Author: David J. Kent

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler, scientist, and Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of books on Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, and Abraham Lincoln. His website is www.davidjkent-writer.com.
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Lincoln’s Jewish Spy

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Issachar ZacharieOn January 25, 1865, Abraham Lincoln directed Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to give Lincoln’s Jewish spy and “cheroperdist” a pass to go into southern territory.

“I wish you to give Dr. Zacharie a pass to Savanna, remain a week and return, bringing with him, if he wishes, his father and sisters or any of them.”

So who is Dr. Zacharie, and what is a “cheroperdist”?

Let’s start with the second part. When the self-styled foot doctor Issachar Zacharie (he actually had no medical training and gave himself the “Dr.” honorific) first printed business cards to advertise his ability to relief sufferers from corns and bunions, he misspelled the word “chiropodist.” While possibly recognizable to many people today, the term chiropodist is outdated and synonymous with today’s term for foot doctor: podiatrist. Even though he didn’t have any official credentials, it turns out Dr. Zacharie was an excellent chiropodist and operated on Abraham Lincoln’s feet and those of many of his staff and officer corps. Zacharie serviced thousands of Union soldiers during the Civil War.

Just as Dr. Zacharie invented his profession and persona, he invented himself as a sort of Union spy. His exploits were extolled in a new book by E. Lawrence Abel called Lincoln’s Jewish Spy: The Life and Times of Issachar Zacharie. This is the short review I wrote on Goodreads:

An interesting in-depth look at a rarely examined public figure associated with Lincoln. Unafraid of self-promotion, even if he had to fabricate an educational background, Issachar Zacharie manages to insert himself into Abraham Lincoln’s inner circle. That is, at least to some extent as Abel tells us it’s sometimes difficult to separate Zacharie’s self-promotion from reality. Abel helps parse out that difference and shows us that Zacharie was in fact somewhat of an informant for Lincoln and a close associate of the ambitious, if not overly competent, General Nathaniel Banks. Along the way we learn much about being Jewish in nineteenth century America. Oh, and we also learn about chiropody, the cutting and shaving of foot corns and bunions (which turns out to have been a bigger problem for soldiers and politicians than could be imagined).

The depth of Abel’s research is readily apparent, as is the breadth of his sourcing. He manages to flesh out a little known character of the Civil War that is both interesting and informative. The book at times is repetitive and could have used some tighter editing in places, but overall is a great read for anyone interested in digging deeper into lesser known names.

Stanton replied to Lincoln’s directive the same day to note “An order for leave to Zacharie as directed by you has been issued & sent to Mr. Nicolay.” Zacharie apparently replied to say “I leave on Saturday per steamship Arago for Savannah where I hope to find my Dear old father and friends–if you have any matters that you would have properly attended to, I will consider it a favour to [you] to let me attend to it for you…”

Zacharie was quick to ingratiate himself with the Jewish population wherever he traveled. He would collect intelligence for the war effort, and also relay advice to Jewish men on how to help the Union effort. This is a little known element of the war and Abel’s book gives us much insight into that regard.

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How Abraham Lincoln Started HBCUs, At Least Indirectly

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Land Grant ActAbraham Lincoln is responsible for the creation of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). At least indirectly.

In early July 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the Land-Grant College Act. His predecessor James Buchanan had vetoed the idea in 1859, but with Lincoln’s encouragement, Senator Justin Morrill reintroduced it for easy congressional passage and Lincoln’s welcome signature. The Act donated federal land to the states, which could sell them to establish a permanent endowment to fund public colleges. The Act required these colleges to teach “scientific and classical studies” and to “promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes” in agricultural and the mechanical arts. Iowa quickly accepted the provisions of the Act and designated its existing Iowa State Agricultural College (now Iowa State University) as the first official land-grant college. The first new institution created under the Act was Kansas State University. Isaac Funk, a close friend of Lincoln’s, founded the first land-grant college in Illinois. Others soon followed, including many in the South to aid its post-war rejuvenation.

So where do HBCUs fit into this? Because of discrimination against African-Americans in the former slave-owning states, a second Morrill Land-Grant Act was passed in 1890 requiring either the state demonstrate race was not an admissions criterion or they must designate a separate land-grant institution for persons of color. Many states chose the latter, which while discriminatory, did result in the creation of several HBCUs. In 1994 the land-grant status was extended to tribal colleges and universities, and today there are 106 land-grant colleges.

The importance of these land-grant colleges cannot be overstated. Only five percent of American males (and no females) went to college by the beginning of the Civil War. While all colleges taught fundamental science at the undergraduate level, the courses were intended to stimulate the logical thought necessary to succeed in their field of choice (e.g., law, medicine, business). Science was designed to teach students problem solving, not prepare them for careers in science. No laboratory work was done; at best the professor would do demonstrations if he or the facility could afford the equipment. While the first Ph.D. was awarded only in 1861 by Yale, only later did graduate degrees become more common. Prior to the war, if you wanted to become an actual scientist you directly paid a professor to study with, often in Europe. With his signature, Lincoln created colleges that taught science and technology degrees, which served as a basis for the expansion of science training for the rest of the nineteenth century and beyond.

