Category: Abraham Lincoln

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Barack Obama, Martin Luther King, and Abraham Lincoln

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Martin Luther KingBarack Obama has said that the two people he admires most are Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln. Perhaps this shouldn’t be much of a surprise. In Dreams From My Father, Obama recounts his trials growing up as a young black man with mixed race heritage. While clearly a different upbringing than that of most black men living in America, he did experience the prejudices that were openly prevalent then, and more subtle and covert today.

On August 28th, now-President Obama celebrates the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s historic speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. This year also marks the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, the Civil War act decreeing that all slaves in the South “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” As we know from Stephen Spielberg’s movie, Lincoln then worked strenuously to pass the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing “the peculiar institution” of slavery for good.

And yet, it would take 100 years and another great leader rallying the public to continue the fight to achieve basic civil rights and equality for African-Americans and other minorities. Martin Luther King led marches and boycotts in Montgomery and Selma, Alabama, in Chicago, and on Wednesday, August 28, 1963, in Washington DC he led the march that culminated in his seminal “I Have a Dream” speech as Abraham Lincoln’s seated figure loomed over his shoulder. King’s words that day a half century ago still resonate today.

Ah, but today we are still faced with continuing challenges to our basic civil and human rights. The recent Supreme Court decision striking down one facet of the 1965 Voting Rights Act was immediately followed by several states passing severely restrictive new voting requirements that disproportionately impact minorities, the poor, and immigrants. The election of Barack Obama seemingly raised back to the surface some long-held but more subtly expressed ignorance. It is clear that 50 years of civil rights and 150 years of freedom have not been sufficient to eliminate long-ingrained bigotries.

It is within these circumstances that President Obama speaks to tens of thousands once again amassed in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial. While King spoke mainly from the perspective of African-American discrimination and rights, Obama speaks to the civil rights of all peoples who continue to face inequity in treatment, be that be due to their race, their religion, their gender, or their sexual orientation.

Perhaps Lincoln and King and Obama could agree. What we need is a dream…a dream that our nation can achieve the more perfect union that it has so long pursued…a dream that a nation dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal shall not perish from the earth…a dream that we work best when we work toward the common goals we all desire – life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

A dream, perhaps. But an achievable one.

This is the most recent of a series of essays exploring the nexus between President Obama, Martin Luther King, and Abraham Lincoln. Three other essays are linked by Obama’s references to King and Lincoln in his second inaugural address. They can be read in order following the links below:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

David J. Kent is 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 e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

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Book Review – What Lincoln Believed by Michael Lind

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What Lincoln Believed by Michael LindIn this book from 2004, Michael Lind makes an effort to demystify the man he calls “America’s Greatest President.” Some readers will find What Lincoln Believed a well-researched analysis of Lincoln’s true beliefs, while others will be put off by apparent reinterpretation of historical knowledge. Lind clearly believes that Abraham Lincoln was a white supremacist and documents how he arrives at this conclusion. His documentation is not entirely persuasive, though he does provide enough research material to make those who have unrealistically idealized Lincoln more than a bit uncomfortable. Lind also calls Lincoln a liar based on decisions other people made years later and after Lincoln had been assassinated. Jumps in logic such as these do take away from the credibility of the book and could lead some readers to dismiss other, better supported, analyses.

The book is much more than those controversial suppositions, however, and the reader would miss out by making snap judgments. Lind generally does a good job describing how Lincoln emulated Henry Clay and other Whigs on a variety of topics, including his support for internal improvements, protective tariffs, and national banks. In “The Slave Power,” Lind carefully describes Lincoln’s abhorrence of slavery and conviction to sop the spread of it into the territories, but also his support of colonization. It is here that he asserts Lincoln wanted a “white America” and attributes this as the reason Lincoln wanted to stop slavery’s expansion. In “Lincoln and the Union” and elsewhere Lind discusses the dynamic between slavery and Lincoln’s ultimate goal, which was to save the Union; a goal that had both nationalistic and global repercussions should it not be attained.

Two of the more interesting chapters actually have little to do with Lincoln himself. Lincoln attributes to Lincoln a “Second Republic” and then describes how this industrialized capitalism evolved and dominated U.S. and world development from the Civil War right up until Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal. While the attribution to Lincoln (and Clay and others) seems a bit strained, Lind does make a solid case for the importance of this particular economic philosophy. Similarly, in “The Great Democrat,” Lind connects industrialized societies to democracy. Both of these final chapters stray from Lincoln per se, but offer significant insights that put Lincoln and his times in context.

