Abraham Lincoln: A life in the closet?

Mark Segal
National Gay History Project
October 25, 2011
http://www.washingtonblade.com/2011/10/25/abraham-lincoln-a-life-in-the-closet/

Abraham Lincoln (1809-65) may likely be the most studied and researched of the United States presidents. The first reference to him possibly being “homosexual” came from notable Lincoln expert Carl Sandburg in his 1926 biography, “Abraham Lincoln: The War Years.” In describing the early relationship between Lincoln and his close friend, Joshua Fry Speed, Sandburg wrote “a streak of lavender, and spots soft as May violets.” This line got historians talking about an issue from which many had previously shied away. Still, the biography was written in the early 20th century, a time when such topics were only discussed in whispers. But by including the line, Sandburg felt the relationship deserved acknowledgement. It wasn’t until 2005 when the first book was published on Lincoln’s relationships with men, C.A. Tripp’s “The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln.”

Detractors of Lincoln’s possible homosexuality, such as historian David Herbert Donald, often say there is no new evidence on Lincoln. Yet historians continue to draw fresh conclusions from Lincoln’s letters. Those who attempt to refute Lincoln’s possible “homosexuality” usually focus on one particular incident — of the many — that supports the theory: his relationship with Speed.

Yet history, like everything else, is open to interpretation and influenced by new findings. Bias also motivated the retelling of historical events. The best example of bias in American history is the story of Thomas Jefferson and his slave/concubine Sally Hemings, which was not accepted as a truthful account until 1998 — and only after DNA proof. African-American citizens — not historians — led the effort to give Hemings her rightful place in history. Likewise with Lincoln, most historians have referred to isolated facts rather than the pattern of events in his life to tell his personal story. Will history once again prove historians wrong?

The Poem

I will tell you a Joke about Jewel and Mary
It is neither a Joke nor a Story
For Rubin and Charles has married two girls
But Billy has married a boy
The girlies he had tried on every Side
But none could he get to agree
All was in vain he went home again
And since that is married to Natty
So Billy and Natty agreed very well
And mama’s well pleased at the match
The egg it is laid but Natty’s afraid
The Shell is So Soft that it never will hatch
But Betsy she said you Cursed bald head
My Suitor you never Can be
Beside your low crotch proclaims you a botch
And that never Can answer for me

This poem, about a boy marrying a boy, is thought to be the first reference to gay marriage in U.S. history. A 20-year-old man in rural Indiana wrote it 182 years ago. That young man was Abraham Lincoln. Most historians agree Lincoln wrote the poem as a joke or rebuttal to the lack of an invitation to a friend’s wedding, but how a backwoodsman conceives a boy-marries-boy poem in 1829 remains a question.

The poem was included in the first major biography of Lincoln, written by his law partner, William Herndon. Revisionists omitted it in subsequent editions. It didn’t reappear in Herndon’s edition until the 1940s.

Billy Greene

In 1830, when Lincoln’s family moved to Coles County, Ill., he headed out on his own. At age 22, he settled in New Salem, Ill., where he met Billy Greene — and, as Greene told Herndon, the two “shared a narrow bed. When one turned over the other had to do likewise.” Greene was so close to Lincoln at that time that he could describe Lincoln’s physique. However, Lincoln was poor at the time and it was not unusual for men in poverty to share a bed.

Joshua Fry Speed

In 1837, Lincoln moved to Springfield, Ill., to practice law and enter politics. That’s where he met the two men who would be his greatest friends throughout his life. One, Joshua Fry Speed, became his bed partner for a while; the other was law partner Herndon. Beyond the revelation that Lincoln and Speed had an intimate friendship, little has been written about how diligently Speed worked for Lincoln’s legal and political career. Speed’s name popped up in many of Lincoln’s legal filings and on the Illinois Whig Party’s central committee. The two were almost inseparable. Most Lincoln historians agree this relationship was the strongest and most intimate of the president’s life. What they don’t agree on is why they slept in the same bed together for four years when they had the space and means to sleep separately, as was expected of men their age. They were no longer young and poor. And this was a house with ample room, unlike the hotels that accommodated Lincoln and his team on the road; then, it was common to sleep two or more in a bed.

By 1840, both Lincoln and Speed — now 31 and 26— were considered well past the marrying age. Both bachelors reportedly were hesitant to tie the knot, but it was a de-facto requirement to have a wife if you wanted to move in political circles — or at least create the perception of interest in marriage. Both Speed and Lincoln dreaded this “requirement,” as evidenced by Lincoln’s letters. Speed takes the marriage plunge first and moves back to Kentucky, leaving Lincoln. At this precise time, Lincoln suffered a mental breakdown. Historians have been all over the map as to what caused the breakdown, but it was so intense that friends, including Herndon, worried he would take his own life. Lincoln only recovered after Speed invited him to visit him and his new wife in Kentucky.

