Chapter 1 of Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson is about the assassination plan of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth. This assassination plan had strengths and weaknesses. John Wilkes Booth was a twenty-six year old actor who was a strong, loyal, and passionate confederate. Booth and his conspirators had a mission to take down some of the top leaders of the United States of America - the President Abraham Lincoln, Vice President Johnson, and U.S Secretary of State William Seward. In assessing this plan, which is similar to any other assassination plan, it includes good and bad situations with conspirators, location/time, and also weapons.
Strong, devoted, and dedicated conspirators are one of the main things you need in an assassination plan. Booth struggled to have every member to be loyal, and trustworthy. Even though Booth had some strong accomplices like David Herold and Lewis Powell, although his gang all together was a weakness in his plan. “David Herold, an experienced outdoorsman hunter, and tracker, would accompany Lewis Powell, take him to Seward’s home, and guide the assassin, unfamiliar with the capital’s streets, out of the city where he would meet up with Booth.” David Herold is a strength, but not enough to make the whole group strong. Without David, Powell wouldn’t know where to go, for he doesn 't know how to get around in Washington D.C. “Powell and Herold, Booth’s to most loyal pals, agreed to his plan.” Lewis Powell was dedicated to this