April 15 Trivia for Americans

[kokopelli]

For Americans here is a bit of trivia for April 15 and, of course, a trivia quiz.

 

As most Americans know,  April 15 is the deadline to file Federal Income Tax Returns.  And, for the old timers and history buffs, April 15 is the day President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.

 

Now, without googling, yahooing or duckduckgoing does anyone know the (tenuous) link between these two events?

[Bob]

Hell if I know.  But I do try to avoid Ford Theater on tax filing day!

 

I am having difficulty understanding the difference between the old timers and history buffs.  Anybody who knows about about the assassination date could be described as a history buff.  But there ain't any old timers around that were alive back then (well, with the exception of a couple of posters here....).  

 

P.S.  I will admit I cheated a bit as I did "google" "duckduckgoing."  Damn, never heard of that search engine before!

[Alexx]

My guess (!) is that Federal Income Tax didn't exist before the Civil War. So President Lincoln probably signed it into law.

[Bob]

My guess (!) is that Federal Income Tax didn't exist before the Civil War. So President Lincoln probably signed it into law.

 

Nah, can't be as the federal income tax came about because of a constitutional amendment in (I think) 1916, 50+ years after the end of the civil war.  

[kokopelli]

 

 

I am having difficulty understanding the difference between the old timers and history buffs.  Anybody who knows about about the assassination date could be described as a history buff.  But there ain't any old timers around that were alive back then (well, with the exception of a couple of posters here....).  

 

P.S.  I will admit I cheated a bit as I did "google" "duckduckgoing."  Damn, never heard of that search engine before!

 Old timers are those who actually learned history in their youth.  Not sure if kids today even heard of Abe Lincoln.

 

DuckDuckGo is a search engine which claims not to remember your search history.

 

Official answer will be posted on 15 April, USA time.

[Gaybutton]

For Americans here is a bit of trivia for April 15 and, of course, a trivia quiz.

 

As most Americans know,  April 15 is the deadline to file Federal Income Tax Returns.  And, for the old timers and history buffs, April 15 is the day President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.

 

Now, without googling, yahooing or duckduckgoing does anyone know the (tenuous) link between these two events?

 

Abraham Lincoln was assassinated the night of April 14.  He died around 9 hours later, the morning of April 15.  As for the link between the two events, I thought Lincoln did approve a tax of some kind.  Whether it was an income tax or something else, I really don't know unless I look it up - which I won't.

[kokopelli]

GB is right about the date of the shooting of Old Abe and his subsequent death the following day, April 15. So that definitely qualifies him as an old timer or maybe just a history buff?

[KhorTose]

Nah, can't be as the federal income tax came about because of a constitutional amendment in (I think) 1916, 50+ years after the end of the civil war.  

That was 1913 Bob.  However an income tax was passed in 1861 called the revenue tax.  This was repealed 10 yrs later.  This was one of several taxes passed during Lincoln's term of office, and  most of these taxes were based on income and a sliding scale.  The supreme court upheld the income tax but ruled that a flat tax passed in 1864 was illegal.  Therefore it is proper to call Lincoln the father of the income tax.  Not sure what Koko wants but the only link I see is Lincoln himself..

[kokopelli]

  But there ain't any old timers around that were alive back then (well, with the exception of a couple of posters here....).  

.

Surprising enough, not to many years ago  in 1956 there was a living old timer who did witness the assassination.  Here is a video clip of  him:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_iq5yzJ-Dk

[kokopelli]

My guess (!) is that Federal Income Tax didn't exist before the Civil War. So President Lincoln probably signed it into law.

Yes, Alexx, Khortose  and GB are correct. The first Federal Income Tax was signed into law in 1861 by Abraham Lincoln to fund the Civil War.  I did say that the link between events on April 15 was tenuous.

[Gaybutton]

 that definitely qualifies him as an old timer or maybe just a history buff?

 

Or both . . .

 

I've always wondered about this list:

____________________________

 

• Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.

   

• John F Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

   

• Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.

   

• John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

   

• The names Lincoln and Kennedy each contain seven letters.

   

• Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.

   

• Both wives lost children while living in the White House.

   

• Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.

   

• Both Presidents were shot in the head.

   

• Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.

   

• Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln.

   

• Both were assassinated by Southerners.

   

• Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.

   

• Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.

   

• Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

   

• John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.

   

• Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

   

• Both assassins were known by their three names.

   

• Both names are composed of fifteen letters.

   

• Lincoln was shot at the theater named 'Ford.'

   

• Kennedy was shot in a car, a Ford, called 'Lincoln.'

   

• Booth ran from the theater and was caught in a warehouse.

   

• Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theater.

   

• Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.

   

• A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland.

   

• A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe.

[Gaybutton]

Actually, there are a few things wrong with the above list.  The most glaring is "A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe."  That's a little strange considering Kennedy was killed on November 22, 1963.  Marilyn Monroe died on August 5, 1962.

 

There is no record of Abraham Lincoln ever having had a secretary named Kennedy.

 

The number of letters in the names seems particularly trivial to me.

 

John Wilkes Booth was not shot in a warehouse.  He was shot in a barn.

 

However, one thing the list does not mention - both Lincoln and Kennedy were sitting right next to their wives when they were shot.  I'm surprised that's not included on the list.

 

Supposedly, Lincoln had a nightmare about his own death shortly before the assassination.  It is said he talked about it.  It is known that Kennedy talked about the possibility of being the victim of an assassination only hours before it happened.

 

Despite the factual errors, I still find the rest of the list, the accurate part, interesting.

[Alexx]

I agree, GB. That's an impressive list, even though some items aren't accurate. Maybe we can use it to predict the probability of an assassination for future presidents (with a higher level of accuracy than the Secret Service).

[ChristianPFC]

 

• A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland.

   

• A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe.

 

I was expecting "... he was in Marilyn Monroe".

[Gaybutton]

In the video it is mentioned that Mr. Seymour had written an article entitled "I Saw Lincoln Shot."  I was interested in finding and reading that article.

 

I did manage to find it.  If you're interested, you can read it at:  http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19540207&id=wHUxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SBAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5624,3979599

[kokopelli]

While on the topic of Abe Lincoln, did you know they had color photography back then and even 3D photos of old Abe?

 

Oh, ok, there were no color photographs but there are a number of 3D photos of Abe. Many cameras back then had 4 lenses ( 2 over 2) in order to make multiple copies of the subject. The two horizontal lenses thus produced a stereoscopic/3D image when viewed with a stereoscope.