While the second Morrill Land-Grant Act was long after Lincoln’s assassination, it built on the original Act Lincoln had signed. This emphasis on education, once it was extended to either integrated colleges or separate HBCUs, helped fulfill what Lincoln had pursued since his first attempt at elective office when only 23-years-old. “Upon the subject of education,” Abraham Lincoln wrote in his Communication to the People of Sangamo County in 1832, “I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in.”

Since most of the original HBCUs after the Civil War were in the South, they provided opportunities for higher learning that had been blocked by unequal access to education in a continuing racist society. Now, 159 years later, we can assume Abraham Lincoln would be happy to see us finally elect our first HBCU Vice President, Kamala Harris.

[Adapted from my forthcoming book due out in February 2022]

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

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The Day Lincoln Met Louis Agassiz, Famous Scientist and Polygenist

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Louis AgassizLouis Agassiz arrived at the White House on January 15, 1865 with Massachusetts Congressman Samuel Hooper. The famous scientist would have his one and only meeting with Abraham Lincoln. While the two influential men had never met before, Hooper was well-known to Lincoln. It was Hooper’s home in Washington DC that George McClellan had used as headquarters when he commanded the Union army. Hooper was also briefly the father-in-law of Charles Sumner, who had married Hooper’s daughter but divorced after only a short marriage. Today, however, the focus was on Agassiz.

Lincoln had a penchant for science. He had given a series of lectures of “discoveries and inventions” shortly before being elected president. The expectation was that the two men would bond over their common interest. Journalist and Lincoln friend Noah Brooks, who was present during the meeting, later reported that the conversation “was not very learned.” The two men seemed unsure how to talk to each other. According to Brooks, Lincoln asked Agassiz for the correct pronunciation of his name, and then “prattled on about curious proper names in various languages, and odd correspondences between names of common things in different tongues.”

Agassiz did ask Lincoln if he had ever lectured, to which Lincoln outlined his previous “inventions” lecture, which he hoped to update so to prove there is nothing new under the sun. “I think I can show, at least in a fanciful way, that all the modern inventions were known centuries ago.” Agassiz encouraged him to finish the lecture. Agassiz departed shortly thereafter and Lincoln admitted to Brooks that he “wasn’t so badly scared, after all.” Lincoln had expected to be intimidated by the great scientist’s learning. Instead, he cross-examined Agassiz on things not in the books, which were readily available to him for reading.

This somewhat anti-climatic meeting belied both Lincoln’s inherent interests in science and Agassiz’s lifetime of scientific leadership. Perhaps the press of time and the drudges of a war finally running down after four years of horrendous conflict hung over the impromptu meeting. One would have liked the two of them to sit down and chat about science for hours on end. But the war took priority.

Born in Switzerland before becoming an American citizen, Agassiz is best known for his knowledge of natural history. He became a professor of zoology and geology at Harvard, from which he became a leading influencer on classification of the fishes, geological history, and the fossil record. He’s considered one of the founders of glaciology, although his views on the role of glaciers and ice on the formation of geological structures weren’t always correct. Agassiz damaged his scientific reputation by being a major advocate for polygenism, the idea that different “races” of humans were separately created, with all of the racist beliefs underpinning that idea.

The arguments over monogenism, polygenism, and “types of man” were entwined with the idea of “scientific racism,” more accurately, pseudoscience, used to rationalize the enslavement of African Americans. Lincoln became aware of these arguments as he read on science and tried to find a path toward removing slavery from the nation.

While they hadn’t personally met, Lincoln knew that Agassiz was one of the fifty charter members of the National Academy of Sciences, which Lincoln had signed into law in 1863. The meeting might have been less exciting than it could have been, but both men played significant roles as influencers of American views on race and slavery.

I’ll delve into this more in my forthcoming book, so stay tuned for more.

[Photo of Louis Agassiz: Wikimedia]

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

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That Time Conservatives Refused to Accept an Election – Lessons from Lincoln

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Obama inauguration 2013The election results were decisive. The new president-elect had won the popular vote by a substantial margin and had won more electoral votes than his competitors combined. The election had been secure, and the results were unequivocal.

Yet the conservative faction rebelled against the result. They said they would not abide by the voice of the people. Elements inside the government tried to override the vote and disrupt the government. Tearing the Union apart was more acceptable to them then living with the election results. Shortly after the election this faction sought to divide the country in half. Before the president-elect could even arrive in Washington to be inaugurated, he knew he would face a divided nation.

The election was 1860 and the president-elect was Abraham Lincoln.

Before Lincoln could take office, the conservative faction (the Democrats in Lincoln’s time), led by South Carolina and joined shortly thereafter by six more Southern states, seceded from the Union. Four more would join not long after the inauguration of its first Republican president (the “liberals” of the time).

The inauguration almost didn’t happen.

Unwilling to accept the election results, these conservative states attempted to keep the president-elect from reaching Washington. After some smaller attacks failed, they planned to assassinate the president-elect as he approached Washington by train along the corridor between Philadelphia and the nation’s Capital. Their plan to have a mob attack the president-elect as he passed through Baltimore was thwarted as Lincoln altered his schedule to arrive early. With many traitors to the Union present in Washington, and some engaging in active sedition in the Capitol itself, General Winfield Scott to extra precautions to protect Lincoln during his inauguration ceremony.

