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Speech File Draft Files
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Lincoln Lecture 1/7/90 [OA 4390]
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25
6
6
7
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
January 9, 1990
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
DURING PRESIDENTIAL LECTURE SERIES ON THE PRESIDENCY
January 7, 1990
State Dining Room
5:30 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Professor Donald and Mrs. Donald; Mr.
Chief Justice and Mrs. Rehnquist. Chief Justice Burger I understand
is here. Secretary Cheney and the honorable Lynne Cheney.
Distinguished members of the Congress. General Powell. Let me
welcome you to the White House. And Barbara and I are very pleased
to have you here. It's a privilege.
We're proud to host this lecture on the presidency of the
United States. And this is the first in a series of lectures on the
men who have held this office. And it seeks to make them come alive.
What were they like? How did they live? How was history
-- the history of America's house -- molded by their dreams? To
occupy this office is to ask those questions and certainly to feel a
kinship with those who have gone before. For each in his own way
sought to do right and thus achieve good. And each felt a sacred
trust with every American and often wondered, I suspect, how they
could be worthy of that trust.
Perhaps no President had greater doubts or more
brilliantly resolved them than the subject of this inaugural lecture
-- Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois. As President, Lincoln abolished
slavery and he saved the Union. Perhaps no leader has been so
severely tested before or since. And yet we remember Abe Lincoln not
merely for what he did, we revere him for what he was.
Lincoln was a strong man -- an arm wrestler, a rail
splitter -- and yet, also a mix of kindness and humility. He was at
once a hard and gentle person; a man of grief and yet of humor. For
he knew, as he told Secretary of State Seward, that if he did not
tell stories, he felt his heart would break.
Tonight we have with us a distinguished man who
undoubtedly will tell stories. His name is David Donald, the Charles
Warren Professor of American History at Harvard University. A native
of Mississippi, Mr. Donald graduated from the University of Illinois,
where he was a student of the great Lincoln scholar, J.D. Randall.
He has taught at some of America's greatest universities and has
written eight books about Lincoln and the Civil War, twice receiving
the Pulitzer Prize in biography. Moreover, our guest is now working
on a new biography of America's 16th President.
Earlier, I spoke of kinship. Well, I'm sure David Donald
would agree any President's kinship with Lincoln is perhaps the most
personal of all. So often Barbara and I go down to the Lincoln
bedroom, which then served as Lincoln's cabinet room and office. And
on his desk, to the left of the fireplace, is an original copy of the
Gettysburg Address, written in his hand, which you will see in the
East Room. And on the mantle is a plaque marking an equally noble
legacy -- here the Great Unifier signed the Emancipation
Proclamation.
MORE
- 2 -
Yet perhaps nowhere do we learn more about Lincoln even
now than in a portrait that I talked about last month off the coast
of Malta before meeting Chairman Gorbachev. It is, as this one is,
by George Healy, and hangs on the wall of my office upstairs. And in
it you see the agony and the greatness of a man who nightly fell on
his knees to ask the help of God.
The painting shows two of his generals and an admiral
meeting near the end of a war that pitted brother against brother.
And outside at that moment a battle rages. And yet, what we see in
the distance is a rainbow. A symbol of hope, of the passing of the
storm. The painting's name, "The Peacemakers." And for me, this is
a constant reassurance that the cause of peace will triumph and that
ours can be the future that Lincoln gave his life for -- a future
free of both tyranny and fear.
One-hundred-twenty-nine years ago, leaving Springfield to
assume the presidency, Lincoln addressed his home people at Great
Western Railroad Station, and he told them, "All the strange
checkered past seems to crowd now upon my mind." Even now, the
memory of Abraham Lincoln crowds upon our minds. It's a great
privilege then to introduce a man who had devoted his lifetime to the
study of its tragedy and its glory -- one of the great scholars of
perhaps our greatest President, Professor David Donald.
And thank you, sir, for being with us. (Applause.)
END
5:37 P.M. EST
LINCOLN LECTURE / STATE DINING ROOM
SUNDAY, JANUARY 7, 1990 / 5:00 P.M.
PROFESSOR DONALD, MRS. DONALD, SECRETARY CHENEY,
LYNNE CHENEY, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. BARBARA AND I WANT
TO WELCOME YOU TO THE WHITE HOUSE. IT IS INDEED A
PRIVILEGE TO HAVE YOU WITH US, AND TO HOST THIS
LECTURE ON THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES.
