Monday, we're telling the astonishing story of a plot to kill Abraham Lincoln on the way to his first inaugural. Our guest is biographer Daniel Stashower, who says the President-elect hadn't even left Illinois when the threats started to arrive. In 1861, it was hard for Lincoln to believe that political hatred could lead to murder. Legendary detective Allan Pinkerton believed though and it was his team of operatives that raced to thwart the "Baltimore Plot." (Rebroadcast)
Daniel Stashower is a journalist, biographer and mystery writer. Among his books are The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder and Teller of Tales : The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle. His new book is The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War.
Stashower recommends Edwin Fishel's book The Secret War for the Union: The Untold Story of Military Intelligence in the Civil War