In his first inaugural address, Lincoln reminded the crowd that as President, he had “the most solemn” oath to “preserve, protect, and defend” the government, even as some were trying to attack the nation from within.

I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

In this peroration, Lincoln hoped that the nation could remain united. Conservatives refused, and the war came. Four years and nearly 750,000 dead Americans later, Lincoln was reelected and offered a second inaugural address. In it he called for the nation, without malice, and with charity for all, to “strive to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.”

An earlier message to Congress reminded us the choices we make will be remembered.

Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves…The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We — even we here — hold the power, and bear the responsibility.

The choice is up to us. Will we “nobly save or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth”?

We must.

We cannot escape history.

 

Fire of Genius

 

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America is available at booksellers nationwide.

Limited signed copies are available via this website. The book also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. Please leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon if you like the book.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

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Why Was the Emancipation Memorial Statue Removed in Boston?

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Emancipation MemorialAs part of my series on Confederate monuments I recently examined why the Robert E. Lee statue was removed from statuary hall in the Capitol. Not long after, the Emancipation Memorial featuring Abraham Lincoln was removed from a park in Boston. While not a Confederate monument, the Emancipation Memorial removal opens up a similar question: Why was it removed?

If you haven’t read the previous three post on Confederate monuments, the context begins with “The Rational Case for Removing Confederate Monuments.” Two subsequent posts looked at whether such removal “erases history” and whether “added context” was possible.

The Emancipation Memorial in Boston is a copy of the original statue by sculptor Thomas Ball erected in 1876 in what is now Lincoln Park, Washington, DC. The Lincoln Group of DC was involved in two teach-ins during the summer after the memorial was targeted by protesters hoping to tear it down. The DC statue currently remains in place. Prior to the teach-ins, in June of 2020, the Boston Arts Commission voted to remove the statue and place it in storage until some appropriate location capable of providing relevant context can be found. They agreed to have the statue removed before the end of the year, and that occurred in orderly fashion on December 27, 2020.  The stated reasons were because of “the statue’s role in perpetuating harmful prejudices and obscuring the role of Black Americans in shaping the nation’s freedoms.”

For those not familiar with the statue itself, it was designed to commemorate the emancipation proclamation of Abraham Lincoln that called for enslaved people to be “henceforward and forever free.” An admirable action. So what is the problem?

I wrote about this in a previous post:

One aspect of that history that remains controversial today is the Freedman’s Memorial in Washington, DC. Often referred to as the “Emancipation Memorial” or “Freedom’s Memorial” or even “Lincoln and Emancipation,” the statue by sculptor Thomas Ball was erected in Lincoln Park east of the U.S. Capitol. It depicts Abraham Lincoln standing over an enslaved black man being released from his shackles and beginning the slow rise to equality. The face of the African American man represents that of a real person, Archer Alexander. Frederick Douglass was the keynote speaker at the 1876 dedication, which was also attended by President Ulysses S. Grant. Importantly, the funding of the statue was solely provided by freedmen (and women), with the first $5 donated by former slave Charlotte Scott of Virginia. While they didn’t have a say in the final design, the statue represents the efforts of African Americans to commemorate their emancipation from centuries of forced servitude.

Much of the controversy stems from the positioning of the figures, in particular the apparent subservient position of Archer Alexander. The original concept of Lincoln freeing the slaves and the depiction of now formerly enslaved men to rise seems to have been lost from current understanding. Another problem with today’s interpretation is the tendency to cherry pick from Frederick Douglass’s dedication speech, a wonderful oratory that delved into the complex relationships between Lincoln, Grant, former slaves, and the continuing struggle for equality. As the statue was being dedicated, so too was the Reconstruction period coming to an end. Whereas Reconstruction had guaranteed the rights of African Americans, the Jim Crow era that arose in response sought to destroy those rights. As W.E.B. Dubois said, “the slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery.” Alas, our long history of systemic racism continues to this day.

In addition to being paid for by former enslaved people and dedicated by Frederick Douglass, the statue was turned 180 degrees in the 1970s to present a pairing with the newly erected statue of African American civil rights activist and educator Mary McLeod Bethune. Despite this context, the design elements seem inappropriate to many in the modern era. In fact, new research discovered after the controversy erupted in the summer of 2020 showed that soon after dedicating it, Frederick Douglass opined in a newspaper advertisement that he thought the statue’s design could be improved by adding additional statues, e.g., African American leaders of the time.

Which is why a memorial dedicated to celebrating emancipation from slavery is the subject of reevaluation.

So how does this relate to the ongoing reevaluation of Confederate monuments? The Emancipation Memorial is obviously not a Confederate monument, but it does have design elements that can be interpreted as promoting white supremacy, notwithstanding the original intent. It highlights the issue presented in my original post, “The Rational Case for Removing Confederate Monuments,” in particular that modern interpretation is relevant to the discussion. Of course, also relevant is the context of the original funding and dedication, as well as the event depicted – emancipation from slavery.

