Mary Todd Lincoln's faux pas (plural), worse, and much worse

[LincolnToddFan]

It sounds like what you( and a certain well regarded scholar) are saying is that because you cannot imagine loving a woman like Mary Todd, Abraham Lincoln could not possibly have?

This despite the fact that Lincoln himself told a journalist in the WH that he fell in love with his wife when he met her and had never fallen out of love with her? Do you suggest that he was lying then, or exaggerating...things he was not famous for doing?

You-and the Prof., have done a good job in documenting the tragically long list of this woman's many flaws, sins, and shortcomings. Why do you insist on ignoring and minimize other evidence-and there is much of it-of her good qualities and of the president's love and appreciation for this woman in spite of herself?

Frankly from a "woman's perspective" I am not sure what Mary saw in AL. He was brilliant and visionary as a leader, but as a husband I am not sure I could have been happy with him. As Mary Owens put it Mr. Lincoln was "deficient" in the things that make up a woman's happiness. But Mary Todd did not agree. She loved him and he loved her and she well knew that as her letters attest. One of his last conscious gestures before Booth's bullet found him was to reach for her hand.

He had known her as a young woman, before the stresses of life and the loss of their children made her ill. Perhaps he was able to see beyond her caprices, her selfishness, her obvious instability and remember that she was-at her very best- also intelligent, loyal, and brave? Perhaps Mr. Lincoln loved his wife because she WASN'T perfect? He was not a perfect man and he knew it. So why would he have demanded a perfect wife?

It's not important if you or Professor Burlingame don't understand WHY or HOW he could love a woman like her, nor is it necessary.