HS #127 2026.2.12
What would Lincoln do?
Getting to know historical figures, one learns of their foibles and weaknesses as well as their strengths. George Washington, great man to be sure, was stiff and aloof. Ben Franklin had strained personal relationships and was estranged from his son. Adams was described by Franklin as "always an honest man, often a wise one, but in some things absolutely out of his senses." Jefferson was sometimes disingenuous, attacking his friends behind their backs, but unwilling to confront them face to face.
On the other hand, Abraham Lincoln, whose birthday is today, was a giant – literally as well as figuratively. He deeply understood the U.S. experiment: government of the people, by the people, for the people, but also understood that to make the government work, we the people needed to be guided by our better angels. He had many close friends who loved him and recognized his greatness, and his moral sense ran deep. He was committed to finding truth, studying Euclid’s geometry to learn how to prove the veracity of an argument.
But it is Lincoln’s sense of humor (often self-deprecating) counterbalanced by his melancholy that endears him to me.
When accused of being two faced, he responded, “If I had another face, would I wear this one?”
Debating the short-in-stature Douglass, Lincoln was asked how long a man’s legs should be. “Long enough to reach the ground.” When one of his cabinet members died, an ambitious office-seeker asked Lincoln if he could take the dead man’s place. Lincoln replied that certainly the coffin-laid man would presumably also like to trade places.
Lincoln entertained his friends with humorous true stories. His favorite concerned the Revolutionary War hero, Ethan Allen, who visited England several years after the war. Asking to use a toilet, Allen was ushered to an outhouse where he discovered the British, still smarting from their defeat, had hung a picture of George Washington on the inside wall. Exiting the biffy, Allen announced, “Good thinking, gentlemen. Nothing makes an Englishman shit faster than a picture of George Washington.”
As he bore the burden of leading a fractured country, Lincoln’s humor acquired an edge. Exasperated with the lentitude of Union General McClellan to fight, Lincoln asked, “If you’re not going to use your army, do you mind if I borrow it for a while.” Lincoln admitted, “With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh, I should die.”
Indeed, melancholy was equally part of Lincoln’s personality. Distraught about love, his friends took his razors for fear of him killing himself. As a young man, Lincoln admitted to a friend, “If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on earth.”
Lincoln’s humor and melancholy both emanated from his honest acknowledgment of and willingness to face the truth about the world, while earnestly seeking solutions. Therefore, I wonder, “What would Lincoln do in our present situation?”
In his article, “We Are Witnessing the Self-Immolation of a Superpower”, Garrett Graff lists six significant ways that the U.S. is presently emasculating itself by ripping away these historic strengths: i) Easy access of immigrants and foreign students to our world-class universities, ii) Generous government support of higher education and medical/scientific research, iii) Broad and easy trade access to and from U.S. markets, iv) Strict adherence to the Rule of Law,
v) Firm network of international alliances, vi) Independent monetary policy.
Taken together these have given the U.S. unrivaled influence and leadership in the world. But in the past year all have been irrevocably damaged and minimized. Would Lincoln have ideas to gain back the international friendships and respect we have lost and are losing?
What about at home? The violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 was not as significant as the violence done to Truth. The Capitol Police are now blamed for it and those who smashed, sprayed and beat are heralded as loving patriots. More recent lies about killings by ICE agents further undermine trust in our current government. “Alternative facts” abound.
These are serious concerns. How would “honest Abe” restore a nation whose current administration has forsaken truth and morality? The U.S. is in urgent need of moral, truthful, Lincoln-styled leadership which challenges us to our better angels. Lincoln declared, “I have faith in the people . . Let them know the truth, and the country is safe.” Join me in living truthfully, seeking Lincoln’s ideal.
