lincoln for the senate, and the reason he defeated lincoln for the senate is because lincoln was too conservative on the issue of slavery in illinois and in america, but the bottom line, l ymon trumble came to washington. he was the author of the first confiscation act which began the emancipation proclamation in august, 1861. he was the author of the second confiscati act, which was the most sweeping act of emancipation passed by congress, enacted during lincoln's time, more sweeping than the emancipation proclation. and he was one of the principal authors of the 13th amendment. 100 years ahead of lincoln. nobody in illinois knows lymon trumble. i'm exaggerating. one or two people know h. we have had no major exhibits in illinois on him. we have had 100 exhibits on lincoln who didn't believe in equality, who did little or nothing to advance the abolitionist process. why isn't it the culture -- why isn't the culture structure teaching lymon trumble's name. >> as you know, almost every poll that is taken has abraham lincoln as number one. as you know, because you write about it in you

but lincoln was changing. he was willing to assume the worst in 1861 when the threat of secession by border states was the highest. now he favored what he called "great caution, calmness and forebearance." but most famous incident of press suppression was yet to come. in 1864 here in new york, in the one instance in which they took personal possession of a crackdown, he signed a document -- he didn't write it but he signed it, declaring that the new york world, a democratic paper, had wickedly and traitorously printed a false and spurious proclamation of a treasonably nature designed to give aid and comfort to the enemies of the united states. the order commanded general john a. dicks here to arrest and inprison in any fort, i'm quoting again" the editors prop price tors and publishers and bring them to trial before military commission before their offense. take possession of the print be establishments and prevent any further publication." tough words and actions indeed. so why the fuss over a bogus proclamat

with a "new york times" reporter and an old thorn in lincoln's side who had invented that lincoln had snuck in to baltimore as president-elect wearing a disguise. when he was told that howard was in prison, lincoln must have said okay, throw away the key. as it happened, henry ward beecher, the minister of the church in brooklyn told lincoln that indeed howard had done the whole thing himself with the hope of making some money. now he paid the price for both missteps, including fraud. he stayed in prison for a long time. and then to show how complicated this becomes, the governor of new york, a democrat named horatio seymour ordered the general put on trial in municipal court in new york city fortress pass, kidnapping, forcible entry, and inciting to riot. the poor judge who heard the case didn't quite know what to make of it. he sort of issued a half hearted ruling saying the suspension of the right of habeas corpus was in part unconstitutional and general dicks is subject to indictment. if a general can close down a civilian newspaper, then a civilian court can indict. but they didn

there we go. >> everybody say lincoln! >> lincoln! great. very good. >> that was a nice idea. >> when visitors first enter our site, they walk in through these doors and the display case we just put the original great coat in is the first thing they see. there is a wall panel describeing it and they do have to go around. it is protected against the light. then once they get their tickets, they go down this ramp and they go into either the museum or the theater itself. we are heading downstairs to the museum which is where most visitors start their visit and their journey through lincoln's presidency. one of the first things they see before they get into the museum is this replica life mask which we encourage them to touch. this is an interesting life mask made in 1860. just months before he was to start his first term as the 16th president of the united states and so we see a much younger, fresher looking lincoln. now we are entering the museum. it is in the basement of the theater itself. our museum does not just focus on lincoln's last day

we also hear the telegraph sending out confirmation of abraham lincoln's death. >> president lincoln died at 22 minutes after 7:00. >> visitors have the opportunity to learn a little bit about what the newspapers were saying. and also just the general state of affairs here in washington, d.c. and that takes us the our next stage of the exhibition where we step on to a train platform and into the funeral car which is a replica of the funeral car that carried abraham lincoln to springfield, illinois, to be buried. we learn a little bit about the funeral and the staging of the funeral in washington and at the white house. and here we have items on display from the national park service. some items in this case have actually never been on display before. and the items range from things that were related to the funeral train itself. a handle to the coffin, to mourning ribbons. a ticket to the funeral at the white house. and even things like the tools that were used to seal abraham lincoln's coffin for the final time before he was buried in springfield, illinois. the people who rode in the