Reception to this book has been mixed, and Lind in my view stretches beyond his material in attributing to Lincoln ingrained convictions that remain unsupported. That said, I found that the book challenges some of the more mythical perceptions of Lincoln and offers significant insights not found in other books. In that regard, I recommend the book to serious Lincoln scholars.

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

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Juneteenth, Frederick Douglass, and Emancipation Day

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A statue of Frederick Douglass was dedicated on June 19th in Emancipation Hall of the U.S. Capitol Building. It’s been a long time coming, but the date, and the location, are eminently appropriate. Juneteenth, a portmanteau of June and Nineteenth, celebrates the day that the final state of the failed Confederacy abolished slavery. So having the unveiling of the former slave turned great statesman and ardent abolitionist on Emancipation Day is as good an orchestrated roll out as could be imagined.

Frederick Douglass

Douglass is a phenom in the history of freedom from slavery, and a story that deserves its own space for the telling. For now just recall that he was the most vocal “freeman” to push for emancipation. He pressed Abraham Lincoln and others and was often frustrated at the slow pace of change. So while Lincoln rightly deserves much credit for emancipating the slaves, Douglass deserves much more credit than history has recorded.

Emancipation didn’t come easy, of course, as the deaths of between 620,000 and 750,000 men from bullets and disease so graphically reminds us. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was issued initially in September 1862 and took effect on January 1, 1863. But the immediate impact was limited. It took the North winning the war, Congress passing the 13th Amendment, and ratification by the states for slaves to finally “be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” Still, not all of the former Confederate states were happy to comply. It took a Union General, plus a couple of thousand armed troops, to effectively take over the last holdout – Texas – and declare that “all slaves are free.” That was June 19, 1865. Juneteenth.

So, as Lincoln would have paraphrased himself, it is altogether fitting and proper that a seven-foot bronze statue of Frederick Douglass be installed in the Capitol Building on Juneteenth. Emancipation Day.

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.

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Two Life Masks of Abraham Lincoln…And His Hands Too!

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A few days ago I posted three views of Abraham Lincoln, a compilation of three photographs I took within the span of a few days in Washington D.C. I’ll have more on the second and third photos soon; for now let’s focus on the first one. The life masks and hands of our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln.

Back in the day, that is, the middle of the 1800s, sculptors would make a mask of the subjects face and head to later use for busts and full length sculptures. A Chicago-based sculptor named Leonard Volk approached Lincoln in the midst of the famous 1858 Illinois Senate race against Stephen A. Douglas. After two years of lobbying Volk finally convinced Lincoln to sit down in the spring of 1860, not long after Lincoln had returned from the East where he wowed the crowds at Cooper Union and in various cities of New England.

Abraham Lincoln Volk life mask

The casting process, according to Lincoln (and Abraham Lincoln Online), was “anything but agreeable.” Volk himself noted that:

“it was about an hour before the mold was ready to be removed, and being all in one piece, with both ears perfectly taken, it clung pretty hard, as the cheek-bones were higher than the jaws at the lobe of the ear. He bent his head low and took hold of the mold, and gradually worked it off without breaking or injury; it hurt a little, as a few hairs of the tender temples pulled out with the plaster and made his eyes water.”

The hands were actually cast a couple of months later in Lincoln’s Springfield home. Both are shown clasped, but the right hand holds a short piece of wood. Not surprisingly for Lincoln, the wood has a story. Again from Abraham Lincoln Online:

[Volk] wanted Lincoln to hold something in his right hand, so Lincoln produced a broom handle from his wood shed and began whittling the end of it. When Volk told him he didn’t have to smooth the edges Lincoln replied, “I thought I would like to have it nice.” Since Lincoln had been shaking hands in congratulations for getting the Republican nomination for President, Volk noted that “the right hand appeared swollen as compared to the left,” and that “this difference is distinctly shown in the cast.”

Abraham Lincoln hands

Ah, but there is a second life mask. Cast in February 1865, just weeks before the end of the Civil War and Lincoln’s tragic assassination, sculptor Clark Mills applied oil to Lincoln’s face, followed by a thin layer of plaster. Unlike the Volk mask, which came off in one piece, the second life mask fell “off in large pieces” that “were then reassembled to form the finished mask.”

Abraham Lincoln Mills life mask

Just one look at the two masks can show how the war (and illness) wore on the man and his face. The difference is striking, and disheartening.

