He is the director of the roosevelt house policy institute at hunter college. He previously served as chairman of the Abraham Lincoln bicentennial foundation and cochair of the u. S. Lincoln bicentennial commission, appointed by president bill clinton, is the author of numerous books including lincoln and the power of the press. He served as chief historian for New York Historicals 20092010 exhibition, lincoln in new york. Before we begin, i ask that you please turn off your cell phones and other Electronic Devices and please join me in welcoming our guest. Thank you. [applause] mr. Holzer good evening. Happy lincolns birthday. I am so proud and grateful to be asked to do another birthday talk here at the New York Historical society. Two years ago, it was snowing. On lincolns birthday last year it was sleeting with ice. I think lincoln might have been another president who would not be unhappy about global warming. Just a guess. [laughter] tonight, i want to give a speech about a speech. Here is a spoiler alert, only qualify for that kind of analysis so let me call your attention to the fact that lincolns second inaugural address is indeed a masterpiece. I think most of you already know the speech, at least the most familiar part of it with malice toward none and charity for all. That phrase long ago became part of the national vocabulary. Sort of the go to quote in america about forgiveness and reconciliation. But i also think it has been misused frequently. Interpreted and deployed as a call for sectional reconciliation between southern and northern brothers after the bloody civil war. I think in fact it is less than that, and also much more. A line is brilliantly crafted and timely coming at the end of a great war, and as merciful, is bound to be well received and well remembered. It is kind and generous. It also tends to win principal attention for one small section of the speech that was less than the sum of its parts. I think the rest of the address deserves attention, even seven score and 15 years later, i think it is time to give it its full due, especially at an age when president ial eloquence is no longer expected. [laughter] when pundits seem amazed when president stay on message. It is worth recalling a time when words were valued and orators were stars and politicians, even in the most divisive time in American History, were generally respected and admired, even if people disagreed. Enough so to inspire the people who created the Lincoln Memorial, which i tried to cover in my last book, monument men, and inspired the crafters of the Lincoln Memorial to include the words of the second address along those of the gettysburg address to flank the statue of lincoln. First, background of lincoln long before he became a statue. Because all great messages are products of both their creators and environments. The second inaugural is no exception. What remains exceptional is the man who wrote it and his extraordinary evolution. First of all, not a day of formal training. Completely self educated. Widely read in the bible and shakespeare and poetry, and of course political writings. He is reading inspired him to use the cadences of the king james bible, inspired by old and new testaments. As not only scripture, but as inspiration. A voracious reader of newspapers and fueled the partisanship age. If youll be partisan part of Abraham Lincoln. Although we remember him as a great writer, leader, and ultimately martyr, he was proud to call himself a politician and that meant winning and retaining support and winning from the middle or opposition and all of the argumentation of the date was not on the stump, was not personal, its was also in print. He was a great student of the speeches of the american past. He knew webster, calhoun, clay. He was a student of american oratory. At the beginning of his career, he was basically a courtroom lawyer and kind of a selfdeprecating orator. Even as far as the lincolndouglas debates. His speeches were filled with sarcasm and selfdeprecation. His First Political speech that Something Like i am humble Abraham Lincoln. He said my politics are short and sweet like the old woman stance. If elected i shall be grateful. If not, i will feel the same. He was not elected, so he did not use that line again. [laughter] his first speech as a congressman on the mexicanamerican war, he wanted to criticize the idea of military glory as an aspiration. He said, did you know i am a military hero . Yes sir, in the days of the thought, lead, thought, lead, and came away. It is quite certain i did not break my sword, for i had none to break. Although i never fainted from loss of blood, i can truly say i was often very hungry. But he morphed into a different type of speaker. He needed a great issue and the great issue in the middle of his life, after he and focused on infrastructure, tariffs, and other things that are not as sexy as the thing that ultimately galvanized and him, american slavery. The effort to end the missouri compromise and as he put it in 1854 in his greatest prepresident ial speech, this declared indifference but covert real zeal is the spread of slavery, i cannot but hate. I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it enables the enemies of free