Robert Todd Lincoln

[Karen S. Campbell]

Has anyone read "Giant in the Shadows: The Life of Robert Todd Lincoln" by Jason Emerson? I saw that it is now available on Kindle.

[RJNorton]

Hi Karen. I have it but have not completed reading it. Author Jason Emerson is a member of this forum. Based on what I have read so far it is my strong feeling that Jason's work will replace John S. Goff's as the definitive biography of Robert Lincoln. The notes alone take up about 125 pages! It is a very impressive work! Jason said he will post when he has a chance, but he has 3 more books scheduled for publication in 2012: Mary Lincoln's Insanity Case: A Documentary History, a book-length history of Hildene, and Lincoln's Lover: Mary Lincoln in Poetry.

To call him busy is an understatement.

[Rogerm]

I recently finished reading this book. It was definitely worth the time, and shows that Robert Lincoln had an identity all his own. However, he was very sensitive to his father's legacy, and never gave in to the temptation to run for president on his family's name.

[Rob Wick]

I've also read it and it is definitely worth the time. I also agree with Roger that it will become the standard biography.

Best
Rob

[Karen S. Campbell]

I'm going to enjoy reading Emerson's book on Robert. I have always found Robert Todd Lincoln an enigma. He seems to be so unlike his father and I still have some qualms about his treatment of Mary. It is so sad that Willie died in 1863. I think he was the son most like Lincoln. Tad looked a lot like his father as he got older and he seemed to settle down in his late teens. His early death was just one more tragedy for Mary to cope with.

[Dan Pearson]

I'm in the midst of reading the book right now. I'm loving it, have learned many things I did not know before, and really can't put it down. Will it be the definitive biography of R.T.L.? Without a doubt!

[LincolnMan]

For those who have read the book-does it address the charges of racism by RTL as it related to his role with Pullman?

[Rob Wick]

Bill,

Yes, it does. On pages 365-7 it talks about his relationship with the porters and the charges of racism.

Best
Rob

[79ttocs]

The Pullman Palace Sleeping Car Company and Robert Lincoln's involvement there is a fascinating story that has never been fully researched. Since my main background is railroad history, I've tried to scratch at Pullman and Lincoln. Pullman was a very good PR man and an average business man. His town of Pullman, Illinois and the Pullman Strike of 1894 are well worth the efforts of any serious historian, as is the life of Eugene Victor Debbs, his creation of the American Railway Union, to which most Pullman shop employees took up membership and how they nearly brought America to the brink of anarchy. Robert Lincoln's job, at least from the surface, was to mop up George Pullman's messes and keep the Company focused, which was especially difficult after 1893 and the on-set of the Depression. Just look in any July 1894 newspaper for details of the Chicago strike. Of course it was the continued anger towards George Pullman after his death and the attempts to dig his body up and toss it into Lake Michigan that prompted Robert Lincoln to have him reburied deep with his coffin being encased in reinforced concrete at a depth reported at 27 feet. This in turn led to Robert's father, Abraham, at the final burial of 1901, being buried in a similar manner at 10 feet, his coffin being encased in reinforced concrete

Scott Trostel

[Laurie Verge]

A question was recently raised about Robert Lincoln ever appearing on film. I thought the logical time would have been at the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial. I contacted our film expert, Richard Sloan, and received this reply:

There is no listing among the newsreels in the Library of Congress for a newsreel of the dedication ceremonies for the Lincoln Memorial, May 30, 1922. There is only a record of a newsreel having been made of the laying of the cornerstone a few years earlier. It was an interesting question. Who asked it of you?
(My source: -- "The Civil War in Motion Pictues -- a Bibliography of Films Produced in the U.S. since 1897." Compiled byPaul C. Spehr and the staff of the Motion Picture Section, Library of Congress, Wash., D.C. 1961.)
Perh. the Nat'l Archives has a listing of its own?

[RJNorton]

Laurie, I am the one who brought it up in another thread. I vaguely recall discussing this years ago on the ALO Mailbag. I thought someone said (at that time) that he or she had actually seen it. I have some of the old postings in my files; I'll see if I have something regarding possible film footage of RTL.

[RJNorton]

I found it.

[Karen S. Campbell]

I found a video of the film clip in the C-Span Video library that shows Robert Todd Lincoln very briefly at the 1922 dedication of the Lincoln Memorial. The Web Address is: http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A0S00MxB9SNQeFgAYA77w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTBrc3VyamVwBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQD

I have also posted the video on my Lincoln facebook page: What's New About LIncoln: https://www.facebook.com/whatsnewaboutlincoln

[RJNorton]

Thank you, Karen! I had never seen him before in a film...it's only a few seconds, but there he is (about 1:28)!

[Karen S. Campbell]

The Pullman Palace Sleeping Car Company and Robert Lincoln's involvement there is a fascinating story that has never been fully researched. Since my main background is railroad history, I've tried to scratch at Pullman and Lincoln. Pullman was a very good PR man and an average business man. His town of Pullman, Illinois and the Pullman Strike of 1894 are well worth the efforts of any serious historian, as is the life of Eugene Victor Debbs, his creation of the American Railway Union, to which most Pullman shop employees took up membership and how they nearly brought America to the brink of anarchy. Robert Lincoln's job, at least from the surface, was to mop up George Pullman's messes and keep the Company focused, which was especially difficult after 1893 and the on-set of the Depression. Just look in any July 1894 newspaper for details of the Chicago strike. Of course it was the continued anger towards George Pullman after his death and the attempts to dig his body up and toss it into Lake Michigan that prompted Robert Lincoln to have him reburied deep with his coffin being encased in reinforced concrete at a depth reported at 27 feet. This in turn led to Robert's father, Abraham, at the final burial of 1901, being buried in a similar manner at 10 feet, his coffin being encased in reinforced concrete

Scott Trostel

Very interesting!