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Lincoln Lessons: Reflections on America's Greatest Leader

edited by Frank J. Williams and William D. Pederson
contributions by James M. McPherson, Sandra Day O'Connor, John F. Marszalek, Edna Greene Medford, Mackubin Thomas Owens, Edward Steers, Jr., Thomas Reed Turner, Craig L. Symonds, Jean H. Baker, Mario M Cuomo, Joan Flinspach, Sara Vaughn Gabbard, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Harold Holzer and Harry V Jaffa

Southern Illinois University Press, 2008
eISBN: 978-0-8093-8670-3 | Cloth: 978-0-8093-2891-8
Library of Congress Classification E457.2.L833 2009
Dewey Decimal Classification 973.7092

ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC

ABOUT THIS BOOK

In Lincoln Lessons, seventeen of today’s most respected academics, historians, lawyers, and politicians provide candid reflections on the importance of Abraham Lincoln in their intellectual lives. Their essays, gathered by editors Frank J. Williams and William D. Pederson, shed new light on this political icon’s remarkable ability to lead and inspire two hundred years after his birth.

Collected here are glimpses into Lincoln’s unique ability to transform enemies into steadfast allies, his deeply ingrained sense of morality and intuitive understanding of humanity, his civil deification as the first assassinated American president, and his controversial suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War. The contributors also discuss Lincoln’s influence on today’s emerging democracies, his lasting impact on African American history, and his often-overlooked international legend—his power to instigate change beyond the boundaries of his native nation. While some contributors provide a scholarly look at Lincoln and some take a more personal approach, all explore his formative influence in their lives. What emerges is the true history of his legacy in the form of first-person testaments from those whom he has touched deeply.

Lincoln Lessons brings together some of the best voices of our time in a unique combination of memoir and history. This singular volume of original essays is a tribute to the enduring inspirational powers of an extraordinary man whose courage and leadership continue to change lives today.

Contributors

Jean H. Baker

Mario M. Cuomo

Joan L. Flinspach

Sara Vaughn Gabbard

Doris Kearns Goodwin

Harold Holzer

Harry V. Jaffa

John F. Marszalek

James M. McPherson

Edna Greene Medford

Sandra Day O’Connor

Mackubin Thomas Owens

William D. Pederson

Edward Steers Jr.

Craig L. Symonds

Thomas Reed Turner

Frank J. Williams

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Frank J. Williams is chief justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, cofounder of the Lincoln Forum, and a member of the executive committee of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. He is the author of Judging Lincoln.

William D. Pederson is American Studies Endowed Chair in Liberal Arts, a professor of political science, and director of the International Lincoln Center at Louisiana State University in Shreveport. He is the author, coauthor, editor, or coeditor of more than twenty-five books on law, politics, George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.

REVIEWS

Coeditors Williams (chief justice, Supreme Court of Rhode Island; Judging Lincoln) and Pederson (director, International Lincoln Ctr., Louisiana St. Univ., Shreveport; Grassroots Constitutionalism) hit upon an intriguing idea by asking various prominent Lincoln scholars (e.g., Doris Kearns Goodwin, James M. McPherson) and other notables who have studied him closely (e.g., Sandra Day O'Connor, Mario M. Cuomo) to relate how they first "met" Lincoln and how they've approached him. The result is a book that combines, in varying degrees, autobiography and argument. If a thematic thread runs throughout, it is that Lincoln demanded explanation, for he stood at the center of so many essential questions about America—the purpose and prospects of freedom, the nature of democracy, the qualities of great leadership, the limits of government, and America's place in the world. Some of the arguments here are distillations of ideas presented in fuller form elsewhere, and none of them will surprise any close student of Lincoln. Still, together, they remind us why Lincoln has such a powerful grip on the American imagination.

