Good evening and welcome to the National Churchill library and center. My name is Michael Bishop and im director of the library and executive director of the International Church and society. The result of a collaboration between the society of the George Washington university, the library is a First Research facility in the Nations Capital devoted to the study of winston churchill. Here, students and visitors have access to a vast range of primary and secondary materials and interactive touchscreen exhibits and soon displays of original manuscripts and artifacts. And let me take this opportunity to encourage you to join the interNational Churchill society by visiting our website, webdit winston churchill. Org. The benefits of membership are many and include a subscription to our quarterly publication of churchill scholarship finest hour. A few programming notes before turning to the subject of the evening. I hope you return to National Churchill library and center on march 1 when eliot cohen will discuss his new book the big stick, the limits of soft power and the necessity of military force. And on april 26 we welcome former British Foreign secretary david oh one, now lord oh one, who will speak about his new book cabinets finest hour, the hidden agenda of may 1940. Churchill is broadly acclaimed as the greatest leader of the 20 century and in a programming in the library we will not only explore his life and career but the very nature of leadership itself. And just as churchill so Abraham Lincoln distro the 19th. The two men were very different. One was born in the palace and the other in a log cabin. One had while the other was aesthetic. But each was marked by both magnanimity and the magnificent sense of humor, qualities that may be linked. Perhaps the ability to see the humor in things makes one more likely to forgive the foibles of others. Examples of churchill humor and wit abound, often related to his famed but sometimes exaggerated fondness for alcohol. When war by a campaigner that strong drink rages and sting like a serpent, churchill replied, ive been looking for drink like that all my life. [laughing] on another occasion when leaving the house of commons, churchill was scolded like email in p who declared winston, you are drunk. He replied, yes. And youre ugly. But tomorrow i shall be sober. [laughing] lincolns schumer tend more towards self defecation or he related detail of an encounter he had with a woman in a small town looked at him and exclaimed, why, i do believe it you are the ugliest man i ever saw. Lincoln apologized insula fronting the woman but then asked her, what she would like him to do about it. She thought for a moment and replied, well, you might stay home. [laughing] during the Lincoln Douglas debate and it is not a spectator that lincoln was being twofaced, twofaced, id like it . If i had two faces, you think i would wear this one . [laughing] lincolns schumer was a component of his personality and political persona. But tonight our guest will explore whether his humor might occasionally have been a handicap. Richard was educated at Corpus Christi and Queens College is oxford and at university of california at berkeley. For three decades he taught history at the university of sheffield before being appointed rhodes professor of American History and institutions at oxford university. And a fellow of Saint Catherines college here he was elected president of Corpus ChristiCollege Oxford in 2010 and served and that post until his retirement last year. He is of the author of one of the finest modern biographies of the 16th president , lincoln, a life of purpose and power which was awarded the lincoln prize in 2007. And he has also written the upcoming lincolns sense of humor on which two nights lecture is based. This year marks the 500th anniversary of Corpus Christi, and occasionally marked in many ways including a magnificent new expedition fishing the colleges manuscript treasures that just opened at the Folger Shakespeare library on capitol hill, and i encourage you all to visit it. Ladies and gentlemen, professor richard carwardine. [applause] thank you very much for that warm welcome, michael. Among the arresting displays of the chicago fair in 1864 was an exhibit labeled the two american humorists one of the two bus was that of dan writes, the blackface minstrel. There you seem in 1859, original humorist as he appeared in his great union speech before the medical students in philadelphia. I dont know what he was lecturing on but we have the record of how much benefit he managed to take from this talk. The other bust was of Abraham Lincoln. And few would have called with the description of lincoln as the american humorist. Lincoln was a mold breaker, the first president consistently to make storytelling and laughter tools of the office. No occupant of the white house since has since matched his talents, not least because the reputation but too much popularity has been deemed politically damaging. Franklin roosevelt lightheartedness was judged even by his admirers to be undignified. John f. Kennedy one of the most amusing men to hold the highest office and widely admired as a humorist still held back in press conferences for fear of appearing on statesmanlike. Even Ronald Reagan who came closest to lincoln in his skill, his readiness to make himself a butt of a joke was open to the charge that his humor was a substitute for thought. And since he was willing to do anything for a laugh, risk becoming lincoln by contrast suffered to such inhibitions. Humor with central to lincolns being and in this talk i will analyze what would make you laugh and the purposes and uses to which he put his jokes