First New $5 To Be Spent At Lincoln Cottage

According to this news release, the first newly redesigned $5 bill will be spent on March 13, 2008 at the recently re-open Lincoln Cottage. As my post of November 5, 2007 discussed, the sprawling 34 room mansion on the site of the former Soldier's Home in Washington, D.C. served as President Lincoln's getaway retreat and was the site of his work on the Emancipation Proclamation.

My post of December 13, 2007 discussed the redesigned $5 bill. Sorry, but it still looks like Monopoly money to me.

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Does Experience Lead To Presidential Greatness?

In every presidential election cycle, much is made about the "experience" that candidates bring (or do not bring) to the table in order to sway voters. This is especially true during our current election campaign. For the first time in many decades, neither a current U.S. president nor a current U.S. vice-president is running for election to the nation's highest office.

In our current cycle, Hillary Clinton touts her experience as a "doer" in Washington and claims that she had many influences in the Clinton White House. John McCain reminds voters that he is strong in foreign policy experience. And Barack Obama is almost daily compared to Abraham Lincoln because of Obama's same lack of experience in Washington which Lincoln lacked, the implication being that limited experience is good.

Just how much should experience count in the country's decision for president? When Abraham Lincoln ran for President of the United States, his total political experience was limited to a single term in the U.S. Congress, and a handful of terms in the state legislature in Illinois. (for a more detailed recounting of his political experience, click here). He ran for U.S. Senate and was defeated. He was involved in failed businesses (although their failures were not his fault). He was a successful lawyer, but there was nothing in his background to suggest to the nation's electorate that he would go on to become such a towering figure in American history.

Other men who served as U.S. President brought enormous political experience to the White House, but were considered to be ineffective at best during their term or terms in office. A classic example is John Quincy Adams. JQA was by all accounts brilliant. He served as Secretary of State, as foreign minister (ambassador) to Russia and to other countries in Europe. Yet from the beginning of his term in office (after being elected by the House of Representatives), his presidency was a failure. Congress ignored his initiatives, supporters of Andrew Jackson were furious that Adams was chosen by the House over their candidate, and government was more or less paralyzed for four years.

Today's issue of the Albany (New York) Times Union newspaper contains a well-written editorial which addresses this very topic. It starts off talking about a man who was poorly dressed, awkward in appearance, and who had a nearly total lack of political or leadership experience. The man was of course Lincoln. It also describes how John F. Kennedy brought almost no experience to the White House as well, but how his strong and determined leadership forced the Soviet Union to remove its Cuban Missiles. Kennedy also established the Peace Corps, a true example of the good which America can do. It also tells the story of Harry Truman, a former haberdasher, and selected for office by a corrupt political machine. He had no experience, yet was selected to be Vice-President and then ascended to the presidency when Franklin Roosevelt died. Truman showed a refreshing honesty and strength of leadership during his presidency. Today, many historians consider Truman to be one of the "near-great" presidents.

I agree with the conclusion of the editorial: experience (or lack thereof) does not mean everything when we select a president. As the editorial states: "...experience is in the final analysis no substitute for vision and character."

What do you think? Feel free to add your comments.

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Lincoln Assassination Police Log Surfaces

From Fox5 News in Washington, D.C. comes the exciting news that the official D.C. Police logs from Abraham Lincoln's assassination have come to light. A video report tells how the retired police chief of the D.C. police force has recently donated a log book to the D.C. Police museum which contains firsthand accounts of the events of the evening of April 14, 1865. Update: The book now apparently resides at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

In the video, officer Kenneth Stewart, the curator of the museum, shows the log book to the TV reporter, with the specific log entries from the night of the assassination and the aftermath. It begins by relating that "Lincoln, the president of the United States, was shot at the Ford's Theater on 10th Street." It then continues:

"The excitement was great throughout the precinct...but the people were orderly and quiet..the whole force were immediately put on duty by order of Superintendent Richards"

It then continues with a poignant and sad entry:

"The gloom that overshadowed the nation by the sad occurrence deeply affected the whole force and brought many heartfelt sympathies from the nation's loss"

The log book was recovered from the trash decades ago in a precinct station and eventually found its way to the retired chief who donated it to the police museum. That's a very noble gesture on his part, because he could have sold this book for hundreds or thousands of dollars to a private collector. Now, it's available for viewing and enjoyment by everyone.

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Harrison Ford In Spielberg's Lincoln Film?

