the train depot for security. When Garfield was returned to the White House after medical treatment, Lincoln secured the White House grounds and ordered a military guard at the jail to prevent a mob lynching. William McKinley, 1901 Lincoln left public service in 1893 after serving as President Benjamin Harrison’s U.S. minister to Great Britain for four years. In 1901, as president of the Pullman Palace Car Company, Lincoln and his family were heading back to Chicago after spending a summer-long vacation in New Jersey. On the way, the family decided to visit the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Upon arriving, Lincoln received a telegram that President William McKinley had been shot that afternoon at the Exposition. Lincoln immediately went to see McKinley, visiting him twice over a two-day period. Encouraged that McKinley was on the mend, the Lincolns resumed their trip to Chicago, only to learn a week later that the president had died of an infection. The Lincoln Curse Much has been written about the “Lincoln curse” involving Robert Lincoln and his association with three presidential assassinations. However, common sense and logic explains that Lincoln had more access to presidential events than most people because of his famous surname and his success as a prominent lawyer, businessman, and diplomat. Also, Lincoln lived in a time when turbulent waves of social and political unrest culminated in spasms of violence. The nation was still reeling from the devastating Civil War—the social unrest over the elimination of slavery and the controversy over Reconstruction in the South—and passionate disagreements over other cultural reforms perpetuated a climate of violence and upheaval. Lincoln was not cursed, though it had to be endlessly frustrating to have his personal and professional identity constantly handcuffed to his father’s legacy. When he died in his sleep just days before his 83rd birthday, the New York Times began its obituary: “Lincoln’s Son Dies in His Sleep at 82.”