You Are There | The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln | B4TV Radio History Theater

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln – April 14th, 1865 – CBS and You are there!

On the night of April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln attended a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. By the next morning, the United States had lost its first assassinated president.

In this episode of You Are There, CBS Radio takes listeners inside one of the most shocking moments in American history: the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth. Presented in the series’ signature “live news from history” format, the episode treats the tragedy as breaking news from the past, with reporters, eyewitness-style drama, and urgent coverage from Ford’s Theatre.

The assassination came just days after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, as the Civil War was nearing its end and the country was beginning to face the enormous question of reconstruction. Instead, Lincoln’s death plunged the nation into mourning and turned Ford’s Theatre into one of the most solemn landmarks in American memory.

After Lincoln was shot, he was carried across Tenth Street to the Petersen boarding house, where he died at 7:22 a.m. on April 15, 1865.

This B4TV presentation features “Assassination of Abraham Lincoln,” one of the most important and frequently circulated episodes of You Are There. Archive listings show the episode appearing as an early entry in the series, with repeat versions also circulating under later broadcast dates, so this release is being programmed as B4TV Episode 003 rather than as a claim of original-series order.

For fans of old-time radio, American history, Civil War history, presidential history, CBS radio drama, historical reenactments, and Golden Age broadcasting, this episode captures a night when celebration turned to national grief — and history changed in a single shot.

Presented by B4TV — preserving the Golden Age of Radio for a new generation.

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