The fall of Lincoln
The stack of 10,000 Lincoln books found across the street from Ford’s
Theater. Far below Welty peers up at the photographer
On a walk to the White House from our hotel we passed Ford’s Theater. We had hoped to
see a play there but Ford’s wasn’t showing summer productions. I’ve enjoyed watching
musicals there twice.
In 1971 I had no idea that the infamous site of Lincoln’s martyrdom was a functioning
theater. Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, intended to close it permanently. It was
confiscated, stripped bare and left a rotting shell. Thus, it remained for decades but it was
brought back to life. During my internship I bought tickets to see “You’re a good man
Charlie Brown.” It was an homage to the beloved comic strip Peanuts by Minnesota’s own
cartoonist, Charles Schultz.
My grandsons sat below Lincoln’s bunting draped box seats as a National Park ranger told
us the theater’s history. When they were little the boys gave me a wind-up walking Lincoln
much as I gave my grandfather a copy of Bruce Catton’s Civil War trilogy. Our family has
had many fans of Lincoln. In my grandfather’s Era people were proud if they could say, “I
shook the hand of man who shook the hand of Lincoln.” Having shaken my grandfather’s
hand, I’m three handshakes from Lincoln.
Lincoln’s assassin, actor John Wilkes Booth, had performed for the President and Mrs.
Lincoln and had easy access to the theater. He was not the most famous member of his
family’s acting clan until the murder. After Lincoln was sworn in for a second term Lincoln
delivered his 2nd inaugural address calling for malice towards none. Booth, well into his
conspiracy, was in the crowd listening. Booth was enraged to hear the proposal to give
300,000 black union soldiers voting rights. He vowed, “That is the last speech he will ever
make.”
Three days later he put his gun to Lincoln’s head but too late to stop Southern
armies from laying down their weapons. No doubt Booth’s spirit was doing cartwheels on
January 6th, 2021.
Across from the theater at 516 10th Street stands the Peterson House where Abe breathed his
last with son Robert at his side. (Robert Lincoln would also be at the sides of our nation’s
next two assassinated presidents, James Garfield and William McKinley.) Lincoln’s lanky
frame was carried by Union soldiers who strained against anxious crowds mobbing the
streets as word of the assassination spread. Now a museum its store holds a colossal stack of
10,000 books by different authors devoted to Lincoln’s hard to summarize life. I own a
dozen myself and just listened on Audible to my newest favorite “Differ we must” by NPR
reporter Steve Inskeep.
Another book on my shelves is Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals.” It was the
template for Steven Spielberg’s magnificent film “Lincoln.” Kearns Goodwin begins the
book by quoting Leo Tolstoy's awestruck praise, “The greatness of Napoleon, Caesar or
Washington is only moonlight by the sun of Lincoln…. He was bigger than his country -
bigger than all the Presidents together…and as a great character he will live as long as the
world lives.” Not a bad summary from the man whose War and Peace clocked in at 587,287
words.
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I still have the paperback that was my first Lincoln book, “The Day Lincoln was Shot” byJim Bishop. I read it not long after I complained to my mother that I was ugly. Rather thanargue the point Mom simply told me that Abraham Lincoln was a homely man. Lincolnhimself famously joked about it. He’s been my model ever since.Lincoln’s political career seemed to collapse after his single term in Congress. In 1847 hewas out of step with his Illinois voters who were happy with President James Polk’ssuccessful war with Mexico. Lincoln saw it as a move to help Democrats at the expense ofWhigs by adding slave state territory to United States. And Abe’s Whig party all butdisappeared as slavery spread. But Lincoln’s “ambition,” as his law partner James Herndonsaid, was a little engine that knew no rest.” The same could be said of the South which lostthe war but which in many ways won the peace by denying newly freed slaves theguarantees of the 13th, 14thand 15thAmendments. And when in 1965 a Democratic president,of all people, restored black voting rights the white South became Republican.I moved to Minnesota before the magnetic polls switched. Having grown up in Kansas Ilearned how “Bleeding Kansas” gave birth to the Civil War, the Republican Party andrevived the “rail-splitter’s” faltering political career. I was deeply chagrined when Minnesotakids started calling me “Reb” because my Kansas accent sounded southern to them. And inmy first Minnesota week’s I found myself challenged to a wrestling match like Abe when hemoved to New Salem. Google: “YouWannaFight, Snowbizz.com”.Every serious American historian has pondered what might have happened if Lincoln hadlived. Inskeep’s “Differ we must” doesn’t go there but it explains how Lincoln dealt with 16people who strongly disagreed with him over the course of his lifetime. Each episode showsa thoughtfulness all but extinct in the politics of the Fox News Era. It’s as though the spiritTolstoy described had been martyred anew.Welty keeps Lincoln alive at: www.Lincolndemocrat.com912
