VP Beast Butler?

[L Verge]

(12-17-2014 03:32 PM)Wild Bill Wrote:  Funny, Don 1946, I and several others have always thought this forum dedicated to vindicating the Yankee side of the war.

I guess we are all befuddled by PhD's and other false gods, to use the phrase of commentator Dennis Praeger

Careful, Wild Bill - remember that you hold a PhD also!

Dr. Doyle - "I've spent a lot of time with Mr. Lincoln these last few years and am looking forward to meeting others who are fascinated by the man, his times, and his meaning for the world then and now."

I believe that I have accurately quoted what you have posted on your profile for this forum. It is almost the exact reason why I joined this forum and the former Friends of Lincoln Mailbag, and have learned so much from Roger Norton's wonderful research site on Abraham Lincoln (have you been there?)

I also believe that the difference between your interest in Lincoln and mine is that we both may be fascinated by Mr. Lincoln, but I do not idolize him. I see both good and bad in him - just as I do many of the historical figures related to the crucial years from 1830 to 1880. In fact, I think one of the prime duties of any good historian is to judge people from all sides. I think that's how Lincoln saw life also.

And, I just bet that he would love to be a vocal part of our forum in order to express his opinions on his contemporaries, their true roles in our country's history, what was achieved or lost by our Civil War, and other topics. I don't approve of things that Lincoln did - especially in my home state of Maryland - but I understand why he did some of the things, just as I understand some of the actions of those you choose to condemn on the Confederate side.

Those are just my thoughts, and they have been burnished because of a severe beating that I took on another similar forum a number of years ago merely because I am director of Surratt House Museum. Those who idolized Lincoln to the extreme (and there were only a few) made life miserable for me, even though our museum's mission is to tell both sides of the story.

I just have one question out of curiosity: I understand that you are a professor at the University of South Carolina. Do you allow both sides of the Civil War to be discussed in your classes? Do you put down those students who attempt to do so?