The life of Abraham Lincoln. And finally, the author not only of the recently published american ulysses the life of ulysses s grant, and the author of a. Lincoln, ronald white. Welcome to you all. [applause] our goal today is to hear from you and see if we can evoke differences of opinion. We will certainly welcome audience participation and questions from our usual microphone. I will give you a signal in about 20 minutes or so to encourage you to line up and engage with us. The first person i want to talk to in relation to lincolns inspiration are the three sets of parents. Not one person, but three. The three sets of parents in his life. You have all written about them. By the three, the woman who he referred to has his angel mother, nancy lincoln. His stepmother, Sarah Bush Johnston lincoln. And his father, his relationship with him remains something of a mystery or a controversy even today. Of the three who was influential and who was a negative influence . Why dont we start with