Rumors circulating through cyberspace are saying these days that Harrison Ford is in talks with Steven Spielberg to star in Spielberg's long-awaited biopic of Abraham Lincoln. According to the rumors, Ford would be cast as Lincoln's second vice-president (and successor) Andrew Johnson. Liam Neeson is to star as Lincoln.

I've included this funny composite photo of Ford and Lincoln from the "/Film" blog to depict what Ford might look like as Lincoln. Just for fun. Blogs don't always have to be serious you know.

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The Plot To Steal Abraham Lincoln's Body

Even in death, Abraham Lincoln could find no safe haven from the plots which plagued him during his life. Body stealing was a fairly common occurrence in earlier times, with the stolen bodies either used for ransom money from the deceased's family or even being sold to unscrupulous medical schools. But the plot to steal Lincoln was organized by counterfeiters, of all things.

Seems as if this gang of counterfeiters had a compatriot in prison, one Ben Boyd, who was a master counterfeiter. So "Big Jim" Kenally, the leader of the gang, cooked up the plot to steal Lincoln's body and demand both $200,000 and the release of Mr. Boyd.

Thanks to some fine detective work by the fairly new Secret Service, the plotters were thwarted in the act. (It should be remembered that even today, the primary purpose of the Secret Service is to deter counterfeiters from polluting the U.S. money supply with bogus money. )

The thieves actually escaped the law for a time, but were finally captured on November 16, 1876. Unfortunately, there were no state laws against grave robbing at that time in Illinois, so the robbers were charged only with trying to steal the coffin itself. They were sentenced to one year in prison.

The photo I've included is a historical marker in Illinois on the spot of the gang's headquarters.

I had known about this plot thanks to other sources I'd read, primarily Candace Fleming's fine article in the Lincoln 140th Assassination Anniversary issue of American History magazine published in 2005. In that article, Fleming detailed not only this plot but the other struggles on how to properly bury Lincoln in his (finally) final resting place in 1901. It's a fascinating story.

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Does Rudy Giuliani Think He's Lincoln?

Seems as if Rudy Giuliani can't quit talking about Doris Kearns Goodwin's book "Team Of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln." Just weeks after bringing the book up in a town hall meeting, he once more discussed the book without prompting at another one in New Hampshire.

Is Rudy implying that he's just like Abraham Lincoln? Is he infatuated with the book? Does he truly think he's going to win his party's nomination for president?

Giuliani first and foremost is famous of course because he became "America's Mayor" after the terrorism attacks of 9/11. Ever since, he's draped himself in both the flag and the tragedies from that day and has positioned himself for a run at the White House. Perhaps we as a nation who so desperately needs a good leader should take a closer look at his leadership abilities.

The most telling story about his leadership of New York City in the days and weeks after 9/11 stems from the fact that the city police and the city firefighters, New York's "finest" do not even support him. After more than 300 firefighters were killed in New York on 9/11, Giuliani on November 2, 2001 ordered the number of firefighters who were assisting in the search for their fallen comrades reduced from 200 to 25, and also ordered cleanup procedures which most likely disturbed or even obliterated many human remains.

Giuliani was also appointed to the Iraq Study Group, the commission set up by Congress to investigate the war effort and policy in Iraq. Giuliani missed nearly all the meetings and finally was pressured to resign by the chairman, James Baker. It turns out that while the Group was meeting, Giuliani was out earning millions in speeches.

Rudy Giuliani seems to want to liken himself to Lincoln. Thus far, his leadership absolutely pales in comparison to Abe's. Does he suffer from delusions of grandeur?

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Spinning Bush Into Lincoln

Today's Washington Post contains an op-ed piece from Michael Gerson which claims that Democrats are in denial about Iraq. Mr. Gerson was the chief speech writer for George W. Bush until 2006, at which time he joined the editorial board of the Post.

As many other Bush supporters are doing these days, Mr. Gerson tries to desperately spin President Bush into near Lincolnesque proportions by claiming that Bush has found his "General Grant" in General Petraeus. He cites figures (which are accurate) which imply on the surface that Iraq is becoming safer for U.S. troops, other coalition forces, and Iraqi civilians.

Of course, Mr. Gerson conveniently leaves out the fact that 2007 was the deadliest year yet in Iraq for U.S. forces.

This isn't the only article which claims Bush has found his General Grant. Only time will tell if he has, but trying to imply that Bush is just like Lincoln is comical in the least. Big difference is that Lincoln had a war thrust upon him while George W. Bush chose to launch one.

Of course, that won't stop the Bushies from trying to equate their hero to Lincoln.

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