April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. What might our world, our country be like today if this event had not happened? 146 years may be long enough that the impact today would be less than imagined. On the other hand, every major event of this kind, especially the assassination of presidents, gives pause and wonder as we look back across the span of history.
Of course I have never wondered the impact of the deaths of Garfield or McKinley. I have wondered about the impact of the death of John Kennedy. The other two premature deaths by assassination that come to mind are Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, jr. Kennedy would have been president without a doubt - ok who knows, and the country was moving that way. And King was the leader of a powerful civil rights movement that made a continuing impact on this country but slowly petered out without a strong, charismatic leader on hand.
If these men had lived to play out their political destinies, would this country be more tolerant today? Would “the race card” still be in play or would it have disappeared in a country led to be more inclusive and forgiving? Would we be mired in economic debt or might one of them had the financial sense to know that even a country really shouldn’t spend more than it takes in? These questions can go on and on ~ and there is no answer to any of them because the reality is the death of Abraham Lincoln, 146 years ago today.
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