Download or read book An Oral History of Abraham Lincoln written by Michael Burlingame and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2006-01-24 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John C. Nicolay, who had known Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois, served as chief White House secretary from 1861 to 1865. Trained as a journalist, Nicolay had hoped to write a campaign biography of Lincoln in 1860, a desire that was thwarted when an obscure young writer named William Dean Howells got the job. Years later, however, Nicolay fulfilled his ambition; with John Hay, he spent the years from 1872 to 1890 writing a monumental ten-volume biography of Lincoln. In preparation for this task, Nicolay interviewed men who had known Lincoln both during his years in Springfield and later when he became the president of the United States. "When it came time to write their massive biography, however," Burlingame notes, "he and Hay made sparing use of the interviews" because they had become "skeptical about human memory." Nicolay and Hay also feared that Robert Todd Lincoln might censor material that reflected "poorly on Lincoln or his wife." Nicolay had interviewed such Springfield friends as Lincoln’s first two law partners, John Todd Stuart and Stephen T. Logan. At the Illinois capital in June and July 1875, he talked to a number of others including Orville H. Browning, U.S. senator and Lincoln’s close friend and adviser for over thirty-five years, and Ozias M. Hatch, Lincoln’s political ally and Springfield neighbor. Four years later he returned briefly and spoke with John W. Bunn, a young political "insider" from Springfield at the time Lincoln was elected president, and once again with Hatch. Browning shed new light on Lincoln’s courtship and marriage, telling Nicolay that Lincoln often told him "that he was constantly under great apprehension lest his wife should do something which would bring him into disgrace" while in the White House. During their research, Nicolay and Hay also learned of Lincoln’s despondency and erratic behavior following his rejection by Matilda Edwards, and they were subsequently criticized by friends for suppressing the information. Burlingame argues that this open discussion of Lincoln’s depression of January 1841 is "perhaps the most startling new information in the Springfield interviews." Briefer and more narrowly focused than the Springfield interviews, the Washington interviews deal with the formation of Lincoln’s cabinet, his relations with Congress, his behavior during the war, his humor, and his grief. In a reminiscence by Robert Todd Lincoln, for example, we learn of Lincoln’s despair at General Lee's escape after the Battle of Gettysburg: "I went into my father’s office ... and found him in [much] distress, his head leaning upon the desk in front of him, and when he raised his head there were evidences of tears upon his face. Upon my asking the cause of his distress he told me that he had just received the information that Gen. Lee had succeeded in escaping across the Potomac river. . ." To supplement these interviews, Burlingame has included Nicolay’s unpublished essays on Lincoln during the 1860 campaign and on Lincoln’s journey from Springfield to Washington in 1861, essay’s based on firsthand testimony.
Download or read book Lincoln s Secretary a Biography of John G Nicolay written by Helen Nicolay and published by . This book was released on 1949 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Donated by Harry Wood, not Miller (jh).