and stories. In considering the political consequences, i should indicate that my title suggests that the story is not wholly positive. Lincolns sense of humor was unusually propitious. He relished almost every form of the comic. At one end of the spectrum he do pleasure from tall tales from absurdity and largerthanlife characters. At the other he took pleasure in the plasticity, ambiguity and surprises of language. There is no simple taxonomy of lincolns humor but between these two poles of enjoyment he appreciated a variety of other forms and happily indulged quick wit, ironing, political policy, satire and notoriously dirty jokes and stories. Not least like many successful and effective humorists, the new as michael has just explained, he knew how to win over an audience by laughing at himself. So lets begin with a few more examples of this habit of selfmockery. Lincoln possessed a very strong sense of selfworth. As a result he was able to take a joke at his own expense, join in with the utmost innocence and good nature. He made much of his prepossessing appearance, conscience of his very unusual physical proportions, his site and more particularly is unusually long limbs, his long legs and very long arms, and aware that they considered him an ugly man, he faced that headon. Castings of the subject of the story he related an encounter with a strange and a reward that excuse me, but im an article in my possession which belongs to you. Taking a jackknife from his pocket, the man explained, this was placed in my hand some years ago with the injunction that i was to keep it until i found a man uglier than myself. Allow me not to say sir, i think you are very entitled to the property. Lincoln jesting also gave rise that as his splitting rails events up looking down the gun barrel of the passerby who explained, at the code, yet promised to shoot the first man he met who was uglier than himself. Getting a good look at the mans face, lincoln remarked, having bared his chest, fim uglier than you, then blazed away. [laughing] lincoln loved the absurd and he loved tall tales. According to noah brooks, he thought the chief interest of american humor was its grotesqueness and extravagance. He loved the story of bill the village drunkard, a lot of drunks in lincolns stories, a drunk who got catastrophically intoxicated on a day of heavy rain, staggered down an alley and fell asleep in the bed of mud. Waking as it was getting dark, he saw, he sought out the public pump to watch himself. On his way he met another drunk leaning over a horse post which bill mistook for the pump and it once took hold of the art of this man as the handle, the use of which said the argument of the post to throwing up. Health of both his hands under and gave himself a thorough washing. And made his way to the grocery. As he entered one of his comrades, horrified by the extreme, what in the world is a matter . My god, he replied, you ought to have seen it before i was washed. [laughing] it would be no surprise lincoln celebrated for the craftsmanship, economy, energy and color of his prose should loved the humorous possibilities and curiosities of the english language. He discovered particular usages, he enjoyed discovering particular usages and the meanings of words. He smiled as he put it, attachments expression at somebody tying his dog loose. He took delight in ponds. He smilingly told that these operas in the telegraph office that since it was a fast day, he was pleased to see them working so fast. He memorized the phrase of the satirist, whose head unlike his books is read. In Court Proceedings lincoln knew how to use a pond to advantage, and opposing lawyer who clinton could bring a man to prove, to prevent alibi lincoln shooting back, i have no doubt you can bring a man to prove an alibi. Ponds of course are designed to elicit groans and this may well have been lincolns aim when he said tr strong, but coffee are stronger. As a selftaught learner, lincoln took particular pleasure in the misapplication of the version of logic ricky relished the story of john moore, an Illinois State treasurer who was returning home one night inebriated. As they passed through a growth one of the wheels struck a stump and through the pull out of the ring of the yolk. The freed steers ran away leaving john moore asleep. Early in the morning you are roused himself eligible for the site of the car and rent in the woods he said, my name is john moore. I have lost a pair of steers. If my name aint john moore, i have found a card. In a similar vein, lincoln told of attending the meeting at the illinois lunatic asylum, it was a chilling building and lincoln wore a hat. As you made his way along there was a little lunatic darted out from a door and exclaimed sir,i am amazed that you should presume to wear your hat in the presence of christopher columbus. I beg your pardon, mr. Columbus, lincoln replied, removing his hat, and walked on. Later after the meeting and with his hat back on his head, lincoln once more met the little man who approached him. Sir, i am astounded you should dare to wear your hat in the presence of general washington. Excuse me, general, said lincoln, taken officer. It seems to me that less than an hour ago you said you are christopher columbus. Yes, that is quite correct, but that was my another mother. [laughing] lincoln is alleged to have said, laugh at everybody and schumer laughs with everybody. Because of that i think its fair to say that with sharply was not his most representative mode of humor. But noah brooks was far too sleeping race had lincoln was not weighty but full of humor. The truth was lincoln had the capacity for quick wit, when it was