Abraham Lincoln's Son Was Nearby for Three Presidential Assassinations
Presidents walked around Washington unguarded, partly because Americans thought bodyguards were too imperial and too un-American.
Founders · #438 James Garfield's Extraordinary RiseRobert Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's son and his only child still living, was nearby when three of the four American presidents who were assassinated were shot.
Anyone could enter the White House and wait to see the president, and presidents had no protection. Garfield's would-be killer followed him repeatedly around Washington.
He served as Secretary of War under President James Garfield, and he told Garfield about his father's dream shortly before his father's assassination. In Robert's retelling, Lincoln found a coffin guarded by soldiers in the East Room and asked who was dead. "The President had been assassinated," a soldier answered.
Even after losing two presidents, Americans thought surrounding them with guards seemed too imperial and too un-American. The Secret Service did not take on full-time presidential protection until after William McKinley, then president, was shot on September 6, 1901. Lincoln was standing with McKinley that day.
Questions people ask
Which three assassinations was Robert Todd Lincoln connected to?
Abraham Lincoln in 1865, James Garfield in 1881, and William McKinley in 1901. Robert Todd Lincoln rushed to his father's deathbed in Washington, was at the Washington train station when Garfield was shot, and was attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo when McKinley was shot.
When did presidents actually get permanent guards?
Congress put the Secret Service in charge of full-time presidential protection in 1902, after McKinley's death. The Secret Service had been created in 1865 to fight counterfeit money, not to guard presidents, and agents had only done part-time campaign protection before that.
What happened to Robert Todd Lincoln afterward?
He was a lawyer, businessman, and public servant who later served as minister to Britain and president of the Pullman Company. He lived until 1926, dying at age 82, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.