• the VICKSBURG Lincoln Lore is tht hulleti11 ()J 1l1e A lien Counry Public Libmry and 1lte Friends of the Lincoln Collection oflndjana

CONTRIBUTORS: Eric Foner Richard W. Etulain Hon. Frank Williams Richard Striner

ACPL: Cheryl Ferverda jane Gastineau Katie Hutmacher Adriana Maynard Philip Sharpley Curt Witcher

Friends of the Uncoln Collection: Sara Gabbard, Editor Post Office Address Box 11083 Fort Wayne. Indiana 46855 •g>[email protected] www.acpl.info www. Uncol nColl~tion.org www.facebook.com/LincolnCollection

Lincoln Lore® ISSN 0 162-8615

MEMBER ltUUtliUII Members of the Friends of the Lincoln Collection of Indiana receive a discount Carefully preserved at the Allen County still standing. They replaced two-thirds of for books published by Public Library i1\ Fon Wayne, Indiana, is an rhe 1:\st column with other matter already in Southern lllinois University important artlfacr from the Lincoln Financial type, added the now famous Note ofJuly4 at Foundation Collection: a piece of wallpaper on the end and printed a new edidon." Press. To order, contact che back ofwhich was printed 3Jl edition of rhc •July 4, 1863. Two days bringaboutgreat Chicago Distribution Center Vicksburg Daily C;t;,;en. The Union siege of changes. The banner of the Union floats at 1-800-621-2736 (phone); Vicksburg resulted in many shortages for the over Vicksburg. Ccn has ·caught the Confederates lhring there. One example was rabbit;" he has dined in Vicksburg, and he 1-800-621-8476 (fax); the loss of sufficient quantities of newsprint did bring his dinner with him. The "Citizen"' or order online at p~lper. Nearing rhe inevirnble end of the siege, lives ro sec it. F'or rhe last time it appears on cidzcns began to strip waHpaper from their .. VVaU-paper." No more will it eulogize the www.siupress.com. homes so that the n:versc side could be us<.-d to luxury of mule-meat and fricassed [sic) kitten Use promotional code print the Daily Citizeu. This edition is dared -urge Southern w:1rriots to such diet never­ F LC25 to receive a 25% July 2, 1863, but, according to the Library more. lltis is the last wall-paper edition, and ofCongress Periodical Division, "'On July 4 is, c..xcepting t his note, from the types as we discount on your order. Vicksburg surrendered, the publisher Red, and found rhcm. lt will be valuable hereafter as the Union forces found the type ofthe Citizen a curiosity." 2 IUHMER 2014 usages. Wage camers were oppressed, but ~ An interview with Eric Foner they were not slaves. Women did not enjoy 2014 McM urtry Lecturer anything like legal orsocial equality, but free women were not slaves. 1 n our own rune,. I - hear students invoke slavery for all kinds Sara Gabbard: I bought Who Ow ns see it as a personal accusati01~ ofsome kind of situations. 'Stop and frisk" (the police ,.­ J·listory when it was first published, to be told that the Civil War, in many ways, practice in New York City, until recently, ~ and I "retu.rn ro it" frequendy. was fought over slavery. of police searching nonwhite young me1l r"T'1 I think that ou.r readers will be I was in France bst year and visited a o n the street for no reason) is iniquitous, interested i1\ your comments about s1nall monumenr in Luxemboug Gardens, but it is not, as 1have heatd people say, "the "creative forgetfulness" as the commemorating the end ofslavery in France same as slavery." Slavery was a uniquely topic applies to slavery and the and irs empire. No such monument exists evil iJlStirution. This docs not mean that Civil War. A lso, when and why did in the United Stares as far as I am aware. historians begin tO abandon this people who are not slaves all enjoy equality­ Moreover, inste;-'d of self-cong ratulation­ "forgetfulness" on the topic. nothing could be further from the truth. celebrating how France abolished slavery­ Eric Foner: Of course, the Civil War But we shO\ald try to be precise in our usc the monument thanks the slaves themselves remains a subject ofend less f.."tsCil'antiOI\ fot of lang uage. for their cflOrts for freedom, and states that historians and the general public. Millions of their struggle forms part of the history of SG Please describe your people visit Civil War battlefields, and books liberty enjoyed by all French people. Even experience with the exhibit at on the war continue to appear :1nd often Americans who do see slavery as cenua) to the Chicago H isrorical Society OJl fAA H ouse Divided: Amer ica sell very well. 111en there is the related but the Civil War stilt often fall back on the distinct "Lincoln industri:\1-complex," as one in the Age of Lincoln." notion that "we" freed the slaves, whereas historian has described it. As you know, the .EF: That's an interesting story. Nearly historians have long since placed g reat history ofslave ry has also been the subject of thirry years ago, when I was coming to the emph:1sis on slave resistance as an important innumerable important works ofschola rship end of writing my book 01~ Reconstruction, component of the end ofs lavery. in the last half-century. Historians today nrc I received a call from the CHS (now known Ofcourse, this is an old story, as David convinced of the centrality ofslavery to an as the Chicago II istory Museum) asking me Blig ht showed in " Race and Reunion." understanding of American development, to become one of the two co-curators on this Forgetting some things about slavery and from the e-arliest days ofcolonial settlement exhibition. They had just b(:en working wirh the Civil \ 1Var was essential to n:ttional up tO the C ivil War. And, more broadly, Alfred Young, a scholar of the rc\rolutionary reconc ili atiO l~ (among whites) as it emerged rhey have made slavery central ro rhe corirc era, on an exhibition on that period, and in the late nineteenth cenrury. history of the Western Hemisphere from they wanted a scholar fo r the next one. I the earliest days of European exploration SG Sometimes I read the word slavery said they probably had called the wrong and conquest. Here, however, there seems and sometimes chattel slavery. Is there person-] had no expcticr1Ce with museum to ben gap between scholarly and public any difference between rhe two terms? exhibits (except as a consumer). ·u 1ey said, undcrsrandir1g. To be sure, slavery has EF: 1 happen to think that the word slavery in effect, we know how to do an exhibit, but developed a presence in public history­ should be used very precisely. That is-the we want to make sutc the history is up to museum exhibitions, fo r c.'Xamplc. And the reduction of a human being to property(i. e. date. They promised what we would call i1~ 61 succes-s of rhc fihn Twelve Years a Slave" chattel}1 in a system where the status passes the Universiry world, academic freedom-] suggests that a broad audience interested from generation to generation. Of course, would make the decisior'ls about the themes in a ilrcal" account of slavery (rather th:u1 history has seen ma1~y ki1~ds of slavery and content of the exhibit. There wns only Hollywood's pernicious fictions of the past, systems, from the plantation slavery of the one caveat-we had ro include the bed on as in t(Cone With the Wi1~d") exists. Western Hemisphere to household sbwery, which Lincoln died, which somehow had Nonetheless, slavery remains an slaves as concubines, as warriors, and in other made its way to the Society. People come uncomfortable subject fo r many Americans. c."tpacitic-s. Bur the chattd principle is crucial fwm all over the world to sec it. There is no museu1n of slavery in this to slavery. The Society was laking :.1 gamble. They coumry, nor arc there many monuments Slavery is also used ns a kind ofall-purpose would d ismantle a very popular exhibition that draw ancnrion to the history ofslavery. metaphor for inequality and lnjusrice. 'l his on Lincoln, which, to a historian, seemed The presentation ofs lavctyat many historical was the case in the eighteenth centuryJ like an exercise in hagiography and trivia. sites in the South remains woefully out of when the American revolutionaries spoke lr had dioram:ts of v~triO\IS moments in dare. When ] lecture, as 1 frequently do, tO incessantly of being reduced to slavery by L i11coln's life. and things of no partict.llar non .. academic audiences. 1 arn struck with Bl'itish taxation and other policies. This historical value. such as Lincoln's icc skate how much resistance there is to accepting is metaphoricnl slavery, a use of language (ifi remember correctly) nnd even a piece of rhat slavery was ..somehow'• (as Lincoln whose power derives from knowledge of the wood allegedly from the log cabin in which put it) the fundamental cause of the Civil actual slavery that existed in th:lt society. In be was born. It lacked all sense of historical War. 1his docs not mean that there were the nineteenth century. the labor movement context. spoke of "wage slavery" a11d feminists of no Ot"her causes1 bur it is remarkable how 1 was very fortunate to work as co-curator many people ding to the old Beardi;m view the "'slavery ofsex.'' Of course, to associate with Olivia Mahoney of the CIIS, who not that the tariff was the basic cause, or "'states your position with slavery can often be a only w:lS an c.