The Boston Arts Commission, by whatever process they used, has determined that the statue should be removed from its place of prominence. So far the original statue in Washington, DC remains in place. Who is right? Is either right? That’s not a question that has a solid right or wrong answer. It is important that the Boston statue was removed after public input and removed respectfully and officially rather than by violent mob action or defacement. There is disagreement among historians as to whether the statue should remain. This is in contrast to Confederate monuments where there has been a noticeable shift in thinking toward removal, although not universally so.

All this highlights that a reevaluation of our memorialization history is necessary and appropriate. While the focus was originally on Confederate statues, there has been spillover into non-Confederate statues and school namings such as Lincoln, Grant, Washington, Jefferson, Columbus, and others. Each of these has a different set of issues to be evaluated, from each other and from Confederate statues. I’ll examine that issue more closely in future posts.

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

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The Year in a Writer’s Life – 2020

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David J KentHeck of a year, wasn’t it? I’m sure I’m not alone in admitting that the year in a writer’s life didn’t go exactly as planned. And yet, looking back on what I wrote for 2019, I realize 2020 wasn’t that different, at least as far as the writing part goes. There was, however, one huge difference, which I’ll get to in a minute.

Royalties continue to trickle in for my three previous traditionally published books on Tesla, Edison, and Lincoln. Okay, maybe royalties have fallen to a drip. But my editor sent word in the spring that the Edison book would be coming out in a Chinese-language edition. Those licensing fees and royalties haven’t shown up yet, at least in part because of something called COVID.

Oh, you’ve heard of COVID? Of course you have. The rather unplanned pandemic did what pandemics tend to do, completely mess with everything previously considered normal in the world. Publishing was no exception. With stores closing temporarily in the spring and only partially reopening (and in some cases, reclosing) over the rest of the year, it was a tough time for actual bookstores. Barnes & Noble was already reworking its business model before being hit with guards standing outside the doors metering potential shoppers to a few at a time. Independent bookstores were especially hard hit. That said, Amazon and big box stores that also sell groceries (e.g., Target) had increasing book sales as the year progressed. With people sequestered at home, more people read more books. Like Amazon, publishers also did well as books replaced lost restaurant, movie, and bowling nights. Overall, print sales were up about 8% for the year and some publishers were reporting their best year ever. So I should see those Edison royalties eventually, maybe even in the spring. My two e-books also occasionally send royalties my way.

The writing life itself kept me incredibly busy in 2020. With my travel schedule reduced to zero, I spent more time reading and writing. Here’s some writing highlights:

  • Began a series of posts on whether Confederate monuments should be removed. I’m hoping to turn this into a book.
  • Wrote and delivered three presentations on Zoom (not counting my participation in dozens of additional Zoom meetings). I’ll moderate a panel in two weeks.
  • Three book reviews for the Lincoln Herald, an academic journal.
  • Produced eight book reviews for the Lincolnian, the newsletter of the Lincoln Group of DC.
  • Wrote an article for the Lincolnian on Lincoln’s Long Road to Emancipation.
  • Wrote an article for The Lincoln Forum Bulletin.
  • Had three separate contributions in the “From Our Readers” section of Writer’s Digest magazine.
  • Was interviewed on Facebook Live by filmmaker Annabel Park on Lincoln’s views of the current election.
  • Entered nine writing contests. Of these, seven are still under review (two didn’t win, although for one I received very helpful feedback).
  • Collaborated with Ru on a planned travel book.

And that isn’t even the BIG NEWS!

[For those with good hearing, that’s a drum roll in the background]

On December 31, 2020, the very last day in the year of the corona, I signed a formal contract with a well known publisher, who will publish and distribute my new book on Lincoln’s interest in science and technology. 

This is the culmination of years of research and toil. There’s a long story behind the production of this book, but I finally got around to putting forth a proposal this year. My agent shopped it around and two publishers expressed interest. Negotiations were to be had, and on the final day of 2020 I carefully scrawled my official signature at the bottom of the fifth page of micro-print. That’s just the beginning, of course. My deadline to provide the full manuscript is July 1st, and the projected date of release is February 2022. I’ll provide more details as the project progresses, but suffice to say I’m very happy to be proceeding…and will be exceedingly busy writing for the next several months. I can’t travel anyway so I might as well be writing.

So what is the plan for 2021?

In case you skipped over the big news right above this paragraph, the first six months will be consumed with writing my Lincoln book. I will live and breathe the book during that time.

In my spare moments I’ll continue posting essays related to Confederate monuments with a goal of compiling them into book format at some point. I’ll also squeeze in essays for the travel book collaboration, although realistically that will have to wait until the summer. There are three other book projects that will sit in some level of dormancy until the second half of the year. I’ve cut my intended reading goal from my usual 75 books down to 50 books to free up some time for writing. I’ll also squeeze in some book reviews for the Lincolnian and possibly the Lincoln Herald. In the latter stages of the year I’ll pick up my previous goals of producing articles for journals and magazines, at least part of which will be marketing-related for the new book. Finally, I’ll likely increase my speaking schedule, especially as the book release date gets closer (and into 2022 once it hits stores).