Lincoln’s most emotional and intimate writings were contained in his letters to Speed. From the time they lived together until shortly after Speed married and moved to Kentucky, Lincoln always signed his letters “forever yours” or “yours forever.”

Lincoln wrote to Speed shortly before the latter’s Feb. 15, 1842 wedding: “When this shall reach you, you will have been Fanny’s husband several days. You know my desire to befriend you is everlasting — that I will never cease, while I know how to do any thing.

“But you will always hereafter, be on ground that I have never occupied, and consequently, if advice were needed, I might advise wrong.

“ … I am now fully convinced, that you love her as ardently as you are capable of loving … If you went through the ceremony calmly, or even with sufficient composure not to excite alarm in any present, you are safe, beyond question, and in two or three months, to say the most, will be the happiest of men.

“I hope with tolerable confidence, that this letter is a plaster for a place that is no longer sore. God grant it may be so.

“I would desire you to give my particular respects to Fanny, but perhaps you will not wish her to know you have received this, lest she should desire to see it. Make her write me an answer to my last letter to her at any rate. I would set great value upon another letter from her.

“P.S. I have been quite a man ever since you left.”

The two exchanged letters regularly and, in October 1842, Lincoln observed the newlywed Speed was “happier now than you were the day you married her.” He continued: “Are you now, in feeling as well as judgment, glad you are married as you are? From any body but me, this would be an impudent question not to be tolerated; but I know you will pardon it in me. Please answer it quickly as I feel impatient to know.”

The urgency in his letter is palpable: Lincoln married Mary Todd on Nov. 4, 1842, despite that he broke off their engagement two years earlier.

Even after the Civil War broke out and Speed lived in Kentucky — a border state, Lincoln and Speed continued to write. On numerous occasions, Speed visited Lincoln at the White House; he even spent a night with Lincoln in the president’s cottage at the Soldier’s Home, 3 miles northwest of the White House.

Throughout Lincoln’s political career, he urged Speed to accept a political appointment that would bring him to live in Washington, D.C. When that failed, he appointed Speed’s brother, James, U.S. attorney general in 1864.

Elmer Ellsworth

After Speed and Lincoln’s marriages, there were no traces of other men in Lincoln’s life until Elmer Ellsworth in 1860. According to “The Abraham Lincoln Blog,” in 1859, Ellsworth formed the Chicago Zouaves, a precision military drill team based on the famous Zouave soldiers of the French Army based in northern Africa.

The Chicago Zouaves, led by Ellsworth, toured the northern states in the months before the Civil War, with the so-called regiment performing acrobatic moves, marching and weapons displays. The regiment impressed the crowds — despite the fact that they’d never seen military action.

Lincoln met Ellsworth through these displays and the two became friends. Lincoln invited Ellsworth, who had been a law clerk in Chicago, to move to Springfield to study law. Ellsworth became devoted to Lincoln and adored by the entire Lincoln family. One author wrote that it seemed Lincoln had a “schoolboy crush” on the much-younger Ellsworth. He first worked in Lincoln’s law practice, then moved on to his political career and eventual campaign for president. Once elected, Lincoln asked Ellsworth to accompany his family to Washington.

At the beginning of the Civil War, Ellsworth asked Lincoln to assist in obtaining a position for him in the Union Army. In a letter dated April 15, 1861, Lincoln wrote: “I have been, and still am anxious for you to have the best position in the military which can be given you.”

When a call for soldiers went out, Ellsworth headed to New York and rallied 1,000 men, then returned to Washington, D.C. When Virginia voted to secede on May 23, 1861, a hotel owner in Alexandria, Va., across the Potomac River, raised a Confederate flag — visible from Lincoln’s office. Early the next morning, Ellsworth and his men crossed the river and occupied the telegraph office to cut off communications. Seeing that the hotel was next door, Ellsworth entered it and took down the flag, then was fatally shot by the hotel’s proprietor. Ellsworth would be the first Union soldier killed in the war.

After hearing of the tragedy, Lincoln wept openly and went with Mrs. Lincoln to view the soldier’s body. Lincoln arranged for Ellsworth to lay in state in the White House, followed by a funeral. The president was inconsolable for days.

Lincoln wrote condolences to Ellsworth’s parents: “My acquaintance with him began less than two years ago; yet through the latter half of the intervening period, it was as intimate as the disparity of our ages, and my engrossing engagements, would permit … What was conclusive of his good heart, he never forgot his parents.”

As with Speed and his family, Lincoln appointed Ellsworth family members to positions in the government.

David Derickson

In 1862, Lincoln met Capt. David Derickson, who served as his bodyguard, providing protection for the president when he commuted from the White House to his cottage at the Soldier’s Home. Lincoln spent about a quarter of his presidency at the cottage, which allowed him some escape from D.C.’s summers and from public interruptions at the White House.

