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On this day in history, April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln passes away
President Abraham Lincoln died in Washington, D.C., on this day in history, April 15, 1865, one day after he was shot by actor John Wilkes Booth.
Lincoln, who was elected president in 1860, was the first U.S. president to be assassinated.
He was survived by his wife, Mary Todd, whom he married in 1842, and his sons Robert and Tad.
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The president was shot while he was attending a performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in D.C.
During one of the funniest lines of the play, Booth entered the presidential box — and fired a shot into the president’s head, according to the Ford’s Theatre website.
This engraving from 1886 depicts John Wilkes Booth preparing to shoot President Abraham Lincoln. (iStock)
“At the moment the president was shot he was leaning his hand on the railing, looking down at a person in the orchestra, holding the flag that decorated the box aside to look between it and the post,” according to the witness statement of James P. Ferguson, an audience member that night.
Witness statements from the assassination and its aftermath are published on the Ford’s Theatre website.
“The confusion was great the moment the pistol was fired.”
“I saw a flash of the pistol in the right back of the box. As the person jumped over and lit on the stage, I saw that it was Booth,” the witness statement continued.
Both actors and audience members initially thought the shot was part of the show, the various witness statements indicate.
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“At first I thought it was some ‘gag’ introduced into the play, but presently there was commotion on the stage and an uproar in the audience,” said Jeannie Gourlay, an actress at the theater.
“The confusion was great the moment the pistol was fired, and my first thought was that there was a side scene of the play,” said the Hon. Frederick A. Sawyer, who was in the audience that night.
President Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. (Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images)
“Instantly I remembered that there was nothing of this sort in the play, but by the time I had recovered my thoughts sufficiently to realize that such was not the case, the man had disappeared,” he said.
After the shot, Maj. Henry Rathbone, who was in the box with the Lincolns as their guest, fought with Booth in an unsuccessful attempt to capture the assassin.
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Booth then leaped from the box down to the stage, “landing awkwardly,” said the Ford’s Theatre website.
“He held in his right hand a dagger whose blade appeared about 10 inches long — he did not strike the stage fairly on his feet, but appeared to stumble slightly,” said Frederick A. Sawyer, an audience member.
This engraving depicts John Wilkes Booth escaping after shooting President Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre. (iStock)
Booth then yelled, “Sic semper tyrannis!” (“Thus always to tyrants!”) and “The South is avenged!” before fleeing.
Lincoln, gravely wounded, was transported across the street to the Petersen boarding house, the Ford’s Theatre website says.
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He died the morning of April 15, at the age of 56.
Captain in the war
Born in Hodgenville, Kentucky on Feb. 12, 1809, Lincoln attended only one year of formal schooling as a child.
“My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families — second families, perhaps I should say,” wrote Lincoln during the 1860 presidential campaign.
“When I came of age I did not know much. Still, somehow, I could read, write, and cipher … but that was all,” he said in the 1860 writing, published on the White House’s website.
Above, a painting of President Lincoln delivering the “Gettysburg Address” on Nov. 19, 1863. (Library of Congress/Getty Images)
At the age of eight, Lincoln moved to Indiana with his family; his mother would die only two years later.
When Lincoln was 21, he moved to Illinois, says the website AbrahamLincoln.org.
Lincoln served as a captain in the Black Hawk War — then spent eight years in the Illinois legislature, notes his official biography on the White House website.
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Despite his lack of formal education, Lincoln became an established lawyer and received a law license in 1836. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1846 as a member of the Whig Party, notes AbrahamLincoln.org.
He made an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate in 1858, losing to Stephen A. Douglas.
The Lincoln Memorial is a popular spot on the National Mall and is dedicated to the memory of President Abraham Lincoln. (Joshua Comins/Fox News Digital)
“He lost the election, but in debating with Douglas he gained a national reputation that won him the Republican nomination for president in 1860,” said the White House website.
During Lincoln’s presidency, the Civil War erupted as 11 states seceded from the United States of America.
In 1863, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed enslaved people in the Confederate states.
Lincoln was reelected president in 1864 — but was killed just over a month after his inauguration for a second term.
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A Georgia high school teacher was arrested Wednesday after allegations of inappropriate contact between a teacher and a minor student surfaced at Lee County High School.