~pert i1\ exhibiti01l planning rights" as an abstract doctrine, dissociated way of gaining symp:nhy for your cause. but had a keen interest i1~ and open-mir1ded from the defense ofslavery. People seem to Abolitionists were often annoyed ~n these NUMBER 1906 3 approac:h to histc>'<)'ing oomplex ide2s. There always seems response was very positive. And I think it response to Turner's rebcllion-2ccounrs of to be • tendency to pet$0nalize the history, had an impact on other museums, lOr the a widespread reign of terror ag:oinst blacks, to focus on individuals, which is fine up to prnc-rice of teaming professional historians :abolitionist tc\ponses, :and the Virgini:a a point, but broader hinorical forces can be from out>ide the mu5CUm with professionals debate on slavery of 1832 that followed loSisightof. I thought Ken left it ro Barbara within it is now nandard practice all 0\'Cr the from the uprising. And I included some Fields (one of the moin •talking heads") country. Libbpnd lsubscquentlycurated an documents lllustrating how v:trious groups to raise imporranr questions rather than exhibit on R'-"Construction, which opened at have invoked ·1Urncr's legacy in the century •ddressing them directly himself. I wrote the Virginia l listorical Society and traveled and more since his rebellion. The format an essay in " book edited by Robert Toplin ro sevcr:al olhcr venues, North and South, was basically cstnblishcd by the series, but criticizing the rrca1mcnt (or non-treaunenc) in the 1990s. (Both exhibits have been Turner was an unusun Ic;hoicc-mosr figures of Reconstruction in Burns's final episode digitized; links :Ire on the home page of in Great Lives Observed nre political leaders and wHI not repeat that criticism here. Bur my website: www.cricfoner.com.) and the like. ovcrnJI, the s<::rics was ccrrn.inly several cuts I tc.rned a great deal from work on this above what one usu~lly sees on television. SC: What WllS the significance exhibit, ~pccially how to convey historical of"Cidcon's Band?" content visually and through objects rather SC: Yourcdited book on Nat EF: Gideon's Band were the men and than ,,,.ords, which I was used to. I was told, Tumerwu publiJhtory ofcho>ols to te<-ss-ohe :odjustment co ohe end ofsiJvcry­ long QS it did." Please comment. the government shou ld give blacks access which does not end in 1877. 1877 is based on El': I chink I was trying here 10 counoeract 5 to land, and, more broadly, how much a polioical chronology. And, in f•co, much the sense one gets from some historians that ~ supervision whites should exercise O\'Cr the recent work on Reconstruction has extended because Reconstruction failed h has no frc«< sla.-... wen: aU debaoed and worked out that lime fume, carrying the story inro lasting importance4 The obuadc$ to success on !he Sea Islands. i\Janyofohese 1eachers the 1880s and "'"'" 1890s. One might say are e:uy to identify-entrenched racism, brought paternalistic :attitudes toward thai ohc politic:al hiStory of Rcconsoruction violence, • federal govcrnmcno chao laeked the former slaves. .But one C"Jnnot but be doesn't end until the disfranchi.scmenr of the administrative S[rucrures th.at would impressed byrhcirdedicarion (Laura Towne black vooers in the Souoh around ohc turn of enable io 10 intervene forcefully co uphold remained neal' Beaufort umil her death in ohe ccnoury (and I did include :o brief epilogue the law, a growing Northern retreat from ohe early owentieth century). Ovcmll , they looking from 1877 to !900). To some cxteno ohe ideal of equaliry, and ochers one could were committed to helping the former !he chronological parameters were set by the name. And if one looks 'at other societies sla\'es achic\"C: autonomy. and many pressed New J\mcrica.n Nation series in which the chao abolished slavery in ohc nineocenth vigorously for the go'"'mmenl lo allow ohem book appeared. I mnked the beginningd•tc century, Radical Reconsrruction s:tands out co acquire ploos of land so chao ohcy would backward from 1865 10 1863, but left the as an episode where former slaves, almost not have to work for whire employcrs. ln this convcmional ending date in pl.ace. Maybe immediaocly after the end ofslavery, exercise they ran up agains-t che interests of white I just r:on oul ofspace and energy. genuine political power in a democratic sysocm, from the local level 10 ohe halls investors from the North who bought up SC: I wasstruckbyyourquotntion abandoned pla1uarions and wanted blacks from W.E.B Ou Bois thao ... "the of Congress. As Du Bois argu<.-d , it was a co grow cotton as free laborers. Overall, slave went free; stood a brief moment remarkable moment and that is what I was as Rose argued, e\'eniS on ohe Sea Islands in the: sun; then moved back again trying to emphasize in th:u sentence and in dernonsor.uc chao Rcconsorucoion began toward slave-ry." Please comment. my book more generally. during !he Civil War, not in 1865. EF: Of course rhat is from Du Bois's SC: You have combined different SC: Your monumental book monumenml work, "'Black Reco1astruction careers, indudingwriting lUtd Rtcoflstructiott: Am~rita~ Unfinishtd in America," published in the mid-t930s. teaching. Did you usually write Rewlulio11, 1863-1877 iSJICrhaps Du Bois, as you know, was challenging an your m"nybooks at the same time 1he most significant contribution entire edifice of hisrorical interpretation that you were actively engaged in a to the ohodyofthis subject. Why deriving from the Dunning school, which regular reaching schedule, ordid did you ch00$C 1863 and 1877 as the s:aw Reoonstruction as a rime of unrclie\'Cd you cry to A\'Oid an ..ove:tlap"? beginning and end ofthis period? sordidness in political ond social life, El': I gcncraUy am writing and leaching El': Thank you.! chose 1863 (I could have the lowest point in the saga of American •• ohe same oime. l havcdC\'Cioped a pattern chosen l861 but that would have made the dcmocr~tcy. 1he reason, according to that over the years in which I write at home in book even longer chan ir is} ro •·make the view, w:as the mistake of giving the right the morning, then go over to the university point chat Reconstruction is the inevitable to voce to black men, who were inhen.:ntly (which fortunately for me is :ocross the ouogrowoh of the dcstrucoion of slavery. I incapable of exercising il inoclligcntly. street) to teach, 1neer with students, serve began wioh ohe Emancipation Proclamation, DuBois placed blacks, their aspirations, on committees, etc., etc. I find that even no! because Lincoln suddenly freed all the activism, o~ccomplishmcnts, :and e"-cmual a couple of hours e.ach day of writing is slaves on J•nuary I, 1863, buo because rhe victimilation, at the center ofthe: story. He csstnlial 10 geuing books finitnl ohem Souoh, a new 13bor sysocm, new kinds ofrace of Reconstruction, but he w:antcd re2ders in 3 coherent manner. \Vriting makes your rel3oions, eoc. So the date 1863 indicaocd chat co remember the effort rather than simply !Caching better and teaching makes your Recon!itruction begins during the war with the end rcsuh. writing better. the decision forc•n:tncipation.1 hat rniscs the Du !lois's book was ignored by the Also, I'm lucky in thai I have ncversulfcrcd fundamental question of Rcconsrruction­ hiscorical profession when it appeared, but it from writers' block. Two things may help to whao will be ohe starus of 1he four million later helped 10 shape subscqueno gcncr:o.tions' explain chao. l"ust is an adage drilled inoo former truction, quotalions, etc., etc. Second, which left political J'O"'I:r solely I was lucky enough after I in the hands of whites. The graduated from college to laws sought ro establish the I hrship to study at legal srnnos oft he former slaves. Oxford for rwo years. There '01ey recognized some rights­ they use the tutorial system. lcf;111izing marriages, allowing Each week l had ro present an them to own property-but essay to my "tutor on a subject essentially were an attempt he had :tssigned the previous ro force bl:tcks botk to work week, and 2bour which I for white employers. They generally knew nothing (I nricd from stare to stale, but 7/v h wJm<• • Bu"Jul LC-USZ6J-JOI<5S was nudying English history, they used vagrancy laws to which I had never taken in rhe criminalize not having a job U.S.). You could not rum up without your Lincoln's relations with black abolitionists with a white employer. All blacks were cssny. ( learned to research and write to to his use of language. is broader than in required to sign year-long labor contracts. deadli ne-a very valuable skill. many such volumes. lf they did nor do so, they could be lined and, if they could not pay, would be forec d SC: In the Preface to 011r Linroln, in SC: You state in Fo ~r Fru that ro work for an employer who paid the fine. commenting on the study of Abt:tham "lgnorance of Reconstruction Lincoln, you state that: lltln too many is unfortunate b«ause, whethe-r They could no• leave the job until the>""' recent studies, hO'A-el·•er, the wider we realize. it or not, it remains expired. Essentially, theyga>-.: blacks almost world slips from view. To understand a part ofour Hves." Please no civil rights, no political rights, and sought Lincoln, it seems, one has to study comment on this s-tatement. to use the power of the 12w to reestablish only the man himself." In view of EF: In my opinion, )'00 cannot understand the plantation system with 12bor as close to this situation, please comment our o wn time without a knowledge slavery as possible. on your selection ofa uthon and of Reco nstruction. Issues central to ~01 csc laws led to bitter dcnunchuion fro m topics for inclus-ion in the book. ReoonsmJctiO•\-thc defi nition of A merican bl:tcks :md a backlash against Johnson's EF: Thar book of essays was timed ro citizenship, the balan1> in public history. of 2015. As a local study, although with suppooedly

presented by Eric F oner DeWitt Clinton Professor of History, Columbia University Author t{Ret

Lincoln and Religion Interview with Richard Etulain

