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The Development and Improvement Of View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Texas A&M Repository THE LEGACY OF THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS, 1863-1965 A Dissertation by JARED ELLIOTT PEATMAN Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2010 Major Subject: History THE LEGACY OF THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS, 1863-1965 A Dissertation by JARED ELLIOTT PEATMAN Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved by: Chair of Committee, April Hatfield Committee Members, Julia Kirk Blackwelder Cynthia Bouton Peter Hugill Andrew Kirkendall Harold Livesay Head of Department, Walter Buenger August 2010 Major Subject: History iii ABSTRACT The Legacy of the Gettysburg Address, 1863-1965. (August 2010) Jared Elliott Peatman, B.A., Gettysburg College; M.A., Virginia Tech Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. April Lee Hatfield My project examines the legacy of the Gettysburg Address from 1863 to 1965. After an introduction and a chapter setting the stage, each succeeding chapter surveys the meaning of the Gettysburg Address at key moments: the initial reception of the speech in 1863; its status during the semi-centennial in 1913 and during the construction of the Lincoln Memorial; the place it held during the world wars; and the transformation of the Address in the late 1950s and early 1960s marked by the confluence of the Cold War, Civil Rights Movement, Lincoln Birth Sesquicentennial, and Civil War Centennial. My final chapter considers how interpretations of the Address changed in textbooks from 1900 to 1965, and provides the entire trajectory of the evolving meanings of the speech in one medium and in one chapter. For each time period I have analyzed what the Address meant to people living in four cities: Gettysburg, Richmond, New York, and London. My argument is twofold. First, rather than operating as a national document the Gettysburg Address has always held different meanings in the North and South. Given that the speech addressed questions central to the United States (equality and democracy), this lack of a common interpretation illustrates that there was no singular iv collective memory or national identity regarding core values. Second, as the nation and world shifted, so did the meaning of the Gettysburg Address. Well into the twentieth- century the essence of the speech was proclaimed to be its support of the democratic form of government as opposed to monarchies or other institutions. But in the middle twentieth-century that interpretation began to shift, with many both abroad and at home beginning to see the speech’s assertion of human equality as its focal point and most important contribution. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT.............................................................................................................. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION................................................................................ 1 Text of the Gettysburg Address ..................................................... 1 Introduction .................................................................................... 2 II “THE FINAL RESTING PLACE”: THE CREATION AND DEDICATION OF THE SOLDIERS’ NATIONAL CEMETERY..... 14 Creating the Cemetery.................................................................... 17 Planning the Ceremony .................................................................. 19 November 18 .................................................................................. 24 November 19 .................................................................................. 31 III “NOBLE SPEECH” OR “WORTHLESS PASTE”: CONTEMPORARY RESPONSES TO THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS.......................... 44 Spreading the News........................................................................ 45 New York ....................................................................................... 47 Gettysburg ...................................................................................... 66 Richmond ....................................................................................... 73 London ........................................................................................... 92 Conclusion...................................................................................... 105 vi CHAPTER Page IV “A PROPHET WITH A VISION”: 1913-1922 ................................... 110 From Death to Rebirth, 1865-1890 ................................................ 111 50th Anniversary of the Battle ....................................................... 118 The View From England................................................................ 122 An Official Version........................................................................ 126 Applause?....................................................................................... 132 Gettysburg, 1913 ............................................................................ 134 National and International Coverage.............................................. 148 The Lincoln Memorial ................................................................... 151 Conclusion...................................................................................... 161 V “FOR THAT CAUSE THEY WILL FIGHT TO THE DEATH”: WARTIME USEAGES OF THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS .......... 164 An Isolated, Sleeping Giant ........................................................... 166 World War I ................................................................................... 172 The Gettysburg Address as Wartime Propaganda.......................... 181 World War I, Conclusion ............................................................... 189 Interwar Years ................................................................................ 190 World War II .................................................................................. 193 Rally Round the Flag...................................................................... 194 Local Commemorations ................................................................. 197 The View From Abroad ................................................................. 200 Government of the People.............................................................. 202 Conclusion...................................................................................... 205 VI “THE STRUGGLE FOR HUMAN LIBERTY GOES ON”: 1957-1965............................................................................................. 208 Lincoln Sesquicentennial ............................................................... 210 Civil War Centennial...................................................................... 219 Gettysburg Centennial Commemorations ...................................... 224 A March, A Speech, and a Dream.................................................. 235 November 19, 1963........................................................................ 238 The Gettysburg Address Commemorative Event........................... 252 Conclusion...................................................................................... 258 vii CHAPTER Page VII PORTRAYALS OF THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS IN SCHOOLS, 1876-1965............................................................................................. 260 Public Education in the United States Before 1860 ....................... 261 Readers........................................................................................... 266 Textbooks....................................................................................... 271 Public Performances....................................................................... 285 World War II .................................................................................. 288 The 1960s ....................................................................................... 294 Britain............................................................................................. 300 Conclusion...................................................................................... 300 VIII CONCLUSION .................................................................................... 302 NOMENCLATURE.................................................................................................. 307 REFERENCES.......................................................................................................... 308 VITA ......................................................................................................................... 324 viii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE Page 5.1 Second Liberty Loan .................................................................................. 183 5.2 Third Liberty Loan ..................................................................................... 183 5.3 Fourth Liberty Loan ................................................................................... 184 5.4 True Sons of Freedom................................................................................ 184 5.5 Remember Dec. 7th!.................................................................................... 195
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