The terrorist demands in the movie Air Force One seem ridiculous. You go through all that work to kidnap the president of the United States and all you want is the release of a prisoner. Let’s say for a second that Harrison Ford wasn’t some Vietnam veteran in addition to being the leader of the free world and the terrorists get what they want.
Then what? It’s not like the American government is just going to be cool with Kazakhstan once the dust settles and their nuclear weapon wielding dictator is restored to power. Gary Oldman isn’t just going to return to daily life after holding the president hostage. It doesn’t make any sense. No one thinks of the end game.
Now what if I told you this is somewhat similar to something that almost happened like 150 years before the movie was released with Abraham Lincoln starring in the role of James Marshall. Here’s a look at the failed Lincoln kidnapping attempt.
John Wilkes Booth; the original Egor Korshunov
John Wilkes Booth is a weird dude. An actor-cum-white supremacist, Booth really hated Lincoln and really loved the confederacy because they thought the country was better with slaves. This doesn’t really make a lot of sense, but really nothing about confederate logic does.
The guy carrying out the abduction in Air Force One carried had similarly fuzzy motives. Good ol’ Egor Korshunov hated America because the Cold War ended and made Kazakhstan suck. Now, I’m no Kazakhstan expert, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t all that great during the Cold War either.
Regardless, Egor Korshunov and Booth felt they only had one way to fix everything; kidnap the US president. And if you’ve seen Air Force One you know how that ended. But, what about this failed Lincoln kidnapping attempt?
Plan A and B: The failed Lincoln kidnapping attempt
The only thing standing between the South and certain victory was Abraham Lincoln. Or at least that’s what John Wilkes Booth a bunch of his Southern sympathizing friends thought. They also believed they had a foolproof plan to solve this problem.
According to David Donald, writer of Lincoln, Booth and his team would jump Lincoln while he was watching a show at Ford’s Theatre. The plan required them to tie the president up and then lower him down from the balcony using ropes without anyone else in the theater saying, “Hey. Stop. Don’t. That’s the President.”
Plan A was foiled not by the fact it was a ridiculous plan, but because Lincoln didn’t actually go to the theater that night. It’s okay, Booth had a backup plan. The objective to kidnap Lincoln remained the same and a play was also involved. However, this time they would strike while he was in transit.
Lincoln had other plans. Instead of going to see the play, which for some reason was at a hospital, he opted to stay home leaving Booth empty handed once again. You probably know where the story goes from here, but I won’t spoil it if you don’t know.
So, what was Booth going to do had the failed Lincoln kidnapping attempt actually worked? Get this, his plan was to hold the president ransom until the North offered to return confederate soldiers. That’s it. No money. No supplies. Not even any future second round draft picks. Just some Southern soldiers.
Booth, probably incorrectly, believed that this would be so humiliating for the North that they would just simply tap out and end the war. Yeah, good luck with that.
What has been learned?
You’re never going to kidnap the president. It doesn’t matter if you are trying to do it on his airplane or at a theater. Logistically it is just too difficult to succeed even if you managed to get your hands on him or, maybe one day, her.
Also, if you’re going to go for it anyway, at least have better demands than a prisoner swap. Your kidnapping the freaking president. Extract some value. The president of Kazakhstan in a straight swap or some confederate soldiers is not a good trade for the US president. That would be like trading Patrick Mahomes for Sam Darnold, whoever the Jets’ kicker is and Braylon Edwards who has been retired since 2013.