lincoln. mrs. lincoln is then the one who gave that great coat to alfonso dunn who was a favorite doorkeeper, a kind of usher. he's the one who kept it for many years. he kept it in his family for over two generations. he had many offers to have that coat bought from him, including a very generous offer from the famous p.t. barnum. and he refused all those offers, and that coat was in his family's hands until it came to 68. national park service in since 1968, ford's theater national historic site has been run through a very special public/private partnership. the public part is the national park service. the private is ford's theater society. and that's been since 1968 that we've run this site together. we run it both as a national historic site where we have thousands of visitors come in and we interpret the events that happened here. at the same time, this is still an active working theater. and so in that way we get to preserve lincoln's memory and it is a living memorial that pays tribute to h

lincoln, you're not doing enough. linco lincoln, you're doing too much. and i think the thing that strikes me about this early, early period of 1861 is, yeah, there was cessation. obviously, some states had. but the general feeling that lincoln had and that most of the country this is this wasn't going to work. there's too many unionists around, too much love for the united states. so it's going to fail. cessation happens and it works. well, there won't be a war. americas would not fight one against another. then war comes. well, it's not going to be much of a war because we know that the other side is -- you know, the north is a bunch of shopkeepers and, you know, they're not going to -- with some famous southern said, you know, you can slap a yankee in the face. he may sue you. but he won't fight you. so, there was that kind of attitude. and the attitude -- >> another slur, i might add. >> and then you have -- so you have this whole idea that it's going to happen. well, no, it's not going to happen. if it happens, it's going to be easy and quick. so, co

an old thorn in lincoln's side. so when he was told that howard was in prison, lincoln must have said, okay, throw away the key. as it happened, henry ward beecher, the minister of the plymouth church told lincoln that indeed howard had done the whole thing himself with the hope of making some money. now he paid the price for both missteps including fraud. he stayed in prison for a long time. and then to show how complicated this became, the governor of new york, a democrat named horatio ordered he be put on trial for trespass, kidnapping, and inciting to riot. the poor judge who heard the case didn't quite know what to make of it. he sort of issued a half hearted ruling saying the suspension was in part unconstitutional and general dix is subject to indictment. in a general can close down the newspaper, they could indict the general, but they didn't indict the general. nothing really happened. the world case remains something of a mystery, but it was one case in which lincoln himself is known to have signed that do

this building will be the extension of the understanding of who lincoln is today, lincoln's legacy. >> my name is tracy avant. i'm the curator of exhibitions here at ford's theater society. and we are now standing in the entryway of the center for education and leadership, which is the fourth act of our four-act drama that we've set up for our entire campus. our first act is our museum across the street underneath the theater. that looks at president lincoln's time here in washington. our second act is in the theater itself and is the assassination of lincoln. and our third act is the peterson house where lincoln's body was taken and where he did die. so those three acts have been in place since 2009. now we're just getting ready to open our center for education and leadership which looks at our fourth act. and the fourth act looks at two elements. it looks at the aftermath of lincoln's assassination and that includes the -- his death and the funeral train journey home to illinois. and the man hunt for john wilks booth and the conspirators. the second part of the akd looks at the memo

but lincoln was changing. he was willing to assume the worst in 1861 when threat of succession by border states was highest. he called great calmness, and forbearance. but the rest was yet to come in in 1864, here in new york, the one incident in which he took personal possession of a crackdown, he signed a document. he didn't write it but he signed it, declaring that the new york world, a democratic paper, had wickedly and traitorousl printed a proceed clowe mags designed to give aid and comfort to the enemies of the united states. the order commanded general john a. dikes here to arrest and imprison in any form, i'm quoting again, editors, proprietors and publishers and bring them to trial for their offense. take poe egs of the printing establishments and prevent any further publication. tough words and actions, indeed. why the fuss over a bogus proclamati proclamation? the initial believed the democratic press conspired to release a fraudulent sshl order calling for 400,000 new volunteers in the union army

