Dez Prez Rankings: Unlikely Icon

#2 of 39:
Abraham Lincoln (16th president)
1861-65
Republican


ABOVE: "He is a barbarian, scythian, yahoo. A gorilla in respect of outward polish, but a most sensible, straight-forward old codger." - Lawyer George Strong on colleague Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was a complex personality. An engaging conversationalist and a man with a natural curiosity about a host of things, he was also beset with bouts of severe depression and anxiety.

Lincoln is #2, so you can now figure out who is #1. I will explain why #1 is who it is on his post, and why he edged out Abe.

Abraham Lincoln is the only president who had his entire administration framed by and defined by war. In fact, he gave his life in that war, just as a soldier on the battlefield. The Union's victory in the Civil War was far from guaranteed, and at several points the Confederacy could have possibly secured its independence. The actions and decisions made by Lincoln saved the United States. Many other Northern leaders of the time had the attitude of "if they want to go, let them go." But Lincoln believed that this people could only survive as one, not two. He recognized that the co-existence of a United States of America and a Confederate States of America could not be geographically sustainable. The very fact that our major mountain ranges and rivers flowed north to south instead of east to west made separability impossible. "A house divided against itself cannot stand."

No other president took office under such stressful conditions, not even Washington or FDR. By the time he was sworn in, seven states had already seceded from the Union, and four more would secede soon after. He was an unlikely hero. Gangly and shy, he was a goofy looking man. But he was also a shrewd politician, brilliant mind, and had a wonderful self-deprecating sense of humor that served him well.


ABOVE: Lincoln at Antietam

Lincoln skillfully walked a tightrope when dealing with slavery and emancipation. While he always personally found slavery abhorrent, he also knew that he had to keep the Border States of West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Missouri and Kentucky within the Union. He is quoted as saying "I hope that God is on our side, but I have to have Kentucky." Some of the border states had slavery, and so Lincoln initially had to tread lightly. Had the teetering border states seceded, the Confederacy would have doubled its manpower and manufacturing capacity. He had to keep them in line, and he did it both with the carrot and the stick. This is why Lincoln initially stated that the Civil War was fought to preserve the Union. It wasn't until Antietam that he felt he could shift the focus to ending slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation itself only proclaimed to free slaves within the Confederacy, not the border states or conquered southern territory. In other words, it only freed the slaves that it could not free, and did not free the slaves that it could free.

Lincoln was also a gifted military strategist. He was central in developing the Northern strategy of: 1. naval blockade of Southern ports, 2. cutting the South in two vertically by controlling the Mississippi River, 3. cutting the South in two horizontally with Sherman's March, 4. taking the capital of Richmond, 5. using superior numbers and supplies to wear down the Confederacy in a brutal war of attrition that cost over 600,000 lives (more American lives were lost in the Civil War than all other wars fought by the U.S. combined), and 6. ending slavery and disrupting the Southern economy. He manipulated the South into drawing first blood at Ft. Sumter. Plagued by inferior generals, he also boldly fired a string of incompetent generals (McClellan twice) until he settled on Ulysses S. Grant. Lincoln also violated the Constitution several times in this extraordinary time, raising an army without congressional approval and suspending habeas corpus.

It is a great "what if" of history to contemplate how he would have handled Reconstruction and a defeated South. His plan was very conciliatory towards the South, and as a conquering president he would have had the moral authority to see it through. Imagine no Andrew Johnson, no Radical Reconstruction by a vengeful Congress. It is telling that initially Southerners were jubilant at the news of his assassination, but later came to regret his death, because they came to understand that Honest Abe would have indeed dealt with them fairly.


ABOVE: Lincoln was assassinated by embittered actor and Southern sympathizer John Wilkes Booth five days after Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox to Grant.

Historian James McPherson summed Lincoln up thus: "Without Lincoln's determined and skillful leadership, the North might have lost the war, and the United States as we know it today might not exist. Instead, Union victory resolved two festering problems left unresolved by the Revolution of 1776 and the Constitution of 1789: whether the Republic would 'long endure' or 'perish from the earth' and whether the 'monstrous injustice' of slavery would continue to mock a nation 'conceived in liberty.' The Republic endured, and slavery perished. That is Lincoln's legacy."


ABOVE: "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." - Abraham Lincoln, ever the optimist. One of my favorite spots to visit in Washington D.C. is the Lincoln Memorial at night. It is beautifully lit, and there is always a decent crowd of people there, it is an unofficial national hang-out spot at night. Always a diverse crowd, it is one of the most peaceful and moving places to sit in the evening hours. No wonder that was where Richard Nixon impulsively drove one night during his embattled presidency at the peak of the Vietnam War protests and engaged protestors in a fascinating and calm conversation and exchange of perspectives.

Pros:
* Took office during the most stressful time of our history, and immediately took charge
* Skillfully manipulated the South into firing first at Ft. Sumter instead of the North, starting the War off on the moral "high ground," a crucial issue in keeping the Border States from seceding
* Throughout the War, he prevented the Border States from seceding, which might have turned the tide. He used the carrot (holding off on emancipation, a host of what we would call "pork barrel" projects) and the stick (sending Federal troops to "monitor" their elections). Lincoln was also not beyond a little election shenanigans, such as giving the entire Union Army a "break" so they could come back home and vote (for him) in his re-election
* Recognized early that separation was impossible and fought to keep the U.S. united
* Came up with the complex and multi-faceted Northern strategy for victory, including keeping an agitating Britain and France from aiding the Confederacy
* Had a conciliatory Reconstruction Plan that, had it been implemented, may have made the Reconstruction period and the century after a very different and more positive time for the South

Cons:
* None