John WilkesBooth's three co-conspirators were [[Lewis Powell (conspirator)|Lewis Powell]] and [[David Herold]], who were assigned to kill [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] [[William H. Seward]], and [[George Atzerodt]] who was tasked to kill [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[Andrew Johnson]]. By simultaneously eliminating the top three people in the administration, Booth and his co-conspirators hoped to [[Decapitation strike|sever the continuity of the United States government.