institutions to taunt us as hypocrites. He also began demonstrating familiarity with scripture. This was not unusual, nor was not unusual for audiences to understand the references he made. Unlike most speakers of the day, lincoln never said, as the bible says, or, as shakespeare said. He just slipped these lines into his text and assumed, correctly based on familiarity people had with shakespeare and the bible, that they would understand. So of course most famously at the beginning of his campaign against Stephen Douglas in 1858, a house divided against itself cannot stand. Our own senator, we can call him that, William Seward in new york had said something similar. He said the battle between the slave forces and antislave forces represented irrepressible conflict. For that he was branded as an unelectable radical predicting the dissolution of the union. Lincoln emerged, interesting in primary season to talk about where candidates position themselves, he became the centrist. And yet he had said the same thing. The difference was he quoted the book of matthew. William seward had simply issued a warning. Other flashes of brilliance would follow. Most notably, 160 years ago this february month at cooper union, let us have faith that might makes right. And leaving his hometown of springfield to assume the 1861, i have been here then the slide famous photograph mate downtown on broadway and 10th street, the morning of his cooper Union Address. Here departing illinois in 1861. Suddenly, his style takes a dramatic turn. It is leaner, less political. He seems inspired and spirited by the crisis he is about to face. I now leave not knowing when i will return with the task before me greater than that which rested upon washington. This is a another thing that would get ordinary orators into trouble. You dont compare yourself to George Washington, ever. So how did lincoln save himself . I am giving you these biblical references because they lead up to the unknown girl. He adds, without the assistance of that divine being, i cannot succeed. With that assistance, i cannot fail. Trusting to in him who can go with me and remain with you and be everywhere for good. Let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To his care, commending you if i open your prayers, you will commend me. I bid you an affectionate farewell. Then he stands at the capital on march 4, 1861 and speaks about a different kind of scripture and religion. What he once called political religion early in his career, 30 years earlier. This time it is about the ties that bind americans together, or should. He talked about the chords of memory stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart stone across the land, which he said would yet swell across the union when touched surely as they will be by the better angels of our nature. The irony is that paragraph had been drafted by William Seward, but elegantly edited into almost a prayer by lincoln. If you recognize the words, it is probably because barack obama said them, repeated them, the night he was elected. In 2008. From lincoln park. Appropriately enough. The eloquence continued. In 1862 he talks to congress, in those days state of the Union Addresses were not delivered in person but they could be quite majestic anyway. The clerks read them. We cannot escape history nor personal significance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we will lead us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. Meanlyl nobly save or lose the last best hope on earth. And then the absolute zenith comes at hattiesburg in november 1863, when he vows that government shall not perish from a speech the earth. A speech so great it has its own legends, including that it was written on the back of an envelope and a train, that Farewell Speech to springfield he tried to write afterwards, the train was so rocky he gave to a secretary and the rest is recorded in the secretarys hand. In fact, he wrote the gettysburg address carefully and diligently small son fromis mild case of smallpox, which he then got. If the gettysburg ceremony had been november 20 instead of 19th, it probably would not have been delivered because lincoln came down with smallpox on the way home from gettysburg and was attended by his valet, an africanamerican man named William Johnson who he hired against the wishes of the irishamerican doorman of that white house. He had quite a time getting him on the payroll. The reason i think it was a serious illness because William Johnson died a few weeks later from smallpox. Abraham lincoln collected the final salary. That is a digression. Another lesson of gettysburg was it was not rapturously received nor attacked. It was received and this will be true of all his speeches, prepresident ial and receivedial, it was politically, in a partisan way. Republicans love to speeches, democrats hated his speeches. If you read the newspapers, it all breaks along party lines. The 1864 Election Campaign is a really big challenge for lincoln. First of all, he is the first president to run for a second term since andrew jackson. Second of all, it is not easy to run for president in a country only broken in half and where half a Million People had already died. Death had struck