Needless to say, I’ll be spending a lot of time at my computer in 2021.

Happy New Year to all!

Follow me for updates on my Facebook author page and Goodreads.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

 

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The Year in Science Traveling – 2020

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Well, this shouldn’t take long.

Normally I catalogue all the traveling I did over the past year. Like everyone else in 2020, I experienced a case of travelus interruptus due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. To say that put a damper on my travel intentions is an understatement. Most of the world won’t even let Americans cross their borders right now (how’s that for irony). Even crossing state lines is a challenge with several instituting significant barriers to visitors.

So this is how I planned for the year to go:

 

You’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So…get on your way!

(compliments of Dr. Suess: Oh, The Places You’ll Go!)

 

Instead, my traveling year looked like this:

 

Passport stamps 2020

 

Notwithstanding the allure of my kitchen, which my bathroom scale says I’ve been spending way too much time in, my original plan had included a significant amount of travel in 2020. There were to be several Lincoln-related road trips: Illinois, New England, Upstate New York/Ohio, and California. Then there would be the annual four-day Lincoln Forum and commemoration ceremony in Gettysburg. That doesn’t even count the semi-monthly forays into downtown Washington DC for Lincoln Group of DC dinner/lectures and book study group. Nor does it count the “local” trips into Richmond and other spots in Pennsylvania. None of that happened.

I had also planned a road trip through the central U.S. to visit the remaining contiguous states I hadn’t seen yet. That didn’t happen either.

More far-flung plans were to finally get to the Middle East, in particular Israel, Petra, and the Egyptian Pyramids. There also was the idea of visiting the Galapagos Islands and Machu Picchu. Didn’t happen.

So what did I do this year, travel-wise?

Well, I did make one road trip. Around the first year anniversary of my father’s passing and the 4th of July I drove to New England to see my mother, and as it turns out, my brother and his wife who had unexpectedly moved nearby a few weeks before. I figured there was a small window prior to COVID infections getting much worse (which turned out to be true), so squeezed in the visit not long before Massachusetts cracked down on a mandatory 14-day quarantine, later to include mandatory negative test results (and now likely, vaccination). It was the only trip I made the entire year.

To keep myself busy, and at least somewhat sane, I read more than I planned. I summarized the 90 books I read in 2020 on my Hot White Snow website. I also read a lot of Abraham Lincoln books, which I’ve documented here. Click on my Goodreads link to follow my reading travels.

Beyond that I participated in dozens of Zoom webinars and interactive presentations. My Lincoln Group of DC lectures and book study group meetings all shifted to Zoom. I gave a few presentations myself via Zoom, and have another scheduled in a couple of weeks. Many of the events worked out well enough virtually, but I know we’ll all be ready to see each other in person when safe to do so.

I also took advantage of my 2020 calendar, which features photos by David Wiegers of Abraham Lincoln statues placed all over the world. For each month I would talk about the statue of that month, but also reminisce about my own time visiting the location, or in some cases, future plans if I hadn’t already been there. What started on a whim turned out to be an interesting way to travel back in time to 12 foreign locations where the people thought honoring Lincoln was a good idea. I enjoyed the ability to travel, at least in a sense, through those posts. You can see the December post and a recap with links to all the other posts here.

Not surprisingly, I’m not even going to try to preview 2021 travel. As vaccines slowly make it out to most Americans (and overseas), I’m working on the assumption that even road trips will be curtailed at least until summer. For now it’s wait and watch. When the timing is right I’ll be ready to get back out into the world. Hopefully you’ll join me.

P.S. Check out my “A Year in the Writing Life” annual post. It has some big news, which is yet another reason I don’t expect to travel until next summer. 2021 should be a much better year!

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

 

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Abraham Lincoln Book Acquisitions for 2020

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Books 2019Given COVID, the election, the post-election, and everything else that happened this year, it should come as no surprise that my Abraham Lincoln book acquisition pattern was different that in previous years. While last year I had a big jump in the number of new Lincoln books I acquired (82), this year was back around my average. Overall I acquired 55 new books this year. This is actually more than I expected. I had decided when I set my annual goals for 2020 (which mostly got tossed out as soon as COVID hit) that I would purchase fewer Lincoln books. Driving factors in that decision were a decreasing amount of shelf space, a reassessment of the amount of “stuff” I have in the house, and the knowledge that I would likely be receiving some books from publishers for review. I also planned to spend more time writing a book (more on that later).

I started the year off slowly in accordance with my plan. And then I became an official reviewer for the Lincoln Herald, a journal published by Lincoln Memorial University. They sent me two books to review, plus I reviewed a book I already had on my shelf (one review has been published; the other two will be in future issues). Starting in the summer I also received about ten books from publishers to evaluate for the Abraham Lincoln Institute annual book award competition. Another half dozen books were received late in the year. And then I discovered my health insurance company had been giving me points for something and I could cash those in for even more Lincoln books. I also decided to enter into my spreadsheet the PDF books that I had downloaded, so some of those in the list below exist only as PDFs, not hard copies. All of this added to my slightly less active purchasing obsessions, totaling 55 for the year, including duplicates.

