it is my honor and privilege to invite tonight's speaker, john mckee barr, a professor of history ate star college kingwood, for the past seven years, teaching among other things a class on darwin and lincoln, who were born on the same day. that is a pregnant historical coincidence. before that, he was a high school teacher in the houston public school system. that is good preparation for the kind of flack he has to put up

. >> next on the presidency, john mckee barr talks about "loathing lincoln: an american tr

. >> >> next, john mckee barr talks about "loathing lincoln: an american tradition from the civil war to the present." he says in order to understand why lincoln is revered, it is important to understand the criticisms of his detractors. the lincoln group of the district of columbia hosted this one hour 20 minute event. >> good evening. i am former vice president of the lincoln group in the district of columbia. it is my honor and privilege to invite tonight's speaker, john mckee barr, a professor of history at lone star college kingwood, for the past seven years, teaching a class on darwin and lincoln, who were born on the same day. before that, he was a high school teacher in the houston public school system. that is good preparation for the kind of flack he has to put up now at it. this is his first book, and he has started a blog. i highly recommend it. it is very lively. it is loathinglincoln.com. the book has received a lot of praise. i want to read you a couple summaries. paradoxically, america's most revered president has also been its most reviled. detractors of the rail spli

john mickey barr. -- mckee barr. [applause] >> thank you for having me here this evening.coming up on this rainy evening it is nice to hear those , comments. michael was very kind to me at various points. that was nice when he gave a blurb. i was also lucky that my father-in-law grew up in a family of eight children, so i was able to go all over the u.s. for free while i did research. this is my wife's uncle, peter gutierrez. i am staying with him in baltimore yesterday, today, and tomorrow. i want to recognize peter and his family for all they have done for me. [applause] the title of my talk is understanding why he was hated in order to understand why he was loved. loathing lincoln and why it matters today. that is a paraphrase of a quote by william f buckley junior said -- the founder of the modern conservative movement. he said it late in his life, around 2002. he said, we can't really understand why lincoln was loved without understanding why he was hated. that is the premise of my book to look at lincoln's critics and examine, what did they hate him for? even lincoln

it is my honor and privilege to invite tonight's speaker, john mckee barr, a professor of history ate star college kingwood, for the past seven years, teaching among other things a class on darwin and lincoln, who were born on the same day. that is a pregnant historical coincidence. before that, he was a high school teacher in the houston public school system. that is good preparation for the kind of flack he has to put up