Mary Lincoln Extra Credit Questions

[RJNorton]

one of the few hints she was likely aware of his (educational) deficiencies

I agree with you, Eva.

[Gene C]

I always interpreted that to be his mischievous behavior

[Susan Higginbotham]

I always interpreted that to be his mischievous behavior

Me too. I don't see the statement as expressing any worry about Tad. That's not to say Mary didn't worry, but the "troublesome" strikes me as something any mother would say about a high-spirited boy given to pranks.

[RJNorton]

I took it to mean that Mary was like many other adults who came into contact with Tad and did not often make public comment on his deficiencies. Rather they would look to Tad's strong points and make comment but be silent on shortcomings. John Hay was an exception (and I am sure there are more). Hay said, "He (Tad) had a very bad opinion of books and no opinion of discipline."

A good example of the point I am trying to make is what William H. Crook wrote in Through Five Administrations:

"Haliday, aided by the gardener, was about to take up the carpet in the congressional, or state, dining-room. The long table made it somewhat difficult, and they were debating about which end to attack it from, when Tad appeared. He surveyed the field.

'Jim,' he said to Haliday. 'I have a favor to ask of you. Jim, grant it,' he coaxed.

Jim, of course, said 'Yes,' as every one had a way of doing—and yet it wasn't because it was the President's son.

'Now, Jim,' he said, taking an attitude of command, 'you work with the other man. I will boss the job.' And Haliday, talking about it, asserts to this day: 'He told us just how to go about it. And there was no one could engineer it better than he did."

Offhand, I cannot think of any Abraham Lincoln quotes where he is critical of Tad's deficiencies. According to Noah Brooks, Abraham said of Tad: "Let him run; there's enough time yet for him to learn his letters and get pokey. Bob was just such a little rascal, and now he's a very decent boy."

[Eva Elisabeth]

I always interpreted that to be his mischievous behavior

Me too. I don't see the statement as expressing any worry about Tad. That's not to say Mary didn't worry, but the "troublesome" strikes me as something any mother would say about a high-spirited boy given to pranks.

Mary wrote that long after the assassination. My understanding was that the assassination had matured Tad and "cured" from pranks. I also seem to recall Robert in those times still stated worries about Tad's school deficiencies, so I thought the statement might rather have referred to this than to "behavior".

[ReignetteC]

Yes indeed Laurie! Good detective work. Your link is fascinating. I didn't see that one.


“Pendel looked very much like Lincoln and this fact must have given the Chief Executive much amusement, especially when the doorkeeper was mistaken for the President,” wrote Lincoln scholar Louis A Warren. “Governor Andrews of Massachusetts wrote a letter to Mrs. Lincoln asking her to urge William Morris Hunt, the famous Boston artist, to make a portrait of the President. Mrs. Lincoln later sent Pendel on to Boston where he posed for the artist in Lincoln’s clothes, as the portrait was to be one of full length.”2
http://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/insi...ubjectID=2


Portrait of Abraham Lincoln by the Boston artist William Morris Hunt, oil on panel. The full-length portrait was a study for a later painting of Lincoln by Hunt which was destroyed in the Boston fire of 1872. The portrait was painted soon after the assassination of Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth. The work portrays Lincoln as a sad-faced martyr to the Union cause, which was supported by William Morris Hunt and his brothers.
Date 1865 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:..._Hunt.jpeg

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Here's Thomas Frances Pendel. He does resemble Lincoln.




http://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/39320

Thanks for posting the photo of Pendel because I was doubting the reference in the source that I read to Pendel being the "Black Doorkeeper at the White House." Pendel is mentioned in so many references to the assassination, but I never remember any noting of his race.

In Governor Andrews's May 12, 1865 letter to Mrs. Lincoln, in which he requested-on behalf of William Morris Hunt-the late president's "articles" (suit), he wrote, "I am sure any portrait of President Lincoln from his [Hunt's] hand would rank among the best works of art."

Lincoln's black suit survived the fire and Hunt's widow donated it to the Smithsonian in 1894.

Mary Lincoln also sent a suit of clothes to the artist Matthew Wilson. That suit is in Ford's Theatre.

[RJNorton]

I was surprised to read what an author wrote in a review of Michael Burlingame's An American Marriage: The Untold Story of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd.

"Burlingame is correct in concluding that more objective biographical work needs to be undertaken about Mary Lincoln, and his conclusions as laid out in this book will stand the test of time. Like it or not (and Mary's defenders certainly will not), Burlingame has made a powerful case against Mary Lincoln and shown that her part in Abraham Lincoln's story was likely more damaging than it was beneficial."

What is the name of the author who wrote this?

[Susan Higginbotham]

I was surprised to read what an author wrote in a review of Michael Burlingame's An American Marriage: The Untold Story of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd.

"Burlingame is correct in concluding that more objective biographical work needs to be undertaken about Mary Lincoln, and his conclusions as laid out in this book will stand the test of time. Like it or not (and Mary's defenders certainly will not), Burlingame has made a powerful case against Mary Lincoln and shown that her part in Abraham Lincoln's story was likely more damaging than it was beneficial."

What is the name of the author who wrote this?

I'm guessing Harold Holzer.

[RJNorton]

Good guess, Susan, but it was not Holzer.

[Wild Bill]

Ed Steers

[RJNorton]

Good guess, Bill, but it was not Ed Steers.

Hint #1: It is a name that has been mentioned on this forum.

[Dennis Urban]

Jon Meacham

[RJNorton]

Good guess, Dennis, but it is not Jon Meacham.

[Gene C]

Is this author someone who has previously written about Lincoln?

[RJNorton]

Gene, yes, and about the Lincoln family, too.