Lincoln site

The official launch of the National Park Service's Lincoln Memorial Interactive site in honor of the 146th Anniversary of the Gettysburg Address is now up. Whether you love visiting the Memorial in person or are hoping to get there soon, this stunning site will bring you even closer to this beloved landmark.

To see the site, visit http://www.nps.gov/featurecontent/ncr/linc/interactive/deploy/index.htm#/

Finished, a key book review!!!!

For the 200th Anniv. of Lincoln's birth I chose to purchase and read A. Lincoln: A Biography by Ronald C. White Jr. In my youth I read the late David Herbert Donald's Lincoln and actually felt that it was the one and only true biography of our 16th President. I will pay David Donald what he deserves, his book will always be the best biography of Lincoln but White's book is a close second. It is a wonderful examination about the life of Lincoln and it has a bit of something for both beginners and Lincoln experts.

White liberally shares photographs, maps, illustrations, documents, even signatures of key characters. Unlike many history/biography books, these are not confined to a few glossy pages in the middle of the book, but appear frequently throughout the text. I like this because it allows the reader to see what he is talking about without having to flip to a specific section of the book reserved for photos. The bibliography is amazing and this book could serve people looking to research the life and time of Lincoln. Ronald White Jr.'s research is as good as anyone could ask for.

Like most Lincoln biographies the first half of the book deals with his early life, his times as a leglislator, lawyer and family man. The second half deals with his presidency with White providing you just enough details in both sections (700+ pages) without bogging the reader down with too many details. He finds time to analyze Lincoln's inagural addresses, the Gettysburg Address and other key speeches. He balances Lincolns home life with Mary and his sons versus his political and law career. White even talks about Lincoln's highs and lows as our nation's Commander in Chief. In short, White's A. Lincoln provides great detail without sacrificing the larger picture.

My only disappointment, though it may have been not included because of the books length was the assassination plot by John Wilkes booth and Lincoln's funeral. One can't fault White though because the book itself might have went over 1,000 pages if it was included.

Another good thing about White's biography is it stays true to the facts that we know about Lincoln. So many books recently have focused on his depression, his possibly homosexuality and other generatic things that avoid painting Lincoln as a hero. Lets face it, Abraham Lincoln is a hero and this book lets everybody know that Abraham Lincoln is one of the greatest men to ever call himself an American. White himself sets it up on the books first page when he states "He signed his name `A. Lincoln.' A visitor to Abraham Lincoln's Springfield, Illinois, home at Eighth and Jackson would find `A. Lincoln' in silvered Roman characters affixed to an octagonal blue plate on the front door. All throughout his life, people sought to complete the A - to define Lincoln, to label or libel him. Immediately after his death and continuing to the present, Americans have tried to explain the nation's most revered president. A. Lincoln continues to fascinate us because he eludes simple definitions and final judgments." White is pointing out to his readers that the search for Lincoln goes on and that his book is one step in an important process that paints a clearer picture of Abraham Lincoln.

David Herbert Donald dies.....we will miss you man

I copied this from a news webpage, the link that cites my source follows

BOSTON, May 19 (UPI) -- David Herbert Donald, a Harvard professor emeritus who won two Pulitzer Prizes for biography, has died in Boston at 88.

Donald died Sunday, the Boston Globe reported.

A native of Mississippi and graduate of Millsaps College in Jackson, Donald came north to Illinois for graduate school. He specialized in the history of the United States during the Civil War and the period immediately before and after and in the life of Abraham Lincoln.

Donald's first book was on Lincoln's law partner and at his death he was working on a study of John Quincy Adams' years as an abolitionist congressman.

In 1960, Donald won a Pulitzer for "Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War." His second book, 27 years later, was for "Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe," a biography of the North Carolina novelist.

Donald received many other honors for his work. In 2005, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Ill., awarded him the first David Herbert Donald Prize for excellence in Lincoln studies.

Appropriately, Donald lived on Lincoln Road in Lincoln, Mass., and is to be buried in Lincoln Cemetery. He told interviewers he picked the town for its excellent school system, not its name.


© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This article was taken from http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/05/19/David-Donald-historian-of-Lincoln-dies/UPI-11651242763148/

David Herbert Donald (1920-2009) wrote or edited almost twenty books, most of them about the Civil War Era. His book "Lincoln" (1995) was on the New York Times bestseller list for fourteen weeks and won numerous awards. He was twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize in biography, for "Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War" (1960) and "Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe" (1987). His other books are "Lincoln's Herndon: A Biography" (1948), "Divided We Fought: A Pictorial History of the War, 1861-1865" (ed., 1952), "Inside Lincoln's Cabinet: The Civil War Diaries of Salmon P. Chase" (ed., 1954), "Lincoln Reconsidered: Essays on the Civil War Era" (1956), "Why the North Won the Civil War: Six Authoratative Views on the Economic, Military, Diplomatic, Social, and Political Reasons Behind the Confederacy's Defeat" (ed., 1960), "The Civil War and Reconstruction" (with J.G. Randall, 1961), "Diary of Charles Francis Adams" (edited with his wife, Aida Donald, 1964), "The Politics of Reconstruction, 1863-1867" (1965), "Charles Sumner and the Rights of Man" (1970), "Gone for a Soldier: The Civil War Memoirs of Private Alfred Bellard" (ed., 1975), "The Great Republic: A History of the American People" (with co-authors, 1977), "Liberty and Union: The Crisis of Popular Government, 1830-1890" (1978), "Charles Sumner" (1996), and "Lincoln at Home: Two Glimpses of Abraham Lincoln's Family Life" (1999). Mr. Donald was the principal historical adviser and commentator for the 1992 documentary series "Lincoln" and for the 2000 television series "A House Divided: Abraham and Mary Lincoln."

Did Lincoln have Cancer

Dr. John Soto may get a chance to prove his theory that Lincoln would have possibly died of cancer during his second term if he wasn't assassinated. Sotos has long theorized that Lincoln had MENIIB, a fatal cancer gene. A Civil War museum in Philidelphia possesses a strip of a pillowcase stained with Lincoln's blood. The pillow is from the Peterson House, where Lincoln lay suffering from the wounds of the assassination. The museum is called the Grand Army of the Republic Museum and Library.

The museum's board of directors voted unanimously to possibly answer the question of Lincoln's mortality once and for all. Museum President Eric Schmincke says "we do not want to damage it to the point that it doesn't exist anymore." Now, the museum says it will find the right experts to extract a few delicate fibers from the pillowcase that may hold an unwritten chapter of American history.

Soto has developed some proof for his hypothesis. In his book Physical Lincoln, Soto has used photographs and other evidence that proves his theory to a point. Now he is seeking that final bit of evidence.

Here is the link to Soto's website and book.


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/05/national/main4991725.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_4991725

Well its just hours away

Its April 14th again and if your reading this then you know what that means. Tonight is the 144th Anniv. of the Lincoln Assassination. It is also the 97th Anniv. of the steamship Titantic meeting its fate during its maiden voyage. These tragedies have always stuck my interest and I wanted to acknowledge them and take a moment to honor those who were lost. God Speed!

I honored the 143rd anniv. of the Lincoln Assassination last year. Just click here to read it.

Also, if you want to learn more about the Lincoln Assassination then I suggest two books for you to read. I wrote a great blog on them and you can read that blog here.

Lincoln's Last Photo????????????????

The following message related to the above photo is related to the Associated Press

This detail of a March 6, 1865 photo by Henry F. Warren, provided by the Collection Keya Morgan/LincolnImages.com, shows the White House with several figures standing in front of it. Photography collector Keya Morgan says the photo is the only known photograph of Lincoln standing in front of the White House, and the first photo ever to have been taken of a President in front of the White House. Morgan added the 6'4 to reference which figure he believes in Abraham Lincoln.
(AP Photo/Collection of Keya Morgan, LincolnImages.com)

Lincoln meets Obama via cartoon

I found this today, its really funny.




Expect a forgotten generals blogger shortly. I haven't posted one in ages and all of my readers have been begging for them.

Lincoln: the Ultimate American Icon/Myth

W.E.B. Dubois once remarked that Lincoln was "brave enough to be inconsistent." Fredrick Douglas once said that Lincoln “began by playing Pharaoh” but “ended by playing Moses.” In 1922 H.L. Mencken remarked "Lincoln becomes the American solar myth, the chief butt of American credulity and sentimentality." He later wrote "But meanwhile the varnishers and veneerers have been busily converting Abe into a plaster saint, thus marking hum fit for adoration in the Y.M.C.A.’s. All the popular pictures of him show him in his robes of state, and wearing an expression fit for a man about to be hanged. There is, so far as I know, not a single portrait of him showing him smiling—and yet he must have cackled a good deal, first and last: who ever heard of a storyteller who didn’t? Worse, there is an obvious effort to pump all his human weaknesses out of him, an obvious effort to pump all his human weaknesses out of him, and so leave him a mere moral apparition, a sort of amalgam of John Wesley and the Holy Ghost." The point is that Lincoln has become that ultimate icon, the person that everybody American leader has to speak about, act like and so forth.

