Everyone's Thinkin' Lincoln!

With the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth less than a year away, it seems as if everyone is "thinkin' Lincoln" these days. Candidates fall over themselves comparing themselves to Lincoln, (see my previous post), new books about Lincoln seem to appear every day, and Steven Spielberg has finally announced his biopic of Lincoln will begin filming in 2009.

This week's Newsweek magazine has a very informative article concerning many of the special events and projects under way to celebrate Old Abe. For example, the U.S. Mint will offer four different pennies, the reverse of each depicting a different residence of Lincoln. Ford's Theater will commission and stage a new play about Lincoln's life. A new exhibit is being put together by the Library of Congress. Up to 17 states will be staging re-enactments of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates. Philadelphia will be re-creating an 1864 fair that Lincoln attended. Esteemed Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer has not one, but three books coming out. The best site for learning about all the different events is at the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. The Commission was formed by Congress to organize and plan the celebrations across the country.

In short, it appears that the U.S. will be in the midst of Lincolnmania. Now is the perfect time for all of us to learn more about Abraham Lincoln. Not the myth, but the man himself. Pick up a book, attend a re-enactment, visit a Lincoln site. Learn how this one man, with next to no formal education, became the nation's greatest president, who resonates in our nation to this day.

Read More

Can Anyone Really Be Another Lincoln?

The so-called "silly season" of politics is fully under way in recent weeks. Candidates for U.S. president pretend to be like us, showing up to bowl a few frames, stopping off in a bar to down a shot or two of whiskey, and of course claiming to feel the pain of the current economic troubles. As if multi-millionaires could ever really know what it's like to be an ordinary person.

The silliest statements and posturing of all is how the political operatives for each party claim that their candidate is just like Abraham Lincoln, or that they are the "next" Abraham Lincoln. I've posted on this topic previously, but now it's really getting out of hand.

In an article from the Associated Press, Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan compared Senator John McCain to Lincoln, claiming that like Lincoln, McCain knows how to carry on the struggle of war. According to Duncan, McCain understands the importance of the struggle and will see it through. Of course with this comparison, Chairman Duncan shows he knows nothing about U.S. history. One cannot begin to compare the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to the American Civil War, in which the very survival of the nation was at stake. Continuing the struggle in Iraq with no defined goals and murky (at best) reasons for being there in the first place is not the same thing as continuing the struggle in the American Civil War.

Not to be outdone in the comparison to Lincoln department, former Democrat party presidential candidate George McGovern compared Barack Obama to Lincoln in a recent political appearance. The grounds for the comparison wasn't Lincoln and Obama's leadership on racial issues, or that both men served in the U.S. Congress. No, McGovern's reason was simply because Obama is from Illinois, just like Abe. Therefore, Obama is the next Lincoln. Of course, this comparison comes from a man who supported Hillary Clinton until Obama surged to the lead. Senator McGovern deserted her like a rat from a sinking ship. The good senator should read up on Lincoln and learn something about political beliefs and principles and stick to them instead of jumping on the bandwagon of the leader.

I can't find any articles comparing Hillary Clinton to Abraham Lincoln. I know she recently challenged Obama to "Lincoln-Douglas" style debates, a challenge which was regretfully rebuffed. And of course she was born in Illinois, so she must also be like Abe!

So can today's candidates really be the "next Lincoln" or is it just wishful thinking? Wouldn't it be wonderful if the winner could exhibit the same moral strength, political brilliance, and outstanding leadership of the original? Unfortunately, I don't think we need to hold our breath waiting for it to happen.

Read More

Interest In Lincoln Is Soaring

Here's proof that interest in our nation's 16th president is "soaring." While hunting around the Internet for photos of Abe, I found this image of a hot air balloon which promotes Illinois tourism, complete with a representation of you-know-who on it. I always assumed Lincoln "flew" above all of our other presidents, but now we know it to be so.

Read More

A Slow Week For Abe

It's been a busy life outside of the Abraham Lincoln Blog for me recently. With the coming of spring, the yard and garden need tending and sporting events need to be attended. My real job (as a computer geek) is warming up rapidly along with the weather as well. These duties combine to take me away from my first love: history, trivia, and fun facts about our nation's number one president. (That would be Lincoln in case you didn't know)

I want to assure my readers, all 2 of you (just kidding), that I'm not shutting down the blog. Believe me, if I could earn a living doing this, I would.

