The Bixby Letter

[RJNorton]

Lane, from what I can tell, you are correct. I think there were "whispers" about the letter's authorship after 1904 but no real public controversy until the late 1930's and 1940's.

I spent the last few days trying to find an author's definition of what Hay meant by the word genuine. I finally found one in the first place I should have looked - Bullard's book titled "Abraham Lincoln and the Widow Bixby." Here is Bullard's interpretation:

What did John Hay mean when he went on record with the statement that "the letter of Mr. Lincoln to Mrs. Bixby is genuine?" A letter is "genuine" when it is not spurious, not counterfeit, when it is written by the person whose name it bears.

Since the central theme of Bullard's book was that Lincoln was the letter's author, this definition comes as no surprise.

Although I probably still lean in the direction of Lincoln being the author, I am still very unsure on this question, and I find Lane's arguments to be logical. Call me a perpetual "waverer" I guess.