By the standards of the day, did Lincoln’s security people fail him?
Were there standards in place for the protection of the President that were relaxed on the day of his assassination, or was it just a case of the assassin getting through the barriers as they existed at that point in time?
In my opinion, by the standards of the day, Kennedy’s security people did fail him. How they could let him ride in an open car past multi-story buildings with no rooftop observers (or any observers anywhere looking at those buildings) was, to me, a failure of security standards as they existed at the time.
Can we say the same for the Lincoln assassination, or not?
Were there standards in place for the protection of the President that were relaxed on the day of his assassination, or was it just a case of the assassin getting through the barriers as they existed at that point in time?
Good questions. Presidential protection was very lax in those days. Indeed, the Secret Service was created in 1865 to deal with counterfeiters and only began to protect the president in 1901 after McKinley was assassinated.
Lincoln did have a guard -- four policemen rotated as presidential bodyguards. Three of them had very good records. It was the other guy who was on duty that night. More here.