On this episode of Our American Stories, after John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln in April 1865, the Booth name became synonymous with betrayal. But his older brother Edwin Booth was already one of America’s most celebrated actors, with deep roots in Boston and a reputation as a loyal supporter of the Union.
Historian and Our American Stories regular contributor Christopher Klein shares the story of how prominent Bostonians rallied around Edwin even as other members of the Booth family faced threats, arrest, and suspicion. Within a year, Edwin returned to the Boston stage to a thunderous welcome, even as the shadow of the Lincoln assassination threatened to erase his family’s legacy.
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