Radio Interview About Lincoln

Earlier today I was contacted by a radio program host from Atlantic City, New Jersey, asking if I'd be interested in being a guest on his show to discuss Abraham Lincoln. After thinking it over, I've agreed to be on his show on Saturday November 13, 2010 at approximately 2:05 p.m. for most of an hour.

The host, Mr. Jesse Kurtz, hosts a weekly show on station WIBG 1020-AM in Atlantic City, where he discusses a wide range of topics. The focus of his show this week will be Abraham Lincoln in the first hour, and President Andrew Jackson in the second hour. He would like to talk about how the GOP of the 1860's compares with the party as it exists today. He's also planning on examining the Democratic Party in the same manner.

Although I've spoken in person about Abraham Lincoln to various groups, this will be my first time on radio. I'm both excited and a bit nervous. It will be a discussion between Mr. Kurtz and me, with unfortunately no call-in segment.

If any readers of this blog would like to listen to the show, here is a link for listening via the Internet. http://www.wibg.com/listen5.html

Once again, the date is this Saturday November 13, 2010. It's going to get underway at around 2:05 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. If you'd like to hear my voice and maybe learn a little bit about why I write about Abraham Lincoln, it would be great to have you "drop by."

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Book Review: "A Renegade History Of The United States"

In a first for The Abraham Lincoln Blog, this post departs from the usual subject matter in order to review a new, controversial book about general American history. While Abraham Lincoln obviously holds a particular fascination for me, I am also deeply interested in nearly all eras which make up the American story.

I was recently contacted by a publicist from Free Press (a division of publisher Simon & Schuster, Inc.) to gauge my interest in reviewing A Renegade History Of The United States authored by Thaddeus Russell. The title alone intrigued me and when I received the press release, I knew I had to read this book.

Russell teaches American history at Occidental College (Los Angeles, CA) and has previously taught at Columbia University and Barnard College. He was raised in Berkeley, California. After graduating from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, he achieved his PhD in History from Columbia.

According to Russell, "college students are normally taught a history that is the story of struggles between capitalists and workers, whites and blacks, men and women." Text books and traditional professors teach that our "freedoms" were achieved by the Founding Fathers, handed down by the U.S. Constitution, further fought for in the Civil War, and finally guaranteed by WWII and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's.

A Renegade History turns this traditional story on its ear. In this book, Russell claims that most of our true freedoms come from the "renegades," the people who lived on the fringes of American society. He states that slaves, immigrants, gangsters, prostitutes, pirates, drunks and "flamboyant gays" (or "drag queens") challenged the conventions of their day with the way they lived. They were the ones, claims this compelling book, that implemented real change in America and created the country that we know today. If it weren’t for them, we’d have no jazz, legal alcohol, weekends, birth control, Hollywood, and civil rights. In short, the struggle for freedom really occurs between these "renegades" and those who try to control society through laws, unwritten rules, social norms, and "polite behavior."

I wrote earlier that this book is controversial. For example, Russell claims in this book that white Americans envied enslaved blacks. He presents statistics which show that white farmers worked longer and harder hours than slaves. Whereas white Americans wore simple "homespun" clothing which reflected "sensibility," it was the slaves who wore bright colors. White America was told through societal pressures that dancing was evil and even a mortal sin, while slaves performed their traditional dances, while singing joyously. In Russell's view, this "freedom" that slaves had was the main reason why minstrel shows were immensely popular during the days of slavery. The minstrel shows allowed whites to experience, even briefly, the "freedom" that slaves had to "let go." And yes, Lincoln supposedly enjoyed the shows at times, too.

According to Russell, many of our sexual freedoms, including birth control, come directly from prostitutes from the earliest days of America. I won't delve into most of the facts concerning this topic he presents in that chapter of the book since this is a site used by many students. But a family-friendly example I will use is the fact that more than 100 years ago, only prostitutes wore red dresses. Now, even First Ladies such as Nancy Reagan and Michelle Obama were that color as a fashion statement.

Still another section of A Renegade History which is controversial points how out closely related the New Deal era under the (Franklin) Roosevelt administrations was to the Nazi and fascist regimes in Europe. He points out that even posters urging Americans to work for the collective good of society were very similar to those used in Nazi Germany. Russell writes that its absurd to fail to recognize the similarities between America and socialist/fascist Europe in the 1930's, but is also careful to point out that it's equally ridiculous to state that they were identical. After all, the United States did not round up millions of people in death camps in order to exterminate them. Of course, the U.S. did round up thousands of Japanese-Americans for fear that they supported Japan, and put them into "relocation camps."