observed that attorney general edward bates had black hair and a white beard, lincoln thought they could hardly be otherwise that he uses his jaws are then he does his brains. Went and delegation called on lincoln, visit shortly after lincoln takes office in 1861 when he was bombarded Office Seekers a delegation called to urge the appointment of a friend of theirs to the post of the commissioner in hawaii. They emphasized that only his fitness for the post but his poor health, which they said would benefit from the balmy climate of hawaii. The president closed the interview with regret. Gentlemen, im sorry to say that are eight other applicants for that place and they are all sicker than your man. Lincoln enjoyed the dry, the ironic and the oblique wit that he heard in others. This was the case, for instance, with the farm protested i included about land, i only just want what joins mine. He used dry wit to deflate arrogance to a young german nobleman who is desiring a military appointment, made much of his distinguished lineage and you made much of his distinguished lineage, lincoln said well, let me not trouble you. That will not be in your weight if you behave yourself as a soldier a thawing of the used more than once when exceeding to request for a job, the lady says just two sons who want to work. Wanting to work is so rare but it should be encouraged. Many and most of the stories lincoln told as acquaintance put it politely would not do exactly for the drawing room. Vulgar was a mainstay of his humor. Remarked upon by his family, his friends and his colleagues. Lincoln himself when asked why did you not write out your stores and put them in a book, drew himself up, fixed his face as if a thousand dead caucuses and a million privies were shooting all their stints in his nostril and said such a book would stink. Several colleagues later emphasized it was not the crudity that lincoln loved so much as the stories and the wit. This is probably true. We should remember lincoln in modest stores will offensive to victorians than two hours. This is surely true of the kelly told to john usher, a collector of relics heard about an old lady with the dress she wore during the revolutionary war. He visited her and asked if she would produce the dress to satisfy his love of agent thinks. She did so and he enthusiastically said, this dress was once young and gloomy, no doubt when she came home from the dressmaker the unimpressed owner remarked, stranger, if you want to get something cold, you better kiss my ass. Its six years older than that dress. [laughing] lincoln is innuendo to anatomy and sexual relations, asked by the daughter of chase who it seen him standing next to a wall at an alley what he been doing. He caved in and said, well, to tell the truth, ms. Chase, i went up the alley to shake and with a fella used to know who stood up for me at my wedding. And when lincoln tied in an evening gown the studio copies were stamped on the back, by an act of congress, she someone who has been to open the letter, consider this photograph and the inscription and a remark, thats a lie. She never was entered by acts of congress. [laughing] lincoln took great pleasure in satire. He engaged in reckless personal attacks through anonymous or pseudonymous lampoons come in particular townships on James Shields state you know, what was his position . He had a state office, which led to a duel which was aborted only at the last minute. And after that, lincoln exercise much more control as a satirist. Private amongst his loyal friends he would occasionally impede an object disagreed with him on a sarcastic lance andy lost his appetite for reading others, the opening genius. The prevailing tone of the humor that passed lincoln slips lacked cruelty. There was carefully constructed passages in speeches, notably in his contest with douglas, Stephen Douglas in the 1850s. Several of those were repeating to the antipathy face with the charges opposition to slavery meant he sought equality between the races, lincoln mark the logic. He declared teachers and laughter i do not understand but because i do not want a negro for a slave i must assume one of her own wife. Ive never had the least apprehension that i or my friends would marry negros if there was no law to take them from it. The range of lincolns humor, what of its utility . Lincolns irrepressible sense of humor was so central to his being and so frequently deployed that it naturally asked the question, what was its purpose . It provided a means of empowerment of imposing itself on others. But it also acts as a healthy giving south his appetite for schumer and his notorious vulnerability to depression were two sides of the same coin. Laughter was a therapeutic antidote to the low spirits to which he was prone. Lincoln himself explained, if it were not for these stories, these jokes, i should die. They are events of my doom and gloom. He was evangelistic about the power of laughter. At the landmark Cabinet Meeting of the 22nd of september 186240 unveiled a preliminary emancipation proclamation the president began by reading out a short piece, gentlemen, why do you laugh . They were irritated by indicating the meeting in this way. Why did you laugh with the strain that is balmy night and day . If i did not laugh i should die. But there is a broader question. What political and public role did his humor play . Here the picture is collocated. Not least because purpose and function intent and effect were not necessarily one and the same. Lincoln used humor with the liberation deploying it to particular outcomes. In this respect is levity was regarded as a productive source of strength. But they were unintended