Sam Gabbard: Why does the and Ronald C. Whire,Jr., found discernible in Kc 11 tucky and lndiana, Lincoln never topic of 's faith connections between Lincoln's religiosity joined these churches, but his parents continue to be d.iscussed? and his political decisions. and older sister Sarah did. When he left Richard Etulain: I think all Americans arc I n rhe 150 years since Li11coln's home in midsummer 1831 for the New interested (even fascinated) with Abraham assassination, most historians and Salem village, not far from Springfield and Lincoln. About four or five topics linked to biographers have been intrigued with perched on the Sangamon River, he broke Lincoln grab the most attention: Lincoln as Lincoln and religion. But in recem years, with the past and embraced the new. He husband and father; slavery and abolition; perhaps because many American scholars joined a debating club, read the books of politics; leadership and ethica] values; and have themselves been less interested Thomas Paine and C. Volney that challenged religion. Those intrigued with Lincoln's personally i11 strong religious affiHation, traditional Christianity, and conversed with religious ideas and experiences often take they have paid less attention to American several New Salem residents about religious opposing positions. In the half century religious life. Bur that has not been the ideas. Some, bur not all, biographers following Lincoln's assassination, William case with Ab,..ham Lincoln. Everything contend thnr about 1834 he wrote a "lost Herndon, his law partner, and Ward Hill about Lincoln-his f."nily, his rhoughrs, book on infidelity" (perhaps a pamphlet of Lamon, Lincoln's dose friend, and writers his actions, his leadership-has been nearly about 25 pages) challenging the Bible as Chauncey F. Black and Jesse \N, Weik exhausrivelycovered. Although scholars in inspired scriprure a~td disagreeing with other depicted Lincoln as a skeptic or "infidel." But the past generation or two have paid most orthodox Christian ideas. Those touting the Josiah Holland, a sympathetic biographer, attention to Lincoln's political decisions, his "'lost book" thesis add that a friend, knowing fellow Illinoisan Isaac N. Arnold, and artist reactiOI1S to slavery and abolition, and his of Lincoln's political ambitiOilS, threw rhc Francis B. Carpenter touted Lincoln as a racial attitudes, they have not overlooked manuscript in the fire, saying its publication devout Christian. A similar division of his religious journey. As long as we continue would sidetrack Lincoln's quest for office. opinion marked writings of the next fifty to pay so much auemion ro and poi1lt out Eve11 if Lincolrl did not author the •lost years, with most historians and biographers the strengths of Lincoln's life and career, book," he was clearly considering the ideas hesitant to label Lincoln a Chrisria11 but we wilJ continue to scrutinize his religious said to have been in that writing. Historical theologians William J. Wolf and Elton thoughts and actions. theologian William Wolf perceptively Trueblood pointing co several Christian­ summarizes what we might take away SG: Please tell the stoty of the "New centric actiOilS of the presidenr. In rhc last Salem Infidelity Statement." Should it about Lincoln's religious experiences in t\VO generations, more than a few scholars be significant in ourstudy of Lincoltl? New Salem. Since no nne ever claimed to have discovered a series of steady steps in have read or heard read the "lost book on RE: Lincoln's stay in New Salem, Illinois, Lincoln's journey from skepric ro embracing from 183lto 1837 was an important second infidelity," it is a story still unproven. But a God-directed world, and some other Lincoln certai1lly was qucsti011ing rhc idea of stage of his religious journey. Reared in clemcnrs ofChristianity. Biographers such the Bible as infullible, as to~.tlly inerrant; he liard-Shell or conservative (we might call as Allen C. Guel1.0, Richard J. Carwardine, was also coming to believe in the universality them fundamentalist) Baptist churches NUHBER 1906 7 ( ...... ,..__ ...... _...... _,...... of ...... _...... _ ...... _ S, he told Lincoln's interest. effec-r on Lincoln~sv iewpoint ? the Qtoker lady that the "purposes of the _ SC: Did Lincoln have a purpose in RE: 1l~ank you for asking about these t\lmighry arc perfecr, and mu$1 preva~l. writing"'t\1WiC2tion on the Divine l"\\'0 people. Their fu.-es 2nd idcu illustrate though we erring mortals may fail to Will" in early September 1862? Lincoln's interact-ions with persons whose accurately perceive them in :1dvance." r-­ RE: !think the "Meditation on the Divine scronger faith ~ecmed to influence chc Lineoln w·.lS much "indebted" to the "good ~ \ Vill" provides another m-eoling yet hny president's journey. ll>e Rev. Phineas D. christian people of the country" who were I'"T'1 glimpse of Lincoln's increasingly complex Gurley \vas the second 2nd more influcntinl praying for him, ir1cluding "no one of them, views of the role of Cod in human alf>irs. of rwo Presbyteri•n pastors who helped the more th•n ...yourself.• Lincoln's contacts The deaths of rwo sons, lhe pcrple.."Citics of Uncolns through the grief of dying sons with Pa;tor Gurley and l~ricnd Gurney are illuminating glimpses into his persisting n horrendous civil wnr, rt nd particularly the and nourished Lincoln ll5 an increasingly mounting load of his role as Commonder thoughtful man about Cod's porticipation quest to underst~nd Cod's will, especially in Chief drove Lincoln to pondc:r more and in people's lives. D r. Curley pasrorcd the in rhe final \va,...torn, emotionally upsetting morcabouta lligher Power. W hether written New York Avenue Presbyterion Church years of his life. in late summer 1862, or, as some think, in in Washington, D.C., where the Lincolns SG: President Lincoln did not August 1864, the priv:lte meclihttion c:une were pew-holders and frequently attended. quote Scripture directly in hi• during :t down period in the Union's striving But the president did not join the church, , but, less than for victory. Lincoln's piece began with a even though hcdeartyftdmircd 1he ministet. a year and a lmlflater, his Second widely held belief: "lhe will ofCod prevails," Curley, although obviously antislavery and Inaugural Address rdied huvi.lyon and followed with another accc:pred idea: :against secession, stared out of politics i~ Biblical references. Was this choioe .. In grcnt conte"s each pany claims to act his sermons. Lincoln was draw1l to G\.Jrlcys in both instances deliberate? in accordance with the will of Cod." But Old School Prerkedly inftuenced Lincoln EIQf{utnt PmiJmt (2005), the first words of ken ofAm«ic-.ns fighting one >noriesJohn C. Nicolay and John I loy as about the dilemmas which antiwtH and by the people, and for the people, shall nor they prepan:cltheir monurncmJI ten-volume pro-•bolitionisr Q\~akers faced. Before perish from the earth: b;ognph)\Abr.J...m Vntcln: A llillory[l890]), she left, Mrs. Gurney knelt and prayed a Nearly every person who has '"rat ten is exceptionally re\'ealing about Lincoln's wonderfully eloquent prayer. ·1he president about l.incoln poirus to the biblic-.1l sound, inner thoughts. Not meant for a speech or replied. thanking her for the interview and sense, and content of the Second Inaugural public lener, thpondence with Eliza Gurney in 1862, Address, one sees Lincoln moving gtadually "that the Almighry... may strengthen thee rhc •Little Speech" and letter to Albert G. aw::~y from a distant, uninvolved Deist God to accomplish all the blessed purposes ... Hodges (1864), and other bits and pieces to a more im"Ol\'cd, dccision-maiOng Cod he did design to m3ke thee instrumental along the pre>idential way, he or she "ould ~iblydirccting human C\'cnrs. But in the in accomplishing. .... So taken w3s Lincoln know chc references to God and biblical "~leditation," as Inter in Lincoln's Second with ~Lrs. Gurney's transparent religious images in the Second Inaugural wen: ~<>t ln~ugural, what Cod's exact purposes were fidelity and her support that he wrote her something new. Lincoln had been wn:sthng remained mysterious. a letter stating he would "probably never with these i>sues all during his \tVhitc house . .. forget• her interview 2nd letten... l'hen, yurs-if not before. NUHBER 1906 11 u..o The March 1865 address brought together following Willie's death in February 1862. (without their having seen its contents), C5 several strands developing during Lincoln's The Lincoln boys attended Sunday School at and sealed it, promising in the note he --J presidency. Most significant here were the New York Avenue church, but sometimes would work smoothly with his opponent Lincoln's ruminations about Cod and His they also went to the Fourth Presbyterian for a smooth presidential transition after possible role in the North·South eonJlict. Church with their friend Julia Taft and her his apparent coming defeat. 'The full of Repeating what he had been iterating, younger brothers. Willie and Tad thought Aclanta 011 2 September, and similat milirary Lincoln said both side-S read the same Bible, Julia's church w'ls "lorslivelier" whe1l a few victories soon thereafter, probably did most prayed to the same Cod, and asked for Cod's southern sympathizers would burry out of to bring about the rc .. cJection of Lincoln I aid against their opponents. He added, church, loudly banging their pew doors, in November. Along the way, however, "the Almighty has His own purposes," bur when the pastor asked the congregation ro Lincoln did rally rhe Methodisrs and other indicated those purposes wcce not yet clear. pray for President Lincoln. Pastor Curley, church organizations to support the Union Yoked ro these comments were Lincoln's becoming a friend of the president's, often (Republican) Party, chiefly in the summer conviCtions about the future, illustrating spoke to him about Christianity. h was and early full ofl864. his nonvindictivcncss: "With malice toward Gurley who was called to the assassiMtion In fact, norte of Lincoln's Iacer eJection nonei with chatiry fo t all; wirh fi rmncss in site on 14-15 April to pray for the dying contests revealed as much about his the right, as Cod gives us rosee rhe right ..." president and who preached the funeral personal beliefs as that in 1846 when he Al.ready thinking about the next years of sermon a few days later. ran for rhe U.S. House of Representatives a reunited Nonh and South, Lincoln in 'Illinois against Methodist circuit-rider SC: ]n some instances today, dearly utilized loving kindness to call for Peter Cartwright. Lincoln•s opponent and the religious beliefs (or lack of forgivel'less aod acceprancc il'l a restored same) ofa political candidate a.re his Democratic Party traveled a potentially Union. One could almost hear from the considered to be "fair game" for voter ruinous rumor that Lincoln was "an open Mount "Blessed arc the peacemakers." approval or disapproval. Has this scoffer at C hristianity." Realizing the derailing danger of such attacks, Lincoln SG: Were the Lincoln sons baptiud? always been the case? Is it a valid con sideration? In the election of quickly prepared a handbill admitting he was R E: A good question rhat allows me to 1864, was Lincoln's fajth an issue? nota thutch mcmbetbutalso noting he had comment on the Lincolns' church-going. "never denied the truth of the Script\lrcs• As biogrJpher Ronald White notes, there's RE: The religious faith of political candidates has rarely played determining or ·spoken with intentional disrespect of little information about the baptisms of the or near-determining roles in Amcric.an religion in general, or ofany denomination of two older Lincoln boys, Robert and Eddie. presidential elections. Still~ accusations of Christians in panicular." 