Lincoln and Ann Rutledge

[LincolnToddFan]

Herndon was a strange man. He seemed to worship AL as a god and(to me) seemed a little in love with him. That would go a long way to give him reason to dislike not only Lincoln's wife, but even his young children. He resented them.

Like certain AL biographers today he seems to feel that emphasizing-or imagining-that Lincoln was abysmally unhappy in his personal life somehow makes him even more venerable, more worthy of worship.

Here is what Herndon wrote to AL's close friend Isaac N. Arnold on Nov 26, 1866. The latter had written to Herndon protesting statements he had made in his lectures....:

"...My dear sir, what makes Europe and America love Christ? It is our sympathy that is at the root; and shall I strip Abraham Lincoln of his crown and cross? It is criminal to do so". (Emmanuel Hertz, The Hidden Lincoln, pg#38)

So Herndon, who undertook to write a life of AL in the first place because he was disgusted with all the hagiography and worship, apparently decided to encourage hagiography and worship via his lectures.

Strange, twisted man.