Carl Sandburg and Lincoln

[Rob Wick]

Tom,

To be honest, I don't know that I've read anything in Sandburg's hand telling how he felt about Reconstruction, although he does deal with it in the War Years. I know that in 1929 Bowers wrote Sandburg a three-page letter which Sandburg replied to although when I was working in Sandburg's papers, I don't think I looked at it. Next time I work in Sandburg's papers I will definitely look for them. I'm still trying to figure out when I might have said that about Sandburg saying Lincoln would have bolted the GOP. I can't place it.

As for Randall, he definitely cut his intellectual teeth on Dunning. As an example, I read through his 1904 lecture notes when he taught at Illinois College in Jacksonville, and they could have been written by Dunning himself. An interesting note on Randall's Civil War and Reconstruction book; critics blasted Randall for shortchanging Reconstruction in the work. Randall was a strong Progressive who believed in the power of religion to benefit men, but who also, as Bill pointed out, was not as advanced on racial thinking. Randall had other factors besides religion, i.e., a cultural leaning toward the south taken from his time teaching in Virginia as well as the influence not only of his wife, Ruth, but of her father, F.V.N Painter, who taught literature at Roanoke College where Randall taught. Painter had befriended Randall after Randall's first wife, Edith, had died. His influence on Randall's views was strong.

Best
Rob