'Thereafter Lincoln One questionable source suggeSts Willie may was extraordinarily careful not to bring have been baptized. Nea.rly all scholars who religious infidelity or off-key rheo logical religious issues into his political campaigns. deal in depth with Tad, however, say he was beliefs, often without much substance, have frequently appeared in such campaigns, but Revealingly, Cartwright later became a baptized on his second birthday, 4 April 1855 widl Little i rnpact. A few have mattered, strong political supportct of Lincoln. (not 1856as several mistakenly state). Tad's however. In 1800 attacks on Thomas baptism may have been the outcome of Mary SC: Is r.he.re a discernible pattern Lincoln's rejoining the Presbyterian Church, Jefferson as a nonbeliever almosr cosr him in Lincoln's religious journey rhe . ht 1928, criticism of the the church of her girlhood in Kenrucky, on from his early years to 1865? Catholic faith ofDemocr:tt Al Smith hurt his 13 April 1852. As a new wife and mother in R E: I think so. fOul! disclosure: as a lifetime run for the presidency. The election of1960 Springfield, Mary had sporndically attended CV!mgelical, 1 want to sec a journey ending the Episcopal Church, the church of her included a strong anti-Catholic bias roward in bclict: But a carefUl historian, following John F'. Kennedy, who nonetheless eked out sister and brother-in-law, Elizabeth a1td the strongest evidence, must avoid such a very close victOry over Cl.!,aaker Richard Ninian Edwards. But when Eddie died umvarrarncd conclusions. At best, Lincolll•s Nixon. Ofthe recent prcsidentiaJ candidates in early 1850, Presbyterian P:.stor James religious pilgrimage is usually opaque and only Barnck Obama fuccd more than a little Smith warmly ministered to the grieving always complex. parents, and Mary joined Smith's church criticism as a supposed non-Christian, pro~ The first stages of the joumey seem less Muslim believer-. lrortically, in the election of soon thereafter. Husband Abraham rcmed hazy: boyhood with devout Baptist parents, 2012 many evangelicals who did not embrace a pew at First Presbyterian but never joined but adolesccru hesitations and unanswered ~lormons as fellow Christians were forced ro the church and never attended regularly. But questions continuing into manhood. VVide the Lincoln boys did attend the church's vote for Republican candidate Mitt Romney, reading and religious speculation follow in a devout Mormon. Conversely, the strong Sunday School. the New Salem and early Springfield years. religious faith of Presbyterian Woodrow When the Lincolns rnoved tO 'vVashington, Lincol1t's wife Mary's growing religious D.C. in early 1861, they began attending the Wilson and Southern Baptist Jimmy Carter com1nitments and the sorrowful death of New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, probably added to their political Scn more expansive The If/most Choscrt Ptoplt: A Study oftiM growing emotional load. His cont:~en with and emphatic: in their tre:atmC'nts of Lincoln's Rtligitm oflfl>roham Lin, or unbdicf, to specific with and leuen to Eliza Gurney illustrated not only trace Lincoln's stunering steps in happeniog.. In cbrifying the conneetions r-­ his expanding search for meaning in a God­ religious maucrs, they also illustn.te bow bet"un religious thought.ond oct ions Wolfe 0 controlled world. Biographer A lien Cuelzo Lincoln's religious perspecti\"CS inRuenccd adumbrated the more recent conclusions ~ perceptively shows Lincoln's stumbling his political dc

The Annual Lincoln Colloquium Amid the Din ofArms: Speakers: Nicole Etcheson ·sustaining the NJtion:ll Government: The Election of 1864 The Election of 1864 in lndi>n>" J ciTrcyJ.~ l al>nson •The Fouoding l'athcnanJ the Election of 1864. September 27,20141 9:00am-4:30pm Jennifer Weber "1l1e Summer Lincoln Lo.t the Election" Allen County Public Library J------on:uhan \V. \ Vhite "'Ema.ncipouion, lhc Unios\ Army, and the Forr Wayne, Indiana Reelection of Abraham Lincoln"' For more information, please contact [email protected] HUHBER 1906 13 til• fOII'UlUTII u~ nnn&a. ctla'l l'9t'lliG 90' u .a.ru.rr.t.,-- '*'-.- Atlnntn Burning -llnrpui w... ~ryt LC·USZ62·127598 Top: D(J/rlltfilm ~1& dtpcts. pu/Jik huildi11g1, and manujiutori(s atlltlmtta. G(orgia. Nrxxmb(r 15, 1864 Bollom: 'the flourt

Sam Gabbard: What was the effect war industries. Fires claimed between 4,000 in his widely published sermon. Gone was of the surrender ofAtlanta? and 5,000 buildings. General Sherman used the concenl over emancipation as a pre­ Frank Williams: On September 3, 1864, rhe city as a staging area during his no;o~ condition for peace. month OCC\lpatior'l. So that in November General WiUiam T. Sherman telegraphed SG: Please discuss the promotion Chief ofStafi'Major General l lenry W. 1864, his army left Atlant:l on his f.1mous ofClam Barton and her legacy. Halleck il'l Washington, "So Adant:t is ours l\1arch to the Sea with Sav:-u'lnah ~sitS next FW: Reliefwork ofClarissa Barton found and fuirly won." Even though Confederate objective. News ofthe city's surrender turned the C ivil W ar ro be reality in training. General Hood slipped away with his morale around in both North and South. She had to muster the political skills to remaining badly beaten Confederate force, U•'li011ist George Templeton Suong wrote circumvent the obstacles put in the way of in his diary, "Atla1ltn takc11 at last!!!... It is the capture of Atl:mta was a shot in the arm women, independent relief work and, at rhe for the North's morale and especiaUy for (coming at this political crisis) the gn:atest same rime, seck allies among the soldiers and increasing the chances of Abraham Lincoln's event of the war." But the Richmond govcrnme1\t burc~ucrnrs. During 1861 and reelection. The city was considered rhe £xaminer depicted the despair that .. the 1862, BartOli brought food and supplies to "second capital" of the Confederate St:ltes disaster at Atlanta" came "in the very thousands who were wounded at the Second of America and was important as a railroad, nick of time" ro "save rhc parry of Lincoln BuU Run, Antict:lm and Fredericksburg indusrrial, and distribution cenrer. On from irretrievable ruin ... (lt] obscures before the Army Medical Department September 2, 1864, after Sherman's army the prospect of pc:tce, lights so bright. It a.nd other phila1lthropic organizations had flanked the Confederates south of the ciry, will diffuse gloom over the South." The finally cootdillatcd reliefefforrs. Known by Mayor James Calhoun surrendered Atlanta. meaning of Arlama-'s surrender meant, the Army of the Potomac as the "ongel of Sherman ordered the city's evacuation before.: "Peace Through Victory," as described by the battlefield;' for her timely appearance Nortl1crn clergyman, joseph T. 1bompson beginni•lg rhc dcsrrucdon of railroads and all to provide comfort, soldiers named their 14 IUHHER 2014 daughters ofter her. army surgeon James Dunn in performing for. She retired to Glen Echo~ l\latyla?d, ~ Despite her administratl\'c skills, most amputations with bullets passing through in 1904, where she promoted dotion of Southern property was her ailing father in ~Jassachuscns, but She tried her hand at the Sea Iotomac some six million rations of bread and beef. engage mote actively in work at the front. in spring 1864. Present at the b:ottles of the His troops destroyed more than 200 miles Enlisting the help of the piul staffed by Shernun's 60-mile-wide path ofdcstruc1ioo, Less than three "ttks later, Banon brought nurses of equal responsibility. stretching 285 miles across Georgia from provisions toward Sharpsburg, Moryland, In early 1865, Barton came up with a new Atlanta to Savannah, affected the 1notale on the eve of the Battle of A ntictam. She plan with former Union prisoners of war. She ofSouthcrncrs a.s it demonstrated the area's worked orl a line of wounded tlu t extended wanted to c.re:ne n bureau ofmiss ing soldiers vu lncnlbility. Now Southerners, who had for live miles from a fu rmho\lse. and stopped to provide frantic relatives with information heretofore been very resilient, cllmc to only foro short nap in four day•. She •ssisted about their sons, brothers and hu,b-•nds. She rcalit the North was going to engage sought President Lincoln's help, h>ving no in ,.-ast de);trucCi\"eness. \Vas his ~lart:h to funds herself, but she lcamed that Captlin the Sea,., example of total modern warfare? James ~ loore had been appointed head ofthe Shcm1:an, with Grant and Others, understood U.S. Burial Bureau. A man had been chosen the rclntiont sense of thcm~lvcs, bcea.mc objectives. It is also I(; (IS/.6} 75.f27 connection wirh the soldicts she had cared HUMBER 1906 15 ...... ofundermining negotiations by setting forth a:: cor'lditions he knew would be unacceptable g to the Confederacy. The Confederate agents expressed "profound regret" that tl1e Confederacy's sincere desire for "peace, neutrally just, honorable, and advantageous to the North and South" had not been mer with equal "moderation and equity" by President Lincoln. The New York Ttme:s saw it as "an electioneering dodge on a great scale" intended tO damage Lincoln •by making him figure as an obsmcle to peace." And it worked, too. The Southern agents urged all to vote Lincoln om of office in November. Confederate agent Clement C. Clay, working in Canada, wrote ro Richmo1'1d that Northern Democratic newspapers "'denounced Mr. Lincoln's manifesto in strong terms and Republican presses (among Slxrmans Marth to II>< &a/ LC-USU2-tt6S20 them the NNJJ York Tribune) admitted was a blu•1dcr ... F'rom all that 1 can see or hear, axiomatic that wn.r between whole societies him to bring to Washington "any person I am satisfied that this correspondence is is an indication of modern and total war. anywhere professing to ha\·e any propositiOI'I tended strongly toward consolidating the Notwithstanding, the Civil War did remain of Jefferson Davis in writing, for peace, Democracy and dividing the Republicans." limited because the North did nor wage embracing t he restoration