Lincoln and the Thirteenth Amendment

[David Lockmiller]

(02-09-2016 12:48 PM)Christian Wrote:  

(02-09-2016 10:51 AM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  There is one very important scene from both the movie and the movie trailer upon which you do not make a comment. This is the scene at the theater in which Mary Todd Lincoln severely chastises Lincoln for his failure to secure passage by Congress of the Thirteenth Amendment resolution.

Would you please comment on the source and historical accuracy of this scene from the movie?

It is my opinion that this movie scene is a complete fabrication by the film’s award-winning playwright, Tony Kushner, and does a great historical disservice to the well-deserved public reputation of President Abraham Lincoln. For his work, Mr. Kushner received a National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2013.

I think you're referring to the scene where she says, "You will answer to me" and I think that it's a dramatic license and didn't happen in reality.

I am of the opinion that "dramatic licenses" should not be issued to people who are presumably making historically accurate movies about real people, especially Abraham Lincoln.

Leslie Stahl in her national 60 Minutes broadcast to millions of Americans on the subject of the "Lincoln" movie began her presentation with these words: "The film is filled with things about our 16th President that we, who are not Lincoln scholars, did not know."

One day Noah Brooks, a newspaperman, found Lincoln alone in a forest on the Virginia side of the Potomac. He was standing on the stump of a tree, the better to view the scenery. He called Brook's attention to some of the more subtle aspects of the landscape; then he said: "I like trees best when they're not in leaf and you can study their anatomy. Look at the delicate firm outline of that leafless tree against the skyline. And see!" -- pointing to the network of shadows cast by the branches on the snow -- "that's the profile of the tree."

The memory of this silhouette on the snow remained with Lincoln, for the next day, when he was having a discussion with someone about the difference between character and reputation, he said in Brook's hearing: "Perhaps a man's character is like the shadown it casts. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing."

The point of this story is that for the millions of Americans who have seen the "Lincoln" movie, these historical scenes define "what they think of [Mr. Lincoln's character]." As Leslie Stahl said: "The film is filled with things about our 16th President that we, who are not Lincoln scholars, did not know."

I believe that the "Lincoln" movie is a grossly distorted "shadow" of Lincoln's true character.