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Mark Taylor's avatar

You've got a good point. He was probably related to the Dulles brothers or J. Edgar Hoover.

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Ohio Barbarian's avatar

Old Abe nailed it, didn't he? If John Wilkes Booth didn't assassinate Lincoln, who know what might have happened? Lincoln read Marx & Engels, who both supported the Union during the Civil War. He may have tried to move the country in a more socialist direction.

And some industrialist or banker would have found another John Wilkes Booth.

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Mark Taylor's avatar

I had forgotten about that Lincoln/Marx connection. They both admired each other and Lincoln regularly read the columns Marx wrote for a US paper. I found an interesting article from Jacobin that I'm going to tack onto the post. It had this bit of trivia:

"At an earlier date — in 1843 — Marx himself had thought of immigrating to Texas, going so far as to apply to the mayor of Trier, his birthplace, for an immigration permit.:

Marx in Texas, imagine that! A Stetson, horse and sic guns would have gone well with that beard.

https://jacobin.com/2012/08/lincoln-and-marx

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The Revolution Continues's avatar

I'm beginning to wonder if John Wilkes Boothe didn't work for the military-industrial complex... Take out Lincoln for ending the war too soon and cutting into their profits.

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Mark Taylor's avatar

Check out the update to the post and comment from Ohio Barbarian.

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