Robert Todd Lincoln --The vitals

[kerry]

I'm pretty sure Emerson meant Robert was the giant. He definitely had talents and accomplishments, the latter of which were inextricably linked to his fame, which should be taken into account but not held against him. It's fairly clear his becoming Secretary of War was almost entirely due to his name, but it's not like he was totally incompetent at it. I wouldn't characterize him as a giant, and he did not see himself that way. As I've said many times, I appreciate the complexity of the Mary-Robert relationship and they aren't in competition with each other, but I will say I don't think it's fair for people to dismiss Myra Bradwell as a mere troublemaker (not saying anyone did, but it just comes up). She personally knew Mary well and was a very impressive woman. She was at least as much acting as a friend as an agitator, and if she was being an agitator, well, things needed agitating! I don't think she would have tried to get Mary out if she thought she was a danger, and she declined to participate in railing against Robert, Swett, etc. She appears to have been acting from good motives based on good information. Her position was that Mary no longer needed to be institutionalized; the debate is always about whether or not she should have been at all, when really the debate going on with Myra was whether it should continue. She wasn't alone in thinking Mary had stabilized enough; institutionalizing someone long-term is very serious. The thing that gets me is that yes, the women tend to come across as somewhat querulous and disruptive, but that's in large part because it was the *only* avenue available to them. Myra had been turned away from legitimate legal channels, and Mary was given a "special legal friend" at her trial. If they weren't going to get a dignified rebuttal, they had to use the press.