Gettysburg Replies: The World Responds to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettyburg Address

225 Pages·2015·32.44 MB·English

by  Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation

GETTYSBURG REPLIES
The World Responds to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation
Edited by Carla Knorowski, Ph.D.
An imprint of Rowman & Littlefield
Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK
Copyright © 2015 by Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation
Essay by Samuel R. Harris courtesy of Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic
or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written
permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available
ISBN 978-1-4930-0912-1 (hard cover)
ISBN 978-1-4930-1766-9 (e-book)
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National
Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/
NISO Z39.48-1992.
The views, opinions, and positions expressed by the authors who have written essays for this
publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Foundation.
CONTENTS
Preface, Carla Knorowski, Ph.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii
Introduction: A Nation “at Risk”—Lincoln’s World and Ours,
James M. Cornelius, Ph.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Walking with Lincoln by Tom Amandes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Lincoln and Eureka College by J. David Arnold . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Greater Efforts, Grander Victories by Julian Bond . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The Gettysburg Story by Jake Boritt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
A Common Path Taken by John Borling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
On the Occasion of the Great Leaving by Robert Bray . . . . . . . . . .12
The Dark Horse Candidate by Edward M. Burke. . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
The Business of Words by Ken Burns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
The Gettysburg Address: Rewriting America’s Foundational Narrative
by William D. Burns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Truth by President George H. W. Bush. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
A Powerful Reminder by President George W. Bush . . . . . . . . . .22
The Long March by Amy Carlson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Gettysburg Address by President Jimmy Carter . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Our Struggle Was Their Struggle by Richard Carwardine. . . . . . . . . 28
Rebuild Together by President Bill Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
One Thousand Five Hundred and Seventy Days by Catherine Clinton . .32
On a Poem by Lincoln: “My Childhood Home I See Again”
by Billy Collins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
Lincoln’s World Language by James M. Cornelius . . . . . . . . . . . .36
A New Nation by Jeremy T. Crandall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
The Concept of Accountability by Keith David . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
Unfinished Work by Alan M. Dershowitz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
I Am a Foreigner by Danian C. Douglas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Overalls by Richard H. Driehaus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
Our Greatest Treasure by Tammy Duckworth . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
Gettysburg: Rebirth of the Revolution by Dick Durbin . . . . . . . . . .50
A New American Anthem by Jason Emerson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Lincoln in Memory and Mission by Richard W. Etulain . . . . . . . . .54
The Unfinished Business of Slavery by Nicholas J. Evans . . . . . . . . .56
Will America Sacrifice as It Did in the Civil War? by Guy C. Fraker . . .58
Gettysburg Is Not Only in Pennsylvania by Nikki Giovanni . . . . . . .60
What Would Mr. Lincoln Think? by Bill Goodman. . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Equal Opportunity to Influence by Ginny Greer . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
The Ennobling Universal Passion by Allen C. Guelzo . . . . . . . . . .66
Canvassing the Vote by Dan Guillory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68
The Best Place on Earth by Samuel R. Harris. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Each Must Enlist by Gary R. Herbert. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Footsteps by Katherine Hitchcock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74
Gettysburg Calls Us to Our Solemn Duty by Jackie Hogan . . . . . . . .76
Long Remembered by Harold Holzer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78
Saying Much in Little by William Howarth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
No Greater Words by Sally Jewell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
History Is a Cause by Gary T. Johnson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Republicanism Renewed by Howard Jones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Words to Music by John William Jones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Clarity of Purpose by Kathleen Kennedy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Lincoln Walking at Night by Amanda L. Kilpatrick . . . . . . . . . . .92
“In God We Trust” by Carla Knorowski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94
Mystery in the History of the Gettysburg Address by Michelle A. Krowl. . 96
iv Contents