Closer to our own era, Russell has yet another contentious point of view about the Civil Rights movement in the 1960's. In his view, it wasn't the non-violent approach of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. which achieved most of the rights eventually granted to African-Americans. Russell uses ample evidence to show that it was the more violent actions, such as riots, which achieved the freedoms.

Russell is quick to point out that he is not advocating a "renegade revolution." In the foreword to the book, he writes "Were the heroes of this book to take control of society, it would be a living hell. No one would be safe on the streets, chaos would reign, and garbage would never be collected. The social guardians are enemies of freedom, but there is no claim here that they are morally wrong."

Not only is A Renegade History controversial, Thaddeus Russell himself is as well. In a recent article on the Huffington Post internet site, Russell tells the story of why he was fired by Barnard College, a sister institution of Columbia University. Apparently, his very ideas challenged the "status quo" of the history department, and he was let go. His students call him "Bad Thad" due to his demeanor, use of language, and indeed, his "radical" approach to American history.

I loved this book. It is absorbing, well written, and thought-provoking. Above all, it is never boring, as far too many books about American history can be. The reader may not agree completely with some of Russell's points, but he presents them in a manner which forces the reader to rethink all he or she has learned about American history. That is the hallmark of an excellent, intelligent book. Very highly recommended.

"Bad Thad"? The history field needs more like him. And the history book genre desperately needs more works ike A Renegade History Of The United States.

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Presidential Election of 1860 150th Anniversary

It was 150 years ago today that Abraham Lincoln was elected as the 16th President Of The United States on November 6, 1860. The Presidential election of 1860 was contentious to be sure, but it remains the most momentous vote in our nation's history, because it began the chain of events which led to the U.S. Civil War.

The major issue facing Americans as they voted that day in 1860 was, of course, slavery. For decades the slavery debate had been simmering in the country, but it had boiled over in the preceding few years. In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its infamous Dred Scott decision, in which the court ruled that Congress had no right to interfere with slavery anywhere in the states or U.S. territories, indeed that slaves themselves were technically not persons as recognized by the law. Then in 1859, John Brown's raid on the Federal Arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) where he hoped to cause a slave insurrection, further fanned the flames of the slavery argument roiling the United States.

As the election of 1860 approached, the major political parties held their conventions. The Democrats met in Charleston, S.C. on April 23 and almost immediately split into two parties, the Northern and Southern Democratic parties. The issue even within the party was slavery. The Northern Democratic delegates wanted the notion of "Popular Sovereignty" in which people in a U.S. territory (such as Kansas and Nebraska) would hold a vote to determine if slavery would be permitted or not. The very idea of the people deciding was anathema to Democratic delegates from the Southern states, and those delegates walked out of the convention. They wanted the Federal government to protect slavery where it already existed and to guarantee the right for its spread into the territories, no matter if the majority of the people wanted it or not.

With the collapse of the Democratic convention in Charleston, the Northern delegates met again in June at Baltimore, Maryland. There they nominated U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, who had been Lincoln's chief political rival for many years. Lincoln and Douglas had of course held a series of debates (7 in all) across Illinois two years earlier in 1858 as they debated the slavery issue during the U.S. Senate campaign. Douglas went on to win election to the Senate, but the debates thrust Lincoln into the national spotlight. The photo below is of Senator Douglas. Nicknamed the "Little Giant" (he was just 5'4" tall), he was a masterful politician and an early suitor of Mary Todd Lincoln.
The Southern Democratic delegates met at the same time also in Baltimore and nominated as their candidate John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, who had been James Buchanan's vice-president. Breckinridge was the youngest-ever U.S. vice-president, serving at just age 36. He strongly supported the demands of the Southern Democrats for the protection of slavery throughout the U.S. territories. The photo below shows Breckinridge.

Another political party appeared on the scene in 1860. Calling itself the Constitutional Union Party, it's sole goal was to preserve the Union. Baltimore was a popular convention city in late spring 1860, and the delegates from this party met there as well. The Constitutional Unionists did their best to appeal to both sides of the political debate. It nominated a former Speak of The House, John Bell of Tennessee. It's only platform point was to adhere to the Constitution. Below is a photo of John Bell.