Lincoln and his bodyguard became close, and historians Tripp and David Herbert Donald noted two recorded mentions that Lincoln and Derickson slept in the same bed: Derickson’s superior, Lt. Col. Thomas Chamberlain, and Tish Fox, the wife of Assistant Navy Secretary Gustavus Fox, both wrote about it. Tish wrote in her diary that Derickson was devoted to Lincoln and “when Mrs. Lincoln was away, they slept together.”

But there were more than just two eyewitnesses to this relationship. After the war, Chamberlain published an account of the regiment called “History of the 150th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, Second Regiment, Bucktail Brigade.” Before it was published, many members of the company reviewed the manuscript and no one objected to the following:

“The president was also not an infrequent visitor in the late afternoon hours, and endeared himself to his guards by his genial, kind ways. He was not long in placing the officers in his two companies at their ease in his presence, and Capts. Derickson and Crozier were shortly on a footing of such marked friendship with him that they were often summoned to dinner or breakfast at the presidential board. Capt. Derickson, in particular, advanced so far in the president’s confidence and esteem that in Mrs. Lincoln’s absence he frequently spent the night at his cottage, sleeping in the same bed with him, and — it is said — making use of his excellency’s nightshirt! Thus began an intimacy which continued unbroken until the following spring, when Capt. Derickson was appointed provost marshall of the 19th Pennsylvania District, with headquarters in Meadville.”

The Bucktails witnessed the relationship between the president and his bodyguard, which was public enough that they knew Derickson kept him company when Mrs. Lincoln traveled, and wore his nightshirt. Historical interpretations aside, why would the president, then in his 50s, sleep with his bodyguard?

Lincoln and women

Lincoln’s lack of interest in women was frequently documented as awkward. Most historians agree there are only three women with whom Lincoln was close: his stepmother, Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln, who raised him with affection; Ann Rutledge, who he was romantically linked to but not engaged; and Todd. He also courted Mary Owens for a time in 1836, but the relationship ended on mutual agreement. If Lincoln was a closeted gay man, he still could have loved and adored Todd, for the same reasons many closeted men love their wives: She brought him a sense of being loved and the family he craved. While Todd was always described as high-strung, she reportedly took a turn for the worse — many historians have labeled her as insane — during their marriage. The Lincolns endured many tragedies — three of their four children did not survive to adulthood — which could have caused her decline, but it’s also possible that she stumbled upon her husband’s same-sex affections.

Detractors

The most outspoken and respected of detractors is historian and Lincoln biographer David Herbert Donald, arguably the most notable Lincoln observer since Sandburg. In his attempts to refute Lincoln’s possible homosexuality, Donald claims in his book “Lincoln’s Men” (2004) that while Speed and Lincoln slept together for four years in the same bed, they both were romancing women during two of those years. But the fact that he courted women doesn’t rule out the possibility that Lincoln may have preferred men. Donald also noted that no contemporaries of the two, including Herndon, claimed to have witnessed Speed and Lincoln having intimate relations. But Donald ignored eyewitness accounts and misinterpreted other witnesses who hinted at it, such as the president’s own secretaries. The historian also brushed aside the emotion contained in the letters between Lincoln and Speed, in their own handwriting. Donald pointed out it was common for 19th-century young men to have emotional relationships and share a bed. But Speed and Lincoln weren’t considered “young” when they met.

Doris Kearns Goodwin, in an interview on C-SPAN about her 2006 Lincoln biography “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,” said, “Homosexuals didn’t exist before the word was coined in 1868...” She most likely meant the term didn’t exist, but this clearly demonstrates a lack of sensitivity by non-gay historians. Goodwin has to be familiar with Lincoln contemporary Walt Whitman. While the words “homosexual” and “gay” were not coined at that point, Whitman now is considered to have been gay.

Younger historians and Lincoln scholars seem to be more sensitive to the subject than Donald or Kerns were. For example, Jean H. Baker, a former student of Donald, conceded in her acclaimed 1987 book, “Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography,” that Lincoln’s distraction from his wife was likely due to more than just his all-consuming work. Baker said, in a New York Times interview, “I previously thought [Lincoln] was detached because he was thinking great things about court cases … now I see there is another explanation.”

Conclusions

Taken individually, accounts of Lincoln with other men may not offer enough proof that he was gay. But the pattern reveals a man who, in his sexual prime, slept exclusively with another man for four years — two of those years (according to Donald) without romancing someone of the opposite sex; who wrote a poem about a boy marrying a boy; and who, as president, slept with his bodyguard.

From historical records, one can conclude that Lincoln enjoyed sleeping with men. He did so when it was acceptable in youth and poverty, and also when he was older and successful. While it is documented that Lincoln slept with several men, there is only one confirmed woman who shared his bed — Todd. (Most Lincoln historians dispute an account that he was involved with a female prostitute.) Of the men, we don’t know how many reciprocated with emotion. To find one same-sex soul mate in the culture of the 1800s seems a miracle; Lincoln may have sought others when Speed went on to have the life that was expected of men of the time. In that period, only one man in 300 did not marry. And Speed was apparently the love of his life. Lincoln resisted marriage as long as he could, only marrying after Speed was well-entrenched in his own marriage — a phase that coincided with Lincoln’s “mental distress.”

