Lincoln Celebration Rained Out

The official kickoff to the Lincoln birth bicentennial was rained out yesterday in Hodgenville, Kentucky. Mrs. Laura Bush didn't show, the National Park Service (NPS) cancelled the ceremonies at the National Historic Site, and numerous spectators were extremely disappointed. The rain turned to ice upon impact and it was deemed too dangerous to drivers for the ceremonies to go on.

This article from the Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky) describes the disappointment of everyone from the NPS officials, to the local merchants who had stocked up on extra souvenirs. One shop owner spent $10,000 in anticipation of the additional business from visitors. The NPS was concerned that people would fall in the parking lots or memorial steps. Thousands of dollars spent by the NPS on books and programs will now go to waste, apparently.

Unfortunately, there was no backup plan put into place. That's sort of amazing to me. It's not like Kentucky is Arizona, blessed with great weather in the winter months. One would think that event organizers would have had alternate plans in the event of inclement weather.

What a shame. I'm glad I didn't drive the 7 hours from Ohio to attend the event, like some of my fellow Ohioans did, according to the article.

Happy Birthday Mr. Lincoln

A baby was born at Sinking Spring Farm, Kentucky, near present-day Hodgenville, one hundred ninety nine years ago today, February 12, 1809. That young child, named Abraham by his family, of course grew up to become our nation's greatest president and one of the greatest Americans who has ever lived.

Abraham Lincoln had no special advantages growing up, unlike many other of our nation's leaders who were born into wealth or were given the opportunity of formal education throughout their youth. Instead, Lincoln was born of humble parentage, farmers on what was then the Western frontier of the United States. There is some debate just how poverty-stricken his parents were, but they were certainly not well-to-do by any means. As for formal education, Lincoln himself stated that his actual school learning did not total more than 18 months for his entire life.

Lincoln's journey to greatness was an unusual one. He worked at various jobs such as a deckhand on two flatboat trips to New Orleans, as a store clerk, a postmaster, and even as a captain of volunteers in the Blackhawk War in Illinois. All along the way, Lincoln's ambition never waned and he always strove to improve himself and his lot in life.

Finally, he became a lawyer, entered politics, and sprung onto the national stage during the brilliant series of debates between him and Stephen A. Douglas during their senatorial campaign of 1858. Even though Lincoln lost that election, he became the improbable Republican candidate for the 1860 presidential election and won. His life was tragically cut short on April 14, 1865 when he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln died the next morning at 7:22 a.m.

Sometimes it's difficult for the average person to sort through the facts, as well as the myths, which envelop Abraham Lincoln to this day. For example, an enduring myth is that Lincoln encountered mostly failure before he came out of nowhere and magically became president. This site shows that although he did experience failures along the way, Lincoln also achieved successes which led to even greater achivements.

Nearly 15,000 books have been written about Mr. Lincoln with more coming out every month. It's difficult to recommend any one book for learning more about him, but I would start with David H. Donald's Lincoln. It quite simply is the best single-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln ever written.

The photo I've included in this post is from the February 12, 1944 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. I've never seen this image before tonight, but I find it very moving.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Lincoln. The nation remembers your leadership and cries out for it still today.

The Earliest Lincoln "Image" Discovered?

Is this miniature painting the earliest depiction of Abraham Lincoln? While surfing for my daily dose of Lincoln, I stumbled upon a news release from the Verona, New Jersey Historical Society telling of the discovery of this miniature.

The discovery of this 2" by 2.5" miniature occurred in a house in New Jersey owned once upon a time by a Mildred Downing, whose great aunt was married to Mary Todd Lincoln's brother. This small painting was found among a cache of items which may have some strong ties to Mrs. Lincoln. Present were a Mary Todd Lincoln china doll head and some trunks with potential association with her.

Experts contacted have determined that this miniature dates to the early 1840's, probably around 1842. If this is truly an image of Abraham Lincoln, it predates the earliest known photograph of him taken in 1848.

There is far more information about this miniature at this website put together by the family who found it. I'm not an artist by any stretch of the imagination, but to my eyes, it doesn't look much like Lincoln. Of course, I've seen other prints and paintings of Lincoln which don't look like him at all, either. I admit, the provenance of this miniature is intriguing, being found in a house with connections to Mary Todd. But I'd personally feel much better about the authenticity if the discovery family didn't cite their experience with a mentalist, i.e. a "mind reader" who stunned them with his pronouncement that they had found a Lincoln image.

