Lincoln's Sons (review)

Book Reviews451 Lincoln's Sons. By Ruth Painter Randall. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. 1956. Pp. xvi, 373. $5.00.) most invetérate Lincoln collectors will spend their last dollar (or five dollars) for any book immediately or remotely concerning their dedicated subject . Still, there are limits for those with limited purses, and the line can be drawn with this work, which is excellently intentioned and expertly compiled. Mrs. Randall is the author of Mary Lincoln: Biography of a Marriage, and her researches in the realm of Lincolniana have faithfully followed and supplemented those of her late husband, J. G. Randall. Mary Lincoln remains in our Civil War annals as an enlightening study from a much-needed viewpoint. Lincoln's Sons is extra-curricular. With a few notable exceptions, great men do not necessarily engender great sons. Philip of Macedón, who attained greatness on a moderate scale, would indeed have been much amazed to witness his son's earth-shaking achievements . Five centuries later, Rome prospered under a more equitable sequence of the Antonines, father and son. Other instances could be cited. On the other hand, we remember the disintegration of the Commonwealth when Richard Cromwell succeeded the Lord Protector, and the total extinction of Napoleon's "dynasty" after 1871. More pertinently to American history, we recall as exceptions the first two Adamses, and perhaps even the two Harrisons, but what became of the sons of the two Roosevelts? And what became of the sons of Lincoln? One died at the age of four. William died at the age of twenty-one in 1862. Thomas ("Tad") died at the age of eighteen in 1871. The eldest son, Robert, survived until 1926, a reactionary in politics and economics, an "ardent supporter of a third term for President Grant," and one who "was to have increasingly an inner circle of congenial friends among the wealthy and prominent people of his country." In other words, "Bob" Lincoln complacently courted the fat cats and saw no need to widen his horizons. The author has done all she could in behalf of her chosen subject; needless to say, such a task leads to a sustained sympathy, even with unpromising materials. Obviously the bright potentialities of Lincoln's sons died with Willie and Tad. It is highly ironical that Robert Todd Lincoln, as the sole survivor, must perforce be presented as the "hero" of this book. Charles T. MrLLER Iowa City, Iowa. ...