The Bixby Letter

[David Lockmiller]

(04-09-2013 04:06 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Family dynamic differs from family to family. So if some folks feel I propose a weak argument, I hear you. This post is based on how my family works.

I find it strange that Hay never told his own children that he was the author. None of his children ever made the claim that their dad wrote the Bixby letter. There is even a letter from his son in which he says his father never mentioned he was the real author.

Vicki and I have one daughter, Sarah. We know Sarah's accomplishments either through personal observation or having been told by her. Likewise, she knows her parents' accomplishments for the same reasons. That is the way our family works - we share with each other the things we are proud of.

If I had written a letter of which facsimiles were being sold all over the USA, I would tell my daughter that I was the real author of the letter. I think I would do this especially if the letter were being attributed to someone else. There is absolutely no way I can picture myself not telling her.

Thus, because of my own family dynamic, I feel Hay not telling his children is an argument in Lincoln's favor.

In his posting yesterday, E L Core (Lane?) included a hyperlink to an article in the “American Heritage” on the Bixby letter authored by Jason Emerson (February/March 2006 – Volume 57, Issue 1) which contained the following two quotes:

“If Hay, a proud, even vain man, wrote the letter, why would he have told casual acquaintances but not members of his own family?”

“F. Lauriston Bullard, a Bixby-letter historian, makes a point that bears repeating: Hay never told his children he was the author. Both Bullard and another Lincoln scholar, William E. Barton, specifically asked them and they reiterated that their father had never claimed authorship (although they also said he never denied it).”

Hay asked the “casual acquaintances” to whom he made claim of the Bixby letter authorship not to make public his claim until after his own death. The controversy of authorship has raged for decades and continues to this day.

Is it possible, even probable, that Hay wanted to spare both himself and his family the torment of trying to prove that which cannot be proved? The original Bixby letter was destroyed. The White House, for whatever reason, did not possess either a copy of the letter or even a transcription of the letter. After Lincoln’s death, what would Hay or a member of his family say that would “substantially prove" to anyone that Hay was the author of the Bixby letters, except the detailed arguments made decades later by Professor Burlingame?

Who wants that kind of ridicule inflicted upon themselves or their family? If he told his family the “truth,” the only additional argument that they would be able to make is “my father would not lie to us.” [And, who remembers President Clinton wagging his finger at a national television audience and saying “I did not have sex with that Lewinski woman.” Well, he said that until that Lewinski woman said she had a blue dress with a stain in it.]

Either Hay or Lincoln authored the letter. For those who saw the movie, “Saving Private Ryan,” the answer is simple, because there was no controversy. Well, there was a controversy, but who cares about “Lincoln” history when you are making a Spielberg movie.