President Lincoln's 200th Birthday

Image source: Wikipedia

The United States are gearing up to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of one of their most famous presidents, Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln was born on 12th February 1809 in Kentucky. Whilst he was young, his family moved to Indiana and later to Illinois. Nevertheless, many states are claiming their own special association with the great man as this article discusses.

Lincoln, a founding father of the Republican Party, was undeniably a great and good man: he spent nearly all of his adult life fighting against slavery. And in office running the the Civil War, he proved to be a fine commander-in-chief. One small example: he replaced General Meade with General Ulysses Simpson Grant (later a president himself of course). There was plenty of jealousy and backbiting amongst the Union generals and complaints reached the President: "Sir, he [Grant] drinks!" someone told Lincoln. Lincoln replied "Find out which brand and send a bottle to each of my generals."

The Lincoln memorial. Image source: here

The International Herald Tribune is one of my favourite sources, as my readers may have noticed. I should add that I have great respect for American journalism; the "dumbing-down" of English newspapers is quickly put into sharp relief when one takes the time to read any of the great American papers - the IHT, Boston Globe, Washington Post, New York Times etc., etc.

This article from the IHT, beautifully written, gives a superb overview of Lincoln, and from an attractive angle: the piece, credited to the Associated Press is centred around the Lincoln Memorial.

Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States of America, has been mentioned quite often recently in connexion with the election of the 44th President.

As the French say, nous verrons.

Until the next time.