of the Union and The aff.,ir gave the Copperheads a boost a1t unrestricted war against the Southern aba•'ldonmcnrofs lavery."' Creclcywas now on and the Confederates had a triumph in rhc people themselves as Sherman's campaign the hot sc:tt bec:~use it made him look like he propaganda battle-if not on tl1c battlefield. concentrated on destroying propcrt)-not was warranting the agents' credentials as well Lincoln tried to marginalize this affair by the Southern people. It was, at least, part as acting as witness to Abraham Lincoln's allowing James R. Gilmore, a journalist, and of r.he transitional stage in anticipation of good f.'lith willingness to negotiate. G recley Colonel James Jaquess of tl1e 73rd Illinois toml and moder1t wnr i11 the 20th century. hesitated, but Lincoln forced him into action to meet, on July 17, with Presidentjefferson by sending his priVllte sccrerary John H•y D•vis under Rag of truce. Gilmore and SC: Please cornment on the to join Greeley at Niagara Falls, Can•d•, to Jaquess informally stated the terms Lincoln two unsuccess-ful attempts to end the war in 1864. meet with the Confederates. Lincoln \V:lS had offered in his arnncsty proclamation compromising his principle of refusing to rhe previous December-that is, teUI\ion, FW: During the summer of 1864, acknowledge officially the exisrence of the emancipation, a_nd amnesty. Davis responded Copperheads-the peace wing of rhe Confcdernte governmenr, by insisti11g Ol\ angrily, "Amnesty, Sir, applies to criminals. Democratic Party who had opposed the war restoration of the Union as a prerequisite We have committed no crime. Ar your door as a mc2ns to restore the Union-shouted 111 for negotiations. Hay brought ~l letter from lies all the misery and crime of this war. .. Stop the War!'~ in Copperhead newspapers. President Lincoln addressed "To Whom \ Ve arc fighting for I ndepcndencc-and thttt, Some believed that the Confederacy could 1t May Concern," indicating that ~Any or extermination, -we will haw... YO\l may never be beaten. proposition which embraces the restor:ttion emancipate every negro in the Confederacy By July 1864, the cry for peace went well of peace, the integriry of rhe whole U1\ion, but we will befru. We will govern ourselves... beyond the Copperheads. HorJee Greeley and the al>'Jndonment ofslave ry, and which if we have to see every Southern plantation injected himself in the furor. In July he comes by and with an authority that can sacked, and every Southern city in flames." launched a quixotic failed peace initiative control the armies now at war with the Lincoln approved G ilmore's account for with great consequences. Greeley said he United Stares wiH be received and considered publication in the Atlantic 1\llonthly,as it w·as believed that two of the Co,\ federate age•ns by the Executive governme1u of the United the President's eftOrt to move chc burden in C.·mada were commissioned by jcfl<:rson Smtes, and will be met by libernl terms on of refusing co ncgociatc from himself to Davis to negotiate a peace settlement. other substal\tial and coiJatcrnl points ... 1his Davis. 1nere would be one final effort at Greeley passed this on to President Lincoln would frame all discussions of peace for peace negotiations al.>oard rhe River 0!1een on July 7. While not believing that the the remainder of rhc war. By setting forth in February 1865 with President Lincoln, Confederate agents had any authority for his OWI'I conditiOilS, Lincoln expected to SecretaryofSmte William H. Seward, and negotiating peace, bur due to Northern elicit and then publicize what would be the Confederate Commissioners, Vice President despondency, the President could not appear Confederacy's unacceptable counteroffer. So A lcxandcr Stephens, President Pro Tcm of to rebuff any peace initiative. By playing the Confederate Senate Robert MT. Hunter, along, Lincoln could honor Northern he thought! The Rebel agents outmaneuvert-d him even though they admitted to Greeley and Assist•nt Secretary of War John A. opinion by demonstrating that peace could •nd Hay th>t rhey had no authority to Campbell, former United Smtes Supreme Of11y be obtained through military victory. negori~te peace. They rele•sed to rhe press Court Justice. This would fail, too. Lincoln scnr Greeley a telegram authorizing Lincoln's letter to Greeley accusing Lincoln 16 IUHMER 2014 SG; Please comment on President reluctantly •greed. The President realized Union mHitnry situation in the summer of Li1u:oln•s plans for Recounruccion that the constitutional changes reg:trding 1864 led to • temporary revit>liz.rion of I that he Wlls denloping at this rime. finances and racial policy of the war )~rs onhern Copperhcadism. Peace ad\"oeates f W: Abraham Lincoln'• Prodamarion might be solidified by a Supreme Court within the Dcmoaatic Party dominated the - of Amnesty and Reconstruction issued on under Ch•sc's leadcr>hip. In f.1ct, Chase committee thJt droftcd the party's plarform, December 8, 1863, did result in a flurry of continued to reveal both political ambition adopting a plank rhat denounced the war as !:::::: Reconstruction activity in Federal areas and commitment to racial equality after the a f2ilurc. ll o wcvc r~ two promincrn factors "'-' :::0::0 without complecion until ttft..:r the war. war during his years as C hiefJ ustice. As he conspired to defeat the Copperheads. First, rn Louisiana became the centerpiece of the W:IS not alw•ys in •greement with Republican Dcmocrntic presidential CJndidate General President's new initiative. In early 186-&, leaders in Congress, he nonetheless avoided George B. t>lcCiellan repudiated the peace a loyal government was elected, m3inly •n open confrontation between the Supnome plank. Second, the improving Unioo miliDry representative of the Union·occupied Court and Congress. Although he opposed situation, especially the fall of Atlanu, made New Orlc3ns area, and it provided for on efforts to establish miliury rule in the military forrunes seem more promising. The election ofdele~;ares for a state constitutional defeated states of the Confederacy, he tri1111>ph of the Republican (Nationa l Union) con\'tntion. After the convention assembled. endor>cd legislation that g ranted civil and Party in the 1864 elections and subsequent a dele-gation of pro minent New O rleans political rights to African-Americans. H e militory victory would stamp Republicon blacks went to Woshington •nd presented clashed over Senate efforts to deny him a ideas on government, economics, and race a petition to President Lincoln •sking for prominent role in the impcachmenr trial over the conscrvath·c, individualisric :and the right to ,-ore for members of their rnee. of Andrew Johnson in 1868 •nd, when agrarian ideology of the Copperheads. Republicans chose Ulysses S. GrJnr as Lincoln indicated that he could not order SG: What were the main points • sufl"rage requirement upon the people of their candidate fo r President, Chase sought in the platforms ofeac h pany Louisiana. l lowcvcr, ten days l:ucr. he raised the Dcnlocrntic norn inatiOil instead. t-Iis in the election of186 4? the issue with the new governor, M ichael efforts failed because D cmocr.Lts rejected FW: Appealing to rhe crucial coo\SCrv:ttivcs, Hahn, in a letter marked" Priv-Jte." "I b•rely his policies of rncial equ•lity. Despite his the )YJrtybilled itselfosaNational Union (not suggest for )'OUt private considention," he ability :and desire, his ambition was not Republican) Convention. lhc convention wrote, "whether $0111e of the colored people matched by political s•vvy. I lis arrogant, seated representative-s from Lincoln's may noc be Itt in-as, for insunce, the \'Cty stuff)•, 2nd pompous nature funher alien>ted reeonstruc:rcd governments in Louisian:a, intelligent, and [soldiers] ... But this is only party leaders and voters alike. W hen A rkansas and Tennessee. The party also a suggestion. not to the public, but to you Lincoln considered Chase for Chicfj usrice, ackno wledged radicals in irs platform, alone." When the convention nlct, II:t ho Ohio Senator Benjamin W ade c:oustically blaming slttvery forca using the wnr; pmising showed the letter to leading dclcg:ucs, but commented , "Chase is :a good mnn. but his the Emancipation Proclamation as we11 as they rcj<-cted the President's plea. llowever, theology is unsound. He thinks there is a African-Americon soldiers; ond pledging os rc•Jttircd by Lincoln, they ended slavery fourth person in the Triniry." £,'Cn ifdenied itself to a constitutional amendment in the new nate constitution. \Vhen the war wh>t he sooght most, the presidency, Chose completing rhe abolition of slavery. An become stalemated during the summer of can be remembered for his commitment to attempt to condemn conservatives in 1864, Lincoln's political stock plummeted raciaJ justice and c:qualiry. I lis morn! courage Lincoln's c:tbinct, such as former Postmaster not only in the nation but also within his \vas at least as great as his unending ambition Gcner.ol Montl;omcry Blair, was transformed party. 1llct on Northern lhe Democrats were fact ionaliz.cd but vetoed the measure. After winning society, believed in SUites' rights. limited reached a compromise at their convention reelection, he directed his cflOrts toward government, and anti-monopolis1ic ideas. in Chic:tgo in late A ugust 1864. T hey securing nn early peace on his tnild terms­ A lthough they eonerged in every Northern nominated former General George B. [he $Urrcndcr of the rebel armies, restoration state, the most prominent was former Ohio t\ lcClellan who clearly favored the war of the Union, and emancipation. Congrcssmln Clement L. Vallandigham and, for vice president, George Pendleton, SG: Salmon Chase became Chief who was arrested and banished in 1863. l ie a congressman who favored peace. The juStice afttrrhe death of Roger ran an un*'Uccessful campaign for p'Crnor platform declared the war • failure and Taney. What were the shon and ofOhio. Others included fem•ndo Wood, cJllcd for an •rmistice followed by • pe•ce long term ramifications? mayorofNcw York City, Daniel W. Voorhees convention, which it asserted (but ofco urse FW: Fir>t, the new Chiefj ustice, Salmon o f Indiana, and George W oodward of could not prove) would lead to l"cunio n. P. Chnsc, cc•scd being • political thorn in Pcnnsylv;tnia. Union victories ;.