Danielle Weaver, 29, of Leesburg, is charged with child molestation and improper sexual contact by an employee, agent or foster parent, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI).
Lee County High School requested the Leesburg Police Department investigate the allegations on Feb. 3, and the GBI was called to assist the following day.
Danielle Weaver, 29, of Leesburg, Ga., is charged with child molestation and improper sexual contact by an employee. (Lee County Sheriff’s Office)
Investigators identified Weaver as the “subject,” and identified the victim as a student under 18 years old at Lee County High School, according to officials.
GBI agents continued the investigation along with the Leesburg Police Department, and arrest warrants were obtained for Weaver on Tuesday.
A Google Maps street view photo of Lee County High School in Leesburg, Ga. (Google Maps)
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Weaver turned herself in to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, and was later released on bond, according to a report from WALB News.
This investigation is active and ongoing, according to the GBI.
The incident allegedly happened at a high school in Georgia. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
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Once complete, the case file will be given to the Southwestern Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.
Leesburg is located in South Georgia, and is about an hour and a half north of Tallahassee, Florida.
Lee County High School’s communications team did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Federal court clears way for Ten Commandments to be displayed in Louisiana public school classrooms
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A federal appeals court cleared the way Friday for a Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms, lifting a lower court block and reigniting debate over religion in public education.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit voted 12-6 to lift a block first imposed in 2024, finding it was too early to determine the constitutionality of the law. Critics argue the requirement violates the separation of church and state, while supporters say the Ten Commandments are historical and foundational to U.S. law.
The court said in the majority opinion that it was unclear how schools would display the poster-sized materials, noting that the law allows additional content, like the Mayflower Compact or the Declaration of Independence, to appear alongside the Ten Commandments.
The majority wrote that there were not enough facts to “permit judicial judgment rather than speculation” when evaluating potential First Amendment concerns.
A federal appeals court on Friday lifted a lower court block on Louisiana’s Ten Commandments classroom law, bringing the measure closer to taking effect. (John Bazemore/AP)
In a concurring opinion, Circuit Judge James Ho, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, wrote that the law was constitutional and “consistent with our founding traditions.”
“It is fully consistent with the Constitution, and what’s more, it reinforces our Founders’ firm belief that the children of America should be educated about the religious foundations and traditions of our country,” Ho said, adding that the law “affirms our Nation’s highest and most noble traditions.”
Circuit Judge James L. Dennis, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, wrote in a dissenting opinion that displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms would amount to “exposing children to government‑endorsed religion in a setting of compulsory attendance.”
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A federal appeals court ruling on Feb. 20 allows Louisiana’s Ten Commandments classroom mandate to proceed for now. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images)
“That is precisely the kind of establishment the Framers anticipated and sought to prevent,” he added.
The ACLU of Louisiana and other groups representing the plaintiffs said they would pursue additional legal challenges to block the law.
“Today’s ruling is extremely disappointing and would unnecessarily force Louisiana’s public school families into a game of constitutional whack-a-mole in every school district,” the groups wrote in a joint-statement. “Longstanding judicial precedent makes clear that our clients need not submit to the very harms they are seeking to prevent before taking legal action to protect their rights.”
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Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry praised the appeals court decision on Feb. 20 allowing the Ten Commandments classroom law to move forward. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, file)
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry on Friday praised the court’s decision, writing on Facebook, “Common sense is making a comeback!”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill issued a statement following the ruling, saying schools “should follow the law.”
“Don’t kill or steal shouldn’t be controversial. My office has issued clear guidance to our public schools on how to comply with the law, and we have created multiple examples of posters demonstrating how it can be applied constitutionally,” she said.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said schools should follow the Ten Commandments display law after a federal appeals court lifted a lower court block on Feb. 20. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
Joseph Davis, an attorney representing Louisiana in the case, celebrated the court’s decision.
“If the ACLU had its way, every trace of religion would be scrubbed from the fabric of our public life,” he said in a statement. “That position is at odds with our nation’s traditions and our Constitution. We’re glad the Fifth Circuit has allowed Louisiana to display the Ten Commandments in its public school classrooms.”
Friday’s ruling came after the full court agreed to reconsider the case, months after a three-judge panel ruled the Louisiana law unconstitutional.
