Abraham Lincoln Failures List

[RJNorton]

Thank you to Danny West for sending this link. The Abraham Lincoln failures list is often found in "email forwards." Here is the Snopes analysis of this list.

[HerbS]

Sometimes you have to loose in order to appreciate winning! I had a wrestler that was 28-0,and then he lost the "Big One".He Never wrestled again.Thus,I couldn't wait until a wrestler lost a match!

[LincolnMan]

Really good analysis of the Lincoln failures list! I think the last book I read that dealt with that list was Did Lincoln Own Slaves? by Gerald Prokopowicz. That book is a lot of fun. It's written in question and answer format (hence the title) and gives most informative data.

[RJNorton]

Zenyatta, the greatest racehorse I've ever seen (male or female), won her first 19 straight races. Her 20th race would be her last one. And she finished second by inches. Yet her one losing race is still considered her greatest! Go figure. Her one "failure" was still her best. How can that be! But it's true! Her last race was against the best male horses in the world, and the ground she made up against these great horses was incredible.

A movie will be made about Zenyatta someday - take it to the bank.

[LincolnMan]

Is Zenyatta still alive?

[RJNorton]

Yes, Bill. She's retired and doing just fine!

[LincolnMan]

Good, no glue factory!

[LincolnMan]

I just got handed the "Lincoln Failures List" today by a patient. She found it inspirational. Didn't have the heart to burst her bubble.

[RJNorton]

Bill, the one that really gets me is "Had nervous breakdown in 1836." I have never really seen evidence of that.

[LincolnMan]

Roger, I agree. The term "nervous breakdown" is problematic anyway. What does it mean? It is a term commonly used by the public but not by those in the mental heath field. If Lincoln did have one, was it a normal reaction to a life event (that we are all subject too)? Or was he unstable mentally? And, as you suggest, where is the proof that he experienced it besides?

[Liz Rosenthal]

I think that the 1836 "nervous breakdown" was meant to be Lincoln's 1835 reaction to the death of Ann Rutledge. All we have about that are some anecdotes told to Herndon by various former New Salem residents - which may very well be true, and I'm inclined to believe that he had had a relationship with Ann and was grief-stricken at her death. But I agree that there is no evidence of his grief leading to a six-month stint in bed.

What is awful about the list of "Lincoln failures" is that it's yet another example of modern-day fact-massaging. Whoever originally came up with the list took several kernels of truth and made them into incidents that never happened, or happened quite differently than portrayed.

Maybe what we need to do is come up with a basic list of Lincoln's life and career accomplishments and see if we can make it go viral!

[LincolnMan]

Liz: I like your idea. Maybe a new list demonstrating Lincoln's perseverance using accurate information is the ticket.

[LincolnMan]

A fellow said to me last week after bringing me the list- assuming that I had never seen it-"the biggest failure is not even on the list." "What would the be?"- I asked.
"That he got himself assassinated!"
I thought "how true, how true."

[LincolnMan]

And speaking of Lincoln's failures I now enter this observation that I came across as found in Carl Sandburg's War Years. Sandburg mentions a written communication that was sent by Lincoln to General Rosecrans. This occurred in late 1863. At one point Lincoln wrote: "I frequently make mistakes." Think about that- a sitting president making that kind of statement. This is just another example of what makes him so special.