Again, Robert Lincoln was running late. He arrived at the Exposition after President McKinley had started shaking hands in a receiving line. The President’s secretary asked Robert to join the President later at his hotel. Robert went to greet the President before leaving, and as he approached, witnessed the assassin firing the fatal shot. (One version of the story from a witness said Robert Lincoln was approaching the President, but had not yet come close enough to see the tragic event.)
Aside from his four years as Secretary of War, and one period as the U.S. Minister to Great Britain, Robert Todd Lincoln avoided the public life and spotlight. This made it all the more fantastic that he should be the one person tied to all three Presidential assassinations during his lifetime. Was it merely a matter of incredible coincidence? Did these three Presidents experience these dreams about their own deaths?
We know Lincoln spoke of these dreams in the weeks before his assassination. His comments on the dreams are recorded in the journals of his secretaries (John Nicolay and John Hay, later Secretary of State) and several other people. People around Presidents Garfield and McKinley related stories about these two Presidents having similar dreams. No matter what the reason, Robert Todd Lincoln was repeatedly drawn into Presidential assassinations, probably the most dramatic historical events in anyone’s lifetime.
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