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Abraham Lincoln
During Abraham Lincoln's presidency, anyone could come to the White House and see him. Come they did: mothers looking to have their sons released from military service, wives urging that their husbands be freed from prison after resisting the draft, others who simply wanted to meet the president. Some only wanted comfort in a terrible time, and that he freely gave," James B. Conroy wrote in his book "Lincoln's White House: The People's House in Wartime." The world has vastly changed since the 1860s, and so has protection for presidents. Protective details have grown in size, responsibility and technology over more than a century of the Secret Service protecting presidents. When presidents leave the White House, they are accompanied by a phalanx of Secret Service officers and agents. Cars can no longer drive past what is often dubbed the people's house at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The fence has been raised, and don't even try to get past the gate without an appointment or badge. The ..
Before Saturday's apparent attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, there have been multiple instances of political violence targeting US presidents, former presidents and major party presidential candidates. A look at some of the assassinations and attempted assassinations that have occurred since the nation's founding in 1776: ABRAHAM LINCOLN, the 16th president Lincoln was the first president to be assassinated, shot by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, as he and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, attended a special performance of the comedy Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington. Lincoln was taken to a house across the street from the theater for medical treatment after he was shot in the back of the head. He died the next morning. His support for Black rights has been cited as a motive behind his killing. Two years before the assassination, during the Civil War, which was fought over slavery, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation granting fre