Gore Vidal and Lincoln's legacy

[Linda Anderson]

This is from Abraham Lincoln: A Life by Michael Burlingame. Knox College. Unedited manuscript. Volume 1, Chapter 6.

http://www.knox.edu/academics/distinctiv...-life.html

"On at least one occasion
Lincoln shared Speed’s taste in fancy women – in fact, the very same woman. Speed said
that around 1839 or 1840, he “was keeping a pretty woman” in Springfield, and Lincoln,
“desirous to have a little,” asked his bunkmate, “do you know where I can get some.”
Speed replied, “Yes I do, & if you will wait a moment or so I’ll send you to the place
with a note. You can[’]t get it without a note or by my appearance.” Armed with the note
from Speed, Lincoln “went to see the girl – handed her the note after a short ‘how do you
do &c.’ Lincoln told his business and the girl, after some protestations, agreed to satisfy
him. Things went on right – Lincoln and the girl stript off and went to bed. Before any
thing was done Lincoln said to the girl – ‘How much do you charge’. ‘Five dollars, Mr.
Lincoln’. Mr. Lincoln said – ‘I’ve only got $3.’ Well said the girl – ‘I’ll trust you, Mr
Lincoln, for $2. Lincoln thought a moment or so and said – ‘I do not wish to go on credit
– I’m poor & I don’t know where my next dollar will come from and I cannot afford to
cheat you.’ Lincoln after some words of encouragement from the girl got up out of bed, –
buttoned up his pants and offered the girl the $3.00, which she would not take, saying –
Mr Lincoln – ‘You are the most conscientious man I ever saw.’”353

"353 Speed, interview with Herndon, 5 January 1889, Wilson and Davis, eds., Herndon’s Informants, 719;
Herndon to Jesse W. Weik, Springfield, 5 January 1889, Herndon-Weik Papers, Library of Congress.
Herndon added, 'Lincoln went out of the house, bidding the girl good evening and went to the store of
Speed, saying nothing. Speed asked no questions and so the matter rested a day or so. Speed had occasion
to go and see the girl in a few days, and she told him just what was said and done between herself &
Lincoln; and Speed told me the story and I have no doubt of its truthfulness.'"

[LincolnMan]

Linda: Thanks! That is the story exactly! I guess we have no reason really to doubt that it happened.

[Gene C]

Linda, do you know if Burlingame treats this incident as fact, or just passes it of as an unconfirmed story?

[Linda Anderson]

Gene, that's an interesting question. Burlingham is reporting what Joshua Speed supposedly told Herndon who in turn told Weik.

This is the sentence that came before what I quoted above, from Abraham Lincoln: A Life. If Burlingham is quoting Herndon, I assume he would think there is some credibility to the story but perhaps by using the word, "alleged," he is letting the reader decide whether to believe Herndon or not.

"Herndon told
Caroline Dall that “Up to the time of Anne Rutledge’s death Lincoln was a pure perfectly
chaste man. Afterwards in his misery – he fell into the habits of his neighborhood.”351
Herndon alleged that from 1837 to 1842, Lincoln and Joshua Speed, “a lady’s man,” were “quite familiar – to go no further [–] with the women.”352

"352 Herndon to Jesse W. Weik, Springfield, 10 December 1885, Herndon-Weik Papers, Library of
Congress. Abner Y. Ellis said that Lincoln “had no desire for strange women[.] I never heard him speak of
any particular Woman with disrespect though he had Many opportunities for doing so while in Company
with J[oshua] F. S[peed] and Wm B[utler] two old rats in that way.” A. Y. Ellis, statement for Herndon,
enclosed in Ellis to Herndon, Moro, Illinois, 23 January 1866, Wilson and Davis, eds., Herndon’s
Informants, 171."

[LincolnMan]

Found this comment by Gore Vidal regarding Lincoln as a "writer" in The Last Note on Lincoln from The New York Review of Books, August 15, 1991:

In any event, for better or worse, we still live in the house divided that Lincoln cobbled together, and it is always useful to get to know through his writing not the god of the establishment-priests but a literary genius who was called upon to live, rather than merely to write, a high tragedy. I can think of no one in literary or political history quite like this essential American writer.

[LincolnMan]

There is a mention of Gore Vidal in the current issue (March 2013) of America's Civil War. Actually, the article notes the death of Richard Current. Here's what it says in part:

"Current taught American history at colleges throughout the world,mentored several generations of students who became historians in their own right, and once took on Gore Vidal on the subject of truth and accuracy in historical fiction. "We need not be ashamed of what we have made of Lincoln," he once said. "In honoring him we honor ourselves."