Volk and Mills masks

I was lucky enough to see the masks and hands in the National Portrait Gallery, one of the Smithsonian’s many museums open free to the public. The attendant in the gallery told me that the sculptures had only returned to the museum about two weeks before, having been on tour. He expected them to go back out on tour in about six months. You can also see them in the Library of Congress in this short video from the History Channel.

Of course, why dawdle over some heads and hands when you can sit with Abraham Lincoln in his entirety? More on the second photo later.

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David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. 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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Attendance at the American Society of Journalists and Authors Conference

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David J. KentLast weekend (April 25-27) I attended the annual conference of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA). I’m not a member, yet, but plan to be as soon as I meet the strict eligibility requirements for this professional society. My book, Tesla: Wizard of Electricity, is one credit towards being eligible, and I’m working on others.

Three-and-a-half hours on Amtrak and a 1.25 mile trek through Manhattan (with laptop and garment bags heavily strapped to my shoulders) brought me to the Roosevelt Hotel, the “Grand Dame of Madison Avenue.” I arrived just in time for the awards ceremony, where ASJA honors their own for excellence in writing, including Wendee Nicole for science writing.

As a first-timer I picked a range of sessions to get my feet wet. I started with “Building Your Business Through Travel Blogging.” As readers of this site will no doubt have guessed, one of my passions is to travel, so I must admit to being envious of the panel members who get paid to travel and write about their experiences. I was especially intrigued by Patricia Serrano, whose unique blend of travel writing and film-making is summed up well in her Fresh Traveler blog’s tag line – “off the beaten path adventures for a fresh mind, body and spirit.”

Next up was “Covering Your Assets: Personal Finance for the Independent Writer,” where I learned about retirement plans, insurance, and why you should NOT quit your day job. Then on to luncheon with featured speaker A.J. Jacobs. Jacobs is the author of three best-selling memoirs that include reading the entire 32-volume Encyclopedia Britannica, living a year by the rules of the Bible (Old Testament!), and his latest, Drop Dead Healthy. In short, Jacobs was both hilarious and helpful as he offered some great advice to writers. But Jacobs wasn’t the only person at the luncheon that gave out good advice – I had the pleasure of chatting with David Volk, an ASJA member and author of The Cheap Bastard’s Guide to Seattle. David was the one who reminded me to get photos of my meeting with the cast of the off-Broadway play, Tesla.

After lunch I couldn’t resist a session called “Spice Up Your Storytelling with Statistics.” Led by Laura Laing, author of Math for Grownups and the forthcoming Math for Writers, the session showed how statistics can help bring out the meat of the story. She also showed how not to use statistics, like pie charts of types of pies that total up to over 200%. The chart was confusing if not delicious. Next up was “Humanizing Esoterica: Turn Complex Ideas Into Great Stories,” by the inimitably named pairing of Barry Burd and Patchen Barss. Both of these afternoon sessions fit into my overall vision of communicating science in a way that is understandable and interesting to the general public.

But wait, there’s more.

As a winner of an ASJA scholarship to attend the event, I also had the chance to sit down for a mentoring session with an established author. I was privileged to spend a half hour with Tim Harper, author of 12 books as well as a freelance writer, writing coach, editorial consultant, and in his spare time, brainchild behind a new publishing venture at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. Tim provided some valuable insight for putting together a proposal for my new book on Abraham Lincoln’s love of science and technology.

And that was just day one. A good place to stop. More on the second day in a later post.

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Abraham Lincoln Dies – April 15, 1865

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Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln died today. Well, 148 150 years ago today. He was shot by John Wilkes Booth while Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln were in Ford’s Theatre watching the comedic play, Our American Cousin. It was April 14th, 1865. Good Friday. He was carried across the street to the Petersen House where he died the next morning, April 15, at 7:22 am. “Now he belongs to the ages,” spoke Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, before engaging in a 12-day chase that ended with the death of the assassin.

Abraham Lincoln's box Ford's Theatre

All of this is the stuff of history, well known to most everyone. Less well known are some of the fascinating details. For example, as the crowd at the theater slowly came to realize what had happened a cry rang out “Is there a surgeon in the house?” There was, Dr. Charles A. Leale, a recent graduate of Bellevue Hospital Medical College and commissioned as assistant surgeon only six days previously. As luck would have it, Leale was seated in the dress circle of Ford’s Theater that night, mere steps from Lincoln’s box. His quick action likely prolonged Lincoln’s life by several hours, though he couldn’t save him from his ultimate fate. Leale’s clinical report gives us a detailed record of the event.