\t Certysburg McCicllnn, in his letter of •cccptancc, Lincoln's side as he had now b<:cn sidelined and Vicksburg in July 1863 stunted the stated his opinion that peace could not by the appointment from seeking the growth of Copperhead support and ltd to the be pcrm.tncnt without reunion. Some presidency. Chase knew even bef<>re Chief C\'Cntual dcfCJt ofCopperhead gubernatorial Democrats reguded this as a repudiation Justice Roger Taney's death that he would candidates Cleonenr V•I!Jndigham in Ohio of the pbtform, •nd Republicans were quick have 2 new ro]e of influence, and Lincoln and George Woedward in PcnnS)i'">nia.The t() exploit the p:trty's indecision. As the war NUHBER 1906 17 ....., &ction h:ad feared, Republicans also rushed the proposal. The 1864 presidential election Representati\'CS. Although rhe pre«:nt is C5 to porrray the Dcmocr.us a. disloyal. would decide the amendment's fare as rhe the same Congress, and nearly the same .....I SG: Plc• scdcscribe rhc d iffcrent Democratic t>arty's platform supported members, and wlrhout questioning the ways in whkh states a_rranged states' rights-rncaning that it was the right wisdom or patriotism of those wh() stood fon·otingby soldien. liow ofstates to maintain sla,·ery if they so chose. in opposicion, I venture to recommend the sig nific:antwere theirvote:s? But Lincoln's Republican Pany or Nation•) reconsideration and p><""ge of the measure FW: Republican losses in the 1862 elections Union plarform called for the •utter and at rhe pre$Cnr session. Ofcourse the abstract taught 1he Republican administration about complete cxtirp:ltio•l" ofs lavery which meant question is nor changc(lj but :111 intcrvcni ng I passage ofrhe 13th Amendment. the importance ofsecuring and managing election shows, almost certainly, that che rhe soldiers' vote. i\lany states did not Afrcrrcclcction, Lincoln used his personal nat Congress will pant he measure if this provide for the voting of soldiers in the preStige and vasr patronage in polirical does nor. lienee there is only a quc~tion of field. ln filet, prior 10 the C ivil War, there powers ro prod rhe H ouse into passing the time as to when £he proposed amcncl,ncnt was no mt.-chanism to allow soldiers to \'Ote ~mcndmenr. l ie not only believed in the will go 10 the States for their action. And in the field. By 1864, a number of states morality of the proposed amendment bur as it is to so go, at all t\'ents. may we not adoptt.-d measures to remedy this situation. thought its pasuge would further erode rhe agree thai the sooner the better? It is nOt If the srarcs did not allow soldiers ro vote by Confederate war effort, as well as sanction claimed rhat the election has imposed a duty abserltcc ballot, Republican governors 1nnde the Emancipation Proclam:nion which on members to change their views or their liberal provisions ro furlough soldiers so they the President had issued as a war measure votes, any further than, as a1'l additional could return home to '"'•· These RepubUcan under .. military necessity" for only rhose element 10 be considc~, their judgment officials Wtrc rewarded with overwhelming area• still under Confederate control. Even may be offected by ir. It is the voice of the suppon for Lincoln's reelection. though rho 1864 election gave his party a people now, for the first rime, heard upon On election day, November 8, 1864, sunicient majority co break the deadlock in the question. And a grc:u 11arional crisis. 150,000 soldiers' ballots were cast wirh the I louse, rhe new session would not begin like ours., unaoimiry ofaction among chose about 78'6 ofthem for Lincoln (compared until December 1865 and Lincoln wanred seeking a common end is ''"Y de$irablc­ to53%ofthc civilian vote). In New York and the sitting Congress to approve the proposal. almost indispensable.• Connccticu1, the soldiers' vorc ' vas critical So Lincoln authorized and supported So Lincoln was appealing to the Dcmocr:uic to Lincoln's victory in those srare-s. Secretary ofSrate \ Villiam llenry Seward's members of the. d\en current Congress, Soldiers'lcttcrs indicated that theirsharcd madc ofadvancing the Union cause; but on with the 13th Amendment as welt :t$ peace for the abolitionists, submit ted 1 heir version the issue of Union or no Union with victory at Appom:u1ox. which included broad language banning di~rinc£ivc insidious discrimin2tion. The Sen.uc the politicians h:l\~ shown their instincti,·e judiciary Committee drafted the eventual knowledge that there is no di\-.,,...ity among ABOUT THE AUTH OR rhc people." language or the amendment by borrowing the phrases from the Northwest Ordinance Lincoln was also eager 10 sec the proposed Fr ank W illiams of 1787 which had banned slavery from 13th Amendment pass for submission to Frank W illiams rece:ntly reured as Chtcr Jus

Sara Gabbard: How did each president handle relationships with top military commanders? With civilian officials? Richard Striner: As T. Harry Williams argued so persuasively years ago, Lincoln had a better strategic sense rhan any of his military commanders with the possible exception ofWUliam Tecumseh Sherman. Lincoln thought in Clausewiw.ian rctrns before Clausewit~ had even been translated into Englisb,lct alone taught at the military academies. Lincoln waged total war and he thought holistically about the power assets of c.o'\ch side, his own and the Confederates'. He strove to use the massive Union superiority in manpower, weapons, and materiel to overpower the enemy, and he regarded the Confederate armies as targets to be desrroyed rather than as obstacles to be avoidcd.lt was difficult for Lincoln to find commanders who shared his strategic vision because the Top Lift: S!Mrida,,;oc-094-1 doctrines that \VCre taught at the military 1bp Cmtn-: Sh.·rmmt/OC-0953 academies were stodgy compared to Lincoln's Top Right: Gmm1l Dougla1 J'l-loulrthur/ LC-D/G-hy in preparation for \Yal'­ of their plans and sometimes ordering them in the war. After Lincoln had appointed and in part this was \tVilson•s own fault­ to adopt a different course of action. He Grant gcncral.. in-chicf. Grant proposed prompted Pershing to rake his time before would somcti1ncs put up with incompetent some schemes that would have opened up committi1lg men to battle, since he felt that field commanders for a while as he tried to invasion paths for the enemy. So Lincoln draftees should receive the necessary training find suitable replacements. But when the vetoed his ideas. ln his big campaign before being sent into harm's way. Cr:tnred performance of a genernl was obviously against Lee in Virginia, Grant withdrew also that the performance ofcertain British wretched, he \VOuld sack the man right away. too m:wy men fro1n the defense perimeter of and French commanders-particularly rhe The most infuriating task that he confronted Washington, D.C., thus leaving the nation's British field commander, Douglas Haig­ was the [ask of •naking over-cautious or capital vulnerable to the Confederate attack had been so queStionable that Pershing was reCitlcitrnnt generals take action when they led by Jubal Early in July 1864. reluctant to entrust American lives to the offered excuses for delay. To some extent, With civilian offici:tls-whethcr cabinet decisions of foreign commanders. Even so, this was Lincoln's problem with generals officers, members of Congress, or state when the great German onslaught of 1918 such as George McClellan, Don Carlos and local leaders-Lincoln was brilliant in was unleashed in France, Pershing dragged BucU, William S. Rosecrans, and George estimating their potential ro help or to hinder his heels in committing American forces Gordon Meade. With other generals, such his plans. He dealt with almost aU of them when the British and l~rench faced the as John Pope, Ambrose Burnside, and NUMBER 1906 19 L.l..l prospect of uuer defeat. Pershing insisted (5 on raking his time to build up a separote --I American force under his own command. The British and the ~·rench kept pleading with \Vilson to send peremptory orders to his field commander, but Wilson could n~r iummon up the confidence ro do so. In earlyJune, u the Germans began to shdJ I P:~.ris, the french were: beside themsel... -es with resentment of Wilson and Pershing. As militory historianS. L.A . .Marshall once related, "the French government was packing for Bordeaux. lhousands of terrified refugees came streaming through the city ... Foch was having his worst hour ... Clcmenceau bridled at the Americans, railing thac rhough they had three quarters ofa million men in Fr.tncc, they were contributing only driblets to the battle; trenchant criticism, beyond answer." Wilson's inability to perform basic 0\"ersight and coordination ofhis •ubordinates' actions •v:neh. And as \Vii son spoke of a war to diS>grecd completely regarding the merits of was shown on ;~~norher ocxasion when the make the ""'ld <>fe for democracy, he let liberating the Philippines from theJapanese. allies began to develop armistice terms the norms of American democr.tcy lapse ro FOR defemd to J\l.ac:Arthur, in pan because os the German position fcll apart in the a deplorable extent. the gcner>l h•d politic•! connections that autumn of 1918. Wilson had called for a FOR wu a very canny leader who would might have been troublesome if Roo.cvclt '"peace without victory"-a non-vindictive show gn:at skill when at his best. Bur though had angered him. FOR's strategic instincrs peace-but .u J>et>hing conferred with the his wartime leadership was vastly superior regarding the post·w:u ""rid could succumb British and the French regarding armistice ro Wilson's, it lacked the virtuosity of to wishful thinking. l ie hoped to usc Ru.sia terms, Wilson f.1ilcc:l to send any orders that Lincoln's, FDR showed laudable astuteness and China in a •big five" arrangement for would bind his commander to the terms thnc in appointing Gen. George C. Marshall supponing the post-wor work of the United he dccmecl essential. As it was, the terms as army chief of St--:&rn the civilian policy-makers :tbout Cerm2ns Uttpt wh ..Uc\~T tcmu were handed In 1942, when the U.S. high command was the weaknesses of Chiang, but to little down in the Trcaty of Versailles. almost