consequences, to. Enhanced of his opponents lincolns represent was a weapon that was turned against him. Humor can be a doubleedged sword. From early age lincolns comic storytelling and mimicry made him a welcome and entertaining company. His odd linking the parents and bookish appetite like in another young man was a recipe for social reticence and shyness but his physical awkwardness seem not to trouble them. He had a strong sense of his selfworth and enjoyed the personal regard. This social empowerment helped to secure his election as a military captain in the black hawk war. Won him the respect of fellow congressman in the washington boathouse in the 1840s and made him the magnet of us my attention lawyers and president s gathered at county seats of the illinois eighth circuit. Lincoln relished the role of entertainment and was invigorated by it. In his debates in 1858 with the Stephen Douglas he grew stronger in spirit and body over the course of the campaign, in contrast to his opponent. He didnt possess the ease of movement but had a gift for squeezing the most humor out of his material and building to the climax of the story. Particularly font of the rendition of 4star yet the confidence to advise the act on how to deliver a line so as to prompt the laugh that lincoln knew wasnt there. Later in life lincoln would repeat with glee that description of a type of southwestern oratory who as a quote, mounted the rostrum, threw back his head, shined his eyes, opened his mouth and left the consequences to god. [laughing] in sharp contrast there was little in lincolns on speeches that was not planned and well calculated. His use of humor and stores in his public addresses and private conversations was rarely lacking in broader intent, but were designed to cover up empty thought. If you mckinney categorized as under six broad headings. More, and cunningly when used as a means of emphasizing his, touch and selfdeprecation, humor could be a weapon of subtle attack. On other occasions it was a way of disingenuously planting a selfserving idea into the mind of his heroes. I means of tactical diversion or obfuscation, and it also had a role in relation to public moral. Above all, however, he used his stories as parables, as appointed, accessible and persuasive form of political explanation. Begin with his crushing of opponents. As an aspiring young politician lincoln occasionally resorted to cruel and aggressive humor, not simply to put his opponent on the defensive but you eviscerate them, to humiliate them. The roasting of fodder as it was called was just one instance of lincoln using his power to hurt, a power which he used to withering effect. This was during his campaign for reelection to the state legislature in 1836 when he spoke before a large crowd in springfield. And his impressive speech that prompted a request from george, a prominent local democrat, that he should be given the stand. He was a recent convert from the whig party and he had been rewarded by his newest associates with a lucrative public office. He also built the best house in springfield, over which he had erected a lightning rod, the only one in the place. 15 years lincolns scene, the patronizing george declared that the man would have to be taken down. After waiting with suppressed excitement, lincoln resumed the stand. He acknowledged he was young but his critics should remember, i quote, i am older in years thane him in the tricks and trades of politicians. I desire to live and a desire to place the distinction, but i would rather die now than like a gentleman, live to see the day that i would change my politics for an office worth 3000 a year, and then feel compelled to erect a lightning rod to protect a guilty conscience from an offended god. [laughing] now, over time lincoln learned to be more daft and subtle in sharpening his debating edge. As he matured politician views gentler with to put his opponents on the back foot. No one was more aware this then Stephen Douglas himself as the judge declared he did not fear lincoln in debating matters of substance, but he confessed, theres one thing, however, of which i stand constantly in dread when lincoln begins to tell a story, i begin to get apprehensive. Every one of his stories seems like an whack upon my back. That is exactly the effect that the anecdotes of which he is a master have upon me. Nothing else, disturbs me that when he begins to tell a story i feel that i about to be overmatched. On this side of the underdog. He asserted a big man to come a little bit technique. Did it more or less not stop to his prepresident ial years. Again some of the biggest these is a democracy. In his political wrestling with douglas coming as soon the identity based in the worldwide burned out by the democrats prime help for the white house would do with the status of a very great and peered he himself like it was only a small bid. I have the irony of the language in tents abide by the diminutive little giant did a next of these elongated lincoln ps i mention plump in a selfserving idea sometimes just ingenuously to the man who said that during the joint debate. Sheltering together during a thunderstorm, lincoln told the reporter that the u. S. In a country store, his highest ambition was a ambition was to benefit the state legislator and he continued with a chuckle, since then ive grown some. But my friend to copy it to this. I did not consider myself qualified for the United States that appeared in good enough for, but instead i said to myself, it is to the need for you. You will never get it. I am going to be senator of the states, too. With the words he followed with a war of laughter shaking all over with