Mark Segal is founder and publisher of Philadelphia Gay News, the country’s oldest LGBT newsweekly. Sometimes called the Dean of the Gay Press, Segal is an award-winning columnist and is fascinated by history.

What 'Lincoln' misses and another film gets right

What 'Lincoln' misses and another Civil War film gets right
John Blake
Tue January 8, 2013
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/08/showbiz/slavery-pbs/index.html

(CNN) -- He used the N-word and told racist jokes. He once said African-Americans were inferior to whites. He proposed ending slavery by shipping willing slaves back to Africa.

Meet Abraham Lincoln, "The Great Emancipator" who "freed" the slaves.

That's not the version of Lincoln we get from Steven Spielberg's movie "Lincoln." But there's another film that fills in the historical gaps left by Spielberg and challenges conventional wisdom about Lincoln and the Civil War.

"The Abolitionists" is a PBS American Experience film premièring Tuesday that focuses on the intertwined lives of five abolitionist leaders. These men and women arguably did as much -- maybe even more -- than Lincoln to end slavery, yet few contemporary Americans recognize their names.

The three-part documentary's airing comes as the nation commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the 1863 decree signed by Lincoln that set in motion the freeing of slaves. Lincoln is a Mount Rushmore figure today, but the abolitionists also did something remarkable. They took on the colossal wealth and political power of the slave trade, and won. (Imagine activists today persuading the country to shut down Apple and Google because they deem their business practices immoral.)

The abolitionists "forced the issue of slavery on to the national agenda," says Sharon Grimberg, executive producer for the PBS documentary. "They made it unavoidable."

"The Abolitionists" offers four surprising revelations about how the abolitionists triumphed, and how they pioneered many of the same tactics protest movements use today.

No. 1: The Great Persuader was not Lincoln

Near the end of "Lincoln," Spielberg shows the president delivering his second inaugural address, a majestic speech marked by harsh biblical language. Lincoln is often considered to be the nation's greatest president in part because of such speeches. He was an extraordinary writer.

But the most well-known condemnation of slavery during that era didn't come from the pen of Lincoln. It came from the pen of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister who joined the abolitionist movement, the PBS film says.

Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" awakened the nation to the horrors of slavery more than any other speech or book of that era, some historians say. It hit the American public like a meteor when it was published in 1852. Some historians say it started the Civil War.

The novel revolved around a slave called Tom, who attempted to preserve his faith and family amid the brutality of slavery. The book became a massive best-seller and was turned into a popular play. Even people who cared nothing about slavery became furious when they read or saw "Uncle Tom's Cabin"' performed on stage, the documentary reveals.

The lesson: Appeal to people's emotion, not their rationale, when trying to rally public opinion.

Abolitionists had tried to rouse the conscience of Americans for years by appealing to their Christian and Democratic sensibilities. They largely failed. But Stowe's novel did something all those speeches didn't do. It told a story. She transformed slaves into sympathetic human beings who were pious, courageous and loved their children and spouses.

"When abolitionists were talking about the Constitution and big ideas about freedom and liberty, that's abstract," says R. Blakeslee Gilpin, a University of South Carolina history professor featured in "The Abolitionists."

"But Stowe begins with the human dimension. She shows the human victims from the institution of slavery."

150 years later, myths persist about the Emancipation Proclamation

No. 2: It's the economy, stupid

Want to know why slavery lasted so long? The simplistic answer: racism. Another huge factor: greed, according to "The Abolitionists."

Many abolitionists didn't realize this when they launched the anti-slavery movement, the documentary shows. They were motivated by Christian idealism, but it was no match for the power of money.

Christianity and slavery were two of the big growth industries in early America. The country underwent two "Great Awakenings" in the early 19th century -- while slavery continued to spread.

But the spread of Christianity did little to stop the spread of slavery because too many Americans made money off slavery, the documentary shows. The wealth produced by slavery transformed the United States from an economic backwater into an economic and military dynamo, says Gilpin, also author of "John Brown Still Lives!: America's Long Reckoning With Violence, Equality, and Change."

"All the combined economic value of industry, land and banking did not equal the value of humans held as property in the South," Gilpin says.

Many Americans hated abolitionists because they saw them as a threat to prosperity, says David Blight, a Yale University historian featured in "The Abolitionists."

"They wondered if you really did destroy slavery, where would all of these black people go, and whose jobs would they take," says Blight.

The South wasn't the only region that profited off the slave trade. Abolitionists faced some of their most vicious opposition in the North. New York City, for example, was a pro-slavery town because it was filled with bankers and cotton merchants who benefited from slavery, Blight says.

"Jim Crow laws did not originate in the South; they originated in the North," Blight says.

The lesson: Don't reduce the issue of slavery to racism. Follow the money.