I noticed that President Obama gave a speech for the Lincoln Bicentennial in Springfield on Feb. 12. I once read that people claim that Lincoln is their representative for any and everything. For example, gay rights activists use Lincoln as an icon and claim that he was gay. Both Republicans and Democrats use Lincoln as they symbol but if Lincoln was living today he might be an Independent. Yes, the independents have used Lincoln as a symbol in the past. Insurance companies and even cleaning companies have used his name to evoke consumer confidence and reliability. Communist groups and other social groups that do not have a major voice in the majority have used Lincoln as their icon. After reading Obama's speech I was fascinated that he mentioned a few other Presidents when he said:

"Lincoln understood what Washington understood when he led farmers and craftsmen and shopkeepers to rise up against an empire. What Roosevelt understood when he lifted us from Depression, built an arsenal of democracy, created the largest middle-class in history with the GI Bill. It's what Kennedy understood when he sent us to the moon."

Notice that Obama doesn't mention Washington (A Federalist) or Reagan? The mere mention of other famous Presidential Democrats places Lincoln with them rather than at home with his fellow Republicans. Lincoln is an icon, a symbol that everyone wishes to use to justify that they are in the right. Too bad the old man couldn't speak up for himself. I wonder how he would feel about the past few presidents like Bush or Obama's big-time spending bill? Hey I can be biased but at least I mentioned presidents from both parties.

The full text of Obama's speech is here

Other sources:

H.L. Mencken's article on Lincoln is here

Great Lincoln line

I found this while searching Lincoln news articles today.

As Lincoln traveled via train to Washington D.C. in 1861 his transportation made several key stops along the way. One of these was in Painesville, Ohio which is located just east of Cleveland.

"I have stepped out upon this platform that I may see you and that you may see me," President-elect Abraham Lincoln announced when his inaugural train steamed into tiny Painesville, Ohio, on a chill February morning in 1861. "And in the arrangement," he quipped to the curious crowd lining the tracks, "I have the best of the bargain." Lincoln was commenting on his "beautiful face" and Lincoln expert Harold Holtzer wrote an excellent article detailing this at the U.S. News.

Historians have given Lincoln credit for understanding the power of the photograph and using it to catapult him to elected office. Some claim that this insight goes as far back as when Lincoln was running for the U.S. House of Representatives. Despite his opinions on his own beauty he was willing to have himself photographed and so many photographs of Lincoln have been uncovered since his death that one can see the effects that the war and deaths in the family had on him from 1861 to '62 to '63 to '64 '65.


After reading the article I did not realize that author Nathaniel Hawthrone called Lincoln "the homeliest man I ever saw." Lincoln could always find humor in his "beauty". Once he quipped to a person painting his portrait "It is allowed to be ugly in this world, but not as ugly as I am." Truth be told Abraham Lincoln was no beauty, he did not possess the dapper elegence of John Kennedy or the bearing of George Washington but he was our greatest president and he will always be our greatest president.

Source:

http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/history/2009/02/13/abraham-lincoln-from-homely-to-heroic.html

Whose that man?

Self-made
Emanicipator
Stepson
Martyr
Legislator
President
Jokester
Philosopher
Wrestler
Fighter
Penpal
Commander-in-Chief
Poor Kid
Home owner
Icon
Regular guy
Hero
Underdog
Yankee
Beanpole
Dreamer
Patriot
Debater
Competitor
Trooper
Lawyer
Bookworm
Railsplitter
Worrywort
Thinker
Poet
Romantic
Inventor
Naturalist
Orator
Role Model
Self-educated
believer
Go-getter
Citizen
Honest
Storyteller
Dad
Son
Boy
Animal Lover
Lottle Brither
Leader
Store Clerk
Husband

All of those maxims describe Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln movie and the actor who will play him

Coming soon.net published a interview with actor Liam Neeson who is scheduled to play Lincoln in a Steven Spielburg directed epic. He even claimed to be an "educated" person on Lincoln's life because he claims to have read over twenty books on our 16th President. Neeson has also done his research. He claims to have read key speeches and letters and has had a complete tour of Fords Theatre which included a physical examination of many Lincoln artifacts.

"I've been there. I've been to Washington, I've held his wallet, I've said a prayer on the Bible he was inaugurated on. Still ongoing… there's an extraordinary Lincoln bicentennial committee, a place I go to in Washington. I got to know this guy Michael Bishop who's the co-chair. He gave me access to all this Lincoln stuff. I read his personal letters and stood on the stage at Ford's Theater." Liam Neeson.

This is good news. Neeson is perfect because of his easy going voice, tall/lanky figure and thin face. I cannot wait for this. Stay tuned I will continue to publish more about this upcoming film.

New Lincoln Stamps

New Lincoln stamps will be introduced on Feb 9. Here is a pic of them. I have to get a copy of them. Of course these are for the Lincoln Bicentential.