Essays on Lincoln's Faith and Politics. American Values Projected Abroad, Volume IV (review)

BOOK REVIEWS81 When the urologist strays from the works of scholars he tends to err. He surmises Booth learned of Lincoln's decision to attend Our American Cousin from a newspaper; he cites no references. Booth got his mail at Ford's theater and it was there he heard of the coming visit. Lattimer goes far beyond the evidence when he attributes to Booth a long-range dedicated allegiance to the principles of the Confederacy (this enables him to compare Booth with L. H. Oswald who is wrongly seen as a dedicated Communist). At best the record shows Booth to be an emotional, second-rate actor, in love with himself, who was as frequently motivated by whims as he was by the flattery of his circle of day-laborers, semiliterates , and societal dregs. The Kennedy section is one of the most error-ladened accounts in a literature notorious for its irresponsbility. Dr. Lattimer blindly accepts the official version of the murder and makes his text fit it, the facts notwithstanding . Among the scores are: Marina Oswald did not lock her husband in the bathroom to keep him from shooting General Walker; the door locked on the inside. Oswald did not carry a rifle into the Depository that morning; the only witness testified he entered emptyhanded . Commander Humes did not burn his autopsy notes; there is a signed receipt for their delivery to U.S. Navy officials. But what can be the merits of a "study" of the ballistics in Kennedy's murder that omits most of the ballistic evidence? Only three official bullets exist; one more requires a conspiracy. He ignores the bullet which wounded citizen James Tague, the one which scarred the sidewalk and was tested by the FBI, the 6.5 mm slug picked up on the railroad overpass , the live .30-.06 round found on the north grassy knoll, the .45-caliber slug discovered by maintenance workers near the scene, and so forth. No component of American history can be shrugged off as unworthy, especially that hallmark of her democratic character the mode of transition in executive office. The violent deaths of Lincoln and Kennedy must be addressed with the simple candor and ordinary tools of the historical method and brought into scholarly discussion. That controversy wraps them means little; good history thrives in such milieu. David R. Wrone University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Essays on Lincoln's Faith and Politics. American Values Projected Abroad, Volume IV. By Hans J. Morgenthau and David Hein. Edited by Kenneth W. Thompson. (Washington, D.C: University Press of America, 1983. Pp. 216. $23.50 cloth; $9.25 paper.) The two essays in this volume offer an examination of Lincoln that is grounded not in considerations of policy or psychology but in matters of faith. While strikingly different in method and presentation, both 82CIVIL WAR HISTORY works present Lincoln as an individual whose character and conduct reflected a set of deeply held and well-articulated beliefs in the transcendence of God, the finirude of mankind, and the tragic nature of human experience. The first essay, begun by the late Hans J. Morgenthau and completed by Kenneth W. Thompson, addresses these issues in broad terms for the general reader. Providing extensive citations from Lincoln's own writings with a minimum of commentary, Morgenthau outlines the fundamental elements of the president's character and mind, explores the qualities of detachment and practicality central to his subject's private and public life, and reviews Lincoln's reading of the crisis of the Union as a great test of republican principles. Morgenthau enthusiastically celebrates nothing less than the "perfection of human potentialities" found in Lincoln 's exemplary life. David Hein's more critical, tightly focused, and historiographically oriented essay focuses on the "theocentric interpretation of experience" that informed Lincoln's life and thought. Relying on a framework of analysis drawn to a considerable extent from the works of H. Richard Niebuhr, Hein examines Lincoln as a "witness to God" who trusted in God's goodness, remained loyal to God's will, and strove to conform his flawed being to the higher though unknowable ends ordained by Providence . Such beliefs called forth constant self-exertion, unceasing...