Twenty-four are new books published in 2020. The oldest copyright is 1796 for a PDF book. The oldest physical book was published in 1941. The shortest actual books were 26 pages (M.L. Houser’s Abraham Lincoln Mathematician) and 58 pages (Daniel Kilham Dodge’s Abraham Lincoln: Evolution of His Literary Style). Longest books stretched to 1066 pages (Abe: Abraham Lincoln In His Times by David S. Reynolds) and 1097 pages (a two-volume set called The Tragic Years by Paul M. Angle and Earl Schenk Miers).

There were some blockbusters, including the aforementioned Abe book by David S. Reynolds, along with Harold Holzer’s The Presidents vs. The Press and Ted Widmer’s Lincoln on the Verge. There were also more obscure books like the two by M.L. Houser, the New Philadelphia book by the McWorters, and Robin Blackburn’s An Unfinished Revolution: Karl Marx and Abraham Lincoln. There is also a graphic biography by Mark Shulman (author) and Tom Martin (illustrator) called Abraham Lincoln: Defender of the Union. I rarely buy fiction, but I so enjoyed the library copy of Stephen L. Carter’s The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln that I bought one for myself (the book explores the alternative history that Lincoln survives the assassination attempt and then is impeached in his second term for not being hard enough on the surrendering South). Also, I may have the only copy of a pre-publication book by Ed Steers that he accidentally made available on Amazon just long enough for me to buy a copy before it was shut down; the final version is due out in March 2021 from the University Press of Kentucky). The most bizarre book I acquired is Richard Salva’s The Yoga of Abraham Lincoln (and yes, it is as contrived as the title suggests).

As a huge departure for me, there are several books that I would classify as Civil War books and not expressly Abraham Lincoln. I usually avoid such books, but some came from publishers and others provided some insights I wanted to better understand Lincoln. One book that covers Lincoln and the Civil War but begins pre-Revolutionary War and expands to the present is Heather Cox Richardson’s How the South Won the Civil War. Richardson has become a social media sensation this year with her daily “Letters from an American” and social/political commentary on Facebook. The book is an excellent read and one from which all Americans would gain valuable insight.

One huge change this year – only one of the books is signed by the author, and it was purchased that way. Normally I would have ample opportunity for authors to sign the book directly to me, but this year COVID moved all the usual in-person events to virtual lectures, including the Abraham Lincoln Institute symposium normally held at Ford’s Theatre in March, the Lincoln Forum (Gettysburg in November), and the monthly Lincoln Group of DC dinner lectures. Most of these are expected to be virtual in 2021 as well, although there is hope COVID will be under control enough to hold the fall Forum in Gettysburg. At some point I hope to catch up with authors for signings.

As always, collecting these books means I do a lot of reading. While I can’t claim to have read all of them, I have read many of them and plan to read the rest over time. And, of course, acquire even more. Note to publishers: I’m always open to receiving books in return for an honest review via my various venues, including Goodreads and Amazon.

So how many Lincoln books will I acquire in 2021? As with this year the plan is to hold back on buying too many books in the early part of the year (my shelves are not getting less packed). I do expect to be on the ALI book award committee again this year (along with taking on Treasurer duties). But even more important is that I just agreed to terms with a publisher for my the book I’m writing myself, with a pretty tight deadline for turning in the manuscript, so I won’t have much time for reading during the first half of the year. I’ll have more details on this in my annual Year in a Writer’s Life post but by summer I know I’ll be ready to read a lot about Lincoln that isn’t directly related to my book.

See the 2020 list showing author/title/publication date below my signature blurb below.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

Here is the 2020 list! [Author, Title, Date of Publication]