The Republican Party met in Chicago in May 1860, in a huge structure called "The Wigwam." Lincoln was not the front-runner or favorite to win the nomination. That designation fell on William H. Seward of New York, a former Senator and Governor of that state. Lincoln's handlers or "men" were brilliant behind the scenes and out-manoeuvred Seward's. For example, Lincoln's supporters had counterfeit admission tickets printed for entry into the Wigwam and packed the building with "Lincoln men" when Seward's were out attending other functions. By the time the Seward supporters returned to the building, they found their seats already occupied. The first ballot of the convention had Seward in the lead, but without enough to reach a majority. Finally with much effort and a lot of "horse trading" Lincoln's supporters enabled him to clinch the nomination on the third ballot. The photo at the beginning of this article shows Lincoln as he appeared in summer 1860, just after the nomination.

According to most historians, the election of 1860 ended up becoming almost two contests: Lincoln vs. Douglas in the Northern states, and Breckinridge vs. Bell in the Southern states. In fact, Abraham Lincoln's name was not even placed on ballots in nine states in the South.

Douglas broke with tradition and actively campaigned around the country (until 1860, candidates for President did not campaign on their own behalf), wearing himself out so much that he would die on June 3, 1861. He toured the Northern states to be sure, but he also traveled throughout the South. There he asked the Southerners to accept any outcome of the election, even if Lincoln would be elected. Of course, his pleas went unheeded as a state of extreme agitation existed in the South, increased by harsh attacks by the Southern newspapers on Lincoln, even months before the election.

The results of the 1860 presidential election revealed that for the first time in U.S. history, the country had divided along sectional lines. Lincoln won the Northern states while Breckinridge won most of the Southern states. Bell carried Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Poor Stephen Douglas won just the state of Missouri and 3 electoral votes in New Jersey. It comes as a surprise sometimes to people when they first learn that Lincoln won just 39.9% of the popular vote in the 1860 election. His three opponents combined to earn approximately 1 million more votes than he did!

Of course, as we remember from the 2000 presidential election, a president doesn't win based on the popular vote. In the 1860 election, Lincoln was the clear winner in the Electoral College, outdistancing those electoral votes earned by his three opponents combined. Below is an excellent image which shows the election map of 1860. Lincoln states are in blue; Breckinridge states are green; the states Bell won are yellow; and the states Douglas won are in aqua.

It's said that when Abraham Lincoln discovered that he had been elected the 16th President Of The United States on November 6, 1860, his face suddenly showed a heavy burden and concern, almost as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He walked slowly back to his home, gently awakened his wife Mary, and simply said "Mother, we are elected."

Within weeks of Lincoln's election, the firebrands in the South began agitating for secession from the Union. Lincoln himself was nearly silent, not giving any speeches to try to calm the tempers which were running rampant throughout the country. Instead he preferred working behind the scenes in numerous letters to friends and supporters throughout the country.

Unfortunately, Lincoln's election 150 years ago today became the catalyst for the greatest war ever fought by the United States of America. In a sense, today also marks the sesquicentennial of the beginnings of the Civil War era.

Over the next few months, indeed, four and one-half years, won't you follow along with The Abraham Lincoln Blog as we remember the important events and anniversaries of Mr. Lincoln and the Civil War? There are countless fascinating facts and stories to tell. I would be honored if you joined me for the journey.

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Celebrating Three Years Of The Abraham Lincoln Blog

Today is the third anniversary of The Abraham Lincoln Blog. I began writing about Lincoln on October 31, 2007 not knowing if anyone would ever find this site. Additionally, I had no idea if people would actually enjoy the blog or find it useful should they even stumble upon it. Above all I wanted people to take it seriously as an important source of information about the 16th President of The United States.

Sure enough, people found the blog. Sometime this week, the site will achieve it's 200,000th page view or "hit," which is amazing to me. I had no idea it would receive that much attention. I am grateful for that single measure of success. Since it's inception three years ago the blog has received an average of just over 180 views per day. The average has been nearly 200 hits per day over the past 18 months, so more people are finding it.

Through this blog I've made some wonderful friends, meeting people who share my fascination with Lincoln or my love of American history in general. That's the most thrilling part of this effort I've put in, meeting some great people.

It still remains to be seen just how seriously the blog is taken by the community of Lincoln fans. I'd like to hear from more readers. And I would love to be asked to speak in public about Lincoln. Not because of money or attention, but because I have a passion for Lincoln's story and would love to share it with more people.

Thank you for dropping by, no matter if you're a long-term reader of The Abraham Lincoln Blog, or if you're here for the first time. It's because of you that I keep this blog going.

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Library Of Congress "Gateway To Knowledge" Traveling Exhibit

The Library of Congress (LOC) in Washington, D.C. has recently taken to the road across the United States with a special rolling exhibit called "Gateway To Knowledge." Via this exhibition, the LOC has been bringing facsimiles of many of its top treasures and information about the millions of resources in its unparalleled collections to the heartland of America. This exhibit travels inside a specially equipped 18-wheel truck as it visits small towns.

