Profanity Monday [Special Non-Profane Edition]
[a recurring feature incorporating slightly naughty but estimably relevant quotes of a probably inapproriate nature, except today]
So i've finished Lord Charnwood's 1918 biography of Lincoln--a man by whom i am increasingly fascinated. Throughout the book Charnwood never hesitates to point out Lincoln's shortcomings in leadership and decisionmaking. He also lays bare such "personal" details (quotation marks to be explained later) as the stark depths of Lincoln's struggles with depression--as in one letter when the then-country-lawyer expressed to his best friend his feeling that things simply could not go on as they were, that he must soon either feel better or die. Charnwood also delves into political analysis both contemporary and modern, with all the benefits of historical hindsight. And in the final analysis, he is highly complimentary, with reasons that are hard to ignore. Here he examines another of many letters Lincoln wrote to a lifelong best friend:
In the end, after frankly exposing the president's many shortcomings as well as his astonishing understated strengths, Charnwood is convinced that no one could ever read the vast bulk of Lincoln's personal correspondence and not conclude that, whatever his acknowledged flaws, this was a man "worthy of entire trust."
So. Which matters more, come election time: strength of character, or political skill?
Three pages, double-spaced. Turn it in tomorrow.
So i've finished Lord Charnwood's 1918 biography of Lincoln--a man by whom i am increasingly fascinated. Throughout the book Charnwood never hesitates to point out Lincoln's shortcomings in leadership and decisionmaking. He also lays bare such "personal" details (quotation marks to be explained later) as the stark depths of Lincoln's struggles with depression--as in one letter when the then-country-lawyer expressed to his best friend his feeling that things simply could not go on as they were, that he must soon either feel better or die. Charnwood also delves into political analysis both contemporary and modern, with all the benefits of historical hindsight. And in the final analysis, he is highly complimentary, with reasons that are hard to ignore. Here he examines another of many letters Lincoln wrote to a lifelong best friend:
Think of the horrors of the Civil War, and chew on that. And when you're done, here's this. Elsewhere in the not-yet-president's private letters, Charnwood unearths Lincoln's agony of doubt over his engagement to the emotionally disturbed Mary Todd--up to and including his actual temporary disappearance on their wedding day--and the quiet reason he finally submitted to the ceremony and all the difficult years of marriage that followed: Because he'd said he would, and he felt he'd be worth nothing if he didn't keep his word.'I have no doubt,' [Lincoln] writes, 'it is the peculiar misfortune of both you and me to dream dreams of Elysium far exceeding all that anything earthly can realize.'
All such men have to go through deep waters; but they do not necessarily miss either success or happiness in the end. Lincoln's life may be said to have tested him by the test which Mr. Kipling states in his lines about Washington:--
'If you can dream--and not make dreams your master; / If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim....'
In the end, after frankly exposing the president's many shortcomings as well as his astonishing understated strengths, Charnwood is convinced that no one could ever read the vast bulk of Lincoln's personal correspondence and not conclude that, whatever his acknowledged flaws, this was a man "worthy of entire trust."
So. Which matters more, come election time: strength of character, or political skill?
Three pages, double-spaced. Turn it in tomorrow.
2 Comments:
Hey, Jeremy! I found your commentary on Lincoln's biography facinating. See if you can get your hands on a book entitled The Living Lincoln, The Man and His Times in His own Words by Paul M. Angle and Eark Schenck Miers. It's a compilation of Lincoln's memos, letters, speeches, etc. in chronilogical order with tiny commentaries that give the setting and background. Facinating reading!and you come away seeing the humanness (sp?) and brilliance of this amazing individual. I know you'd love it. If you can't find it, let me know and I'll loan you my copy.
Hey, Jeremy! I found your commentary on Lincoln's biography facinating. See if you can get your hands on a book entitled The Living Lincoln, The Man and His Times in His own Words by Paul M. Angle and Eark Schenck Miers. It's a compilation of Lincoln's memos, letters, speeches, etc. in chronilogical order with tiny commentaries that give the setting and background. Facinating reading!and you come away seeing the humanness (sp?) and brilliance of this amazing individual. I know you'd love it. If you can't find it, let me know and I'll loan you my copy.
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