I hope I'm wrong and I hope that the family has indeed discovered the earliest known image of Lincoln. It just reminds me in an uncomfortable way of the so-called Kaplan image of a young Abraham Lincoln. That is an actual daguerreotype, not a painting, of a young man whom some claim is the earliest known photo of Lincoln. I don't buy that one, either, and most historians don't, to my knowledge. And the Kaplan image looks more like Lincoln than this miniature does.

Still, it's intriguing. What do you think?

Bush Honors Lincoln In White House Ceremony

Since my previous post criticized President George W. Bush for not being able to make the official kickoff of the Lincoln birth bicentennial celebrations, I thought it only fair to include this story about the ceremony Bush held last night in the White House.

It seems that every year, Ford's Theater honors Americans who most exemplify Lincoln's life and ideals, at least in the opinion of the theater's organizational directors. This year's recipients were retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Dr. Ben Carson, head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

The link I've provided in the first paragraph contains the president's remarks verbatim, at least according to the news service Christian Newswire. Laura Bush also made a speech, perhaps in preparation for her address tomorrow at the Lincoln birthplace site in Hodgenville, Kentucky.

I was struck by the dignity of Mrs. Bush's remarks but found the president's comments to be crass. He claims that when people ask him whether he's seen Lincoln's ghost in the White House (reported by many guests, including Winston Churchill), that he (Bush) replies that he gave up drinking 22 years ago, causing some laughter from the audience. It's commendable and well-known that Bush gave up imbibing, but to mention it during a solemn ceremony honoring Abraham Lincoln and two other outstanding Americans was undignified, to say the least.

Perhaps it's best after all that Mrs. Bush, with her dignity and grace, will honor President Lincoln, a man who also had those qualities, so unlike our current president.

Laura Bush To Speak At Lincoln Ceremony

News today from the Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky that Laura Bush is going to speak at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site on Tuesday February 12 during the kickoff ceremonies for the Lincoln Bicentennial celebration. President Bush had been invited to speak, but apparently has some schedule conflicts in Washington, D.C. that day.

A pity, really, since the president and his supporters are trying all sorts of contortions in order to somehow equate his legacy to that of Lincoln's. What a golden opportunity he's missing.

Abe Lincoln In Yarns

Most people know that Abe Lincoln used humor to make subtle points to people, even as president. He loved to tell jokes, puns, and enjoyed spinning yarns throughout his life.

Now we can see Mr. Lincoln literally in yarn, string, and wool. From the Chronogram Magazine in the Hudson area of New York, comes an article titled "The Wooly Emancipator." According to the article, artist Oscar Strodl has created four different portraits of Abraham Lincoln done entirely in yarn, wool, and thread. Unfortunately, the other portraits are not shown in the article, but the one I've posted here is amazingly realistic. Indeed, it looks more accurate than many paintings of Lincoln that I've seen.

The artist will begin displaying these portraits on February 18th, 2008 at Incident Report Gallery in Hudson, New York. They will also be available for viewing beginning that date on www.incidentreport.info. Can't wait to see them all!

Why Does Lincoln Continue To Fascinate Us?

While reading this article from Time, I began to reflect upon and wonder why Abraham Lincoln continues to fascinate so many people both here in the United States and around the world. We see this fascination when books such as Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team Of Rivals" and David Herbert Donald's masterpiece "Lincoln" become best sellers. In our current presidential election cycle, candidates from both the Republican and Democratic parties fall over themselves trying to make themselves into Lincoln's political image. One Republican candidate, Ron Paul, even excoriates Lincoln in a stunning revision of history. President Bush and his supporters try to align the Bush legacy with Lincoln's. Movies such as the latest "National Treasure" and Steven Spielberg's upcoming flick deal with Lincoln or the myths surrounding him. Dictators such as Pakistan's leader Pervez Musharraf try to justify their suppression of freedom by comparing their own actions with that of Lincoln's.

So why does Lincoln have a hold on the nation's collective conciousness to this day? Is it because he was assassinated just as he was seeing the end of the greatest tragedgy to strike our nation, the Civil War? Is it because he came from poverty with almost no formal education to rise to become what many historians consider to be our greatest president, thus giving the impetus for the belief that anyone can grow up to become president? Is it because of his humility and humanity for the ways in which he dealt with his enemies? Perhaps we as a nation are longing so much for a true leader who can help us to "bind up our nation's wounds" and overcome the petty political bickering which divides us while solving nothing.

I would be interested in any comments and replies to my questions.