The President's Springfield

As my wife and I travel around America, we incorporate visits to Presidential libraries and museums when we can. We are convinced there is no better way to learn about the challenges and dangers of a particular period in American history than in seeing them through the eyes of a real person - the President, of course, but still a real person facing problems which didn't seem as clear in their times as they do to us in hindsight. No President confronted problems like those of Abraham Lincoln nor was as able through the written and spoken word to express the greatness of which this nation was ..... and is ... capable.

We recently traveled to central Illinois to visit family and set aside a day to visit Springfield, the state's capital and the site of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Mr. Lincoln's ties to Springfield were strong. He moved to the city when he was 28, poor, and a rough hewn frontiersman but through his hard work he created a prosperous law practice, was elected to the U.S. Congress, became famous for his great debates with Stephen Douglas, and was elected President of the United States in 1860 at the most dangerous time in the nation's history. His election led many southern states to secede from the Union, of course, primarily in fear of his support for the emancipation of slaves. Our four years of bloody civil war to determine whether the Union would stand and to decide whether one man could own another is still the western hemisphere's greatest test of arms. Mr. Lincoln was elected to a second term in November 1864 as Union armies neared victory but he died at an assassin's hand in April 1965 only days after final victory.

Tragically, Mr. Lincoln's only return to Springfield after leaving for Washington and his inauguration was in death. He was buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery, just north of today's downtown Springfield and an impressive tomb beneath a tall obelisk was completed nine years after his death. The President's family, with the exception of son Robert who is buried in Arlington, Virginia, lies beside him. The Lincoln Tomb attracts thousands of visitors and Oak Ridge Cemetery is the second most visited cemetery in the country, second only to Arlington National Cemetery.

Abraham Lincoln is a mythic figure in American history but his museum and library add depth to this myth. Opened only in 2005, the museum is similar to those of other more recent former Presidents but it uses modern technology in unique, informative ways. For example, there are several exhibits in which it is difficult to distinguish between 'live' and 'animated' people as they tell the story of his life, Presidency, and the Civil War. In another, the lines between the Union and Confederate armies are depicted on a map as they advanced and retreated across the south through the four years of the war as a digital counter runs up the corresponding casualties into the hundreds of thousands. The late NBC News anchor Tim Russert also appears in a simulated television broadcast describing the issues of the presidential election in 1860 as they might be presented today. The 'broadcast' includes short campaign commercials from the election's major candidates making the best case for their election. This broadcast forces one to consider what had to be decided in 1860, confronting the horror of slavery at the risk of civil war or accepting its permanence as a cost of Union. We know how the nation chose but the broadcast requires one to ask, 'How would I have voted?'.

The lives and fates of several Union and Confederate soldiers are depicted as one walks through the displays and I felt a very large lump in my throat as the heroic deaths of some of them are described. I was particularly touched because the state history I had learned in junior high school included the life and death of one of the Confederates, the 'Gallant John Pelham' as we were taught, who died in battle at age 24. Another section recounts the horrible criticisms leveled against Mr. Lincoln in letters and newspapers as he bore the burden of leading a nation at war with its brothers. In political criticism not unlike that of today, some cajoled the President for being too aggressive in fighting the war and others for not being aggressive enough.

There are recreations of Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet Room, what is now known in the White House as the 'Lincoln Bedroom', and his lying in state in the Illinois House of Representatives. Those touring with us that day walked very solemnly through this recreation, almost as if Mr. Lincoln's body was real. I believe their walk through the whole of the exhibits gave them a better sense of our nation's difficult past and the awesomeness of Mr. Lincoln's responsibilities in its darkest hours. They had a renewed appreciation of the sacrifices he had made for his country and it was only right to be reverent near his 'body'. Also, throughout the museum are Mr. Lincoln's words of wit and sincerity, one moment words of 'everyman' and, in another moment, the most uplifting words in American history. His Gettysburg Address is such a powerful statement of what this country can be and must be and remains among the finest of American oratory.

Upon concluding the tour of the museum, one will naturally be drawn to its gift shop where more things 'Lincoln' are available than one would have thought possible.

There are also other places of Lincoln's life prior to his leaving for Washington within walking distance of the museum. The home in which he lived from 1844 to 1861 is open year-round. The home's four block neighborhood has been restored in a mid19th Century style. Mr. Lincoln practiced law from 1844 to 1852 in the Lincoln-Herndon Law Office a few blocks west of his home. He gave what proved to be a poignant farewell address to his friends in Springfield at the Great Western Railroad Depot as he departed for Washington in early 1861.

Anyone interested in American history must visit the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and the sites in Springfield dedicated to preserving the memory of, perhaps, the greatest American who led us through the nation's terrible but necessary crucible!