Replies

I'm you brought up degrees of separation. Robert Todd Lincoln has one of the weirdest links in American History. From wiki: Presence at assassinations

There is coincidence in regard to Lincoln and presidential assassinations. He was either present or was nearby when three of them occurred.

Lincoln was invited to accompany his parents to the Ford's Theatre the night his father was shot by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, but declined and remained behind at the White House. He was informed of the President's being shot just before midnight.

At President James A. Garfield's invitation, Lincoln was at the Sixth Street Train Station in Washington, D.C. where the President was shot by Charles J. Guiteau on July 2, 1881 and was an eyewitness to the event. Lincoln was serving as Garfield's Secretary of War at the time.

At President William McKinley's invitation, Lincoln was at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York where the President was shot by Leon F. Czolgosz on September 6, 1901, though he was not an eyewitness to the event.

Of course, any other person with similarly close access to presidents and with such active involvement in the Federal government during that period of 36½ years would have had a similar likelihood of being "at or near" these assassinations. However, it is interesting that each time, his presence had been requested by the President in question.

In another odd coincidence, Robert Lincoln was once saved by Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes Booth, from possible serious injury or death. The incident happened at a railroad station in Jersey City in 1863, when Robert was traveling from New York City to Washington, and was recounted by Lincoln in 1909.