April 11, 2012

Hey, Lincoln

This statue of Lincoln is a block away from my new apartment (finding that out was a great surprise). It's called "Young Lincoln," which I think is why he's so chesty (top 3 buttons!) and he's holding a book. I walk by it about thrice in a given week, and if there aren't skateboarders hanging around I always say hi.

It gives me a legitimate emotional boost to walk by and see young Lincoln. More than once it has noticeably lightened a dark mood. I don't know, seeing him there just makes me think that I should go about my day in an optimistic, productive, deliberate, and uncomplaining manner.

Now that I love Grant with all my heart and soul, I wonder what it would be like to walk by him every few days. He'd probably be pictured (carved? portrayed?) in a camp chair, in his messy uniform, looking kind of determined and unkempt. I don't think seeing him would giving me national anthem feelings, like young Abe up there, I think it would make me want to sit down beside him and be like "Duuuude, my Target card bill is insaaaane. But that ottoman is really essential to my living room, you know? I'll just have to pass on those herringbone Toms I guess."

This is the fundamental difference between Lincoln and Grant. Lincoln was and remains a man whose wisdom and vision existed above the fray. Even when the fray was his job. Grant's more of a fraymaster. He in fact floundered when not in the fray, when not dealing with a thousand tiny problems. In the classic comparison between the hedgehog and the fox, Lincoln is the hedgehog, Grant the fox. 

The introduction to Carl Sandburg's one-volume biography of Lincoln is a kind of recap of all the hagiography that sprang up in the early 20th century. He gets compared to mountains, to the sea, to the rulers of Rome. It's a little crazy. And yet, as the awesomely named Gamaliel Bradford puts it, "He still smiles, and remains impenetrable."
 
I do love Grant more, because I feel that I know him better. A mysterious man he was not, but he was such a good man. The two main issues of his presidency were Reconstruction and the western war with the Native Americans, and he approached both situations with as much magnanimity and grace as anyone in the country could have done. (Watching him try so earnestly to reform white/Indian relations when it was far too late was the most bittersweet reading experience of this project so far.) I will miss them both, as I reluctantly leave the Civil War era behind for the Rutherford B. Hayes era.

12 comments:

  1. This pic gave me a warm fuzzy feeling as I just finished reading Lincoln's Melancholy last week!

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  2. I'm enjoying reading your Presidential odyssey. Weren't you going to read Shelby Foote's Civil War trilogy? Also it's a pity to skip Grant's Personal Memoirs. But hey here I am putting things on your to-do list, no fair eh?

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  3. Janet and David, I am following and loving your blog. Your project is just the kind of thing I would think of doing, but I am busy with other projects, so I am glad you are doing it! My question today is: do you have a biography picked for Richard Nixon yet? Or for Eisenhower? If so, are you willing to share those titles with me? Thanks in advance.

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  4. Hi, Richard. I was going to read Shelby Foote last summer, but ended up with a few other writing assignments that crowded it out of my reading time. I'm also interested in Grant's memoirs, but for this particular project I've decided to read only biographies, for the sake of consistency.

    Judy, I usually only pick the titles as I go. However, Jean Edward Smith just published a biography of Eisenhower, and I imagine I will go with that one because of how much I loved his Grant.

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    1. When I was in high school (in the mid 80s) there used to be a Wendy's on that corner. I think it works (and looks) better with the statute of Lincoln.

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    2. I would be lying if I said I'd hate having a Wendy's on my corner, but of course I prefer my Lincoln. According to the park district's website the statue went up in 1997.

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  5. Hey Janet,

    I was wondering if you cared if I started my own blog about reading every past Presidents' biographies?

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  6. Of course not! There are already a handful out there.

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  7. Eagerly awaiting more presidential magic.

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  8. It's been a couple months, I was just curious how your progress is coming along?

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