uno1nimously in fa\'Or of a cross .... :n':lil,- since Chi.tng and his wife were ,,-,ill­ \Vits5Una.tcr general, Albert approvAl to vArious poUcies which Burleson. was gi,·cn 1wccping powers under for f2ilurc if the amphibious landings went stre.t c.hed con.nitutional authority? wrong. In ;any ca)c, FOR had to broker the E'PionagcAct of1917, and as Burleson RS: Since the federal Consriturion internation:al diugrctmtnts regarding abused those powers-prompting many m2kes no provi,ion (or scccuion or Civil st raregy on many OC'Ca~ions. He also had to thoughtful people whom Wilson respected War, Lir~e<>ln construed the secession bid broker diqgrcemenu among the members to romplain-Wilson hid from the problem as a gig:antic inwri'C\."tion that justified the of his own high command. In the Pacific and dithen:d. '!he «arne thing occurred with nlling up ofstJtt mHitil units to l Thom>S Wm Gregory the regul:at army in «Storing proper n:nion1l Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester anti his succc"nr A. Mitchell Palmer. au1horiry within the c;outhcrn states. The Nimitz in l lonolulu during the summer of Some nf the wont ;abuses of civil1ibcrties underlying issue .as w whether the feder:tl in Amcrkan hisrory occurtcd on Wilson's 1944 bec.t"'c the general and the admiral 20 SUMMER 2014 union was permanent or impermanent Wilson's most grotesque proposals in the during the first years of rhe war, since the ~ was endlessly debatable, with cogent aftermath of his stroke in 1919-when he Democrots could plausibly claim that he and intcrprerar:ions of the b3ckground events in was clearly in rhe g rip of de1nentia- was his fellow Republicans had pushed the slave _ the 1770s and 1780s invoked on either side of his proposal that if tbe opponents of the states over the brink by refusing to permit thequestion.ln any case, Lincoln interpreted Versailles treaty in the Senate would resign any further e.xpansion of slavery, thereby his war powers broadly, justifying them in and ru1l for re-elecrion, he would offer to c:ausi1lg an unnecessary war. To coumeract ,-­ cases ranging from suspension of habeas resign himself if a majority of them were this view, _Lincoln strove to emphasize that 0 corpus to emancipation and confiscation. re-elected. There is of course no provision his goal of preserving the Union came first ~ Supreme Court C hiefJ ustice Roger Taney, fo r such a procedure in the Constitution. and rhar whatever he did (in his capacity whom Lincoln detested, denounced some Like Lincoln and Wilson, FOR stretched os president) regarding slavery was done of Lincoln's executive actions, and Lincoln his constitutional powers as far as he dared. within the constitutional and legal context ignored him. Lincoln was nonetheless anxious His feud with the Supreme Court regarding ofstopp ing the rebellion. To a large extent, regarding denunciations of the Emancipation constitutional interpretation during the his statements to this effect-in his messages Proclamarion as uoconstitutiOilal, and he New Deal is well known. In regard to the co C ongress, in his letters ro the editor, urged Congress to amend the Constitution, events leading up to World War Tl, he used in his letters to private individ,•als that beginning in December 1862. His his powers as commander-in-chief to the he knew might be released to the public, intcrve1trion Oil behalf of the "lllirteenth hilt ro push back against the isolationist in his Gettysburg Address and k indred Amendment is currend y famous due ro restrictions of the 1935 Neutrality Act. speeches- indeed created the impression Stephen Spielberg's film. But before the Jn 1940, having secured an opinion from he intended to create in the minds of enough amendment was passed, Lincoln pushed his his attorney-general, he struck a deal swing voters to keep the Democrats from broad inrerprer.ation ofrhe Consrin1tion to with WinstOil C hurchill to swap some taking over Cor~gress a11d also to sust.ti11 a the limit. In 1864 he told one correspondent "surplus" American destroyers for the usc general consensus for continuing the war th:u in his opinio1l, "measures, otherwise ofBritish bases in the western hemisphere. umil victory was achieved (as opposed ro unconstitutional, might become lawful, by Isolationists excoriated him for this supposed negotiating a settlement that would be becoming indispensable to the preservation abuse of authority. After being elected to favorable to the slave states). But he also o f rhe constitution, through the preservation a third rerm he got Congress m pass the used many of these statements to advance of the nation." A spectocular example Lend-Lease Act to give assistance to Britnin. his a.nti~sl avery mission by cmphasi2ing that of L incoJ n,s willingness to stretch the But while C ong ress was still debating the the slavery issue had caused the war, that Co1lstitution was his proposal early in 1865 measure, FDR rook secret acrio1l to ger the Republicans had promised not to interfere to have Congress offer to pay all the slave Lend-Lease convoys reody. ·n,cinstant thor wirh the institution of slavery where it states to ratify the 111irtecnth Amendment. Congress passed the law, the convoys were c.xistcd, that the Confedcme rebels therefore This was quinrcsscntial Lincoln, who acted at sea. 1hen FOR used his discretion as had no justification for their actions, and (admittedly with great audociry) in the well­ commander-in-chief to order naval escorts (from 1863 to 1865) thar African Americans established tradition of"broad construction" protecting the Lend-Lease convoys. C ritics who were fighting for the U11ion (especially endorsed by George Washington, Alexander charged that he was hoping to provoke an emancipated slaves) were national heroes. Hamilton, John Marshall, H enry Clay and incident on the high seas chat would uiggcr On rhe most i f~spir:niOil:t l level, he sought others: the principle that ifthe Constitution hostilities with N:ni Gem1any, a nation with to invoke the Declaration oflndcpendencc does not forbid a given action by Congress which the United States was still legally at in ways that he hoped would make the war or the President, rhe oatiOil's elccred leaders peace. 1t bears noting rhot during the 1940s a rcdeemi 11g and tr:lllsform:uion:ll crus:ade should feel free to usc their own discretion. the constitutional provision for declarations to make good upon the proclamatioll that Woodrow Wilson also approached of war was still taken seriously. \ 1Vith the all men were entitled- equally entitled- to constitutional issues with flexibility, advent of the Cold War, that provision fe ll libenyand the pursuit of happiness. As rhe especially in light of the foct the federal inrodisuse, and we are all ncC\IStOmed co 1he war p rogressed, such sraterncnts became Constitu tion was amended several times usc of American forces in •police actions," increasingly religious. in the early decades of the twentieth century. somctimes'unilatcraJ. sometimes under the Wilson's attempts to influence public Duri1~g his gubern:ttorial days i1l New Jersey, aegis of NATO, in which Congress may opinioll shifted several rimes as his policies he sometimes sardonically bragged that he o r may not have given its assent through shifted due to theexige11ciesofwar.ln 1914, wished to be an "unconstitutional gO\•crnor," legislation that falls fa r short of a full-ftedged he tried to emphasize the necessity ofbcing meaning he would stretch the powers of declararion of war. lt is an interesting open neutrnl in thought as well as deed, so that the state government as far as necessary. question as to whether the United States will United States would not be sucked into a war One of the biggest constitutional issues ever again decJare war upon another nation. that was an international tragedy. l-Ie also concemi1lg Wilson's wartime leadership was 1ricd to persuade Amcrica1lS th:n .. keepi1lg SG: Did each president attempt rhe suppression of free speech thor Wi Ison cool" in this way would increase the chance to iniJucnce public opinion? ond Congress perpetrated through the Were they successful? that the United States would be called upon 1917 Espionage Act and the 1918 Sedition to end rhe war through mediation. Tn 1916, RS: All of rhese presidents onempted to A ct. But though significant numbers of when he admitted that he had bcc1l mistaken infl\lence public opinion, and :•ll of them Americans protested char rhesc :tcts were in his initial aversion to p reparedness succeeded to some extent. \.Yanime poUtics passed in violation of the First Amendment, measures, he made a whirlwind speaking forced Lincoln to tone down the anti­ the Supreme Courr ruled otherwise in the rour of the Midwest in which he ndvocnted slavery conrem of his message, especially case of Srhenck "'· U11i1 I peace. Though there can be little doubt that these efforts were successful in stimulating like· minded people (the Wilson papers are replete with letters to Wilson from admirers who pr:'lised him as a latter-day prophet), his religiosity bred resennnent among those who continued to oppose his policies as well as those who found his pe~onality repellenr. A frer the 1917 war declaration~ Wilson sought to inculcate a mood of stern patriotic unity, especially in jusrificatior) of the wartime measures cracking down on dissent. ~Ihese efforts succeeded (all too well) with the superpatriots-those who had zero toleration of wartime dissent--bur they Jlaturally alienated the dissente~ themselves as well as supporters ofcivillibertics. Finally, Wilson's USS Ariz:nna, at height offiu,following}opmme aaial a/lark 011 P~arllfarbor. Hawaii efforts on behalf of the Versailles Treaty l..C-USZ62-I04778 and the League of Nations Covenant­ including the speech-making tour that he he tried to make the case for "'Lend Lease." Edward M. House, at least until Wilson made in September and October 1919-are After Pearl Harbor, he sought in a multitude became disillusioned with him in rhc hard w assess since the 'lvnilable cvidCilCC of speeches and announcements to justify spring and summer of 1919. House was a suggests that a majority of Americans might total war and raise hopes for a redemptive very strange character, a businessman with already have been willing to consider U.S. peace, often paraphrasing (and sometimes a taste for inAucncing events behind the membership in the League but that many directly quoting) Lincoln as he did so. scenes. He ingrati:ltcd himself with Wilson Americans fou11d it hard to undcrst:t11d He had laid the groundwork already for early in the latter's presidency and he quickly why Wilson oou ld not reach an acceptable such transformational visions in his •four eclipsed all others as Wilson's chief adviser compromise with congressional critics such Freedoms" speech (to Congress) on January on foreign policy (and, sometimes, domestic as Henry Cabot Lodge. 