Why was Lincoln "great?"

[Rob Wick]

I’ve finally started back working on my book on Ida Tarbell (thankfully!), and I’ve spent the last few days making Staples richer by buying scores of toner cartridges and paper by the case (I’ve already gone through a case plus about 5 full reams of paper and I’m only up to 1925 in her Lincoln-related correspondence). Yesterday I spent a couple of hours printing out the various speeches Tarbell gave and found some articles in the New York Times. These articles, generally, were written either around Lincoln’s birthday or were featurish in nature (written and saved for when the editors needed them). Her speeches were all on the same theme, i.e., the greatness of Lincoln and how he became that way. Looking over the speeches, it set me to wondering just exactly why it is that most of us (Wild Bill excepted ) think that Lincoln achieved greatness. I think it also ties into one of the reasons for Tarbell’s popularity. In her books, articles and speeches, she constantly hammered home on the theme of Lincoln’s greatness, which gave the population at large what it wanted to believe about Lincoln and which fit into a picture that our society told itself not only about Lincoln but about our leaders in general as well as their own lives.

But why do we believe it? Is it a moral question? Political? Both? Neither? Most of the answers normally given are platitudinous in nature. He freed the slaves, he saved the Union, he was of the people, and of course, there is some truth to that. Just because something is a platitude or cliché doesn’t make it any less true. But as I began to think it over, something else came to my mind. Tarbell not only promoted the Lincoln her readers wanted to see, but she sincerely believed in that Lincoln as well. It wasn’t strictly financially driven with her. In other words, while her series for S.S. McClure caused his magazine to gain tens of thousands of readers (and started to assure her own fame and fortune which was only solidified when she turned her sights toward John D. Rockefeller), Tarbell was writing what she herself would have believed about Lincoln the man. And why did she and others believe it?

It’s often been said that Lincoln can be whatever one wants him to be simply because he was unknowable even to those closest to him. But I think many people see Lincoln as great because they see in him a duality. On the one hand, Lincoln obviously had a lot of book intelligence given that he could quote passages from the Bible, or Shakespeare or Robert Burns from memory. Given that many people couldn’t read or write, and given much of our society’s anti-intellectualism, that could have made him out to be a snob in the eyes of many. What negated that possibility, though, was an uncanny ability to relate to the common man by either telling a story or joke and by not forgetting his own background. I think that’s one reason that Tarbell’s “Billy Brown” stories, collected into the book “He Knew Lincoln” was her most popular book in terms of sales. Of course, it didn’t hurt that for a number of years NBC put it on the radio during the month of February, but people could relate to the man Tarbell put between the covers of her books. By being able to see that Lincoln was intelligent but accessible, people could relate to what he accomplished both before and after being elected to the presidency. They also could see something in themselves which his influence and manner brought forward. It gave them something to strive for in their own lives and Lincoln was their beau ideal. Those who couldn’t read or write could still hear the stories Tarbell told either through the guise of Charles “Chic” Sale or on NBC Radio, while those who could not only had the aural sensation of Tarbell’s (and Lincoln’s) words, but the visual as well. This is something I’m still trying to develop, but I would appreciate any and all comments on why most of us think Lincoln was great.

Best
Rob