13 Facts About Otto Eisenschiml

Otto Eisenschiml was an Austrian-born chemist and industrial executive in the American oil industry, and a controversial author.

Otto Eisenschiml may be best known for his provocative 1937 book on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in which he proposed that a senior member of Lincoln's Cabinet orchestrated the plot to kill the president.

Otto Eisenschiml attended the University of Vienna and obtained advanced degrees in chemistry.

Otto Eisenschiml rose through the ranks to become president of the Scientific Oil Compounding Company.

For much of his life, Eisenschiml lived in Chicago, Illinois.

Otto Eisenschiml invented a window envelope made from one piece of paper.

Otto Eisenschiml was well published within the chemical and oil industries, authoring several articles in trade journals and magazines on various technical aspects of the business.

Otto Eisenschiml became a student of American history, with a particular fascination for the Abraham Lincoln assassination.

Otto Eisenschiml began researching the murder in 1928, but was not satisfied with the prevailing account that John Wilkes Booth was the mastermind of the plot.

Otto Eisenschiml used circumstantial evidence to build his case, including Stanton's hiring of a bodyguard named John Parker to protect the president.

Otto Eisenschiml speculated that Stanton had deliberately left one key bridge across the Anacostia River open, the same bridge Booth actually used to escape, and that he ordered Booth to be shot and killed by the Union Army.

Otto Eisenschiml's theories have become popularly known as the "Eisenschiml Thesis," but have generally been discredited by leading historians.

Otto Eisenschiml's book is referenced in the 2007 Disney film National Treasure: Book of Secrets, when it is mentioned by a precocious child during a scene at the White House Easter egg roll.