|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The crime was as shocking as it was tragic. A national figure was struck down in public – without warning. America was aghast. Yet amidst the outpouring of grief, outrage and frustration over our collective inability to make sense of the senseless – something else was at work. Something more insidious. Something grossly repugnant.
There were expressions of joy and elation at the death of the figure in question…
If you’re thinking that sounds a lot like the aftermath of last week’s assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, you’d be correct – except this assassination happened exactly 160 years earlier.
It followed from the murder of Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States. Difficult as it may be to believe today, there are striking parallels in the inflammatory responses to these two slayings.
***
Today, Americans of all stripes, regardless of their political persuasion, are deeply offended by the volume of giddy exhilaration over a man’s death. Sadly, South Carolina is not exempt from the display of barbarism. Consider these examples from here at home and nationally:
- A now-fired Upstate social studies teacher posted that America “became even greater” with the killing.
- A Clemson University professor urged people to “be like Tyler Robinson.” (Kirk’s accused killer).
- A now-fired Carolina Panthers’ staffer mocked Kirk with a post asking, “Why are ya’ll sad? Your man said it was worth it…”
- A Northeastern radical progressive (charged with vandalizing an Israeli-owned plant in New Hampshire) posted, “thoughts and prayers for the bullet.”
Perhaps such grotesque violations of good taste are to be expected from a generation that increasingly views murder as an acceptable avenue for silencing those with opposing views. A poll released early last week (before the murder) sponsored by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) found that one in three students said it can be acceptable to utilize violence and chaos to stop “offensive speech” on campus.
Charlie Kirk’s killing during a campus presentation days later confirmed that finding.
As gut-wrenching as it’s all been, it’s hardly an isolated incident in our society. Because there were outbursts of jubilation 160 years ago over the greatest crime in American history.
It may come as a surprise to some to know that Abraham Lincoln was a deeply divisive figure in his time, even in the North. After all, he was elected president in 1860 in a four-way contest with barely 39% of the popular vote. Long before he was canonized in our culture – i.e. before the penny and the five-dollar bill and the big marble monument in downtown D.C. – he was viewed as a tyrant by millions of his fellow countrymen.
***
***
Consider this 1863 observation from 22-year-old Jennie Cleland writing in Ohio – one of many period quotes contained in my upcoming volume Witness to War: The Story of the Civil War Told By Those Living Through It.
“Old Abe is worse than any king,” Cleland wrote. “He had no business turning this into an abolition war. The abolitionists have no mercy for anything.”
But Lincoln’s 1865 murder – the first assassination of a sitting president – changed many opinions. His assassination while watching a popular play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. horrified even his opponents.
Consider what John Wesley Folsom of Indiana wrote to his brother barely 48 hours after Lincoln’s passing.
“You and I have both seen the days when we would have been glad the presidential chair was vacated, and we would not much care how,” he noted. “But times have been changing since, and I don’t think either of us would wish it, at least in the manner it was by the assassin.”
But not all people in the North shared that conciliatory view…
***
RELATED | CHARLIE KIRK’S ALLEGED ASSASSIN IDENTIFIED
***
Dozens of public disturbances were reported in the assassination’s immediate aftermath over expressed pleasure at Lincoln’s demise. In Washington, New York City and Boston, men were beaten within an inch of their lives by furious mobs for their stated satisfaction with his death.
Such outrageous reactions weren’t limited to civilians. Even some soldiers in blue joined in. Here’s how combat engineer George Campbell described what happened in Union-occupied Chattanooga, Tennessee.
“There were a few men who bear the name of ‘soldier’ who rejoiced at the death of the president,” Campbell wrote. “Such are now working on the most public streets of Chattanooga with a ball and chain attached to one ankle and a card tied to their back with these two words, ‘Assassin Sympathizer’ printed in large letters on it so that every person who can read or spell may see for what they are working there for. They ought to have their heads shaved and be drummed out of the service.”
Then, just as now, such outrageous sentiments were in the minority. And they also sparked revulsion among those who heard them.
Which just proves the truth in what president Harry Truman said some seventy-five years ago. “The only new thing in life is the history you don’t know.”
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
J. Mark Powell is an award-winning former TV journalist, government communications veteran, and a political consultant. He is also an author and an avid Civil War enthusiast. Got a tip or a story idea for Mark? Email him at mark@fitsnews.com.
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
4 comments
“Today, Americans of all stripes, regardless of their political persuasion, are deeply offended by the volume of giddy exhilaration over a man’s death. ”
Right? Wasn’t it awful how Charlie Kirk celebrated the death of George Floyd?
It is insane that the shooting deaths of classrooms full of children do not garner anything close to the attention that the death of this guy continues to get. Insane.
The barbaric side of the human race.
If Charlie was a first grader, Republicans would have forgotten about him after a single though, maybe a prayer, and 24 hours.
To many people seem much more upset about the reactions of others to Charlie Kirk’s death than to the death of the man himself, the means by which he died, and the fact that his death is a repeat of a sad pattern.