“Oh, Mary!”

[David Lockmiller]

(08-15-2024 12:48 PM)Rob Wick Wrote:  David,

I know I'm going to regret this, but what in the world are you talking about?

Best
Rob

I was talking about the historical inaccuracies in the "Lincoln" movie, such as the scene (which I never saw) where Lincoln slaps his son. What does that say to an unknowing public about the character of President Abraham Lincoln?

Why not tell the truth?

The screenwriter Tony Kushner said later (not on "60 Minutes) about the fictional scene that he thought it would make the movie better (or words to that effect).

As I recall, Leslie Stahl began the 60 Minutes segment with the statement that the "Lincoln" movie informs the American public, "who are not Lincoln scholars," the historical truth about President Lincoln.

I believe that we had this discussion a long time ago.

Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote [as an alternative]:

After Willie's death, Mary had been determined not to allow her oldest son, Robert, to risk his life in the army. But after his graduation form Harvard, she could no longer detain him. In January 1865, Lincoln wrote to General Grant: "Please read and answer this letter as though I was not President, but only a friend. My son, now in his twenty second year, having graduated at Harvard, wishes to see something of the war before it ends. I do not wish to put him in the ranks, nor yet to give him a commission, to which those who have already served long, are better entitled, and better qualified to hold. Could he, without embarrassment to you, or detriment to the service, go into your Military family with some nominal rank, I, and not the public, furnishing his necessary means? If no, say so without the least hesitation, because I am as anxious, and as deeply interested, that you shall not be encumbered.

Grant replied two days later. "I will be most happy to have him in my Military family, he wrote. He suggested the rank of captain would be most appropriate. So Robert's wish to join the army was granted. Stationed as Grant's headquarters, Robert "soon became exceedingly popular," Horace Porter recalled. "He was always ready to perform his share of hard work, and never expected to be treated differently from any other officer on account of his being the son of the Chief Executive of the nation."

(Team of Rivals, pages 683-4.)

But maybe we are lucky that the screenwriter Tony Kushner did not write that Mary Lincoln drank a lot of alcohol, or paint thinner, when alcohol was not available.