Yes, Abraham Lincoln had seen his assassin John Booth perform on stage.
John Booth was not quite as celebrated as his brother Edwin, who was the most famous actor in the country at the time.
Nor was he as respected as his father Junius, who had been the country’s premiere Shakespearean actor.
Still, John was very popular, especially with the ladies, and made as much as $30,000 a year, about $325,000 in modern dollars.
Lincoln admired Booth’s melodramatic style very much and once invited him to visit the White House. Booth declined.