off who lincoln was as such a brilliant leader. this center is what that is all about. >> for more information about the ford's theater education and leadership center, visit their website at ford's theatre.org. >>> next, abraham lincoln bicentennial foundation chairman discusses abraham lincoln and the freedom of the press during the civil war. as part of his talk, mr. holzer examines the reasoning of imprisoning of newspaper editors. it was co-hosted by the historical society of the courts of the state of new york. and new york state archives partnership trust. it's an hour and a half. >> thank you, judge. i have a feeling if i say thank you, judge, i'll get a you're welcome from 2/3 of the audience. it's daunting. but i've never spoken to a crowd of so many attorneys in my life. there's several i want to acknowledge, my daughter meg who is an attorney is here today. my cousin new york state inspector general ellen biben is here today. my old friend judge gene nardelli is here today. and it's wonderful to see all of you. one othe

two, lincoln was a racist. three, abraham lincoln wanted to deport black people and create an all-white nation. that's three. four, abraham lincoln was -- and this is the controversial point, maybe there were not five. four, that a abraham lincoln was contrary to what all historians say an equivocating, vacillating leader who prolonged the war, delayed emancipation, and increased the number of casualties. >> equivocating, vacillating. >> well, first of all, lincoln was a 19th century man, with some of the same prejudices of 19th century men. but i think that the thing that distinguished him from other men of his era was that he believed very strongly in equality of opportunity. and that people had the right to benefit from their labor, and so he was anti-slavery. there were many white americans who were not anti-slavery or simply didn't care at all what was happening to enslaved people. he did care. but, yes, he did tell racially insensitive jokes. he did believe that white men and women were superior to black

lincoln very fondly here. i wonder, did the country ever mellow towards her, either after lincoln's death or even after hers, did they realize the extent of the loneliness, the wandering? >> right. i'm very glad that i get this question. the best one-sentence biography that's been written on mary lincoln was written by her sister, elizabeth, who said, she's had a lot to deal with and she hasn't dealt with it very well. and i think if we all started there it would help. mary lincoln has three reasons to get up in the morning -- her boys, her husband, and her advancement. her ascent to the presidency. well, three of her boys die early, one commits her to an insane asylum, her husband is murdered while she's holding his hand, and she becomes the scapegoat of the entire war. that's a lot to deal with. and she didn't deal with it very well. and it's such a study in contrast, the degree to which the nation refuses to even pity her. she becomes this diva of grief, she seems histrionic, they can't find a place in thei

lincoln. >>> abraham and mary lincoln. she was short, he, a skbrint. -giant. she went to college, he went to one-room schoolhouses, she spoke french and he spoke indiana. she liked the best clothes, he liked the same old clothes. he grew up admiring henry clay, she knew henry clay. the lincoln family hated slavery, the todd family owned slaves, they met in springfield, illinois. >> one d was good enough to spell god, the todds needed two. >> he told me, ms. todd, i want to dance with you in the worst way and that's the way he danced, in the worst way. >> on the issue of poetry and politics, they had nothing in common. whatever you have read or heard before, it was mutual attraction and admiration than never waned. and this in their exact words, their family photos and other period pictures is their story beginning in 1858. >> i have come to the con conversation -- >> in our little country in springfield in the days of my girlhood, we had a society of gentlemen who have since been distinguished

of lincoln. so bray hamlin con is being welcomed into heaven by washington. so days before his assassination, some of these things never would have been put together, but because of his assassination and the effect it had on the country, all of his misgivings, at least for a short time, were forgotten. and the memorialization of bray hamlin con really started with the mattrtyrdom. e look briefly at the erected. we look at the celebrations like the first celebration of his birth in 1909. we look at many of the positives like ee mansz passion which were not fully realized by 1909 when celebrations were held, but african-americans were not allowed into these celebrations and how those kinds of things spurred the birth of organizations like naacp. we look at how presidents throughout time and what we have is just a small example of how lincoln's words inspired them, how they turned to lincoln and his writings for inspiration in their own decisions. and even how presidents on opposite sides of politic

