“The Baltimore Plot That Almost Killed Lincoln Before He Took Office”
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Title: The Lincoln Conspiracy
Author: Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch
Category: Politics & Current Affairs, Economics & Global Markets, World History
What if Abraham Lincoln had never made it to his own inauguration? Sam and Sophie open the episode with that question, because in the winter of 1860 and 1861 it was a genuine possibility.
They walk through Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch's account of the Baltimore plot: the secession winter, the missing Secret Service, and Allan Pinkerton's controversial intelligence methods. Kate Warne, Pinkerton's pioneering female operative, infiltrates the conspirators' circles in Baltimore, where the Plug Uglies provide the muscle for a simple, brutal plan. The pair trace Pinkerton's midnight meeting with Lincoln in Philadelphia, the split among his advisors, and the humiliating disguise that wasn't a kilt, just a soft felt hat and a shawl. Then they sit with the aftermath: the leaks, the cartoons, the accusations of cowardice, and Lincoln's calculated willingness to look weak.
If you like history that reads like a thriller, this one is for you. The takeaway: history isn't a straight line, and the bravest thing Lincoln did may have been surviving one night in disguise.
The Lincoln Conspiracy by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch. For the full written summary, the whole library is on 7minutebooks.com/app, with over 6,000 fiction and nonfiction titles you can read or listen to in any language, from $2.99 a month, $9.99 a year, or $19.99 lifetime.
Chapters
00:00A Plot Before The Presidency01:07Pinkerton And Dangerous Baltimore03:05Kate Warne Infiltrates The Conspirators04:13Lincoln's Midnight Disguise05:03The Leak And The Mockery05:49What If The Plot Had Worked
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