his wifes ambition. Such as latest president. But you left but of course it had tagged with utterly serious. He cant newly drafted to the mind of the eastern reporter the idea that he could be ran for the presidency ethic and provided a reasoned diversion. One of his associates resorted to stories to shore up and stiffen a faltering case. Every dull show you a great case, what he believed was right. He would tell stories with ridicule with laughter. The political sphere, he is the echoes to spare the conversation without giving offense. He recognized the sharpness of the refusal by inappropriate story. The secretary told how bcp 63 and a due sense of a brooklyn postmaster with the size of the following years president ial election were greater affliction would run again fancied himself to the tycoon of residence and try to get into conversation of the object that the discussion. We can put about with the story of this spread who is state auditor control the use of the safe house in springfield. The preacher requested the venue for a religious lecture. Whats it about since jesse . Nonsense word uncle jesse. He got away with the Clear Company can. Above all else, we could stories serve as a powerful read the instruction. They say i told great many stories. I reckon they do. I found the course of a long experience the Common People take them that as a robber were easily influenced to the Broad Administration in any other way. So linking his historians as parables. In the courtroom used to to estimate the confident centuries lacking in formal education, exposing the logic of an opposing counsel that cooper having trouble closing out the barrel hold the head place. The plan worked so well the days finished the job forgetting all about the boy or how he was to be gone now. They are driving home arguments with the gene economy. My ride punk telegraph washington and the capture of 5000 was marching on the confederate and would have the rebels in his power. That reminds me, he replied, an old woman in the county who is ill. The doctor came and prescribed some medicine for her. Returning the next morning he found her fresh and well intended to this. How would a movement the position required. I am serious. I know youre joking. 142. I must know, you could have had 142. If necessary to have the exact number of movement. But hundred 42. The story told, im afraid popes captures a 140 of them win a closely candid discussion. Britain had threatened following to your baby seizure of the british ship. The support of only one member of the cabinet and said it reminded him of the drug to it straight into a church in the front row. They ask all who are the congregation. When the preacher inquired who are the double size from the not fully grasping the inquiry and see the minister on his feet, he said that. But it seems to me we are in a hopeless minority. They show how the white house could her white house could revere genial bed of the people. Supporters while his habit of telling ludicrous stories into larger appreciation of character. The newspapers drew attention to the president s latest story. Lincolns private secretary called the date of our relationship and examples of the president. The Consumer Health the representative american activists rebukes those of the womens loyalty. Activation clear and intelligent though cultivated people and has never written a letter to cannot understand. We be little of classic law but he did know how to tell if the bullet struck his story. Commercial interests exploited this benign review duplicate jokes and stories supposedly the rarely originated with the president. The publishers what could be more natural in the day about why those so great he enjoys it perpetuated the joke. The old joke the issues excepting the greenbacks a detainee in an audience of smiling common folk. The only authentic life of Abraham Lincoln captured him and his recognizable storytelling posture with his hand around his knees. It was in the spirit of appreciation that william ryan radical post offered a commentary on a wide array of leakage jokes and little stories. They were to show how these were at the bar of the genial and wise commanderinchief. And only contribution to the campaign need to reveal how the tortured by the bone. Patient president and appropriate in that they. They brought an innocent delight, with the addition to the therapeutic value, then youve never been to those who wasted his time on trivial requests. Was it ethical rock. The value of the storytelling responded to disdain for chief charges straight whose taste in jokes made him unfit and has berated the kid for a smutty jokes to read the senatorial of 1858 and the domination made the opposition reticule the candidate of the favorable could be said except he once drove oxen, when barefooted, split rails but the story a good style and the obvious meaning of the west. During 1866. They determine that she be listed for those out of his depth. Im even if his inauguration, presented our president ial bearing a holding or trade glass in his head while engaged in a Lively Exchange of wit and humor with this set of routes kind of rough debut created companion at the funeral hearse marking the death of the huge seed through the window. Throughout the four years of the war, both confederate and critics in and critics have you did see some humor i stick with which to beat him with the work taken its toll to the summer of 1861 the confederate sympathizer truly can i see chester the comity of data and sharing the stage at the rate of soldiers was simply the ud type event. A common charge was the president s appetite exposed a disabling lack of principle that he used humor