No. 3: Flawed reformers

The historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. once said that black abolitionists used to say that the only thing white abolitionists hated more than slavery was the slave.

"The Abolitionists" reveals that some of the most courageous anti-slavery activists were infected with the same white supremacist attitudes they crusaded against. White supremacy was so ingrained in early America that very few escaped its taint, even the most noble.

The documentary shows how racial tensions destroyed the friendship between two of the most famous abolitionists: Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison. Garrison was the editor of an abolitionist newspaper who convinced Douglass that he could be a leading spokesman against the institution that once held him captive.

Erica Armstrong Dunbar, a history professor featured in the film, says some abolitionists were uncomfortable with interracial relationships. They wouldn't walk with black acquaintances in public during the day, and refused to sit with them in church.

Lesson: Racism was so embedded in 19th century America that even those who fought against racism were unaware that it still had a hold on them.

"The majority of aboloitionists did not believe in civic equality for blacks," Dunbar says. "They believed the institution of slavery was immoral, but questions about whether blacks were equal, let alone deserved the right to vote, were an entirely different subject."

No. 4: Lincoln the "recovering racist"

Tell some historians that "Lincoln freed the slaves" and one can virtually see the smoke come out of their ears.

"Please don't get me started," Dunbar says after hearing that phrase.

"There's this perception that good old Lincoln and a few others gave freedom to black people. The real story is that black people and people like Douglass wrestled their freedom away," Dunbar says.

Historians still argue over Lincoln's racial attitudes. The historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. once called him a "recovering racist" who used the N-word and liked black minstrel shows.

Others point to the public comments Lincoln made during one of his famed senatorial debates with Stephen Douglas in 1858 when he said, "There is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality.

"There must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race," Lincoln said in the speech.

Spielberg's film depicts Lincoln as a resolute opponent of slavery, willing to deploy all the powers of his office to destroy it.

Yet "The Abolitionists" paints another portrait of Lincoln. It recounts how he supported colonization plans to ship willing slaves back to Africa. It says that Lincoln once floated a peace treaty offer to the Confederates that would allow them to keep slaves until 1900 if they surrendered. At one White House meeting with black ministers, Lincoln virtually blamed slaves for starting the war, the film's narrator says.

Blight, the Yale University historian, says Lincoln always personally hated slavery. He publicly spoke out against it as early as the 1840s, and spoke often about stopping the expansion of slavery.

Lincoln hoped to slowly end slavery without tearing the nation apart, Blight says.

"He was a gradualist," Blight says. "He was trying to prevent a bloody revolution over it. He couldn't."

He couldn't because of the pressure exerted by the abolitionists and the slaves themselves, other historians say. Blacks did not wait for white people to free them, they say. At least 180,000 blacks fought in the Civil War. And Douglass was one of Lincoln's harshest critics. He constantly pushed Lincoln to move aggressively against slavery.

The historian William Jelani Cobb wrote in a recent New Yorker essay on slavery:

"On the hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, it's worth recalling that slavery was made unsustainable largely through the efforts of those who were enslaved. The record is replete with enslaved blacks—even so-called house slaves—who poisoned slaveholders, destroyed crops, 'accidentally' burned down buildings."

As for Lincoln's true feelings about blacks, that matter may always be subject to debate.

"No historian would doubt that Lincoln was a man of his times," says Dunbar, author of "A Fragile Freedom: African American Women and Emancipation in the Antebellum City." "He was a racist, and never truly believed that blacks could live in America after emancipation."

Other historians say Lincoln was evolving into the leader that Spielberg depicts.

The historian Gates once wrote that Lincoln initially opposed slavery because it was an economic institution that discriminated against white men who couldn't afford slaves. Two things changed him: The courage black troops displayed in the Civil War and his friendship with Douglass the abolitionist.

"Lincoln met with Douglass at the White House three times. He was the first black person Lincoln treated as an intellectual equal, and he grew to admire him and value his opinion," Gates wrote.

Gilpin says Lincoln was great not only for what he got right, but because he could admit what he got wrong.

"You dream of a president like that," Gilpin says. "Not only was he a brilliant manipulator and reader of public opinion, but he had the capacity for growth. He came into office because he was a moderate but he turns out to be the Great Emancipator."

Lesson: Lincoln led an epic battle against slavery, but the abolitionists lit the fuse.

DNA Test for John Wilkes Booth?

Meanwhile, another conspiracy theory has been gaining currency in the mainstream media, this one slightly of historical importance, even if it covers events nearly 150 years old. Specifically, it's the idea that John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, didn't die twelve days after the murder but instead lived another 38 years.
Granted, this theory isn't completely new: it was powerfully presented in the 1975 book Jesse James Was One of His Names, by Del Schrader & Jesse James III. The book's text used to be available online for free, but alas no more. You can get a copy of the book on CD for $39.99 by contacting L.K. Shick by email or snail mail:

L.K. Shick
3700 S. Westport Ave., #2501
Sioux Falls, S.D. 57106
shark_lyric1@yahoo.com

Some of you may be confused by the title of this book. After all, just what the hell does Jesse James have to do with the Lincoln Assassination? (And for you younger readers out there, the Jesse James we're referring to here is the Wild West outlaw, not the dude who cheated on Sandra Bullock with a bunch of skanky whores.)