Download or read book John George Nicolay written by Allen Carden and published by Univ Tennessee Press. This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "John G. Nicolay, Lincoln's private secretary, was a German immigrant raised on the American frontier and first met Lincoln as a clerk in the Office of the Illinois State Secretary. Lincoln came to like Nicolay and eventually appointed him as secretary during his presidential campaign of 1860 and then as his private secretary in the White House. In the latter role, Nicolay would become a de facto White House chief of staff given the demands placed on Lincoln by the outbreak of the Civil War. Uniquely, the editors have interwoven Nicolay's correspondence throughout the manuscript, giving readers a privileged glimpse into Lincoln's presidency, his thoughts, and his foibles. They also discuss Nicolay's life after Lincoln's assassination, his relationship with John Hay, and the publication of their ten-volume biography of Lincoln"--
Download or read book Abraham Lincoln written by John George Nicolay and published by . This book was released on 1890 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book With Lincoln in the White House written by Michael Burlingame and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2006-02-07 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the time of Lincoln’s nomination for the presidency until his assassination, John G. Nicolay served as the Civil War president’s chief personal secretary. Nicolay became an intimate of Lincoln and probably knew him as well as anyone outside his own family. Unlike John Hay, his subordinate, Nicolay kept no diary, but he did write several memoranda recording his chief’s conversation that shed direct light on Lincoln. In his many letters to Hay, to his fiancée, Therena Bates, and to others, Nicolay often describes the mood at the White House as well as events there. He also expresses opinions that were almost certainly shaped by the president For this volume, Michael Burlingame includes all of Nicolay’s memoranda of conversations, all of the journal entries describing Lincoln’s activities, and excerpts from most of the nearly three hundred letters Nicolay wrote to Therena Bates between 1860 and 1865. He includes letters and portions of letters that describe Lincoln or the mood at the White House or that give Nicolay’s personal opinions. He also includes letters written by Nicolay while on troubleshooting missions for the president. An impoverished youth, Nicolay was an unlikely candidate for the important position he held during the Civil War. It was only over the strong objections of some powerful people that he became Lincoln’s private secretary after Lincoln’s nomination for the presidency in 1860. Prominent Chicago Republican Herman Kreismann found the appointment of a man so lacking in savoir faire “ridiculous.” Henry Martin Smith, city editor of the Chicago Tribune, called Nicolay’s appointment a national loss. Henry C.Whitney was surprised that the president would appoint a “nobody.” Lacking charm, Nicolay became known at the White House as the “bulldog in the ante-room” with a disposition “sour and crusty.” California journalist Noah Brooks deemed Nicolay a “grim Cerberus of Teutonic descent who guards the last door which opens into the awful presence.” Yet in some ways he was perfectly suited for the difficult job. William O. Stoddard, noting that Nicolay was not popular and could “say 'no'about as disagreeably as any man I ever knew,” still granted that Nicolay served Lincoln well because he was devoted and incorruptible. Stoddard concluded that Nicolay “deserves the thanks of all who loved Mr. Lincoln.” For his part, Nicolay said he derived his greatest satisfaction “from having enjoyed the privilege and honor of being Mr. Lincoln’s intimate and official private secretary, and of earning his cordial friendship and perfect trust.”
Download or read book Abraham Lincoln written by John George Nicolay and published by . This book was released on 1890 with total page 534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lincoln's law partner wrote a history of Lincoln containing many little-known facts some of which have been disproved by later scholars.
Download or read book A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln written by John George Nicolay and published by . This book was released on 1902 with total page 604 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Abraham Lincoln a History by John G Nicolay and John Hay written by John George Nicolay and published by . This book was released on 1890 with total page 554 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Abraham Lincoln written by Michael Burlingame and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2007-02-20 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Editor Michael Burlingame sifted through the the ten-volume biography Abraham Lincoln: A History and selected only the personal observations of the secretaries during the Lincoln presidency. The result is an important collection of Nicolay and Hay's interpretations of Lincoln's character, actions, and reputation.
Download or read book All the Great Prizes written by John Taliaferro and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-05-14 with total page 688 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first full-scale biography of John Hay since 1934: From secretary to Abraham Lincoln to secretary of state for Theodore Roosevelt, Hay was an essential American figure for more than half a century. John Taliaferro’s brilliant biography captures the extraordinary life of Hay, one of the most amazing figures in American history, and restores him to his rightful place. Private secretary to Lincoln and secretary of state to Theodore Roosevelt, Hay was both witness and author of many of the most significant chapters in American history—from the birth of the Republican Party, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, to the prelude to World War I. As an ambassador and statesman, he guided many of the country’s major diplomatic initiatives at the turn of the twentieth century: the Open Door with China, the creation of the Panama Canal, and the establishment of America as a world leader. Hay’s friends are a who’s who of the era: Mark Twain, Horace Greeley, Henry Adams, Henry James, and virtually every president, sovereign, author, artist, power broker, and robber baron of the Gilded Age. His peers esteemed him as “a perfectly cut stone” and “the greatest prime minister this republic has ever known.” But for all his poise and polish, he had his secrets. His marriage to one of the wealthiest women in the country did not prevent him from pursuing the Madame X of Washington society, whose other secret suitor was Hay’s best friend, Henry Adams. All the Great Prizes, the first authoritative biography of Hay in eighty years, renders a rich and fascinating portrait of this brilliant American and his many worlds.