Photo Essay by Annie Leibovitz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98
Four Score and Seven Lincolns by David H. Leroy . . . . . . . . . . . 100
A Look at a People by Caleb Lewis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
I Heard Lincoln Deliver the Gettysburg Address by Salvador Litvak . . 104
Fallen Heroes by James Lovell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Freedom: Given by God, Defended by Man by Allen J. Lynch. . . . . . 108
Conceived in Liberty by Phil W. Magness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
A Timeless Call to Action by Suzanne Malveaux . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Immigration to America by John F. Marszalek . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Lincoln’s World and Gettysburg by Robert E. May . . . . . . . . . . . 116
150th Anniversary of the Gettysburg Address by Matthew H. Mead . . 118
Learning from Lincoln by Michael Medved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Transition in South Africa by Babalwa Mhlauli . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Democracy Persists by Richard Lawrence Miller . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Visions of Lincoln: A Century on Screen by Nell Minow . . . . . . . . 126
More Information, Less Understanding by Newton N. Minow. . . . . 128
Reply by President Barack H. Obama. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Building on Lincoln’s Legacy by Douglas R. Oberhelman . . . . . . . 132
Abraham Lincoln and the Vital Importance of Civic Education
by Sandra Day O’Connor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Proud Disciples by Maureen Orth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
An Unfinished Masterpiece by Eboo Patel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
The Long Shadow of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address by Jared Peatman . . 140
In the Throes of Democracy by Graham A. Peck. . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Lincoln in the World by Kevin Peraino. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Remembering a Second Birth of Freedom by Matthew Pinsker . . . . . 146
Fate and Circumstance by Adam Pitluk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
The March Must Continue by Colin L. Powell . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Contents v
The Will of the People by Patrick J. Quinn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Finishing Their Work by Grace Richards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
A Continuing Obligation by J. Joe Ricketts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
272 Words of Hope by Karen Roth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Battlefields for Equal Justice by Nancy Rousseau. . . . . . . . . . . . 160
The Promise of Greater Access by Eric Schmidt . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Hubris in 272 Words by Thomas F. Schwartz . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
10 Sentences, 4 Clauses by Pete Seeger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Demand the Best by Judith Sheindlin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
A Time-Sensitive Document by Scott Simon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
The Unfinished Work Before Us by Brooks D. Simpson. . . . . . . . . 172
The Attractive Vision of a Better World by Steven Spielberg . . . . . . 174
Genealogy Apology by Kevin Stein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
The Will of the People by Randall L. Stephenson. . . . . . . . . . . . 178
The Global Meaning of the Gettysburg Address by Louise L. Stevenson . 180
Turn to Lincoln by Charles B. Strozier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
People Like to Eat by Evelyn Brandt Thomas with Karl Barnhart . . . 184
Lincoln’s Railroad by Robert W. Turner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
The Lincoln Seedbed by Neil deGrasse Tyson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Let’s Build a Civilization Based on Universal Values by Lech Walesa. . 190
Let Their Lives Shine by Scott Walker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
An American Keystone by David Walser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
We Are the Benefactors of Change Agents by Robin White . . . . . . . 196
Words That Count by Robert S. Willard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
A Young Girl’s Advice by Karen B. Winnick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Photo Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
vi Contents
PREFACE
I
t is a two-page, handwritten essay on white, the area in front of the stand, the military leav-
blue-lined paper. The paper is not unlike the ing sufficient space between them and the line of
standard blue-lined paper you would find in a graves for the civic procession to pass.”
composition book—the kind used in school— The program for the day was simple: A
sporting a black and white marble-finished prayer, then a speech by the great orator Edward
cover. The pages themselves measure seven-and- Everett—both preceded and followed by music.
a-half by nine-and-a-half inches. The author’s After that, a few “dedicatory remarks by the
19th century, right-slanted cursive fills 23 of the President of the United States” were to be deliv-
25 available lines on the first page, eight on the ered by Abraham Lincoln. His two-minute
second. The neat and even penmanship and rich, Address was in sharp contrast to Everett’s two-
black, iron gall ink draw you in. The author’s hour oration, not just in length, but in outcome.