Well, to give a Cliff Notes version of the theory, the Lincoln Assassination was part of a bigger operation, involving the Knights of the Golden Circle, a secret society that essentially was the spy network for the Southern Confederacy. Apparently, James was a member, and his bank robberies were fund-raising activities for the Confederate underground. Another alleged member of the Golden Circle was Booth, and thus the slaying of Lincoln was a job done by the Southern intelligence apparatus. JWB's death was faked and he was given a cover identity as a reward for his deed.

(As a side note, two leaders of the Golden Circle were "respectable" Mason Albert Pike and Bedford Forrest, the man who inspired the first name of Tom Hanks' retarded Oscar winner. The same two men founded the Ku Klux Klan. It can then be argued the KKK evolved from remnants of hardcore racists and confederates within the Golden Circle.)

This theory has been covered pretty well on the Internet, though it's a bit hard to find now. Brian Redman of Conspiracy Nation (now called Melchizedek Communique, found at http://www.shout.net/~bigred/cn.html ) did postings on it in 1999, but they're not to be found on his Website now. Dave McGowan of Davesweb.cnchost.com also wrote about it in 2003, and this led to his inclusion in the "bonus" documentary found on the National Treasure: Book of Secrets DVD. I had a little something to do with that, as I was unavailable to be interviewed for the DVD, but recommended McGowan for the DVD based on his interest in the subject. McGowan tells the behind-the-scenes story of the interview in this funny post:

http://davesweb.cnchost.com/nwsltr92.html

In case you didn't see the movie (or the documentary, which has aired on the Discovery Channel by itself) the Golden Circle as the mastermind of the Lincoln Assassination is central to the movie's plot.

Well, along comes a new TV show, the most excellent Brad Meltzer's Decoded on the History Channel ( http://www.history.com/shows/brad-meltzers-decoded ) and they decided to investigate the angle of whether Booth actually died or faked his death. Along the way, they learned of the grave for Edwin Booth, JWB's brother. DNA from his corpse could be compared to the vertebrae of the alleged JWB killed in 1865 found at the National Museum of Health and Medicine to settle the issue once and for all. For some reason, the National Museum of Health and Medicine is fighting this. But the DNA test has some strong supporters including historian Nate Orlowek: "If the man who killed our greatest president got away and a giant hoax was perpetrated on the American people, then we should know about it."

To read the CNN article on this subject:

Did Abraham Lincoln's assassin get away? DNA could end questions
Mallory Simon
December 24th, 2010
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/24/did-abraham-lincolns-assassin-get-away-dna-could-end-questions

And to read more about the Knights of the Golden Circle, check out the following blog:

http://knights-of-the-golden-circle.blogspot.com/

Harry S. Truman is rolling over in his grave

From Conspiracy Nation ( http://www.shout.net/~bigred/cn.html ):

(Melchizedek Communique, MC031609) Harry S. Truman is rolling over in his grave due to the latest antics of George W. Bush. And a special division of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, charged with response to former presidents rolling over in their graves, is on high alert.

It was Fitzgerald, the mighty U.S. Attorney for Northern Illinois, who had responded earlier when, here in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln had been rolling over in his grave. But this latest restlessness of the deceased Harry S. Truman has stunned even the case-hardened Fitzgerald.

When Harry S. Truman left the White House in 1953, "he had to take out a bank loan to tide him over in private life. He had no official government income or support except for his Army pension of $112.56 a month." But Truman had too much honor to accept any money for "endorsements" and "consultings". Said Truman, "I could never lend myself to any transaction, however respectable, that would commercialize on the prestige and dignity of the office of the presidency." [1]

It was beneath the personal honor of Truman to trade off the presidency for "speaking fees" and such.

Gerald Ford was the first to decide, "What is honor, compared with speaking fees?" Ford cashed in by giving paid speeches and by joining some 20 corporate boards. [1]

Then good old Ronald Reagan soared past Ford in income by trading the prestige of the U.S. presidency for $2 million annually. [1]

Along came George H.W. Bush, father of "Dubya" Bush. "Poppy" Bush raked in $$$ millions on the lecture circuit, after he left office in 1993. [1]

"Bill Clinton, though," notices The Week magazine, "has taken the moneymaking ability of ex-presidents to a new level." Today (Nov. 2008), "thanks to thousands of speeches, lucrative consulting jobs, and book advances and royalties, he and Hillary are worth more than $100 million." [1]

Who says the U.S. presidency isn't for sale?

