AL and God

[Linda Anderson]

(11-29-2014 07:27 AM)HerbS Wrote:  Linda,Please tell me what your point is about RTL.

Hi Herb. Eva asked for more information about Robert Lincoln and the Pullman porters and I remembered seeing the "Many Voices" exhibit when I visited Hildene last spring and being surprised that the porters' story was included at RTL's home. I found more info on it which I provided in the links.

My info about RTL was taken from Emerson's book which states, "Many have said, then and now, that Abraham Lincoln would have been ashamed of his son for siding with the Pullman Company." Emerson goes goes on to say that Robert was a lawyer who served his clients as did Abraham Lincoln when he defended slave owners but adds, as Laurie said in her post, that RTL's upbringing was totally different from his father's. RTL "believed in the superiority of the educated management, the essential ignorance in administrative affairs of the lower-class wage workers, and the seditious and undemocratic influences of the meddling labor unions."

My point was to show how different RTL was from his father. Considering Abraham Lincoln's upbring, I find Robert's stance ironic but I also know how easy it is to rationalize one's beliefs to suit one's circumstances.