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Which Lincoln is Our Lincoln?
Abraham Lincoln was not a simple man. Once accused by a political rival of being "two faced," Lincoln deftly turned the tables. "I leave it to you," he told his audience, "if I really had two faces, do you think I would hide behind this one?" Yet, just as he eluded easy labeling in life, so the historical Lincoln wears many faces.
Lincoln had been claimed by groups from the American Communist Party to the Ku Klux Klan. Politicians of every party quote identical Lincoln passages to prove opposite conclusions. Spiritualists and atheists; supporters and opponents of Prohibition; Wall Street and organized labor; each insists that Lincoln is on its side.
Everybody's Lincoln:
Each generation discovers and defines "the real Lincoln" for itself. His spiritual life, the source of his melancholy, the state of his marriage, his skills as a military strategist, his breathtaking assertion of executive power in wartime, his complex and evolving views on race -- all these and other visions of our 16th president fuel an unending debate. |