Abraham Lincoln, Public Speaker (review)

354CIVIL WAR HISTORY state governments, while awaiting the call of the people" ( 1 7). It becomes readily apparent how much Hayes wanted to win. After the governor from Ohio triumphs, Hoogenboom illuminates Hayes's presidential performance and personality. In his inaugural address , Hayes advocated reconciliation in the South, and later on he exacted promises from Dixie governors regarding the rights of black Americans. While taking pains to show what the chiefexecutive wanted, Hoogenboom insists that "Hayes was wrong" (70) about Southern sentiments and that he soon "knew that his southern policy had failed" (78). Throughout the remainder of his administration, Hayes faced other thorny problems. Whetherattempting to scour the process ofappointments to the New York Customhouse, to control striking railroad workers, or to contain defiant Nez Perces in the Pacific Northwest, Hayes, in formulating policies, "searche[d] for the middle ground" (130). Given the impressive monographs which have recently appeared on various aspects ofAmerican life in the late 1870s, Hoogenboom might have sketched an even richer background to show what Americans experienced in this era, and lent additional balance to his scrutiny of Hayes's actions. In the end, this portrait of Hayes shows him leading alongside his nation, rather than moving too far out in front. Hayes made mistakes, and sometimes he misunderstood the nature of the problems he faced. Although Hoogenboom occasionally overstates his case fora cautious president with sweeping objectives, Hayes emerges as a living, breathing human being who compromised when practical politics dictated such a course. Sarah L. Sharp Bowling Green State University Abraham Lincoln, Public Speaker. By Waldo W. Braden (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1988. Pp. 119. $19.95.) If Abraham Lincoln was not in the class of "the golden age of American oratory" like Daniel Webster and Charles Sumner, he did win men to his cause with "the element of persuasion that the ancient rhetoricians called ethos: he won support by demonstrating that he was a man of common sense, good moral character, and good will." Thus Waldo Braden describes Lincoln not primarily as a president who produced great literature, but as a politician who "first won attention on the platform, where he was principally concerned with persuading the common citizen. " Braden's briefintroduction makes clear that he wants to view Lincoln as the ordinary person saw him—as a campaigner who could match arguments with the best ofthem. It was this quality that led Lincoln to the head ofhis party and then the nation. In nine chapters, five ofwhich had been published previously, Braden builds a portrait of Lincoln as a persuader. BOOK REVIEWS355 Chapter I, "Any Poor Man's Son," demonstrates how Lincoln himself from 1 830 to 1 860 "actively projected the persona of a poor man's son, an underdog." Chapter II examines Lincoln's political speeches in four elections, from 1 854-60. It was an aggressive speaking that took him out ofhis home territory , thus broadening his influence, and produced "a nationwide following ." The Cooper Union speech in February 1860 was the culmination of this phrase ofhis speaking career when he no longer merely followed along after Douglas, but now took "center stage." The third chapter shows Lincoln as a reluctant speakerfrom his nomination to his assassination. Before May 1860 Lincoln was conscious of his rhetorical art, accepted invitations to speak and enjoyed the promotion of his partyand himself. But after that, he became reluctant to write or speak and allowed his surrogates to speak in the campaign. His attitude toward giving the Gettysburg Address is described by Braden as the best example of Lincoln's public reserve in speaking on public issues. Chapter IV presents Lincoln's speech preparation which was shaped by "the exacting requirements of the legal profession." Lincoln was remembered by William Herndon as "a remorseless analyzer of facts, things, and principles." Braden takes the major rhetorical events in Lincoln's life, such as The House Divided Speech, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, The Cooper Union Address, The Farewell Address at Springfield, The First Inaugural, The Gettysburg Address, and The Second Inaugural, and reconstructs what is known about their development and composition. "He stood alone," concludes Braden, "doing his own thinking and research...