every household in some way. As lincoln said in philadelphia in the early days of the in the early days of the campaign, the war has carried mourning to almost every home until it could be said the heavens are hung in black. That is a quote, you would have to be good at shakespeare. That is from henry the fifth part one. Not often performed then or now. It is really important. The next line is yield day to night. Pretty appropriate to the divided states. The other thing going on with lincoln is a kind of fatalism even as he fights hard for a second term. He is becoming a religious fatalist and here another controversy about how to interpret lincoln. He writes a memo to himself discovered after his death in which he concludes the will of god prevails. In great contest, each party claims to act in accordance to the will of god. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for one thing and against one thing at the same time. It is possible gods purpose is Something Different than the purpose of either side. I am almost ready to say god wills the contest and wills that it should not end yet. Keep that in mind as we get to the inaugural. The spring and summer of 1864 almost convinces lincoln he will lose the election. Republicans are defecting, his new Union Coalition is not working, the death toll is rising. Ulysses grant is mired in a terrible campaign in virginia with enormous lossoflife. The campaign against him even in new york is totally racist in character. Elect Abraham Lincoln and we will have a racially integrated society. The Democratic Campaign is as ugly as it has ever gotten in new york. In fact lincoln ends up doing worse in 1864 then he did in 1860. There were efforts to get him to resend the emancipation proclamation in exchange for a truce that will at least call a temporary halt to the war before the election. In his most desperate moments, at the end of august 1864, he actually writes this memo saying, this morning, it looks like we are going to lose. Lets all pledge to support the next administration and trying to save the union between the election and inauguration. Which as you may know then he memorandum and makes his cabinet members sign it, sight unseen. One of the most peculiar moments of his administration. The lawyers in the audience could decide later if it was a valid contract if they didnt read it, but they signed it. Is it the will of god or general sherman . The day of the Democratic Convention that nominates an antiwar Vice President ial candidate and propeace at most costs military man as the democratic nominee, that day William Sherman takes atlanta. Although there was no polling at the time, there was a sense of Momentum Shift and on election day, even though in the early days, mcclellan had been viewed as a peacemaker and lincoln as a divisive force, things turned. But not before lincoln makes another Unusual Alliance with a longtime critic, Frederick Douglass. Worth discussing not only because trump thinks hes doing a great job, you know that was in the press last year, but because david light has written such a great biography of Frederick Douglass. That when the political prize and a rash of welldeserved awards. So Frederick Douglass is in the news and lincoln asked him to the white house and got him to agree on this amazing plan to send africanamerican recruits into the Confederate States when an alert as many enslaved people as possible that the emancipation was in effect and they should basically get out of the area and go to the nearest union camp, attach themselves to the union army, and liberate themselves. Because the emancipation proclamation is an executive order. And as we know, president s can countermand executive orders and issue new american orders. Executive orders. But then atlanta changes everything and wins 55 of the vote on election day. It sounds like a big victory, but of course the south does not vote so he does basically as well as he did in 1860. This is an amazing photograph of the crowd gathering outside the the capital on Inauguration Day. You can see from the shine in the street, it was a cloudy, rainy day. Lincoln is again ready to examine great themes, now at the peak of his skills. A lesser man would have chosen a victory speech. The war is really winding down at this point. It would be over in 4. 5 weeks. He might have gone with a traffic the dictation of all the triumphant vindication that the death and devastation, a prediction of the wrap up of the war or condemnation of white southerners for fighting to preserve the brutal slave system. Or he might have offered a specific message about how conflict might be concluded. Would there be an occupation . Would it be brutal or merciful . As lincoln said, it would be both. His speech would be ambivalent but unforgettable. At 750 words, one of the shortest and no girls ever, the first to be read to an integrated crowd because many africanamerican soldiers were in uniform in the crowd. The first to be extensively photographed and we might say the first with a mixed message. Keep in mind this is an entirely than had lincoln appeared four years earlier. This is the change of four years. On the left is lincoln 11 days before his first inauguration. On the right, 30 days