words draw you in further. His eloquence draws Lincoln’s Address stirred the soul; instilled a
you in completely. The pages weigh much less sense of purpose; called its audience to action;
than an ounce, but carry the weight of the world. and righted a lost and faltering nation, setting
It is the Gettysburg Address—Abraham Lin- its sails on course for a new birth of freedom.
coln’s masterpiece—one of the greatest speeches The speech was immediately recognized
in the annals of history. for what it was, a national treasure. In May
It was written on the occasion of the dedi- 1864, a mere six months after it was delivered,
cation of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, the Address was reprinted in a volume edited
a ceremony that took place a little more than by Alexander Bliss, published in Baltimore by
four months after what was, and still is, the Cushings and Bailey, of the facsimile hand-
bloodiest battle ever fought on American soil. writing of famous Americans. While Lincoln’s
Approximately 52,000 Union and Confederate Address was not the first selection printed in
soldiers were killed, wounded, or went miss- the book—that honor was reserved for Francis
ing—the green rolling hills of Gettysburg, Scott Key and “The Star Spangled Banner”—it
Pennsylvania, were awash in a sea of crimson immediately followed the American anthem, a
blood as Union and Confederate forces fought tribute to the greatness of the 16th President
the Civil War’s tide-turning battle. When the and his “dedicatory remarks.” Lincoln and
smoke cleared and the deafening sounds of the Address were followed in order by selec-
gunfire and exploding shells fell silent, all that tions from Washington Irving, Oliver Wendell
remained was the sobering stillness of death, Holmes, John Greenleaf Whittier, and only
which continued to linger even as preparations then by Edward Everett. Lincoln’s handwritten
for the dedication were taking place, even more version of the Gettysburg Address originally
so on that solemn day. The scars and ravages of in the Bliss book now hangs in the Lincoln
war were still omnipresent as the civic proces- Bedroom of the White House.
sion was directed to “salute the President of the The occasion of the 150th anniversary of
United States,” and then “advance and occupy the writing and delivery of the Gettysburg
vii
Address most certainly provided a historic Lincoln used a mere 272 words, in 10 sentences,
opportunity for solemn commemorations and to convey the greatest, most important message
possibly, sad to say, unimaginative, well-worn, of the time—some say of all time. We still hold
though well-meant tributes. When a person sacred its message. To commemorate its ses-
has been studied, celebrated, and commemo- quicentennial, we decided to challenge people
rated for more than a century and a half, having from around the world to write “272 Words” in
had more than 18,000 books, long, middling, the spirit of Abraham Lincoln.
or tiny written about him, as Lincoln has, it is This, for many, was daunting to grasp, let
difficult to be original, to say or do something alone attempt. Many refused the challenge on
that hasn’t been said or done before. It’s easy the basis that they could never write anything
to become complacent. After all, it is Lincoln that could approximate, let alone top, the sim-
and the Gettysburg Address—no dressing up ple yet profound eloquence of Lincoln and the
required. Simply display the document in all its Address. We found ourselves doing more than
glory and have an eloquent speaker recite it at our share of explaining that the point of the
the precise moment in time that Lincoln had 272-word challenge was not to try to “top” the
delivered it 150 years earlier. That sort of tribute Gettysburg Address, write as well as Lincoln,
is simple, safe, and generally meets the expecta- or change the course of history. It was simply to
tions of Lincoln-loving scholars, armchair his- celebrate the 16th President and his words. It
torians, and devotees around the world. But is it was hoped that essayists, in trying to get their
enough? Certainly not. message across in only 272 words, would come
While “simple” is a word which might be to realize in a deeper, more personal way the
equated with the preferred way of life of the greatness of the Address and just how eloquent
rail splitter from Illinois, “safe” isn’t. After all, and gifted a communicator Lincoln was.