. >>> next, abraham lincoln bicentennial foundation chairman harold holzer discusses abraham lincoln and the freedom of the press during the civil war. as part of his talk mr. holzer examines the reasoning behind the imprisonment of newspaper editors during the civil war and suspension of habeus corpus. this speech was delivered at the new york city bar association and was cohosted by the historical society of the courts of the state of new york and new york archives partnership trust. it's an hour and a half. [ applause ] >>> thank you, judge. i have a feeling if i say thank you, judge, i'll get a you're welcome from two-thirds of the audience. it's daunting. but i've never spoke ton a crowd of so many attorneys in my entire life. there are several that i want to acknowledge. my daughter meg who is an attorney is here today. [ applause ] >> my cousin, new york state inspector general ellen biben is here today. [ applause ] >> my old friend judge gene odelli is here today. we could go on forever. it's wonderful to see all of you. one other person i want to mention, the subject for th

lincoln was immersed in this world. he was one of many politicians who not only befriended sympathetic editors, he hung out at newspaper offices, he had his speeches typeset by local loyal press. he ghost wrote editorials for the local press and he regarded opposition ones as he put it once as villainous. public malice and not public good possesses them entirely. malice was a long time coming. lincoln alone was not alone in this view. democratic politicians felt the same way about republican editors. now, importantly, press loyalties were fueled not only by party discipline but by expectations of reward. and it wasn't just political advertising. once in office, politicians routinely repaid loyal editors with coveted jobs. even hon eest abe. the enter betweening of press and politics was a tradition not an exception. even more alien to our modern concept, 19th century politicians were often publishers and publishers were often politicians. three members of lincoln's first cabinet had been newspaper publishers. the speake

themselves by lincoln. he is a secular saint. and i know that, and i know and i said that what i'm proposing here that we look at lincoln is painful, painful to whites and to blacks, but i think it's necessary for the health of this country and to what we've got to do about completing the task we started in this civil war but never finished. >> first of all, what do you think of mr. lerone bennett? >> a wonderful scholar who has written some very important works, who has -- a great researcher as well. i think he's right that we have elevated lincoln to godlike status. i think w.b. dubois perhaps said it best in the 1920s when he said that we have a tendency to make icons of ordinary men and that, you know, once they're dead, we have to elevate them to this godlike status, and as a consequence what we get is someone who's cold and dead. we don't really get a person. and i think he's right about that. the problem with the way lincoln is treated in the literature, in historical writings, is that he is flawless

lincoln came to understand this. these guys really don't know as much as they think they know, and in reading the book of my hero, henry halak, came to understand, hey, i can figure this out just as well as they can, maybe better. how come they haven't considered this and this and this? >> maybe this lawyer's mind in this one instance, at least, played an important part, frank. >> you mean lincoln. >> i'm from baltimore, maryland. this is something i've been thinking about for two days since i heard jack davis' presentation, and it's been reiterated today. so lee, the reluctant traitor, as you call him, agonizes about his loyalty to virginia versus his loyalty to the united states. i imagine that was true for a lot of officers and the like. during the course of the war, this is foreshadowing, the south always had trouble coming up with a viable national strategy, where they always came up with a viable national strategy with the north. lee was focused on virginia, on saving virginia, on defending virginia and was les

a story of a positive impact on the lincolns. this time on abraham lincoln himself. this is emily todd. she was born in 1836. she was by common consensus the prettiest of the todd girls. i find this court case in kentucky of a couple who kidnapped her when she was 3 years old and they haul a couple before the judge and ask why they did it, and they said, well, look at her. she's just that cute. not much of a defense, frankly. now, unlike david, emily was very close with the lincolns before the war. now, they didn't meet her -- lincoln didn't meet her until 1847 when he came through lexington on his way to congress. lincoln was clad in a long black cloak, a mammoth fur cap. emily is a little girl then, and she's just terrified. she thinks this guy looks like the giant of jack and the beanstalk. she hides behind her mother's skirt while the giant makes all of his introductions around the room. finally he peers around betsy and he spies emily, and he sweeps her up into his arms, and he says, ah, here's little sister. and that's the name that he will use for her for the