before the second. Emaciated, almost ghostly in appearance. And yet the mask that had overcome his face in 1861 had yielded to a slight smile, as if he knows the great work will be consummated. But he suffered much in the process. Here again are life masks made five years apart. Said, the secretary first is a man young for his years. A face full of life and energy. The other, sad and peaceful and in its infinite repose, that a famous sculptor thought it was a death mask. Alsoakable sadness and facing strength. Strength enough to summon himself to the occasion. To remind you of the order of events, it is opposite the inaugural schedule today. First there was inaugural parade. Then there was an inaugural address. Then there was a swearing in. That is exactly the opposite of the way we do it today. Politics of the day, the 13th amendment has passed and been ratified by 18 of the 27 states required for ratification. That would not come until after his death, but it was on the road. Lincoln had ample justification to claim credit for the approaching transformation. No display ofd conquerors bravado that day and he intended to propose no vision for the National Future beyond freedom and reunion. It was not an entirely triumphant day. In fact, entering the rotunda of the capital, he is walking inside and this wild eyed man lurches forward and had to be restrained by capitol police. Later its revealed that he is the famous actor John Wilkes Booth. Yes, he was there. We have an actor in the audience today. Please make sure he stays where he is for the remainder of the talk. [laughter] then he goes into the Senate Chamber for the separate inauguration of the Vice President , then done in the Senate Chamber. Unfortunately the Vice President had been drinking consecutively for 20 hours, allegedly because he had a cold. But he really liked to drink. When he is sworn in, he raises the bible above his head and makes some pronouncements and lincoln puts his head in his hand and turns to the outgoing Vice President and says, take johnson outside and do not let him speak again. It is not the perfect moment. There he is. There is the rare photograph. On thes lincoln seated Capitol Steps with Andrew Johnson next to him, not looking at him. Look at that crewcut and goatee. Not a usual lincoln image. Then when lincoln stands up, is introduced, the clouds that had blanketed washington for most of the day suddenly parted, sending what the newspaper called an electric thrill through the plaza and lincoln said it made his heart jump. So the speech is best remembered as we look at him holding his manuscript, for its peaceful conclusion. But he spent much more time with an Old Testament type warning. Lets go through a bit of it. He starts by saying at the second appearing to take the office,president ial this is his handwritten manuscript there is less , occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Beware of speakers who say they will be brief. Be was true to his reputation. He was going to be brief. The speech would be short. What about the war itself . What is he going to report. All he says is the progress of our arms upon which all else depends is well known to the public and myself, encouraging to all with high hopes of the future, no prediction in regard to it. That is a Pretty Amazing brushing off of what people may have been expecting to hear. Satisfactory and encouraging was as much as he would allow himself to assert. Well who bore responsibility . Level, lincoln puts the responsibility where it belongs on the secessionists. ,he says all thoughts were directed to a civil war. Then he gets a little specific. He has a long memory. When the inaugural address was being delivered from this place four years ago, dedicated to saving the union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to dissolve the union bite negotiation. Both parties deprecated but one of them both parties deprecated but one of them would make war rather than let the Union Survive and the other would accept war, rather than let it perish. And the war came. Think of that phrase for a moment, and the war came. What an amazing, almost casual declaration. Suddenly, the tone has become, and the tense had become passive, not condemnatory. A statement of political fact, yielding to a kind of regretful acknowledgment of what had occurred. And thats what hes getting to. He is ready to assess the real blame. And its not going to be just on southern slaveholders. Slavery, he reminds listeners, was a peculiar and powerful interest. All know that this was the cause of the war. Thats my reminder to anyone who says the cause of the war was anything else. Lincoln and his contemporaries knew it was slavery. And yet it had existed undisturbed for 75 years. How did inpatience morph into conflagration . That is what lincoln had to address. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration, which it had already attained. Neither anticipated the cause of the conflict might cease even before the conflict should cease. So hes making reference to the ms a patient and they amendment. Each looks for an easier triumph and a result less fundamental and astounding. Hes not going to take credit for that astounding result. God, not lincoln, had willed this, and he was ready to take this extraordinary leap. Both read the same bible, he says, and pray to the same god, and each invokes his aid against the other. That meditation on divine will. It may seem strange that any man should dare to ask a just god s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other mens faces. But let us judge not that we be not judged. The almighty has his own purposes. And then heres comes an Old Testament quote. Woe unto the world because of offenses. For it must needs be that offenses come. But woe to that man by whom the offense cometh. And he continues, if we shall suppose american slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of god, must needs come, but which having come to both north and south this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein departure from the divine attributes which believers in a living god ascribe to him . Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Now, thats a prayer. Woe to those by whom the offense came. Slavery had offended god. The offense of tolerating slavery in the north was almost as bad as it was by being imposed in the south. Woe to the world because of offenses, that comes from the new testament. Then comes the powerhouse moment, the moment Frederick Douglass would admire most. Yet if god wills and continue,. Meaning the war, until all the wealth piled by the bondsmans toil, he now wills to remove, he gives the bondman 250 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn with a lash shall be paid by another drawn with a sword, as was said 3000 years ago still it must be said. The judgments of the lord are true and righteous. Or as daniel lewis says true and mightiest and daniel daylewis says, true and mighty altogether. A fire and brimstone declaration from the Old Testament unlike anything ever pronounced at the u. S. Capitol in a secular speech. And then without warning, just right after that, he doesnt just say it and now this. He just says, after that fire and brimstone damnation, he says, with malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as god gives us let us drive to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nations wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan. As you see in the end there, and to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. Hes such a great editor that in the last moment, this they printed text, he pasted up so he could read it on one page. He changes, and with the world. He changes with all nations, because it just balances better. Did people cheer . Were not sure. The reception predictably split. Democrats didnt like it. Some republicans thought it was too fire and brimstone. They didnt even hear that with malice toward none. Frederick douglass believed the sense that proceeded with malice toward none. Every drop of blood drawn with a lash shall be repaired paid by one drawn with a sword was the greatest line hed ever heard in an american speech. Later that day, lincoln holds a reception at the white house and Frederick Douglass decides to go, to salute him. And goes to the door the white house. And soldiers crossed their rifles and bar him from the door. Douglas, being an intrepid man, his head worse problems in his life. He goes around to a window and goes in the window. [laughter] harold and the soldiers stopped him again. He says, for the first time in my life, i attended a reception of president lincoln. Anyway, he finally says, this will not do, gentleman. He says to the policeman. Just say to mr. Lincoln that fred douglas is at the door. They do. Theres a lull. Then the guards come in and part the way and he goes in. And douglas says in less than half a minute i was invited into the east room. I couldnt have been more than 10 feet from him when mr. Lincoln saw me. His countenance lighted up and he said in a loud voice that could be heard to the east room, here comes my friend douglass. Think of the meaning of that phrase in a white house that had been an exclusively white house except for a few servants, not even all the servants. There werent even allowed to be servants. Think of the meaning of that. Here comes my friend douglass, after that kind of an inaugural address. Theres a long receiving line and lincoln beckons douglass to break the line, which he did when douglass visited the white house privately a year earlier. And lincoln says douglas, i saw you in the crowd listening to my address, there is no mans opinion i value more than yours. What did you think of it . I mean thats classic, enough about you, what about me . [laughter] but still, its great moment. And douglass replies, mr. Lincoln, it was a sacred effort. And lincolns final words to this man, with whom he had collaborated on a plan, im glad you liked it. It was, as douglass remembered it, the last time i saw him to speak to him. The address became iconic. As you see. Lincoln posed two days later for a photograph on the white house balcony. But the words lincoln was so enamored of the speech himself that he gets a letter from a new york editor that says its a wonderful speech. But he was referring to a different speech. Lincoln is so excited to get the message that he says, i hope it will wear as well as anything i have written but men