this was the man who risked the ire of many by We asked our essayists to write about the
opposing the Mexican War, pushing through 16th President, Gettysburg, the Gettysburg
Emancipation and abolition policies, and mov- Address, or a cause that inspires them. Gettysburg
ing forward with conscription. So while dis- Replies is a compilation of 100 essays selected
playing and reciting the Gettysburg Address from the more than 1,000 written by people
was a simple and safe way for the Abraham from all walks of life—from schoolchildren to
Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and U.S. presidents. The essays are powerful, elo-
its Foundation to commemorate the 150th, it quent, and insightful. They are a lasting tribute
wasn’t the only path we would travel. We didn’t not only to the greatness of Abraham Lincoln
want just to meet expectations, we wanted to and the Gettysburg Address, but to the power
exceed them. The magnitude of the man and of both the written and handwritten word.
his words deserved something more, something Yes, in addition to writing 272 words,
original, something, dare we say, larger than life. essayists were challenged to walk further in
Enter 272 words. Lincoln’s footsteps and write out their essays
272 words—the number of words Lincoln longhand on the stationery of their choice.
used in the Gettysburg Address. Challenged Some essayists, faced with the challenge of
to speak about the enormity of Gettysburg, both writing and handwriting, chose only the
viii Preface
former. Others embraced the two. Many had legacy. But rarely do we have the opportunity
to rediscover the seemingly lost art of applying to make history. The project allowed us to do
pen to paper rather than fingers to keyboard. just that. Consider one essay that arrived in an
Some authors sheepishly revealed that it was oversized envelope. A peek inside revealed the
easier to compose the essay than write it out by treasure within: Jimmy Carter’s 272-word reply.
hand, but admitted that handwriting it made I pulled it out—gently, carefully—realizing that
the challenge all the more appealing, while the essay, no less than any other item sitting in
describing the process as “painful,” “humbling,” our Library’s archives, was already a historic
and in some cases “humiliating.” In the end, document, and I may be among the first in his-
some of our essayists chose hand lettering tory privileged to read it.
instead. These choices—what to write about, It was on his personal letterhead, sporting
whether to type or write it out longhand, what the centered figure of an eagle outlined in blue,
stationery to use—all add to the depth and with four stars descending the nape of its neck.
richness of the 272-word project, to the essays, The name Jimmy Carter, also in blue, was set in
and to the essayists themselves as we view the bold, capital letters, centered and printed just
slants, curves, and styles of their very personal beneath. The words Gettysburg Address were
penmanship. typed a few lines below and to the left. I began
We commenced the project unsure of what reading the essay, suddenly hearkening back to
the response would be. Would people find the 1978 with the sound of the President’s voice
mere suggestion of writing 272 words in the resounding in my head as if he were right in
Lincoln tradition too daunting, too ridicu- the room regaling me with an intimate story of
lous, or too arrogant? We would soon find out. a famous moment in history: “When I began
The first litmus test we seemed to pass came peace talks at Camp David between Israel and
when we reached out to noted Lincoln scholar Egypt, it soon became obvious . . .” The first 16
Harold Holzer. Harold does not suffer fools or words drew me in completely. The essay, which
foolish projects gladly. Undaunted, we sent an was typed by the President himself on his office
invitation to Harold encouraging him to write. typewriter, was a historic recollection, a docu-
He responded post haste. We had nothing to ment not only for our nation’s posterity, but the
fear when he replied, “What a nice honor—272 world’s, a document few knew existed. We now
words—wow—who can be as succinct as A.L.?” were making history, making our own wake in
Who indeed? Perhaps no one on the face of the which generations of readers, researchers, and
planet, but it didn’t mean Harold wasn’t going scholars would sail.
to give it the old college try, and as he put 272 In addition to President Carter’s essay,
words to paper, so too did many others. Gettysburg Replies presents 272-word essays by
At the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton,
Library and Museum and its Foundation, his- George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, as well
tory is our business. Every day we sail in the as essays from Nobel Prize recipients, famous
wake of history: collecting and preserving jurists, filmmakers, actors, scholars, poets, and
documents and artifacts, conducting schol- people from all walks of life. There are essays
arly research to uncover more of Lincoln’s rich from Ginny Greer and Caleb Lewis, students
Preface ix