The gun used by Booth was a Philadelphia deringer, a small large-bore pistol fired by loading a percussion cap, some black gunpowder, and a lead ball. Since it can only fire a single shot without reloading, Booth dropped the gun on the floor of the box, slashed Major Henry Rathbone with a large knife, then leaped to the stage. The gun now is on display in the museum of Ford’s Theatre.

John Wilkes Booth derringer

Into trivia? Here’s something with which you impress your friends. Deringers were made with “rifling,” that is, grooves in the barrel to spin the ball. Unlike most derringers where the rifling creates a clockwise twist, the one used by Booth had rifling that turned counterclockwise. No matter what the twist, the rifling is designed to improve accuracy by creating a more predictable flight of the ball or bullet. Needless to say the direction of rifling was a moot point since Booth shot Lincoln at very close range.

Ah, but what happened to the lead ball? Well, it now sits in a glass case at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland. Along with it are several skull fragments, just in case you’re into “morbid oddities.”

There is much more to come on the science of Abraham Lincoln. Stay tuned!

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David J. Kent has been a scientist for over thirty years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and the e-book Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time. He is currently writing a book on Thomas Edison.

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Happy Birthday Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin (and a book review of Rebel Giants)

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Abraham LincolnEach born on February 12, 1809 in very different parts of the world, Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin never met. Darwin spent five years traveling the world on The Beagle and eventually defined how we think about life. Lincoln spent four years staying pretty much in Washington DC and eventually came to define how we think of leadership.

To examine these two men who each went on to have a dramatic impact on the future, I review a book called Rebel Giants: The Revolutionary Lives of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, by David R. Contosta. The author takes us back and forth between the parallel lives of these two great thinkers.

Parallel in terms of age and impact, but not on much else it seems. While Contosta notes that they both lost their mothers in childhood, had strained relations with their fathers, went “through years of searching for a direction in their lives,” and struggled with religious doubt, the similarities come off as largely contrived. The differences are much more evident. Lincoln was born a poor pioneer while Darwin inherited wealth from his father and wife (an heiress to the Wedgewood pottery fortune). Lincoln went to school “by littles” while Darwin attended the best schools money could buy. Lincoln was of generally robust health, though did sometimes suffer from depression, while Darwin had severe health problems all his life. Lincoln sought out politics and the enamor of the crowds while Darwin was largely reclusive, preferring to let his writing and others carry his work forward.

Darwin 1854Still, the book toggles between Lincoln’s life and Darwin’s life, comparing the two at key junctures in their maturation as thinkers, family men, and leaders. Because they were the same age many of these life choices occurred at roughly the same period of time. Contosta notes that both put off making decisions as to their life’s work since neither really wanted to follow too closely in the footsteps of their fathers. Lincoln traveled down the Mississippi on a flat boat before settling for some years in New Salem, Illinois. Darwin traveled around the world by ship for five years doing the research that would eventually lead to his most famous works. Once this phase was completed they each “found their calling,” Lincoln in politics and the law, Darwin in development and experimentation on what would eventually be called evolution.

During the time of their greatest achievements it seems unlikely that Lincoln had heard of Darwin or followed his work. After all, Darwin’s “Origin of Species” was published just days after Lincoln’s election as President and with Civil War brewing he likely was a tad busy. Darwin, however, had heard of Lincoln once the war started. He was what could be called an abolitionist and he carried on a long letter correspondence with botanist Asa Gray at Harvard regarding the progress of the war and slavery in general. Contosta only touches on this correspondence but the glimpse he gave makes me want to see more of these letters.

Rebel Giants Darwin and LincolnThe book spends some time after the early death of Lincoln and the much later death of Darwin to assess their impact on the world. Clearly the emancipation of the slaves and the subsequent problems with reconstruction led to issues experienced for another century (and continuing). And clearly Darwin’s theory of natural selection challenged the conventional thinking of the day. History has shown that many would “adapt” the work of these two influential men to serve their own purposes (e.g., “social Darwinism,” which Darwin would have been aghast to see).

Overall this 2008 book is an interesting read and a fascinating glimpse into the lives of these men. Based on my own knowledge I have some quibbles with what I see as the superficiality of the information about Lincoln, and perhaps the same is true for Darwin as I’m less familiar with the details of his personal life. But that won’t detract from reading for most people. I recommend the book, especially for anyone who would like better to understand the process leading up to Darwin’s greatest, and most controversial, contributions to modern knowledge.