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A similar law in Arkansas faces a federal court challenge, while Texas implemented its own Ten Commandments classroom requirement last year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Guy Fieri once had ‘nothing else to sign’ on the beach but postcards; now, he’s built a food TV empire
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MIAMI BEACH – Twenty years ago, a contestant named Guy Fieri on the second season of what was then “The Next Food Network Star” showed up at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival with little more than spiked hair and ambition.
“He came to that festival that year and was walking around signing postcards because he had nothing else to sign,” recalled Lee Brian Schrager, founder of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival and its New York City counterpart.
Today, Fieri is one of the most recognizable faces in food on television. But, in 2006, he was just another up-and-comer working a crowd on the sand.
Speaking to “Fox & Friends” from Miami Beach, Florida, Friday morning, Fieri said he wasn’t chasing TV fame.
“I was doing what I wanted to do,” he told Steve Doocy while walking the beach. “I wanted to be a great dad. I wanted to be a great husband. I wanted to be a chef. I wanted to own my own restaurant. So, I had accomplished the things I wanted in life and never really saw the other side of it.”
South Beach Wine & Food Festival founder Lee Brian Schrager and celebrity chef Guy Fieri pose for a photograph back in 2009. (South Beach Wine & Food Festival)
Two decades later, Fieri still comes back.
“He’s been part of our festival every year since he won ‘Food Network Star,’” Schrager told Fox News Digital.
The knack for spotting and elevating talent is part of the festival’s legacy as it marks its 25th year in Miami Beach.
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Schrager recalled a similar instinct with Giada De Laurentiis. When her agent suggested she might be ready the following year, Schrager pushed back.
“I said, ‘I don’t want her next year. I want her this year so she’ll remember where she got her big start,’” Schrager said.
Giada De Laurentiis, pictured here in 2015, was another celebrity chef who got her start at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. (Manny Hernandez/Getty Images)
Yet the festival doesn’t claim to have created celebrity chefs.
“We don’t take responsibility for turning anyone into a superstar,” Schrager told Fox News Digital. “We do take some credit for giving them a platform and putting them in front of their fans.”
“Rock stars became chefs and chefs became rock stars.”
Over the past 20 years, the platform has grown alongside the broader transformation of food culture.
“Rock stars became chefs and chefs became rock stars,” Schrager said.
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What began as a one-day wine event on the campus of Florida International University evolved after Schrager was tasked with reimagining it. His directive was to “make it better — not bigger, but better.”
Schrager had a solution.
The South Beach Wine & Food Festival is where chefs like Fieri “became rock stars,” said Schrager, founder of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. (Jason Koerner/Getty Images)
“Move it to the beach, partner with the Food Network, get all their celebrities and make it more than just local,” Schrager said.
Today, the festival draws marquee names from the culinary world as well as from music and entertainment. Among those who showed up for Thursday night’s Burger Bash event were comedian Bert Kreischer and Cloud 23 hot sauce founder Brooklyn Peltz Beckham.
Chefs don’t get paid for appearances at the festival.
“If it’s somebody new, the first question out of their agent’s mouth is, ‘Oh, what’s the honorarium? What’s the fee?’ I’m like, ‘Zero,’” Schrager said.
Brooklyn Peltz Beckham is among the celebrities to attend the food festival for free. (Scott Roth/Invision/AP)
The model works, Schrager said, because the festival operates as a nonprofit benefiting FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management.
“Everyone’s doing it to support the cause, or they’re doing it because they want to do it,” Schrager said. “It’s not a bad place to be in the middle of winter.”
Schrager, left, appears along with Rachael Ray and Brooklyn Peltz Beckham onstage at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival’s Burger Bash. (Scott Roth/Invision/AP)
The festival has raised more than $50 million for student scholarships.
“To me, that’s why we do it,” Schrager said.
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Along the way, the festival has outlasted many imitators and weathered shifting food trends by staying nimble.
“We listened to the consumers,” Schrager said.
Fieri, left, and a shirtless Bert Kreischer share a moment onstage at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. (Jason Koerner/Getty Images)
“There was never any ego involved in this festival.”
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He added, “Our goal was never to be the biggest.”
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“It happens that we turned out to be the biggest, but being the best, or at least doing our best, has always been the most important to me.”
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