dont like to be told theyre in opposition to gods will. He was so immersed in this, that for weeks he only thought about the impact of his speech. A month later, lincoln gave his final speech. He didnt know it would be his final speech, from the window of the white house, asking the country to consider black suffrage, albeit only first for the educated and those who fought in the army. Sounds like means testing but its a moment, the first time an american president ever asked for africanamerican suffrage. The same John Wilkes Booth who had menaced lincoln in the u. S. Capitol on Inauguration Day was in the capitol was in the audience of the white house that day. He turned to his friend and said, this means negro quality. He didnt use the word negro as you can imagine. Thats the last speech hell ever make. And three days later, for a reiteration of what he said in his inaugural address, for another extension of rights and opportunities, John Wilkes Booth did indeed assassinate Abraham Lincoln. So lincolns lesson is clear, his eloquence unmatched. We dare assume ourselves superior to other people at our risk to divine will for freedom and justice. Have we absorbed the lesson . History has yet to fully unfold and we shall see. What lessons can we draw . As lincoln said to his son, my boy, its all in the speech. And i think we can say this same of the great second inaugural. Thank you. [applause] harold thank you. [applause] harold thank you. So i think we have time for me to answer some of these questions you put on cards. How did these president s actually hear speakers without amplification . Well, the answer is, although lincolns voice has been described as highpitched, my guesstimate is that it was highpitched the way an operatic tenors is highpitched. He may have had a western twang, but you had to have a voice that carried crowds, or you chose a profession other than politics or the ministry. Because those were performance requirements. You became a blacksmith, as lincoln was thinking was becoming at one time. So we have to know his voice carried. But and we also know that he would speak from the chest and slowly. Why did the gettysburg address take three minutes when we can read it in 90 seconds . Why did the cooper Union Address take three hours on february 27, 1860, when a modern reading takes an hour . Because you have to take deep breaths and speak slowly to be heard. Did those present hear . Theres lots of reports that not everyone in these crowds, and it was 15,000 in the inaugural. Not everyone heard those unlucky enough to be in the fringes of the crowd would be denied the opportunity to hear every word. But its remarkable. They did it. And there are some recordings of an unmiked president Warren Harding speaking. Not at the Lincoln Memorial, alas, when he dedicated it, but later. And theyre not exactly synched with his wife because they were made on cylinders. And he had a booming, booming voice, so they had to be blessed. Was lincolns second inaugural printed in any southern publications and if so, how was it received . Great question. Most of his addresses were not published in Southern Newspapers when they could be. Cooper union ive only found one or two instances in which the 1860 Cooper Union Speech was published. Even though half, well, a third of it was now a few words for the south if they would listen. They didnt. But this question is kind of moot because by march of 1865, the southern newspaper industry was completely decimated. Why . First of all, they had no paper because paper would come from overseas and the blockade prevented it. Second, the military conscription robbed every newspaper publisher and picture publisher of its staff. Everyone from 1665 was drafted , especially in the desperate last days of the confederacy. In major newspapers cities that the union occupied, baltimore, new orleans, atlanta, were shut down and ceased being hostile newspapers, so in fact, their opinions are not worth noting. The New York Historical society has a wonderful newspaper published in vicksburg on july 1 in 1863. I used it in the book called the civil war in 50 objects. They used wallpaper for the last edition and the Historical Society owns the last vicksburg paper. Was lincoln an active churchgoer . Why did he seem to draw so heavily and effectively on biblical and religious references in his speeches . Second part first. I believe, and ive had arguments on this with historians and rabbis. A rabbi is here. We talked about this. Was he genuinely religious all his life . Did he become more religious in the wake of this horrific unheard of conflagration . My view is he became just unable to bear the responsibility and guilt of this without invoking a higher power. That may have ordained the death and the destruction. Thats just one take on it. As to churchgoing, he assiduously did not join a church ever in his life. He was something of a nonbeliever in his early days, and was attacked for it in his first run for congress. Theres a great moment in his first Congressional Campaign when hes running against a minister who says at a rally, with lincoln in the audience, he said all those in the audience who feel theyre going to hell, stand up. And all those and seven or eight people stood up. He said all those in this audience who think theyre going to heaven stand up. And everyone else stood up except for the conspicuous Abraham Lincoln, who remained seated in the front row. And the reference said, mr. Lincoln, i see youre going neither to heaven or hell. May i ask where you intend to go . Lincoln said if its all the same to you, im going to congress. [laughter] harold he later said it was like hell, 2. 