" The dying president had warned long before that lawlessness, murder, and mob rule would create fertile ground for a Caesar or a Napoleon, men of towering egos who would seek distinction by “pulling down” rather than “building up.” The dying president, who had worked much of his life to counter extremism, hate, and vindictiveness—who, that very afternoon, had counseled his colleagues against exercising arbitrary power over the vanquished southern states—was himself the victim of a racist extremist who would be remembered in infamy only for the man he killed. "

― Doris Kearns Goodwin , Leadership: In Turbulent Times