Founded in 1800, the LOC is the nation's oldest cultural institution (yes, older than the Smithsonian). It houses rare books and maps, even rarer documents pertaining to American and world history, the earliest motion pictures, and priceless photographs.

The LOC also holds incredible items associated with Abraham Lincoln. It holds the original Bible used by Lincoln during his first inaugural on March 4, 1861 (and later used by President Obama). It also contains in its collection the contents of Lincoln's pockets the night of his assassination on April 14, 1865. The hoods that the Lincoln conspirators wore while in prison and on trial are also in the LOC collection. Of course, the Library of Congress has been staging the truly magnificent "With Malice Toward None" Lincoln Bicentennial exhibition, currently entering its final week in Atlanta, Georgia.

The "Gateway to Knowledge" exhibit tells the story of the LOC and features high quality facsimile reproductions of some of its unique treasures. It relates how former president Thomas Jefferson "rescued" the Library when it was burned in the War of 1812 by the British, losing it's valuable collection of books. Jefferson sold his own extensive collection to the LOC, thus permitting it to once more serve as a repository for information for everyone.

Visitors to this exhibit can see reproductions of a 1455 Gutenberg Bible; a 1507 map which is the first known to contain the word "America"; the rough draft of the Declaration Of Independence; videos of the earliest movies; and copies of the original artwork for the first Spider-Man comic book. The originals to these items are held by the LOC in its collection.

The exhibit pulled into Oberlin, Ohio a few weeks ago for a two day visit on the grounds of the liberal arts school Oberlin College. It was there where I went to see it for myself.

Here are some photos from my visit:

I wrote above that the "Gateway To Knowledge" exhibit travels on an 18-wheel truck. Once the truck is parked, the sides of the trailer expand to more than twice it's original width, thus permitting a much larger space for the displays. Quite remarkable. Below is a photo which shows the trailer in its expanded state.

This LOC exhibit is driven around the country by two young docents who are quite knowledgeable about the Library and the exhibit. The husband and wife team of Josh and Abigail Van Gelder are on the road approximately 300 days annually as they tour our nation bringing special exhibits to the masses. I've been fortunate enough to meet them via blogging and am now honored to have them as my friends.

Abigail writes a guest blog for the Library as she and Josh travel through the heart of America. Here's a link to her article about the visit to Oberlin, Ohio. She also blogs about their lives on the road on another blog which you can find here.

"Gateway To Knowledge" is currently in Iowa and will next head to Minnesota. The schedule is maintained on the LOC website. Over the next year, it will make approximately 60 stops in the mid-west and southern U.S.

It's a fascinating exhibit. If it comes to a town near you, drop by for a visit. Admission is free. And if you do, please tell Abigail and Josh that I said hello!

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Abraham Lincoln Portrait Series

Most works of art depicting Abraham Lincoln are realistic, whether the medium is paint, ink, or sculpture.  This was of course especially true with works done during his lifetime or in the immediate years after his death.  Now one can see the occasional abstract piece, the most famous of which is Salvador Dali's painting which only at a distance of 20 meters becomes a portrait of Lincoln.

I was contacted yesterday by a current "abstract" artist named Lola Dupre' who hails from Glasgow, Scotland, asking me if I would consider featuring her series of Lincoln original portraits here on the blog.  After a look at her work and her description of the pieces, I have decided I will do so.  Disclaimer: I am not being compensated in any way for featuring her works. 

Ms. Dupre' works mainly with paper and scissors, according to her website.  She takes images of the famous, including Lincoln, then distorts them in unique and unusual ways.  As she told me in her email, she enjoys working with images of the famous, who are already known to us and who have achieved some measure of fame.

Before you see her images below, please know that she in no way intends disrespect to Abraham Lincoln.  In fact, I made sure of that before I consented to feature her works in this forum.  She told me that the "abstractions in the features are in themselves meaningless. It is when associated with the emotional in the viewer, that interesting interpretations may be made."  After all, isn't that what "art" is all about?  Some people love works by Picasso, while others adore Gauguin.  Art does affect our emotions and means different things to different people.  Here is the first work of Lincoln from Ms. Dupre':

I admit that when I first saw the above image, I didn't much like it.  But when I re-read her descriptions of her art, and especially how the abstractions can mean different things to different people, I began to understand.  For example, this is a distortion of the famous portrait of Lincoln taken November 8, 1863.  That image is my personal favorite.  It shows his determination, his resolve, and strength.  It also is one of the first portraits which shows how the war was wearing him down. 

