Episode
American Experience: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Overview
On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. Over the next twelve days, as a fractured nation mourned, the largest manhunt ever attempted closed in on his assassin, the renowned 26-year-old actor John Wilkes Booth. The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln recounts this great American drama: two tumultuous months when the joy of peace was shattered by the heartache of Lincoln’s death. Featuring Will Patton (Numb3rs, A Mighty Heart) as the voice of the assassin and narrated by Academy Award-winning actor Chris Cooper (Seabiscuit, Adaptation), the film includes interviews with the nation’s foremost Lincoln scholars, who recount a great American drama: two tumultuous months when the joy of peace was shattered by the heartache of Lincoln’s death.
Details
- Series
- American Experience
- Season
- Season 21
- Episode
- Episode 3
- Air date
- 2009-02-09
- Runtime
- 55 min
Episode context
The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln is Episode 3 in Season 21 of American Experience. It aired on 2009-02-09. The runtime is 55 min.
Previous / Next
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Episode 4: A Class Apart
From a small-town Texas murder emerged a landmark civil rights case. The little-known story of the Mexican American lawyers who took Hernandez v. Texas to the Supreme Court, challenging Jim Crow-style discrimination.
More episodes from this season
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Episode 6: We Shall Remain (2): Tecumseh's Vision
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Episode 7: We Shall Remain (3): Trail of Tears
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Episode 9: We Shall Remain (5): Wounded Knee
On the night of February 27, 1973, fifty-four cars rolled, horns blaring, into a small hamlet on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Within hours, some 200 Oglala Lakota and American Indian Movement (AIM) activists had seized the few major buildings in town and police had cordoned off the area. The occupation of Wounded Knee had begun. Demanding redress for grievances—some going back more than 100 years—the protesters captured the world's attention for 71 gripping days.