Asked in November 2008 about his plans, Dubya Bush replied, "I'll give some speeches, just to replenish the ol' coffers." [1] Now, in an update ironically titled, "Replenishing the ol' coffers", The Week magazine reveals that George W. Bush "announced he was launching an international speaking tour." The Dubya Bush Replenishing The Ol' Coffers International Speaking Tour is scheduled to begin tomorrow, March 17th (St. Patrick's Day), in Canada. [2]

It is not known if Dubya Bush will be guzzling Jim Beam whisky during the tour. It has been rumored ol' Dubya has been hitting the sauce pretty hard. [3]

The special division of Patrick Fitzgerald's Rolling Over In Their Graves department is on high alert. Harry S. Truman could not be reached for comment.
------- Sources -------
[1] "Briefing: Life after the White House", The Week magazine, Nov. 21, 2008, p. 15
[2] "Replenishing the ol' coffers", from "Good Week For" section of The Week magazine, March 20, 2009, p. 6
[3] Melchizedek Communique MC022809
http://www.shout.net/~bigred/mc022809.html

OBAMAS' 'HAUNTED' HOUSE

http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/1358051,CST-NWS-obama01.article

OBAMAS' 'HAUNTED' HOUSE
WASHINGTON
Staff say they've seen ghost at storied Hay-Adams Hotel
January 1, 2009

BY MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA
Staff Reporter/mihejirika@suntimes.com

Across from the White House is a purported haunted house, which President-elect Barack Obama, his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha will temporarily call home.

The first family is expected to move into the storied Hay-Adams Hotel in the capital this weekend.

Hotel spokesman Robert Volmer declined to comment. But Democratic sources say the Obamas, whose daughters start school Monday, will reside there until Jan. 15.

The Hay-Adams is among the top-rated luxury hotels in the world, but it's also allegedly home to a lingering resident, the ghost of Clover Adams, the wife of Henry Adams, a descendant of Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, who took her own life in 1885.

The five star, Italian Renaissance-style apartment hotel -- where rooms range from $395 to $6,000 for suites -- was named for Clover Adams' acclaimed author husband, and John Hay, private assistant to President Abraham Lincoln. Both owned homes at the site before the hotel was built in 1928.

The national landmark has 145 rooms with ornamental fireplaces, carved plaster ceilings, marble bathrooms, and Bose CD systems -- along with Clover Adams' ghost.

Staff members say the fourth floor is her favorite place, the National Trust for Historic Preservation reports.

"Examples of staff experiences include unexplained opening and closing of locked doors of unoccupied rooms; clock radios mysteriously turning off and on; the sounds of a woman crying softly in a room or a stairwell; or a voice of a woman asking a housekeeper, 'What do you want?' " the Trust reports.

The History of Greenback

Robalini's Note: As the subprime crisis has brought the Federal Reserve back into the spotlight, now would be a good time to learn about Greenback, the monetary system I've long been in favor of...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Note

United States Note
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A United States Note is a fiat paper currency that was issued directly into circulation by the United States Department of the Treasury. These bills of credit were also known as Legal Tender Notes because of the inscription on each obverse face stating "This Note is a Legal Tender." They were among the first national United States currency, authorized by the Legal Tender Act of 1862 and began circulating during the American Civil War. After the death of Abraham Lincoln on 15 April 1865, additional "first charter period" (i.e. banks chartered between 1863 and 1882) National Bank Notes and Gold Certificates of 1865 were issued.

On a United States Note, the Treasury seal and the note's serial number are printed in red. United States Notes were printed in the following denominations: $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, $1000, $5000, and $10,000.

The Treasury Department issued these notes directly into circulation, and they are obligations of the United States Government. The issuance of United States Notes is subject to limitations established by Congress. In order to stimulate the economy, the Acts of July 10, 1862 and March 3, 1863 (among other legislation) established a statutory limitation of $300 million on the amount of United States Notes authorized to be outstanding and in circulation. This currency was not backed by any deposit in any bank or government reserve, in contrast to the Gold Certificates at the time. They also do not bear interest, unlike the appropriately titled Interest Bearing Notes of 1861 to 1865. While $300 million was a significant figure in Civil War days, it is now a very small fraction of the total currency in circulation in the United States.

Despite the fact that in modern times the word "Greenback" usually refers to any United States currency, the origin of the term rests solely in these Government-issued United States Notes that have since given way to private bank-issued currency, or Federal Reserve Notes, in the United States.

The primary difference between the United States Note and the Federal Reserve Note is that a United States Note is created by the government directly as a bill of credit, and thus there is no interest for the Government to pay for the creation of that dollar. A Federal Reserve Note, on the other hand, is bank currency, and the U.S. has to pay interest on the treasury bonds that it gives the Federal Reserve System in exchange for the right to produce a like quantity of Federal Reserve Notes. This, in turn, increases the tax burden on the people. Abraham Lincoln advocated the use of United States Notes because they avoid the usury and debt multiplication aspects of debt-based currencies, and thus save the Government immense sums of interest. Thomas Jefferson also believed that the issuing power of money should rest with the US Treasury, and not the private banks. He noted in the debate over The Re-charter of the Bank Bill (1809) that, "[...]the issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs."