Artist Dupre's abstraction (and the others which follow below) speak to me about the numerous "directions" in which Lincoln was being pulled while president.  Abolitionists were angry that slavery had yet to be ended.  He had political rivals within his own party, and of course in his own cabinet.  The war weighed heavily on him.  His wife was most likely bi-polar.  He had lost two children by the time this portrait was taken.  He had yet to find a general who would consistently fight the enemy and fight it well.  Lincoln had so many issues affecting him, that he at times surely felt how these portraits by Ms. Dupre' depict him.

This final portrait in Ms. Dupre's series of five on Lincoln is my favorite one.  To me it appears that poor Mr. Lincoln's head has been placed in a vise.  He must have felt like it at times, if not all the time.

Unfortunately, none of these originals by Lola Dupre' are available as they have each been sold.  Perhaps I and the readers of The Abraham Lincoln Blog can encourage her to create more.  Please check her website for other unique and interesting pieces.  Please do NOT grab her images from the website without her express permission.  I had her permission to share these images in this post.  Respect her work and copyright.  And please do NOT grab these images from this blog, either. 

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Book Review: The First Assassin

One of the things I most enjoy in writing about Abraham Lincoln is the opportunity to inform my readers of new or noteworthy books about him. While most of the books I write about in this forum are nonfiction, I just finished a novel about an assassin stalking President Lincoln in 1861. It's one of the best thrillers I've read in recent years. The following paragraphs do not contain any spoilers as they are taken from the synopsis on the book's back cover.

The First Assassin opens just weeks before Abraham Lincoln is to be sworn in as the nation's 16th president. The southern states have of course begun to secede from the Union, with South Carolina especially a hotbed of anti-Lincoln sentiments. A plantation owner, Mr. Langston Bennett, outraged at Lincoln's election and his strong anti-slavery position, hires an assassin to kill Lincoln before slavery is ended.

Meanwhile in Washington City (as the nation's capital was called then), Colonel Charles Rook is determined to protect the president at all costs. He receives no support from the head of the U.S. Army, General Winfield Scott (of course a real person), in his mission to protect the president-elect. Nonetheless, Rook defies orders and organizes his own small team of spies consisting of U.S. Army soldiers to track various death threats to Mr. Lincoln. As certain murders happen in the city, it gradually dawns on Rook that he is up against a cold-blooded killer who will let nothing and no one get in his way in his attempt to kill Lincoln.

Along the way, the reader is introduced to Mrs. Violet Grenier, a resident of Washington City, who harbors strong pro-Southern sympathies. She uses her feminine wiles and standing as a dame of society to spy on Lincoln and help in the conspiracy against him.

The key to saving the president is a runaway slave named Portia who holds vital information about the assassin's identity. It remains to be seen if she can provide it to the authorities in time.

As I wrote earlier, this book is historical fiction, a crime thriller. It's serious, as opposed to the recent "mash up" novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. While this account in Assassin is fictional, it is based on real-life death threats Lincoln faced upon his election to the presidency. Lincoln continued facing threats throughout his presidency, of course falling to the final conspiracy.

I found The First Assassin to be very enjoyable. It is well-written with excellent character development. The female spy, Violet, is based on real-life women who spied for the Confederacy, who were not beneath using their "charms" (including sex) to obtain information they sought. It's easy to understand the frustrations and tension Colonel Rook feels as the killer draws closer to Lincoln. When the assassin's movements are followed by the reader, a chill occasionally rises as his cold-blooded murders take place. All quite gripping.

Some of the book is a tad predictable, especially a certain disguise the potential assassin uses. But that is the only quibble I have. I read the book (446 pgs) in just a few days, because I couldn't wait to see how it ends.

Lincoln himself does appear briefly in the novel, as does his private secretary, John Hay. Lincoln's actions of not wanting a lot of security are factual, as are some of the words he speaks.

The First Assassin is authored by John J. Miller, a frequent writer for Wall Street Journal, the National Review, and other publications. He has written books of nonfiction, but Assassin is his debut novel. The book was published just last week by AmazonEncore (yes, that Amazon as in the giant online seller). According to its site, AmazonEncore "identifies exceptional yet overlooked books and works with the authors to introduce or re-introduce their books to readers." Mr. Miller originally self-published The First Assassin and it was readers of that edition who brought attention to AmazonEncore about the novel. The book may be ordered here.

I agree with those early readers and AmazonEncore. This is indeed an exceptional debut novel.


My rating:







5.0 out of 5.0 "Rebel Rose" Greenhow, a real-life female spy for the Confederacy.

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