Lincoln's Boys

[Wild Bill]

I forget where I got it, but allegedly Robert and John Hay ran to the whorehouses in DC together and both studied Spanish with Lucy Hale. This implies some friendship--at least to me.

Don't forget the story I told you, Laurie, which may or may not be apocryphal, about Robert refusing to allow Bull Moose Republican and erstwhile Lincoln biographer Albert Beveridge access to Abe's papers, while granting Hay and Nicolay full access. After a screaming match, Beveridge stormed out of Robert's Pullman Co. office, slammed the door and nearly broke the glass, forgetting his hat in the process, leaving it behind. Robert came out, had his secretary contact a life insurance company to find out how long Beveridge would live and had the Lincoln papers held until they were released after World War II in the Roy Basler edition, years after Robert and Beveridge had died.

Just for fun, I went over to the university library the other day and checked the footnotes in the 2 volumes Beveridge wrote (from Lincoln's birth to the election of 1860) and while he had extensive research, he never got any of Lincoln's papers unless the letters were held by someone other than Robert, near as I could tell.

Nicolay and Hay's 10 volumes are dedicated to Robert, BTW. Beveridge never mentioned him so kindly.