to mask his deficiencies. This jokes mustard is cruel disregard for the cubs of war, the heartless buffoon became a recurrent theme. They are quick to assert the assets of a cartoon to confront their children. Published shortly after the u. K. Law says that fredericksburg, pointing out lately and, standing the War Department for trade and red sea and teenagers of poker and asking there are by 15,000 sons murdered in fredericksburg. Callous answer reminds me of the little goat with average to two rep should go right field. Another cartoon as new chair the sole figure out in an ecg is an ingratiating by smiling but they placed the sword in about an army at his feet. Ladies and gentlemen coming in. I regret to say that the tragedy entitled the army of the potomac has been withdrawn and i have read new and striking out the last spirit further common accusation adults afflicted commonly capable for food was lincoln the fanatical in old they live sadistic and quixotic humor to dictatorial policies. These who are cruel jokes played by those who took leisure in his disregard for the constitution. Emancipation, habeas corpus, draft, military rule in the prosecution of a hardware that this warped sense of humor. Disgusted by the policies, the copperhead told in to crack your jokes master lincoln. Only white men are ruining our whole premise of pitcher foot down and trampled them out of the world. Let me turn to the campaign of 1864. The voices of complaints about the National Joker in the white house became the cause of condemnation between a preelection year. The themes of the argument didnt order the entire administrative prices and platforms with aggression and imaginative color than other. The election card this was explicitly joined in the opening weeks of the year. The positive appreciation of lincolns humor moments ago the pages of the evening post drew from the New York Herald headlined the president ial campaign but the first lectionary documents. A portion of it here. The claim that it was the first election document was disingenuous. The president s renomination headbangers unintuitive fulltime lincoln the smutty joke are already launched the pages of the herald with news amongst republicans to deliver the nomination ran a long article and takes the president ial field, not a smutty joker. Setting up the general claims that the military leader and emancipator, followed each positive statement in the article with the bold refrain repeated 30 times over. The maverick than it wanted the party to choose the general by some other candidate and assist on the shawl of europe overall the rebellion and prevent us from having a smutty joker for her next president. And the funniest of five in harpers weekly, the radical cartoonist passed lincoln as the National Joker, a chester was reminded of a little joke in another little story. He stands grinning under three wartime scenes, this one here in the hospital, the battlefield and liberty consumed by frames, each pointing to the test contrast between president ial levity and marshalls horror. Setting the tone for the peace democrats to sort on lincoln was a striking front cover of theater attracts actually a typo or this decade joe miller published by the copperhead. They offer a pseudonym was a weak joke. Ask any you come the weekend, the jokes with joe miller drives a wedge labeled job into a log splitting into north and south. The rail splitter in the side splitter here because the union splitter. Democrats insinuated a critique into each of their key campaigning themes of 1864, the administrations purported radicalism, to radical assault on Civil Liberties and generally demoralizing influence. None was more challenging by the charge of lincoln shop in levity of the faith and true face of the chicago times selected manufacturers story to a conclave program freely around. Mr. Lincoln was in his best agent in the southern smutty joke followed each other in quick succession. Peer the window maker who raised the nation across this the integral to her catastrophe with jokes and little stories became a Democrat Campaign staple. I think a greater power than the accusation of visiting the battlefield in october 1862, lincoln and shattered its sanctity by asking to hear older comic sans altering the field. According to the new york world, that took place soon after the fight with obvious yet warm in their graves. The company by George Mcclellan and another officer commonly controlled over the field is in the details were burying the dead as they neared village, lincoln suddenly slapping Marshall Plan to be explained come, give us that sounds about you. She never heard it but the shot of the general protested not now if you please marshall. I would prefer to hear at some other place in time. The story is very strong. Here failed to emphasize lincolns vulgar taste. A popular African American men joe perform by blackface musicals coming to town comfort of the racial appetite. Democrats hammered the messaging music and the graphic satire as described in the Democratic NationalCampaign Songster nick crankcase jokes and bloody field with a light tight smoke some minute guide like butchered cattle. They may crack his stories. Your name as with all our brightest glories. Bd 64 campaign gave unbridled opportunity to exploit the compulsive jesse and demands her children to lunch, to urge. There you go. Angry columbia points to a president who shuts mr. Lincoln, given a backlit 50 50 thousand sons which elicited a response. It has lincoln while the new secretary of the treasury terns agreed not to after mcclellans nomination characterized the democrat democratic candidate contemplating on the palm of his