Click2Flicks - National Treasure - Book of Secrets - The Story Behind The Movie - Chapter 1 - Preface

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top><table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff cellpadding=5> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b><i>NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS</i>:</p> <p>THE STORY BEHIND THE MOVIE</b></font></p>  <table width="590"> <tr> <td align="CENTER" valign="top" bgcolor="000000" colspan=2><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="3" color="FFFFFF"><b>STORY CHAPTER LINKS</b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align=center valign=top width=50%>  <table width="104%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" border="0"> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><a href="#preface"><b>1. STORY PREFACE</b></a></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="../national_treasure/national_treasure_ch2.htm">2. A TUMULTUOUS WEEK</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="../national_treasure/national_treasure_ch3.htm">3. A SHOCKING DEATH</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="../national_treasure/national_treasure_ch4.htm">4. DIARY of JOHN WILKES BOOTH</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="../national_treasure/national_treasure_ch5.htm">5. MISSING PAGES of a DIARY</a></b></font> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> <td align=center valign=top width=50%>  <table width=102% cellpadding=5 cellspacing=5 border=0> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="../national_treasure/national_treasure_ch6.htm">6. THE STATUE of LIBERTY </a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="../national_treasure/national_treasure_ch7.htm">7. <i>HMS RESOLUTE</i></a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="../national_treasure/national_treasure_ch8.htm">8. OLMEC GLYPHS</a> </b></font> </a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="../national_treasure/national_treasure_ch9.htm">9. MOUNT RUSHMORE</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="../national_treasure/national_treasure_ch10.htm">10. USED AND RECOMMENDED SOURCES</a></b></font> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  <p><font size="3"><a name="preface"><b><u>PREFACE</u></b></a></font></p> </div> <div align="center"><font face="Times New Roman" size=3 color=000000><br> </font><br><br> <br><br> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <font face="arial,helvetica" size=3 color="000000"> <a target="_blank" href="images/the_president_1865.portrait_by_Alexander.Gardner_Lib.of.Congress.jpg"><b>The President</b></a> and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.chicagohistory.org/wetwithblood/prologue.htm"><b>First Lady</b></a> were <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/hh/3a/hh3e.htm"><b>late</b></a> for the April 14, 1865 evening <a target="_blank" href="images/performance_Ford.Theatre.Flyer_14.Apr.1865.performance.jpg"><b>performance</b></a> of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nps.gov/archive/foth/Set.htm"><b><i>Our American Cousin</b></i></a> starring the popular actress, <a target="_blank" href="images/laura_keene_Keene.portrait_Brady-Handy.Collection_Lib.Congress_LC-DIG-cwpbh-01959.jpg"><b>Laura Keene</b></a>.  It had been a <a target="_blank" href="images/busy.jpg"><b>busy</b></a> day for <a target="_blank" href="http://members.aol.com/RVSNorton1/Lincoln71.html"><b>Mr. Lincoln</b></a>  (who had aged <a target="_blank" href="images/dramatically_Lincoln_in_1846.jpg"><b>dramatically</b></a> in twenty years).</p> <p>Meeting with his cabinet in the morning, the President urged compassion toward the defeated South. Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles,  recorded Lincoln’s sentiments:<p> <blockquote><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i>I hope there will be no persecution, no bloody work after the war is over. No one need expect me to take part in hanging or killing those men, even the worse of them. Frighten them out of the country, open the gates, let down the bars, scare them off, enough lives have been sacrificed. We must extinguish our resentment if we expect harmony and union. (</i></b>Quoted by<i><b> <a target="_blank" href="images/w_emerson_reck_Reck_Last.24.Hours.jpg"><b>W. Emerson Reck</b></a>,  Abraham Lincoln, His Last 24 Hours, <a target="_blank" href="http://books.google.com/books?id=6vJ1tHgJe5QC&pg=PA37&dq=Gideon+Welles+diary+I+hope+there+will+be+no+persecution,+no+bloody+work+after+the+war+is+over&sig=ZO9WGYomF0Q2BzB6v-hkuiE6K4c"></b></i>at page 37</a>).</font></blockquote> <a target="_blank" href="images/general_and_mrs_grant_Ulysses.and.Julia.Grant_courtesy_Ohio.Historical.Society.jpg"><b>General and Mrs. Grant</b></a> had planned to attend the play. When they were unable to make it, Mary Lincoln invited another couple. Twenty-eight-year-old <a target="_blank" href="images/rathbone_Rathbone_speaking.flyer.jpg"><b>Major Henry R. Rathbone</b></a> and his fiancé, <a target="_blank" href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/6/13/06-1269a.gif"><b>Clara Harris</b></a>, would share the presidential box that night. <p>They would soon witness much more than a play.</p> </div> <p align="right"><font size="2"><a href="../national_treasure/national_treasure_ch2.htm">GO TO CHAPTER 2</a></font></p> <p align="center"><font face="arial, helvetica" size="3"><a href="http://www.awesomestories.com/content/about_author.htm" target="_blank"><b>Author: Carole D. Bos, J.D.</b></center></a></p> <blockquote><br>  </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table>  </body>