5 miles from the white house. At the end of the war, he did go to a church he didnt sit in the pews. And by the way, he went to henry ward beechers church in brooklyn when he came to cooper union to hear beecher, the most famous minister in america. In the early days of 1865, he would go to a church near the white house. Its pew is marked today as lincolns pew. And he would sit in the Ministers Office with the door open because he didnt want to disturb the group. He didnt want to be conspicuous. And he heard some lines he reinvoked for the second inaugural. Like all things of lincoln, its not an easy answer. Why did lincoln select johnson as his running mate given his diverging values . I dont think he asked about his reconstruction vision. Its arguably lincolns greatest mistake. I think itd choose him. Not chooses 1860, he did not choose his running mate. In 1864, it was not done openly. But in 1860, lincoln was a western candidate so the convention chose an easterner. You cant get much more easterner than that. Now hes running as a northerner and the Republican Party has been replaced by National Union party to attract prowar democrats. So the person to choose was a prowar democrat. There arent that many. But there is one southern senator who didnt quit the senate when the Southern States seceded. Thats Andrew Johnson of tennessee. On Inauguration Day, lincoln realized he had made a mistake. But president s dont think about their mortality in those days. They dont ever. Franklin roosevelt chose harry truman by happenstance, because he wanted to get rid of henry wallace. Its viewed as a great stroke of good fortune that he chose truman with only a few months to live. Anyway, if sherman doesnt take atlanta, theres lincoln and does lincoln lose . If atlanta is not taken, will mcclellan sue for peace . I think you would have lost and mcclellan wouldve sued for peace. Comment on lincolns love of the opera. When he was in new york in 1861 on his way to the first inaugural, and he stayed at the astor house near city hall, he went to the opera. He caused great, because he wore black gloves instead of white gloves. People thought he was a bumpkin. It was the new York Premiere of a verdi opera. I dont know why i remember that. But they stopped the performance when he came in. He was always late to the theater, interestingly. They stopped the performance. They brought down the fire curtain and they played hail to the chief. He was an interrupter of opera anyway. [laughter] harold lincolns presidency took place before term limits. Did lincoln envision himself delivering a third inaugural and would he want a third term . Thats a good question. Gore vidal thought he did. Its possible he thought he was the only one who could carry out the vision. But he was physically wrecked at this point. His hands were troubling, his legs were trembling and he was constantly cold. He didnt sleep. He barely ate. And he barely talks to his wife. Even on the day he died, he she testified this in writing, began talking about plans for his postpresidency. And its interesting the two places he wanted to see after he left the white house were , in a way, evocative of the two approaches to the second inaugural address, nationhood and a new kind of blessing over a racially reconciled america, not just sexually, but racially. What are the two places he wanted to see . California, as far away from washington as you could possibly be, yet symbolic of the connecting, of manifest destiny, the embrace of an entire continent by the united states. And as he said, the holy land. So with that, thank you. [applause] harold, harold holzer, thank you so much. That was wonderful. Lets give him another hand. [applause] and harold, i want to thank you for all of the wonderful programs youve done with us and there are more to come. How many people here have been to so many of harolds programs, raise your hand . Lets see. Weve got a lot of people. So come to more. And thank you. Now you have a chance to join in our ny history store, where he will be signing books. One more thing. He will be back may 21, joined by Douglas Brickley who will interview him on his new book, the president s versus the press. Thank you. [applause] [inaudible] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] from George Washington to george w. Bush, every sunday at 8 00 p. M. At midnight eastern, we feature the presidency, our weekly series exploring the president s, their politics, policies, and legacies. Youre watching American History tv all weekend, every weekend, on cspan 3. Here on the black sea is the Meeting Place of the leaders of britain, russia, and the united states, scene of the most successful conference of the war. Livadia castle, once a Summer Palace of czar nicholas ii, is where the crimean conference is to take place