Read More

Abe Along The Roadside

Back in 1959, the state of Wyoming commissioned a memorial to Abraham Lincoln, featuring an intentionally oversized head on smaller shoulders. It was done to mark the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's birth. Placed along Interstate 80 in 1969, the placing of the monument marks the highest point along the old Lincoln Highway, the nation's first coast-to-coast road.

The head is an impressive 12 1/2 feet high and rests upon a 30 foot tall granite monolith. The monument is accessible to travellers along Interstate 80, westbound, between Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming.

I'm not sure why Abe has such an angry expression on his face (actually many statues of him do). But I suppose if any of us oversaw the bloodiest war in our nation's history, only to be murdered by some punk, we'd be really upset, too!

Read More

Recreating Lincoln's Columbus Ohio Funeral

On April 29, 2008, the city of Columbus, Ohio held a recreation of its funeral for Abraham Lincoln. An exact replica of Lincoln's coffin was placed in the Ohio Statehouse, just as the original was on the same date in 1865. Civil War re-enactors stood guard over the replica to make the scene authentic to the original.

According to the article in today's Columbus Dispatch newspaper, more than 50,000 people filed through the Statehouse rotunda on April 29, 1865 to pay their respects to the fallen nation's leader. This was in just 6 1/2 hours of viewing, so the turnout was roughly 8,000 viewers per hour. Impressive, to be sure.

Columbus was just one location of many other cities which held public funerals and viewing for Abraham Lincoln. Massive displays were held in New York, Buffalo, Albany, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Indianapolis, and of course, Springfield, Illinois. A second Ohio city, Cleveland, was the only one which thought to hold the viewing outdoors, thus permitting an amazing 100,000 people there to pay their respects and gratitude. All told, it is estimated that 1 million people braved the elements to see Lincoln's body, attend funeral processions in the various cities, or silently watch his funeral train roll through the countryside. The nation hasn't had such massive turnouts for a fallen leader since. The customs established at these various funerals for Lincoln have since been used in services for John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and others.

An excellent resource for learning more about the Lincoln assassination and the numerous funerals held for him is the classic book "Twenty Days" originally published in 1965 for the centennial of the assassination. The book, written by Dorothy Meserve Kunhardt and Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr., is a step-by-step account of the assassination, the killing of John Wilkes Booth, and fascinating photos of the funerals in the different cities. It's a must-have book for any Lincoln buff.

Another outstanding source of information about the Lincoln funeral train and it's stops along the way may be found at this webpage, part of the wonderful Abraham Lincoln Research Site. This particular page contains detailed route information of Lincoln's funeral train, the dates in each city the funerals were held, and so on. It also contains a copy of an original photo of the actual funeral procession held on April 29, 1865 in Columbus, Ohio.

Read More

John Wilkes Booth Descendants Think He Escaped

History tells us that John Wilkes Booth, the young actor who assassinated Abraham Lincoln, was cornered in a barn near Port Royal, Virginia, and was shot to death on April 26, 1865. Legends have persisted ever since that date that Booth escaped and lived to an old age.

According to an article originally published in the Philadelphia Inquirer and found on azcentral.com, two Booth descendants believe the legends about their infamous ancestor. Now, aided by Booth researchers and historians, the two sisters are close to obtaining DNA tests which just might prove (or not) the legends of Booth's survival to be factual.

Genetic samples purported to be those of Booth are preserved in both Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. and could be compared against those known for sure to be of his brother, the famous actor Edwin Booth. Genetic material from Edwin is preserved in New York, New York.

It should be noted that the overwhelming majority of Lincoln experts don't buy into the theory of Booth's escape, as there is at this point absolutely no proof of any kind to support such a claim. Indeed, Edward Steers Jr., the author of "Blood On The Moon," the definitive study of Lincoln's assassination, doesn't even include this theory of Booth's survival in his latest book, "Lincoln Legends, Myths, Hoaxes, and Confabulations Associated With Our Greatest President."

It will be interesting to find out the results if and when the DNA testing is conducted. Hopefully, it will prove once and for all that John Wilkes Booth was given the ultimate justice for his heinous crime.

Read More