hand and say to see more, i knew him. During the gleeful president arresting the sinister portrayal by matt morgan in the british magazine fun columbias nightmare inspired by the bank where the shows listed as a smirking demon seated on the terrified recommendation. Above all, the episode offered the best target of the attack. A fully executed is still arrested cartoon headed the commanderinchief conciliate the soldiers battlefield and a long cloak and he was cutting short as president elect. Several dead bodies being carried from the field to a wounded soldier. I hold that they had to incise. He demonstrates the president didnt sound marshall and others that the said sunday. Loyalists took alarm at this bogus story of the public imagination. If that is too bellicose to not hurt to try his own hand at it and decide to appear weak and rebutted the account. While traveling from general porter square, lincoln wrote the president asked me to say this sad little song which is often heard me sing. Someone in the party i do not think was the president asked me to think something else. They sank two or three comic songs. However, the place was not the battlefield. At time of 60 days after the battle during the whole time or even agrees that it not be great. Visit was made. Or general mcclendon or anyone else made objection to this meeting. Lincoln decided not to release his accounts, this is the truth and the whole truth about the affair but i like to appear as an apologist which i know this right. The dark summer of 1864 did not need to improve the president s reelection prospects. As the political weather changed during Early September and confidence of lincolns reelection broke, more democrats joined republicans in rebutting copperhead colonies. The Chicago Convention is that the democrat no choice between Jefferson Davis abovedescribed and Abraham Lincoln with all his faults. Cant Abraham Lincoln a joker like the chicago party, democrats tried to make this a joke of the continental century. He liked that ticket and you will not be around arrogance and facility and cowardice. In keeping with the mood, poster cartoons and sympathetic to the National Union party turns the joke against the democratic nominee. Mcclellan tries to ride two horses on the equine metaphor that lincoln put into play with an old dutch farmer who remarked a companion that a companion that of companion that it is not best to swap horses. This cartoon appears as a starspangled circus rider struggling to keep a foot on this for us. The president looks on unfairly been serious. Mcclellan has one hand on the reins of the worst charger streaming fraction of the other direction by a horse labeled peace. Is kind of them say they can manage the act knowhow. He tried to write than two horses on the peninsula but it would work. A great attention to the deep division between mcclellan and the peace wing of his party. He still was a harpers weekly cartoon the little napoleon is a timid unit is placing on the part of lincolns cut. He is seated at his desk in the president addresses the tiny general and turns against his opponent. This reminds me of the little joke. Its impossible to determine precisely how lincolns reputation as a joker shaped the political Balance Sheet in 1864. The Administration Supporters including many who found the levity in a case for them at least the matter was not decisive. His opponents clearly believed that offer Great Electoral opportunity. Their focus on the cruel and smutty choker during the final weeks of the kid paid should not be seen simply as a measure in creasing desperation since their relish for the issue had been relevant well before their hopes went into decline. We can well understand how his reputation for levity could expose him to misrepresentation and electoral damage. Only after careful reflection he opted not to respond publicly to the bogus story. In time, after his death from his reputation as the peerless president ial story spender for the joke teller the time to take on it carrots carrots positive and benign. That however was not the reality during the dark and deadly days of work. [applause] with tibor just a couple questions. If you than to ask whenthe police come to the microphone here. We have copies of richards awardwinning biography, lincoln life purpose and power available on the table over there. Ill buy one. The hello. Out of all the lincoln jokes by him were about him, what is your favorite . There are too many. It is when i have thought about. Thank you for asking the period i spent most of my academic career studying american popular religion in this period. Im particularly attracted to lincoln zeaxanthin meetinghouse in the relationship between the congregation is the source of this humor and the one i tell about us stand with you. I think we are in a hopeless minority one of my favorites. So there are several onramp. Im particularly attractive because its so daft and such until it shows lincoln so quick on his feet is the story of lincoln in the hospital where there is a young woman at the bedside of a soldier who had been wounded. Shes very solicited about 10 and she asks his big shot through the. She asks, where we wounded . He says i was wounded at antietam. She persists. Lincoln is aware of whats going on. She turns to lincoln for some hop in talks to the soldier privately and comes back to the young lady who says young lady come the bullet that hit him with visio. [laughter] ive long thought that lincolns skill at telling offcolor jokes was the real engine of his early career. Is that a fair guess . I think it probably is. As i said, we have to be careful what they mean that offcolor jokes. Many of