23. Astonishingly, Officer John Frederick Parker Got to Keep His Job as a Policeman – and as a Presidential Bodyguard
John Wilkes Booth hatched a plot to assassinate President Lincoln and some of his key cabinet members, and on the night of April 14, 1865, he and his accomplices fanned out across Washington, DC. Booth’s coconspirators failed to carry out their parts of the plot, but Booth got into Ford’s Theater, where Officer John Frederick Parker had abandoned his post as presidential bodyguard to grab a drink at a nearby bar. Booth snuck into the president’s private box and shot Lincoln in the back of the head. He then made a dramatic escape and went on the run for twelve days.
A massive manhunt eventually tracked Booth to a Virginia barn, where he was killed in a shootout. It is unclear if Officer Parker ever returned to Ford’s Theater that night, or only found out about the assassination the next day. Parker was charged with failure to protect the president, but incredibly, the charge was dismissed and he kept his job as a Washington Metropolitan Police officer. He was even kept on the presidential protection detail for another three years before he was finally fired when he was caught once again asleep on the job.
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