Abel, E. Lawrence John Wilkes Booth and the Women Who Loved Him 2018
Abel, E. Lawrence Lincoln’s Jewish Spy: The Life and Times of Issachar Zacharie 2020
Achorn, Edward Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln 2020
Angle, Paul M. and Miers, Earl Schenck Tragic Years, 1860-1865: A Documentary History of the American Civil War 1960
Blackburn, Robin An Unfinished Revolution: Karl Marx and Abraham Lincoln 2011
Blaisdell, Bob (ed.) The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln: A Book of Quotations 2005
Boorstin, Daniel J. The Mysterious Science of the Law: An Essay on Blackstone’s Commentaries 1941
Brands, H.W. The Zealot and the Emancipator: John O’Brien, Abraham Lincoln, and the Struggle for American Freedom 2020
Browning, Judkin and Silver, Timothy An Environmental History of the Civil War 2020
Carden, Allen and Ebert, Thomas J. John George Nicolay: The Man in Lincoln’s Shadow 2019
Carter, Stephen L. The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln: A Novel 2012
Condon, William H. The Life of Major-General James Shields 1900
Dilworth, Thomas Dilworth’s Spelling-Book, Improved: A New Guide to the English Tongue 1796
Dixon, David T. Radical Warrior: August Willich’s Journey from German Revolutionary to Union General 2020
Dodge, Daniel Kilham Abraham Lincoln: The Evolution of His Literary Style 2000
Drake, Brian Allen (Ed) The Blue, the Gray, and the Green: Toward an Environmental History of the Civil War 2015
Fry, Zachery A. A Republic in the Ranks: Loyalty and Dissent in the Army of the Potomac 2020
Greene, Julia Gates Abraham Lincoln on the Niagara Frontier 1930
Holzer, Harold The Presidents vs. The Press: The Endless Battle Between the White House and the Media from The Founding Fathers to Fake News 2020
Houser, M.L. Young Abraham Lincoln Mathematician 1943
Houser, M.L. Lincoln’s Education and Other Essays 1957
Johnson, William Bruce Lincoln’s First Crisis: Fort Sumter and the Betrayal of the President 2020
Johnson, William Bruce Lincoln’s First Crisis: Fort Sumter and the Betrayal of the President 2020
Kanefield, Teri The Making of America: Abraham Lincoln 2018
Keller, Ron J. Lincoln in the Illinois Legislature 2019
Kline, Michael J. The Baltimore Plot: The First Conspiracy to Assassinate Abraham Lincoln 2008
Levin, Kevin M. Searching for Black Confederates: The Civil War’s Most Persistent Myth 2019
Luskey, Brian P. Men is Cheap: Exposing the Frauds of Free Labor in Civil War America 2020
Mackey, Thomas C. Opposing Lincoln: Clement L. Vallandigham, Presidential Power, and the Legal Battle Over Dissent in Wartime 2020
McPherson, James M. Abraham Lincoln 2009
McWorter, Gerald A. and Williams-McWorter, Kate New Philadelphia 2018
Meltzer, Brad and Mensch, Josh The Lincoln Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill America’s 16th President – And Why it Failed 2020
Mitchell, Elizabeth Lincoln’s Lie: A True Civil War Caper Through Fake News, Wall Street, and the White House 2020
Norder, Steve Lincoln Takes Command: The Campaign to Seize Norfolk and the Destruction of the CSS Virginia 2020
Norder, Steve Lincoln Takes Command: The Campaign to Seize Norfolk and the Destruction of the CSS Virginia 2020
Power, John Carroll History of an Attempt to Steal the Body of Abraham Lincoln 1890
Rappaport, Doreen (author) and Nelson, Kadir (illustrator) Abe’s Honest Words: The Life of Abraham Lincoln 2008
Reid, Brian Holden The Scourge of War: The Life of William Tecumseh Sherman 2020
Reingold, Nathan(Ed.) Science in Nineteenth-Century America: A Documentary History 1964
Reynolds, David S. Abe: Abraham Linicoln In His Times 2020
Richardson, Heather Cox How the South Won the Civil War 2020
Salva, Richard The Yoga of Abraham Lincoln: Forerunner of the Modern Truth Seeker 2015
Shaara, Michael The Killer Angels 2003
Shulman, Mark (author) and Martin, Tom (Illustrator) Show Me History! Abraham Lincoln: Defender of the Union 2018
Snee, Brian J. Lincoln Before Lincoln: Early Cinematic Adaptations of the Life of America’s Greatest President 2016
Steers, Edward Jr. Getting Right With Lincoln: Correcting Misconceptions About Our Greatest President 2020
Stevenson, Augusta Abraham Lincoln: The Great Emancipator 1986
Striner, Richard Summoned to Glory: The Audacious Life of Abraham Lincoln 2020
Taylor, Daniel Cravens Thomas Lincoln: Abraham’s Father 2019
Temple, Wayne C.; Edited by Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis Lincoln’s Confidant: The Life of Noah Brooks 2019
Welker, David A. The Cornfield: Antietam’s Bloody Turning Point 2020
Widmer, Ted Lincoln On The Verge: Thirteen Days To Washington 2020
Widmer, Ted Lincoln On The Verge: Thirteen Days To Washington 2020
Widmer, Ted Lincoln On The Verge: Thirteen Days To Washington 2020
Wilson, Rufus Rockwell Intimate Memories of Lincoln 1945
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Why Was the Robert E. Lee Statue Removed from Statuary Hall?

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Robert E Lee statuary hallVirginians woke up Monday morning, December 21, 2020, to the news that the statue of Robert E. Lee was removed overnight from statuary hall of the U.S. Capitol. The Lee statue had stood in the hall as one of Virginia’s two designated representative statues for 111 years. Each state is allowed two statues, some of which are in statuary hall while others are located in other areas of the Capitol building. The second Virginia representative is George Washington.

So why was Robert E. Lee removed?

I’ve been addressing the issue of Confederate statues and other monuments to the Confederacy in a series of posts beginning with “The Rational Case for Removing Confederate Monuments.” Two subsequent posts (to date) looked at whether such removal “erases history” and whether “added context” was possible. Those posts provide some needed background for evaluating the current action.