Download or read book Lincoln s Boys written by Joshua Zeitz and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-12-30 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of the forthcoming Building the Great Society (February 2018), an intimate look into Lincoln’s White House and the aftermath of his death, via the lives of his two closest aides In this timely look into Abraham Lincoln’s White House, and the aftermath of his death, noted historian and political advisor Joshua Zeitz presents a fresh perspective on the sixteenth U.S. president—as seen through the eyes of Lincoln’s two closest aides and confidants, John Hay and John Nicolay. Lincoln’s official secretaries, Hay and Nicolay enjoyed more access, witnessed more history, and knew Lincoln better than anyone outside of the president’s immediate family. They were the gatekeepers of Lincoln’s legacy. Drawing on letters, diaries, and memoirs, Lincoln’s Boys is part political drama and part coming-of-age tale—a fascinating story of friendship, politics, war, and the contest over history and remembrance.
Download or read book Abraham Lincoln written by John George Nicolay and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-05-20 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Abraham Lincoln - Volume II" from John George Nicolay. German-born American biographer (1832-1901).
Download or read book Abraham Lincoln written by John George Nicolay and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-05-20 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Abraham Lincoln - Volume I" from John George Nicolay. German-born American biographer (1832-1901).
Download or read book Abraham Lincoln written by John M. Hay and published by Cosimo, Inc.. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Considered one of the best treatments of the presidency of Abraham Lincoln of its time, this portrait of the man and his administration of the United States at the moment of its greatest upheaval is both intimate and scholarly. Written by two private secretaries to the president and first published in 1890, this astonishingly in-depth work is still praised today for its clear, easy-to-read style and vitality. This new replica edition features all the original illustrations. Volume Two covers: [ the conventions of 1856 [ "Congressional ruffianism" [ Dred Scott [ the Lincoln-Douglas debates [ Lincoln's Ohio speeches [ the Cooper Institute speech [ the presidential election [ beginnings of rebellion [ the "Forty Muskets" [ and much more. American journalist and statesman JOHN MILTON HAY (1838-1905) was only 22 when he became a private secretary to Lincoln. A former member of the Providence literary circle when he attended Brown University in the late 1850s, he may have been the real author of Lincoln's famous "Letter to Mrs. Bixby." After Lincoln's death, Hay later served as editor of the *New York Tribune* and as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom under President William McKinley. American author JOHN GEORGE NICOLAY (1832-1901) was born in Germany and emigrated to the U.S. as a child. Before serving as Lincoln's private secretary, he worked as a newspaper editor and later as assistant to the secretary of state of Illinois. He also wrote *Campaigns of the Civil War* (1881).
Download or read book Lincoln written by Gore Vidal and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2011-04-13 with total page 673 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lincoln is the cornerstone of Gore Vidal's fictional American chronicle, which includes Burr, 1876, Washington, D.C., Empire, and Hollywood. It opens early on a frozen winter morning in 1861, when President-elect Abraham Lincoln slips into Washington, flanked by two bodyguards. The future president is in disguise, for there is talk of a plot to murder him. During the next four years there will be numerous plots to murder this man who has sworn to unite a disintegrating nation. Isolated in a ramshackle White House in the center of a proslavery city, Lincoln presides over a fragmenting government as Lee's armies beat at the gates. In this profoundly moving novel, a work of epic proportions and intense human sympathy, Lincoln is observed by his loved ones and his rivals. The cast of characters is almost Dickensian: politicians, generals, White House aides, newspapermen, Northern and Southern conspirators, amiably evil bankers, and a wife slowly going mad. Vidal's portrait of the president is at once intimate and monumental, stark and complex, drawn with the wit, grace, and authority of one of the great historical novelists. With a new Introduction by the author.
Download or read book Personal Traits of Abraham Lincoln written by Helen Nicolay and published by . This book was released on 1912 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln written by John George Nicolay and published by . This book was released on 1902 with total page 606 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