Other influential Americans who have advocated a government-issued currency include President Andrew Jackson, inventor Thomas Edison, inventor Peter Cooper, and American economists Henry C. Carey, Edward Kellogg, and Nobel-prize winner Milton Friedman. William Jennings Bryan is remembered as saying in his 1896 Cross of Gold speech "When we have restored the money of the Constitution, all other reform will be possible, but until this is done there is no other reform that can be accomplished."

Both United States Notes and Federal Reserve Notes are parts of the national currency of the United States and both are legal tender. They circulate as money in the same way. However, the issuing authority for them comes from different statutes. United States Notes (like the later Federal Reserve Notes) were fiat currency, in that they were never redeemable explicitly for any precious metal. During the Civil War, the banking interests did not want these notes to be a legal tender to pay the national debt, so the Senate depreciated the currency by putting an exception clause in, which allowed Government creditors to be paid in gold. Thaddeus Stevens, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee of Ways and Means which authored the original United States Notes bill to be a legal tender for all debts, viciously denounced the Senate's amended exception clause, calling the new bill "mischievous" because it made United States Notes an intentionally depreciated currency for the masses, while the banks who loaned to the government got "sound money" in gold. However, it appeared necessary to allow the banks the exception clause or perhaps there would have been no other way to fund the Civil War effort.

The notes were not immediately redeemable in gold. However, while the United States was on the gold standard, it was possible to redeem them for gold indirectly by exchanging them for a currency of a different obligation, for example a Gold Certificate. Whoever accepted the exchange was left with the less-trusted fiat currency. At the time United States Notes were issued, this was a serious concern, as the government sought to strike a balance between coin shortages and fiat currency. The greenback traded at a substantial discount from gold, which prompted Congress to pass the short-lived Anti-gold futures act of 1864 which was promptly repealed after it seemed to accelerate the decline of the greenback.

At the close of the Civil War, the Radical Republicans, led by Abraham Lincoln and his economic advisor Henry Charles Carey, sought to make the Greenback system permanent. In March of 1865 Carey published a series of letters to the Speaker of the House of Representatives Schuyler Colfax entitled "The Way to Outdo England Without Fighting Her". Carey called for the reserve requirements of the Nationally chartered banks to be raised to 50%, while emitting more Greenbacks to help with reconstruction. However, Lincoln was assassinated in the next month and the United States then began to move towards a gold standard and contract the supply of Greenbacks.

After the abandonment of the gold standard in 1933, all types of issued currency (silver certificates, Federal Reserve notes, and United States Notes) were redeemable only for silver. This ceased to be the case in 1963, during a time in which all U.S. currency was becoming fiat currency. At this point, the United States Notes became obsolete, and no more were issued after about 1966. Because they circulate interest-free, up to the statutory maximum of $300 million in "circulation", a series of $100 bills was printed in 1966, and comically moved from one Federal Reserve Bank to another every few weeks. These $100 notes, depending on condition, may be of significant numismatic value.

The act was repealed in 1970, and none has been placed into circulation since January 21, 1971. As is the case with all issue of the U.S. from 1861 onward, any United States Note is legal tender at its face value and may have a numismatic premium to collectors.

A colorful $5 bill is coming your way

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080312/ap_on_re_us/new_money

A colorful $5 bill is coming your way
By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer
Wed Mar 12, 2008

Coming soon to a cash register near you: a new $5 bill sporting some touches of color for the first time.

The bill goes into circulation Thursday. That's when the Federal Reserve, the supplier of the nation's cash, starts shipping the bills to banks, which send them to businesses and eventually into the wallets, pocketbooks and hands of people in this country and beyond.

It's the latest in a series of redesigned notes aimed at foiling phony-money makers, who over the years have grown increasingly sophisticated.

Abraham Lincoln, the nation's 16th president, is still on the front and the Lincoln Memorial remains on the back.

To the naked eye, the most notable difference is color — splashes of light purple at the center of the bill that blend into gray near the edges.

Small yellow "05" numerals are printed to the left of Lincoln on the front and to the right of the memorial on the back. The Great Seal of the United States, which features an eagle and shield, will appear in purple to the right of the president's portrait. Arcs of purple stars border Lincoln and the seal.

The note also will feature an enlarged "5" printed in high-contrast purple ink in the lower right corner of the back of the bill. It also will have two separate watermarks and a number of other high-tech changes to make it harder for counterfeiters to knock off.

The old $5 bills will continue to be accepted and recirculated until they wear out.

The makeover of the $5 bill is similar to changes to $10, $20 and $50 bills.

Next up for a new look: the $100 bill.
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On the Net:

Bureau of Engraving and Printing: http://www.moneyfactory.gov/