229 Best President Ever

 Best President Ever--Abraham Lincoln!

I am reading an interesting book, Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln and America's Most Perilous Year by David Von Drehle, which focuses on 1862. I realize that some of my favorite reads have been about Lincoln--especially Team of Rivals: The Political 
Genius of Abraham Lincoln and Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander and Chief. 

The reading stock is endless. An NPR broadcast in 2012 estimated 15,000 books had been written about Lincoln. Historians honored Lincoln's place in history by erecting a structure--only 7,000 titles fit on this eight-foot-wide and thirty-four-foot-high tower of books about Lincoln that was in the Ford Theatre Lobby.

Only Jesus Christ has had more books written about him.

Looked at objectively, Lincoln at the time of his election seemed the most unlikely man to succeed as president. He won 39.8% of the popular vote but a majority in the electoral college at 61%. His election led to several Southern states seceding from the Union.

Lincoln was viewed as a rough Westerner [Yes, Illinois was considered the West!] Many were certain that he would be completely out of his depth in both national and international affairs.

He appointed his political antagonists to his cabinet. Many signed on--thinking they could run the government from their cabinet posts. But Lincoln was a master of keeping them balanced and useful. 

Salmon Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, is a good example. Chase pursued his ambition of running for president in 1864 while serving in the cabinet. He put his own likeness of the newly issued paper money, known as greenbacks, realizing how many people would see his image.

Lincoln said he could ignore Chase's political ambitions: "I am entirely indifferent in his success or failure in these schemes, so long as he does his duty as the head of the Treasury Department." 

As a librarian, I particularly appreciate Lincoln's love of reading. As a largely self-educated man, he was a voracious reader. After frustrating attempts to get his generals to develop a strategic plan for the war and to put it into effect, he undertook a deep study of military tactics and strategy, reading every

book the Library of Congress could provide on the topic. That study gave him the confidence to suggest specific strategies and to debate the course of the war with military leaders.

Lincoln's wide reading and a remarkable ability to remember and synthesize what he read helped make him one of the best orators of all time.

He had many other strengths and weaknesses, and I won't list them all. But Lincoln was the man the country needed in one of the worst times in its history. Historians consistently rank Lincoln as one of the top three of United States presidents.

I can't let this topic go without mentioning that I am greatly offended by Trump frequently comparing himself to Lincoln. Sidney Blumenthal in the October 24, 2019, New Yorker, stated it well: Trump's "portrayal of Lincoln's greatness is unmoored from anything that Lincoln thought of as politics and political leadership, chiefly the self-discipline, patience, and probity required to bring about the Emancipation Proclamation, the Thirteenth Amendment, and the Union victory--events that remade the nation."

Comparing Trump's unscripted speech and tweets to remarks by Lincoln makes you wonder who was the primary-school drop-out. And Lincoln read books!

Next on my list is Lincoln by David Herbert Donald, which is considered the best work on Lincoln by many scholars.

Trish