he covered the lincoln/douglas debate. so he got to know link object on the stump when lincoln was an unknown, one-term congressman from illinois who had come back to run for senate and compete with douglas. and he sounds every bit the hard bitten, jaded political reporter. you hear one lincoln/douglas debate and you've heard them all. his attitude toward lincoln he said he called him embarrassment, he was so uncoasrse and uncouth. you could never pin him down on succession. but lincoln was arguing for the preservation of the union. but if you really pushed him on what would you do about it, he would never give you a straight answer. >> that's one of the great things about seeing history unfold from the perspective of the journalists who were there. 150 years later, lincoln rightfully is on this enormous pedestal. and the reality was day to day he was having to engage in all the petty diplomacy -- i love the vallard portrait. he wrote it in 1902 reflecting on having spent time with him in the late 1850s. >> with a great de

and it was said later on at lincoln's eulogy that although lincoln had said in that address, that the world will little note that what we say here is one of his eulogists said, the battle itself was less important than the speech. and in a sense, the gettysburg address is lincoln's response to all the many, many parents and others who lost their loved ones. obviously my rendition may be compared to the original. i do believe these words were meant to be heard, not just read. so i would like to at least make this attempt of reading those words to you. fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. now, we are engaged in a great civil war. testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. we are met on a great battlefield of that war. we have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. it is all together fitting and proper that we should

. >> a lincoln, telegraph received. i have a very bad cold and i am anxious to return home. >> all is well as usual, but no particular trouble any way. i put the money in the treasury, i suppose you are glad to learn of this. >> honorable, a lincoln, president of the united states, we reached new york in safety, hope you are well, please send me by well a check for $50. tad says are the goats well. >> this is a lincoln, the check will go to you, tell the boy that father is very well, especially the goats. >> but mary is not well. just after the battle of gueet y gettysberg, and her eldest son says she is never the same again. then when the tower fathers vit her to say a few words. mary stays home. worrying now about tad, the youngest who is ill with fever, panicked that he might die, lincoln goes anyway, determined to honor the soldier who is lost their lives in the bloodest battle of the war. a photographer on the scene take this is one picture. as the president takes his seat on the platte form at the soldier's cemete

here was abraham lincoln. he had attacked lincoln for the past 2 naf years, three years. here was lincoln looking eye to eye with him and said will you funnel as many slaves out of the south as possible, be a new sort of john brown for me? douglass said sure. thank you very much. he went back up north. he sent telegrams, letters all across the north. he was trying to put together a team of people and he did for a week or two that would sort of be the agents of this system. and then came the fall of atlanta. and that whole plan was completely ignored. and sheridan's successes notice shenandoah valley had something to do with it. what happened on the battlefield didn't really mat hyperthat plan was never put in place but the idea that lincoln was asking him to do that was extraordinary. they then met finally at lincoln's second inaugural and probably running out of time, right? >> let's do one more. >> they meet at the second inaugural in the white house at the reception after the speech. which is a very moving moment. maybe we can talk afterward. yes, sir. >> would you con

lincoln furniture in it. when lincoln lived here, the room was his office, and at that time, the west wing was not built and the last -- at the end of this hall, the far end that you're looking down when you look down this hall were the offices of the president and the cabinet room. so when lincoln lived in the house, the lincoln furniture, the bedroom furniture, was right here in what's now our dining room across the hall from where we are right now. but when they lived here, it was their very fancy state guest bedroom called the friends of wales bedroom and when truman e re-did the house in the late '40s and early '50s, he set up that room, the room we now call the lincoln bedroom, to commemorate the fact that it was lincoln's office and it was the fact that he signed the emancipation proclamation in. so the room itself is really a shrine, i think, to american history. truman redid the the room then in that renovation, and it had never been refurbished since and really needed it. the carpet was over 50 year

lincoln seems more accessible to us. in many ways lincoln is one of us. a number of reasons for that. first of all he had a sense of humor which does more than anything to humanize people. he had an unhappy marriage. which makes him somehow accessible. he had children. he experienceded tragedy. of the events of lincoln's life and how he dealt with them and the personal growth, that makes lincoln very nearly timeless. >> sreenivasan: lincoln is an icon we see so much in pop culture today. give us some examples of how lincoln is so used. >> used and abused. i'm sure there are viewers out this who when they think of lincoln they think of the, depending on their ages, raymond massey or henry fonda or hall holbrook or gregory peck or others who have played lincoln in the movies. >> furthermore, it's well known that the more a man speaks, the less he's understood. >> lincoln has in fact been used almost from days of his assassination to sell products. we have lincoln logs. for a younger generation, the excellent adventure includes lincoln. he is just one of tho

