"Acts of Remembrance: Mary Todd Lincoln and Her Husband's Memory"

[Linda Anderson]

Here is an interesting article by Jennifer L. Bach published in the "Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association" about Mary's struggles after her husband's assassination.

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860...w=fulltext

"When Abraham Lincoln fell victim to an assassin's bullet in April 1865, his wife found her world turned upside down. The assassination transformed Mary Todd Lincoln from the first lady of the United States into the first widow of a slain U.S. president. Mrs. Lincoln was devastated; her husband had been the center of her emotional life since their wedding in 1842. However, the heavy burden of grief did not completely shatter her spirit. Regarding herself as the rightful guardian of President Lincoln's memory, she found the strength to defend her slain husband's image through private letters, though she seldom took public stands. She protected his wishes concerning a final resting place and monitored memorial efforts. In addition, Mrs. Lincoln tried to use the nation's collective memory of the martyred sixteenth president for her own financial benefit, seeking money from Congress, Republican politicians, and wealthy citizens to acknowledge President Lincoln's service to his country and the many personal favors he had performed. Mrs. Lincoln's efforts to control and capitalize on her husband's collective memory paralleled those of other prominent widows of her day. Because of her less favorable public image, less visible actions, and greater competition from others associated with her husband, Mrs. Lincoln's endeavors proved less successful than those of the other widows. Nevertheless, the former first lady did achieve some of her goals."

[LincolnToddFan]

Linda-

Thank you so very much for this article! I have said it many times that any offenses, faux pas, mistakes or crimes committed by this unfortunate woman were more than expiated by her sufferings in the last 17 years of her life. One of her biographers(Dr. W.A. Evans) feels she simply cannot be held responsible for her behavior after 1861, when her imbalance became full blown. I wonder what her character and personality would have been, without the blight of mental illness?

Several of her biographers write that at the moment of death she smiled. What a relief it must have been.