them were not seen to be quite so crude as they wouldve thought to be at the time. A number of his stories were collected later by Carl Sandburg and we can offcolor jokes at the lincoln library. I think his audience, most of his audiences were male. So when he was working as a young man, when he was a lawyer meeting with other lawyers and the people of the hotels in the circuit as they tour around. This wouldve been an all male company. Im pretty confident in the settings a lot of the story would have been a combination of scatological and perceptual. Lincoln was right when he said there like a thousand seeking are these. The weight of his humor and storytelling in those early years would have been of this kind. But he did not like stories for their own sake it has to be said. They be in the storytelling competition from hotels mightve been the case. For lincoln, what really gave this story is their attraction was their capacity with the wit and applicability to a particular setting. Yes he was a smutty choker, but there is a purpose to that. What were your source materials . So much of the history of link can was pieced together many, many years later as people who have noted many years later and much is sort of apocryphal comment invented. So in terms of all of these things, how reliable is the humor you articulate. Thats a very good question. The real tension between wanting to claim authenticity for a really good joke. Theres two ways of answering that question. It is a very good compendium of links and stories. Serious scholars of lincolns humor didnt write about it the way i have the encyclopedic enlisting of the stories. A story wed only get told in his own hand are reported in his own speeches. There are the stories that his immediate contemporaries worked within, wrote down at the time reported at the time. Then there are those that are told after his death by those who are close to lake and we did. Into the 20th century where people talk about stories they heard from their parents or heard the kid talent you have to question the opted to three of those. Quite a number of those memoirs of lincolns contemporaries, political contemporaries published through the 1870s, 80s and 90s are a resource that which one uses the discretion. William hurd did you maybe aware after lincolns death was so appalled by things claimed about lincoln particularly that he said about accumulating material and illinois. Most are reminiscent by 1860. We get a flavor from those i see some of the ways in which lincoln was appreciated by certainly several tales told by people who were there at the time. But given audibly take this has been affected. There is the issue of the apocryphal and one story i havent told which i much admire and i didnt know whether to include it in the book or not. In the end i did. Its too good to leave out but it can be proven. Could you give us a bit of the cultural social context about what wwhiskey hitters ready in that time. And where there any gestures or phrases that would reconsider back then that we would know about today . Are you asking me to swear . [laughter] the answer is safely the material that would have been considered vulgar, smutty but have to deal with bodily functions. Those are the two big words. What has changed. There are ways in the midnight and century were discreetly alluded to it still be considered vulgar. Will propel this question for five years ago was the description of the pain team at how the hands were they a risk and hazard a dirty gesture back thursday at germany. I wonder if the 1840s, 50s, 60s there was a middle finger. Maybe they had another gesture. Good question. I dont know. I dont know the answer to that. Thank you. Thank you for coming. The rich and sandburg as a source of those as the cd . Sambergs jokes within. I was to write it to those papers which sandburg has used by michael birmingham. Michael is such a generous god when he finds the uavs. Didnt seem to ring true . I think so. Theres wide for lincoln tells the story of a man who so trusting of his wife debbie that she will not succumb to the overtures of another. He becomes aware of the stand outside the door of the bedroom is not as innocent as he thought he was going to be. So he raps on the door and the wife replies in iranian the ref called. We get told this to david davis and a couple others. But he was president. Lincoln, if the public knew you were telling stories like this, it would just be the. I think from that remark it has authenticity. Some of the others they found possible. In this sense it doesnt matter whether a particular joke is authentic or not. He lincoln indulged in. Someone came in and wanted to tell his story. Debian discussed thats not for me. There has to be a surprise. [applause] thank you very much. I remember the locker room talk which apparently a certain person had a hard time getting over recently appeared is there any idea or was there any female reaction to this . Do women never get to hear this or was there ever anything like that . Maybe not, i dont know. Intrigues me. I dont know how many of these jokes abraham shared with mary. [laughter] i take the analogy that you are making and i would just repeat what i think it weakens case it was not it certainly did nothing suggests lincoln spoke in a way. And i had to think about that and whether they are preachers, drugs, the fables of human kind they want to expose. I agree with what michael said earlier about the sense of humor and that brings with it a certain humility. And while lincoln was not a humble person, i think his relationships with people and their conventional locker room. 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