harry lincoln and his generals. t limitations on time, what i'd rather talk about, and it is of course the standard book now on lincoln as commander in chief. but what i'd rather talk about is a relatively obscure essay that jim wrote. it was published in a slender volume called, "is blood thicker than water." the essay is entitled ethnic versus civil nationalism in american civil war. in it, he traces southerner perceptions that they were a distinct race from northerners. he skillfully demonstrates that the argument is sheer myth, devoid of sub constastantiviati. but he does argument distinct ethnic. they use it to demolish any ties with the old union that reluctant secessionists might have had. he also notes that because southerners believed they were fighting a distinct and inferior race, that spirit of ethnic nationalism enabled them to detect federalists as invaders, a lower form of human being, and therefore it reduced the angst they may have felt when slaying thousands of thousands of their former countrymen.

and it was said later on at lincoln's eulogy that although lincoln had said in that address that the world will little note what we say here is one of his eulogyists, senator sumner of massachusetts, said the battle itself was less important than the speech. and in a sense, the gettysburg address is lincoln's response to ale

the story of what we want lincoln to be. which lincoln are we talking about? the evolution of the posthumous lincoln. it's like a mirror held up to the evolution of the country itself. >> sreenivasan: it's almost like his words and possibly his life is a poem to be constantly reinterpreted? i mean over your shoulder are two very different presidents using his words. >> absolutely. nowhere has lincoln posthumous influence been greater than on the presidency itself. the classic example of how everyone needs to, as one historian says, get right with lincoln. we have eisenhower and franklin roosevelt. ike from the right, fdr from the left each of them admiring lincoln. there's a quote, a famous quote about the role of government. talk interest something contemporary. well, both eisenhower and fdr regarded it as their favorite lincoln quote. in fact, barack obama quoted from the same passage in his state of the union address. >> i'm a democrat. but i believe what republican abraham lincoln believed: that government should do for people only what they cannot do bett

here was abraham lincoln. he attacked lincoln for two and a half years or three years. although not in the past year. here was abraham lincoln looking eye-to-eye saying will you funnel the slaves out of tme. douglass said, sure, thank you very much. he went back up north. he sent telegrams and letters across the north. he was trying to put together a team of people. he did for a week or two that would be the agents of the system. and then came the fall of atlanta. and that whole plan was just completely ignored. and sheridan's successes in the shenandoah valley. that plan was never put in place. the idea that lincoln was asking him to do that is extraordinary. they then met finally at lincoln's second inauguration. and probably running out of time, right? >> let's do one more. >> okay. they meet at the second inauguration in the white house at the reception after the speech, which is a very moving moment. maybe we can talk afterwards. yes, sir. >> would you confirm that his first wife refused to learn to read and write? >> yes, that's true. anna marie douglass remained

we also have to look at lincoln anew because lincoln looks weak-kneed. we forget abraham lincoln hated slavery every bit as much as frederick douglass did. i know i'm going to get cards and letters for that. he also loved the constitution of the united states. he did not want to destroy one by destroying the other. and he continued along those lines with the idea that, in fact, by halting slavery's demise, spread, he would truly be hastening its demise. one forgets aside from haiti, gradual emancipation was the norm for emancipation in the 19th century. that's what people looked at. they thought that's exactly what they were doing and would not compromise about that one bit. at least lincoln and his republican party would not do so. this is an anti-slavery legacy which is deeply, deeply important and i think has been kind of shoved aside to the extent to which only the most what jim calls the purist idea of the radicalism of equality comes into play as the only worthy one. jim recognized something about this or has recognized something about this transit