In short, many jurisdictions – states, localities, federal – have been reassessing the message put forward by honoring Confederate leadership such as Lee and Jefferson Davis. Several statues have been removed, most notably statues in New Orleans (Lee, Beauregard) and Charleston, South Carolina (John C. Calhoun). A handful of statues were pulled down by mobs during this past summer’s protests following the death of George Floyd and others. Similarly, a few schools have been renamed (Robert E. Lee High School in Virginia is now Barack Obama High School). The Defense Department has indicated it will rename army bases currently named after Confederate generals. Overall, however, the vast majority of statues and names remain in place, some perhaps forever while others while public discussion continues.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in 2020 ordered the movement of several portraits of prior Speakers who had, after serving as leader of the House of Representatives, then rejected their U.S. citizenship to become leaders in the Confederacy. These portraits remain in the Capitol but now are found in less prominent locations, in essence reflecting their downfall from grace. The current decision by the state of Virginia to remove Robert E. Lee follows in this general reassessment of Confederate iconography. The moves are not restricted to Democratic leaders; Republican Governor Ron DeSantis spearheaded the effort to replace Florida’s statue of Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith with black civil rights activist and educator, Mary McLeod Bethune. Bethune also has a large statue in Lincoln Park, where the summer of 2020 saw efforts to save a statue of Lincoln and freedman Archer Alexander from destruction.

Other statues in statuary hall have been replaced for a variety of reasons by their sponsoring states. Ohio recently replaced a statue of former Governor William Allen with famed inventor Thomas Edison. In 2019, Nebraska replaced its statue of William Jennings Bryan with Ponca Chief Standing Bear. Ohio replaced James Harlan with agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug. In 2009, California replaced Thomas Starr King with former Governor and President Ronald Reagan. At least eight states have made recent replacements, seven have replacements pending, and three have replacements under consideration. Some of these are to replace Confederate statues, but most are for other reasons. Reevaluation of which icons of history each state wants to represent them are not unusual.

Which gets us back to Robert E. Lee. As a former Confederate state and location of the capital of the Confederacy, Virginia has had to assess and reevaluate its place in modern America. A statue of Jefferson Davis on Monument Avenue in Richmond was torn down by vandals during the George Floyd protests. A large equestrian statue of “Stonewall” Jackson was removed by the state. The removal of the Lee statue from statuary hall is a continuation of this reassessment.

The likely replacement of Lee is civil rights activist Barbara Johns, who in 1951, at the age of 16, led a walkout at her segregated high school to protest substandard conditions. Her lawsuit against the county was folded into the landmark Brown v Board of Education case resulting in the Supreme Court decision declaring “separate but equal” unconstitutional. Johns would be the only teenager represented in statuary hall. The Commission for Historical Statues approved the Johns statue and the Virginia legislature is expected to agree, after which a sculptor will be commissioned.

As states, local communities, and in some cases, federal actors continue to reassess the historical record, we are likely to see an increased effort for more inclusive representation in public spaces. Each of us can play a role by communicating our views to lawmakers at all levels of government. Meanwhile, I will continue to examine the issues associated with Confederate monuments in future posts. I’ll also take a look at “overflow” of the Confederate monument debate into other potentially controversial figures such as Christopher Columbus, our slaveholding founding fathers, and remarkably, even Abraham Lincoln.

David J. Kent is an avid traveler, scientist, and Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World as well as two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

[Photo Credit: Glynn Wilson, Why is Robert E. Lee’s Statue in the U.S. Capitol Not Yet the Subject of Controversy? | New American Journal]

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Lincoln in London – Wiegers Calendar December [Plus recap]

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Wiegers DecemberWell, we’ve made it through the year of the David Wiegers calendar and Lincoln has come full circle, arriving in London, UK. In January we started in Edinburgh, which as part of Scotland may or may not continue to be part of the United Kingdom post-Brexit.

I’ve been to London seven or eight times, but not since 2015, a week in which I spent most of my time Limping in London. It’s a very walkable city, at least in the touristy areas. And so much history. Outside the city I went out to Bath (where I drank 5,000-year-old water), saw Stonehenge (where I did not adjust the rocks for daylight savings time), and visited Windsor Castle (no, I did not meet the Queen). I have, however, met royalty in Serbia. I’m sure I’ll get back there some day so I can science travel the Royal Observatory.

For those who missed the series, I’ve been using the 2020 calendar by David Wiegers highlighting his photographs of Abraham Lincoln statues. This past year they are all statues placed overseas. It turns out Lincoln is very popular in foreign ports, even if I’ve sometimes missed seeing them even when I’ve been there. To recap, here are the links to the earlier posts. Click on the links to travel with me.

January – Edinburgh, Scotland

February – Quito, Ecuador

March – Asahikawa, Japan

April – Oslo, Norway

May – Manchester, England

June – Melbourne, Australia

July – Setubal, Portugal

August – Salzburg, Austria

September – Republic of San Marino

October – Paris, France

November – Republic of Singapore

December – London, England [<– You are here]

I had purchased the 2020 calendar from Dave at the Lincoln Forum in November 2019. The 2020 Forum was turned into a virtual event because of COVID so I ordered the 2021 calendar online sight unseen. According to Dave, the “calendar is in the mail,” so I should receive it soon. I’m looking forward to see where 2021 takes me.

David J. Kent is an avid traveler, scientist, and Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World as well as two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!