Honest About Abe

Watched the movie 'The Tall Target' on TCM this morning. The star is Dick Powell and the movie is about a plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln as he travels on the Ohio & Baltimore Railway to his inauguration in 1861. At the end of the movie the Lincoln character says, "Has any President had to travel to his inauguration like a thief in the night?" I do not know if that is a direct quote from Lincoln, but history records he was considered by many, and not just those from the South, a coward for the way he came to Washington.
Lincoln is considered to be the 16th President of the US, but, in reality the states were not united while he was President, so he should be called the first President of the disunited states.
Because presidential hopeful Michelle Bachman has admitted to having migraine headaches it has been mentioned that Lincoln also suffered from migraine headaches, among his other maladies. Joshua Wolf Shenk wrote a book, Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness, in which he posited that Lincoln's depression made him a BETTER president! Depression is a dibilitating disease. He wants us to believe that Lincoln, unlike every other person who has ever suffered from depression, was made BETTER. The thought defies comprehension.
The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln by C. A. Tripp and Jean Baker, questions Lincoln's sexuality. They write that he shared a bed with different men on NUMEROUS occasions, but then write that he was "forced" to do so because of a lack of beds in those days. Until this book, I had been unaware of such a lack of beds.
Fortunately, some historians are beginning to write truthfully about the real Lincoln. Read the book: The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War by Thomas J. DiLorenzo.