and he managed to get along fine with lincoln during that period and he enjoyed abe lincoln's propensity to entertain people around a fire in a little tavern or a hostel around the way with anecdotes based on his experience as a backwoods lawyer. but when lincoln was elevated to president and mcclellan became his subordinate, then the essential, social impediments if you will that mcclellan took with him from his upper middle-class background began to show. and he began to regard lincoln as an interloper. we would not i think in our u.s. history see this again in such a striking degree until general george douglas macarthur in the korean war lost faith in harry truman, whose senior rank in the u.s. army had been captain of artillery in world war i as macarthur had been before world war ii the chief of staff and then subsequently the commander of all army forces in the pacific and again in korea. when the generals forget that in our country the constitution requires that we support the constitution but we also follow the orders of our civilian heads, they are -- they're going to eventuall

johnson served as vice president under president lincoln and seceded him after lincoln was assassinated. here is the park guide telling the story of how andrew john met abraham lincoln. >> in 1947 i went into the 30th congress for my third term representing the people of the third district and while i was there i met an extremely tall young man named abraham lincoln. and we fell into conversation and i introduced myself and told him i was from northeast tennessee and he imch replied he had relatives from north tennessee and perhaps i knew some of them. he identified his great uncle issac as having a farm. which his father thomas lincoln had worked as something of a hired hand in the 1790s. he also identified another great uncle by the name of mortici. where i replied greenville is my hometown. and your great uncle in fact performed the wedding ceremony for me and my wife elisa in 1827 as well as we served on the town council together. and i reassured mr. lincoln that he was in good hands in terms of politics that his great uncle had gained a great many more votes than i had. but like ma

the presidents every sense embraced lincoln. >> they took lincoln as a source of inspiration.ixon who was 12 years old hung lincoln's picture over his bed . barack obama was sworn in office on the lincoln bible. >> the center piece is the 35 foot tall sculpture and a book written about lincoln . >> these are some of the 15,000 volumes that are written to date and as we speak there is no shortage of scholars adding to the list. >> why the fascination of lincoln. beyond the fact he was one of us, his presidency confront so many issues that consume the country. war and peace and civil libertis and continuing struggles with race. >> the american communist part. there used to be lenin-lincoln day dinners . lincoln is appropriated and sometimes abused in the name of every cause you can imagine. >> chris: that's one of the things ey will study at the center. it is a study that fascinating richard norton smith who run five presidential libraries. >> you look at the president's tour. each in their own way made america more democratic. >> chris: smith hopes that visitors will come away

abraham lincoln as commander in chief won the lincoln prize. among the many things that distinguished mcpherson's career is relevance of his work as we struggle not to only understand civil war and reconstruction but our own times. his dissertation and first book, struggle for equality 1964 appeared during the heroic years of the civil rights movement, during a time that his advisers termed the second reconstruction. in both reconstructions, northern activists went south to work for racial justice and were accused of doing so for less than noble reasons. before mcpherson's work, they argued that absent ligsists were motivated by status, greed and other unflattering factors. mcpherson showed many during civil war and reconstruction were religiously motivated, sincerely altruistic, committed to democracy and racial justice. mcpherson was a pioneer in african-american history. he followed his dissertation of the civil war, with an argument among other things that black soldiers were crucial to the winning of the war and preservation of the union.

johnson served as vice president under president lincoln and succeeded him when lincoln was assassinated. here's park guide daniel luther portraying president johnson and telling the story of how andrew johnson met abraham lincoln. >> in 1847, i went into the 30th congress for my third term, representing the people of the 1st district. and while i was there, i met an extremely tall, raw-boned young man representing the prairie state of illinois. and his name was abraham lincoln. and we fell into conversation. and i introduced myself and told him that i was from northeast tennessee. and he replied that he had relatives in northeast tennessee. and perhaps i knew some of them. he identified his great uncle isaac as having owned a farm and which his father had worked as something of a hired hand in the 1790s. and he also identified another great uncle, a gentleman by the name of mordecai who lived in the town of greenville. to which i replied greenville is my hometown. and your great uncle mordecai, in fact, performed the wedding ceremony for me and my wife, eli eliza, in 1827 as well as mor