What is it about actors...and presidents...and shootings...and THIS day?

There are three related incidents (related may be a stretch) that caught my eye today so let's stitch them together for you.

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America's Best Laid To Rest

On This Day In History, April 14th, 1865, stage actor John Wilkes Booth, shot  President Abraham Lincoln in the head at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. He died the next morning, never regaining consciousness.   Many historians regard Lincoln as America's best president ever.

In C-SPAN surveys going back to 2000, President Lincoln has finished as the top choice as the best president.

Surveys are distributed to historians, professors and other professional observers of the presidency who are drawn from databases of C-SPAN programming, research in the field and suggestions from our academic advisers. Each cycle, we reach out to past participants and add new names to the list to maintain a well-rounded list of invited participants. This year, 142 completed the survey, up from 91 in 2017.

The impact of Lincoln's loss to the nation was compounded by the fact that he was replaced in the oval office by Andrew Johnson who routinely ranks as the second-worst president ever!  C-SPAN says only James Buchanan was worse!

Assassination Attempt - As Seen On TV

157 years later (that's today) FOX News reports that John Hinckley, the man who tried to shoot and kill actor turned President, Ronald Reagan, will play a sold-out concert in Brooklyn, New York.   WHAT?  Shoot the Pres and rock the big Apple.  What a country!

Hinckley, 66, announced the show in a Twitter post writing that he will be performing at the New York City borough's Market Hotel on July 8. "Get your tickets while you can,"  Hinckley will be released from court-ordered restrictions he has lived under for years in June, a month before the scheduled concert. The attempted assassination of President Reagan took place in 1981 when Hinckley was 25 years old.  In recent years, Hinckley has focused on music and started his own band in January.

I wonder if he sent complimentary tickets to actress Jodie Foster who he said he was trying to impress when he shot Reagan. Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity by a jury in 1982 and spent the next 34 years in psychiatric care at a mental health facility in Washington, DC.  BUT...will he play FREE BIRD?

Most Popular Actor As President?

The final link between presidents, actors, and gunplay is speculative but interesting nonetheless.
Also today, President Donald Trump's former acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, told Politico he believes that actor and former wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is a person on what Mulvaney called a "shortlist" of people who could realistically potentially beat Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Imagine, President Rock, the actor - who has shot how many people in all his movies as an action star?  Johnson has repeatedly teased that running for president is something he might possibly do, and after a poll found 46 percent of Americans said they'd support a run by him.  However, here's a fact that just might be the Rock shooting himself in the foot...he endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

The Body Of Work

Here's a list of the Rock's movies as of November 2021 ranked from worst to best for your Presidential consideration.

CHECK IT OUT: The Best Movie Character Names of the 1980s

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