[laughter] nonetheless, dr. masur does it right and he has the credentials to support his hypotheses. he is the author of eight books, professor at rutgers, and elected member of the society of historians and the massachusetts historical society. he is the recipient of fellowships from the mellon foundation and the national endowment for humanities. he has earned the trustees award for faculty excellence from trinity, the john prize for excellence in teaching from harvard, and the outstanding teacher award from the city university of new york. he is very tall. [laughter] and three years ago, i was honored to present him with our annual abraham lincoln book award for his excellent "lincoln: 100 days." please welcome louis masur. [applause] dr. masur: my thanks to ron for that wonderful introduction. we need this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart. that is aligned with which lincoln opened what would turn out to be his last speech. it had taken him a couple of days to write that line and in many ways, it w