— Randall M. Miller, Library Journal

Seventeen authors describe their experiences with the Lincoln subject. They are Jean H. Baker, Mario M. Cuomo, Joan Flinspach, Sara Vaugh Gabbard, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Harold Holzer, Harry V. Jaffa, John F. Marszalek, James M. McPherson, Edna Greene Medford, Sandra Day O'Connor, Mackubin Thomas Owens, William D. Pederson, Edward Steers, Jr., Craig L, Symonds, Thomas Reed Turner and Frank J. Williams.

Their tales make for entertaining reading. Some, of course, are more interesting than others. Overall, a reader will enjoy this volume. Doris Kearns Goodwin reveals her inner thoughts concerning Team of Rivals, her immensely successful book. Harold Holzer details his career with Lincoln images. Frank J. Williams traces his interest in Abraham Lincoln from his youth to his present leadership in the field. Edna Greene Medford gives a unique story of her experience as an African-American scholar writing on Lincoln. Craig L. Symonds admits that as a four-year-old kindergarten pupil he thought of Lincoln as "Sixteen Feet Tall."

To savor this volume, one must read all the fine chapters. Such an endeavor will be well worth your while. However, a word of caution when you read reference number 12 in chapter one. Here are the facts: Mary Lincoln Beckwith died in 1975, and the family estate, Hildene, became the property of her brother, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith. He allowed James T. Hickey to examine the mansion where Hickey discovered Robert Todd Lincoln's file of personal papers in a room just off the study. Here, Hickey found the "MTL Insanity File" tied together with ribbon. It was, indeed, find of a lifetime for Lincoln scholars. In May of 1981, Mr. Beckwith determined to have R. Gerald McMurtry and Mark E. Neely, Jr. publish that collection of documents. He termed this team, "competent Lincoln scholars." Both were at Fort Wayne, Indiana. Mr, Beckwith determined to divide his inherited Lincolniana among several institutions before his death. Le items went to Lincoln Memorial University, some to Iowa Wesleyan, the Insanity File to the Lincoln Museum at Fort Wayne, He later died Christmas Eve in 1985. In 1986, Neely & McMurtry's volume, entitled The Insanity File: The Case of Mary Todd Lincoln, appeared from the press of Southern Illinois University. --Wayne C. Temple, Illinois State Archives

— Wayne C. Temple, The Lincoln Herald

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents
Acknowledgments 00
Introduction 00
	Frank J. Williams and William D. Pederson
1. Getting Right with Mary Lincoln or How a First Lady Taught Me to Be a Feminist 00
	Jean H. Baker
2. Lincoln on Democracy 00
	Mario M. Cuomo
3. A View from the Lincoln Museum 00
	Joan Flinspach
4. The Evolution of a Lincoln Editor 00
	Sara Gabbard
5. Transforming Foes to Allies: The Political Alchemy of Lincoln 00
	Doris Kearns Goodwin
6. The Lincoln Visual Image: A Personal Journey of Discovery 00
	Harold Holzer
7. A Political Philosopher¿s Defense of Lincoln 00
	Harry V. Jaffa
8. Lincoln¿s Legacy for Our Time 00
	James M. McPherson
9. Lincoln through the Eyes of a Civil War and Civil Rights Historian 00
	John F. Marszalek
10. Lincoln and African American Memory 00
	Edna Greene Medford
11. Suspension of Habeas Corpus 00
	Sandra Day O¿Connor
12. Lincoln and the Meaning of Equality: How I Became a ¿Lost Cause¿ Apostate 00
	Mackubin Thomas Owens
13. Crossing Borders to an International Lincoln 00
	William D. Pederson
14. Tell Me What You Want to Believe, and I¿ll Tell You What You Will Believe 00
	Edward Steers Jr.
15. Sixteen Feet Tall: Abraham Lincoln and History 00
	Craig L. Symonds
16. Historian, Editor, and the Assassination Legacy 00
	Thomas Reed Turner
17. The Compleat Lincolnator: Enthusiast, Collector, and Scholar 00
	Frank J. Williams
Bibliography 00
Contributors 00
Photo credits 00
Index 00

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