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Happy Birthday, Harold Holzer, Abraham Lincoln Scholar

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haroldholzerHarold Holzer has a birthday.

The widely acknowledged preeminent Abraham Lincoln scholar, Harold Holzer, celebrates his own life on February 5th. Born in 1949 just seven days short of the 140th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth, Holzer has spent much of his life studying and writing about the man who freed the slaves and saved the Union.

So what is that he has done to warrant the title of preeminent scholar? You can start with the 43 books on Lincoln that Holzer has authored, co-authored, or edited. Add in the hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of lectures he has given over the years. And for good measure throw in his chairmanships of the Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation and the lead work he has done for other major Lincoln organizations and events. He has won too many Lincoln scholarship-related awards to count, but one notable recognition was the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia‘s annual Award of Achievement in 2006.

In checking my list it seems I only own 11 of Holzer’s books, three of which are signed first editions. I’ve attended a lecture (or three), and witnessed his amazing recall – and understanding – of Lincoln’s words and intent. Perhaps he will write a foreword for my book when it comes out; he’s written dozens over the years in addition to his own volumes and articles.

Holzer is currently a Hertog Fellow at The New York Historical Society. As he enjoys the public reception to the Steven Spielberg film, Lincoln, on which he was a content consultant, it’s easy to imagine that Harold Holzer is having a very happy birthday. Lincoln fans are certainly happy that Harold Holzer has taught us so much about Abraham Lincoln.

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Lincoln to King to Obama: President Obama’s Second Inaugural Address Continues the Push Toward a More Perfect Union

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As President Obama was sworn in for his second term he channeled both Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King. In his inaugural address he sought to keep us on a path toward a more perfect Union, walking in the footsteps of these other two great men of history. This is Part Three of my series on inaugural speeches. It is best to first read Part One and Part Two to put this part into context. [I’ll wait again]

Inaugural emcee Senator Chuck Schumer primed us to think about Abraham Lincoln in his introduction of the President. Schumer noted that when Lincoln was first being sworn in the Capitol Dome was only half built. Lincoln insisted that construction continue through the brutal war to follow, and on the occasion of his second inaugural the dome stood gloriously the proceedings, a sign that “the Union shall go on.”LincolnInauguration1861aObama did not mention Lincoln by name during his inaugural address. He did not have to. At least some of Lincoln’s words and deeds are known to most and understood by all. In the most recognizable homage to Lincoln, Obama noted that the Founders of this country “gave to us a Republic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed.” Shades of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in which he extolled that the nation would have a “new birth of freedom” and that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Obama goes on to remind us that for more than two hundred years we have done so, though often with struggles against our own demons. Again channeling Lincoln, this time his own second inaugural and his “House Divided” speech, Obama noted that “through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free. We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together.”

Perhaps fewer in the crowd were aware of another reference to our 16th President. Early in his state legislative career Lincoln was a big proponent of “internal improvements,” the building of railways, canals, roads and other large capital intensive projects. As President he signed into law the Pacific Railroad Act, which effectively created the first transcontinental railroad. During his inaugural address President Obama acknowledged Lincoln’s contributions when he said “Together, we determined that a modern economy requires railroads and highways to speed travel and commerce; schools and colleges to train our workers.”

The “schools and colleges” part is also a reference to Lincoln, who in 1862 signed into law the Morrill Land-Grant Act, which allowed the creation of land-grant colleges.

obama inauguration 2013

While Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation that began the process ending slavery and inequality for African-Americans, that process was slow and painful. One hundred years after the Civil War it took the strength of conviction of another man, Martin Luther King, to bring us closer to equality in basic civil rights. President Obama paid homage to King by being sworn in on his bible, along with Lincoln’s, on the day we honored the birthday of the civil rights leader. In a larger sense, the very presence of an African-American man “with a funny name” was taking not only his first, but his second, oath of office as President of the United States is testament to how important Lincoln and King are to our history. Obama captured the spirit of both men and the continuing struggles to achieve that “more perfect Union” as he bound together the common goals of equal rights for all men, all women, and all peoples:

We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.

As both Lincoln and King asked us to withhold malice and work together, so too did Obama end with a call for us all to embrace our lasting birthright: “With common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication, let us answer the call of history, and carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom.”

If you missed them, here are Part One and Part Two.

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