Lincoln and Kennedy: Medical and Ballistic Comparisons of Their Assassinations (review)

80CIVIL WAR HISTORY Anti-Masonic party in various Northern states, whose members migrated to the Whigs, strongly indicate this same urban, commercial outlook dominated that organization. It is entirely possible Watson has hit upon something that ethnoculturalists have tended to overlook. This conjecture is not embodied in Watson's work, however, but is merely an observation of the reviewer. Watson does place emphasis on the role that issues and rhetoric played in local politics, and Southern politics in general to help voters view their own time and place, and their part in deciding the future course of the nation. The near absence of ethnocultural factors after 1828 leaves these Southern voters and leaders freer to concentrate on the economic impact of party proposals. Watson has written an excellent local history of party development. He uses his sources astutely. He has combined traditional methods with systematic ones that are summarized in numerous tables which he has explained quite clearly to the "non-elect" (non-systematicians). He has made a significant contribution to the historical literature of the period and of the South. John D. Morris Kent State University Lincoln and Kennedy: Medical and Ballistic Comparisons of TheirAssassinations . By John K. Lattimer. (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980. Pp. xxii, 378. $19.95.) Previous generations of Lincoln scholars abandoned the study of Lincoln's assassination to an adoring public whose flawed inquiries produced an endless confusion about the facts as well as a slightly negative view of professional historians. J. K. Lattimer is a medical doctor standing in the popular tradition who has produced a handsome, large format, heavily illustrated volume, one-third devoted to an examination of President Lincoln's murder and two-thirds to President Kennedy's. Dr. Lattimer roots his Lincoln section in the responsible studies by Professors Hyman, Hanchett, and others and thus avoids major pitfalls, regarding the murder as the act ofJ. W. Booth's small group. But problems suffuse the text. He rarely attempts to establish the chain of possession for pieces of evidence, an absolutely basic step before making judgments . For example, he discusses the angle made by Boston Corbett's bullet through Booth's cervical vertebrae by referring to the bones now held by a museum, but never demonstrates whether they are authentic or if they have survived one hundred and twenty years tamper-free. Speculation and non-germane facts are often substituted for evidence. He admits we do not know what pistol Corbett used, but baldly asserts it must have been a .44-caliber. Next, he provides us a picture of his .44 and reports on various and utterly meaningless "tests" he performed with iti Again, he states that Booth shot Lincoln with a .44-caliber Derringer and then prints a photograph of his Derringer, not the murder weapon. BOOK REVIEWS81 When the urologist strays from the works of scholars he tends to err. He surmises Booth learned of Lincoln's decision to attend Our American Cousin from a newspaper; he cites no references. Booth got his mail at Ford's theater and it was there he heard of the coming visit. Lattimer goes far beyond the evidence when he attributes to Booth a long-range dedicated allegiance to the principles of the Confederacy (this enables him to compare Booth with L. H. Oswald who is wrongly seen as a dedicated Communist). At best the record shows Booth to be an emotional, second-rate actor, in love with himself, who was as frequently motivated by whims as he was by the flattery of his circle of day-laborers, semiliterates , and societal dregs. The Kennedy section is one of the most error-ladened accounts in a literature notorious for its irresponsbility. Dr. Lattimer blindly accepts the official version of the murder and makes his text fit it, the facts notwithstanding . Among the scores are: Marina Oswald did not lock her husband in the bathroom to keep him from shooting General Walker; the door locked on the inside. Oswald did not carry a rifle into the Depository that morning; the only witness testified he entered emptyhanded . Commander Humes did not burn his autopsy notes; there is a signed receipt for their delivery to U.S...