AllMovie

This is the second volume in a two-part program that originally aired on the A&E network's History Channel. Narrated by actor Tom Berenger, the documentary presents the simple and grand conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. In the case of this assassination, the killer, famed actor John Wilkes Booth, did indeed have co-conspirators: Lewis Powell, David Herold and George Atzerodt. For a time it was believed that Lincoln's murder was part of a vast Confederate plot. Indeed, one of the first acts of the newly sworn-in president, Andrew Johnson, was to announce a reward for the arrest of former Confederate president Jefferson Davis. Highlights of the program feature commentary by forensic experts and historians, as well as period photographs. Motivations and facts are examined and legends and misconceptions are corrected, while variations on the commonly accepted facts of the conspiracy are discussed.