An Abraham Lincoln (and Nikola Tesla) Christmas

In 1834, as an Illinois legislator, the 25-year-old Abraham Lincoln voted against closing the state government on Christmas day. He felt that elected officials should keep the day a workday “because he felt he would be wasting taxpayers’ money if he took the day off.” Later when he was in the White House he sent no Christmas cards and set up no Christmas tree.

Shocking? Not really. Back then Christmas was a normal working day in most of the United States. Government offices and most businesses were open. Christmas didn’t become a national holiday until President Ulysses S. Grant signed a congressional bill into law. That was in 1870. For those that are interested, David Frum, former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, provides some fascinating insights into why Christmas wasn’t celebrated by the government. Now, of course, the White House has jumped on the bandwagon and issues annual Christmas ornaments.

That’s not to say that Christmas wasn’t important. In fact, Christmas was getting a lot of press in the 1850s, which is one of the reasons why Grant did what he did. The brutality of the Civil War also played a role in the resurgence of Christmas in American life. Ironically, it was the non-religious aspects of Christmas that saw the biggest growth during this period. Not the least of which was the popularization of Santa Claus.

While Santa may have had some origins in St. Nicholas and other regional folklore, he evolved into the jolly old elf we know today thanks in large part to Thomas Nast, a prolific illustrator and cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly magazine. It was Nast who first introduced Santa Claus (aka, Father Christmas) – as a recruiting tool for the Union army! One iconic image from the January 3, 1863 issue of Harper’s, has Santa “on a sleigh handing out packages to Union soldiers in Civil War camp.”

So Santa became propaganda rallying behind the Union war effort. The South used this to their advantage as well, telling children that those evil Yankees might block Santa’s route from the North Pole down to Confederate territory. This, of course, was long before Coca-Cola turned Santa into a soft drink marketing campaign and Hallmark made a fortune selling Christmas cards.

There was one rather important Christmas celebration for Abraham Lincoln. General William Tecumseh Sherman, who had been decimating a path toward the sea throughout the fall of 1864, wired Lincoln in the White House on December 22nd. The wire said:

“I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah.”

He also had captured “150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition,” along with “about 25,000 bales of cotton.” An ecstatic Lincoln replied with “many, many, thanks for your Christmas gift.” As devastating was Sherman’s destruction during his march, it helped bring the war to an end a few months later.

I can’t leave without also bringing you Christmas greetings from Nikola Tesla. Here’s a brief video to get you started.

Want more? Check out these photos and videos of Christmas trees made from Tesla coils.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from me and Science Traveler. Watch for much, much more in the new year. [Hint – 2014 is going to be exciting!]

David J. Kent is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity. You can order a signed copy directly from me, download the ebook at barnesandnoble.com, and find hard copies exclusively at Barnes and Noble bookstores.

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