6, 1941, which in some ways drew upon policy), as well as \ +ViJson's confidential FOR, largely through his mdio addresses the instincts that had motivated Wilson. diplomatic emissary and representative and his speeches, sought to create the FOR's attempts to modiry public opinion with foreign governmc.us. House v1as an impression in the years before Pearl Harbor were successful enough to elect him to obvious Hatterer, and Wilson was a sucker that he was sincccclyaverse to war ::tnd that third al'ld fourrh terms and to S\1St3in the for flattery, at least when it was couched in he hoped rhe United Stares could avoid wartime policies that he advocated. Bur his his own presuppositions. House exerted an irwolvemcnt if another world war should very success made many of his old isolationist ambiguous influence on Wilson. Ar rimes erupt. But he also tried to make rhe c.ase that foes more bitte~nd skeptical-than ever. he gave \+Vilson very sound strategic advice, the threat ofwa.r emanated from fascist :u1d and he recorded his disgust in his diary when SC: D id each president have a "'most milimcist aggression~ wherefore the United trusted" adviser? Please elabomte: \+Vilson didn't rake ir. Bur at other rimes, States might have to take AcrJVE steps to House gave Wilson advice that was atgl•ably RS: Lincoln keep war away from our shores. This was the and even demonstrably foolish. Given Lincoln kept his own counsel; though essence of his ..quarantine" speech ofOcrober Wllson's own weakness when it came to he sometimes solicited the views of others 5, 1937. By l940, with the f.1.11 of france and strategic thinking, his near-exclusive reliance and was always e-ager to receive information the Bartle ofBritain, FOR sought to modi f)' on House for advice was in all probability (sometimes sending secret agents to gcr it, his earlier message as follows: since the Axis far more harmful than good. as he did in the Sumter crisis), he seldom partners seemed drunk with the notion of FDR caHcd cabinet meetings and trusted his global victory, the best way to keep their Unlike Wilson, FOR's modus operandi own judgment, for good reason: he was a aggression away from our shores was to help was ro surround hi•nsclf with a large coterie str:uegic genius, and there's little doubt that the British fend it off. lle made a number of advisers who [Cprcscnrcd different he knew it. of radio speeches ("fireside chats") to this viewpoints. Though this was obviously a IYilson effect in 1940. After his election to a third wise pracrice in a g reat mnny 'otnys, ir could Definitely: that person was Colonel term in 1940, he amplified the message as sometimes hinder the formation of policy 22 IUH HER 2014 the war-was hoping w conv.:rt the slaughter ~ into a moral cru!i:ade tu make certain that such a diuster would never happen again. \Vilson's h()pes to rnrdiatc the W2r came ._ ro nothing. I lis I>Op<:• to eotablish a pcacc- ~-:!'~g~.C:rt~~~~~:n~;r.~~a:= 5 Taft and Lord Crilles Treaty and the League Covenant) that was incompatible with the positions that \Vilson hiniSclfhad taken. But W ilson killed >II chances for J compromise out of peevishness, stubbornness, egotism, spite, and-after the stroke in October 1919- dementia. The vitupcr.uion and bitterness of the League fight helped to usher in the isolarionind rt represented by Confederate cau~e as wickc.-d: the formation ro rwo scenariO$ thot are equolly devoid of World War II, there may be moral situations of :a militarily aggressive nation dedicated moral force: (I) the w.lt e<>Uid be construed \vith no good choices at all-tragic choices to perperuating and spreading sla.1:ry, hosed as a chain reaction in whichguiJtcannot be in,·olving civilian cuuahics that cannot upon master race theOt)'· Apologists for clearly aseeruined, or (2) the war could be be averted, such as the dcv:astation in the the Confederate cause hO\'C little basis for porrrayM 2s a chain reaction in which the city of~ lanila th2t was necessary to wrest atguingothetwise in light of the f:octthat the elements ofguilt mu•t be pancK-who fought to secession procbmations :almmt inv:ari:ably extent by all ofthe European participants, the bitter end. And so the 6ghting proceeded stated rhat the m:.in reason for secession thus robbing the conRict that the Confedei"Jtes had definite placed in ath>nkbs po. As SC: What was each p,...ident's like others, such as Sir Edw>rd Grey, the to master race theory, Alexander Stephens greatest strength during British foreign minister in theearlyycarsof wartime? Createst weakness? NUHBER 1906 23 u...1 RS : Lincoln's greatest strength was his that included some radical possibilities such ~ strategic mastery, which included: (1) an as land redistribution and black voring rights...... 1 uncanny abiHty to think holistically, relating Lincoln signed the radical Republicans' all parts to the whole; (2) the audacity to bill establishing the Freedmen's Bureau. visualiu and comprehend the meaning ofall When the existe11ce of rhe Bureau \vas due forms of power and to use the ltinds of power for renewal in 1866, j ohnson claimed that that he could summon to the limit whenever the agency that Lincoln had approved was it was necessary; (3) the ability to juxtapose unconstitutionaL This is merely one of many I sincerity of purpose with the U11 inhibited use illuStrations of the contrast between Lincoln of deception when the circumstances made lt and Johnson: Hyperion to a satyr. In my nccess.1ry; and (4) unAinching sramina. H is own view, the civH rights revolution could greatest weakness was his tendency in the have happened a hundred years earlier-in last few years of his Life to take insufficient the 1860s instead ofrhe 1960s-ifLincoln sreps to protect himselfaga inst assassination. had lived. H e was a master politician, he W ilson's greatest str ength-his endorsed the incremental grant ofblaek eloquence-could also be a weakness, since voting rights, his party had a super-majority it often led ro the intoxicated sense that he in both houses ofCongress, and there were was Cod's chosen agcnr. Co1w inccd that four long years to pull it off. I don't believe /larry S. Truman/ LC-C/SZ62-99/ 70 th is was so, he would frequently neglect-or in the existence of bell, but I would love even ignore-strategic issues since his sense to believe that it exists when 1 think about of revel arion had convinced him rhac the . Eternal pun ishment th e willingn ess to accept the onset of the Providence of Cod would provide. What would be f.1r too briefa consequence fo r the C old \tVar m ight have come more slowly need for any wors-t-·case contingency planning soul o f Booth to experience in light of what under FOR than it did with Truman. But if the M illennium seerned co be ac ha1'1d? he d id. l-Ie robbed the American people of who k nows? Pe rha ps FOR would have Wilson's greatest weakness was his tendency an alte rnative future, one in which a huge remai ned determinedly optimistic in regard toward arrogance, immeasurably worsened amount of suft'ering and human mise ry to the prospects for taming the harsher by a mental condjtion th at was caused by might have been averred. aspects of Stalinism. That was certainly anel'io-sclerosis. the case with Truman's predecessor in the SG: What international romific:ations £'D R's greatest strength was his power­ would have resulted ifthe United States vice presidency. Henry Wallace, who, when akin to Lincoln's-to practice moral strategy, bad joined the Leag ue of N ations? he ran for the presidency as a "Progressive" to frame moral issue.s in eloquent terms in the election of 1948, called for casing RS: It would have depended on whether and then to fo llow up using t-•lachiavellian tensions with the Russians. the isolationist backlash o f the 1920s had methods. H is greatest weakness, perhaps, taken place. The League was no stronger SG: What is the lasting was h is failure to provide tbr a smooth than its stror1gest members. and political legacy of each president? succession. He was clearly in denial with culture i n each of the victorious allied RS: Lincoln's legacy is an America purged regard to h is own deteriorati ng health in powers was turbulent after the war. Even of slavery. Wilson's legacy is a garb led 1944. I f he had been emotionally strong if the United Stares had joined the League, mixture of idealistic visions and bungled enough ro face the mcdic~l l filers, he mighr its policies migh t have been just as weak policies-policies bungled so b adly as to have kept H arry Truman f..r better informed, and incfi'Cctual as the policies of France and give a bad name m idealism ir1 many quarters thus providing fora smooth succession. As it Great Britain in confronting Nazi aggression after World War 1. FDR's legacy, apart from was, one ofTruman's g rearest achievements in the 1930s. Collective security via League the triumph ofd efeating the Axis, is nothing was the speed wirh which he rose to ' he enforcement was dependent on political will. less than superpower status for Ametica. occasion after F DR's death. The western democracies lacked sufficient This status must include to some extent the SG: Not fair questions, but: will by the 1930s. New Deal's s..1.fcty net programs, which to Would Reconstruction have SG: lu here an obvious difference this day mitigace the worst socio-economic been less traumatic and div-isive in how Truman handled the post weaknesses ofour sociery. Above aU, F DR's ifLin coln h ad Hved ? war situation as co mpared co leadership in World War II served to prove RS: On the one hand, this ca.-'1 never whu FOR would have done? for all time what a fully mobilized Americ.1 be p r