THIS IS THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF LECTURES ON THE
MEN WHO'VE HELD THIS OFFICE. IT SEEKS To MAKE THEM
COME ALIVE.
- 2 -
WHAT WERE THEY LIKE? How DID THEY LIVE? How WAS THE
HISTORY OF AMERICA'S HOUSE MOLDED BY THEIR DREAMS?
To OCCUPY THIS OFFICE IS TO ASK THOSE QUESTIONS --
AND TO FEEL A KINSHIP WITH MY PREDECESSORS. FOR EACH
IN HIS OWN WAY SOUGHT TO DO RIGHT, AND THUS ACHIEVE
GOOD. EACH FELT A SACRED TRUST WITH EVERY AMERICAN.
AND OFTEN WONDERED, I SUSPECT, HOW THEY COULD BE WORTHY
OF THAT TRUST.
- 3 -
PERHAPS NO PRESIDENT HAD GREATER DOUBTS -- NOR MORE
BRILLIANTLY RESOLVED THEM -- THAN THE SUBJECT OF THIS
INAUGURAL LECTURE: ABRAHAM LINCOLN OF ILLINOIS.
As PRESIDENT, LINCOLN ABOLISHED SLAVERY. HE SAVED
THE UNION. PERHAPS NO LEADER HAS BEEN so SEVERELY
TESTED -- BEFORE, OR SINCE. AND YET WE REMEMBER ABE
LINCOLN NOT MERELY FOR WHAT HE DID. WE REVERE HIM FOR
WHAT HE WAS.
- 4 -
LINCOLN WAS A STRONG MAN -- AN ARM-WRESTLER, A
RAIL-SPLITTER. YET ALSO A MIX OF KINDNESS AND
HUMILITY. HE WAS AT ONCE A HARD AND GENTLE PERSON -- A
MAN OF GRIEF, AND YET OF HUMOR. FOR HE KNEW, AS HE
TOLD SECRETARY OF STATE SEWARD, THAT IF HE DID NOT TELL
STORIES, HE FELT HIS HEART WOULD BREAK.
TONIGHT, WE HAVE HERE A MAN WHO WILL DOUBTLESS TELL
SOME STORIES.
- 5 -
HIS NAME IS DAVID DONALD -- THE CHARLES WARREN
PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY.
A NATIVE OF MISSISSIPPI, MR. DONALD GRADUATED FROM
THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, WHERE HE WAS A STUDENT OF
THE GREAT LINCOLN SCHOLAR, J.G. RANDALL. HE HAS TAUGHT
AT SOME OF AMERICA'S GREATEST UNIVERSITIES -- AND HAS
WRITTEN EIGHT BOOKS ABOUT LINCOLN AND THE CIVIL WAR --
TWICE, RECEIVING THE PULITZER PRIZE IN BIOGRAPHY.
- 6 -
MOREOVER, OUR GUEST IS NOW WORKING ON A NEW BIOGRAPHY
OF AMERICA'S 16TH PRESIDENT.
EARLIER, I SPOKE OF KINSHIP. WELL -- I'M SURE
DAVID DONALD WOULD AGREE -- ANY PRESIDENT'S KINSHIP
WITH LINCOLN IS PERHAPS THE MOST PERSONAL OF ALL.
So OFTEN I PASS THE LINCOLN BEDROOM WHICH THEN
SERVED AS LINCOLN'S CABINET ROOM AND OFFICE.
- 7 -
ON HIS DESK, TO THE LEFT OF THE FIREPLACE, IS AN
ORIGINAL COPY OF THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS -- WRITTEN IN
HIS HAND. AND ON THE MANTLE IS A PLAQUE MARKING AN
EQUALLY NOBLE LEGACY. HERE, THE GREAT UNIFIER SIGNED
THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION.
YET PERHAPS NOWHERE DO WE LEARN MORE ABOUT LINCOLN,
EVEN NOW, THAN IN A PORTRAIT THAT I TALKED ABOUT LAST
MONTH OFF THE COAST OF MALTA BEFORE MEETING CHAIRMAN
GORBACHEV.
- 8 -
IT IS BY GEORGE HEALY, AND HANGS ON THE WALL OF MY
STUDY. IN IT YOU SEE THE AGONY, AND THE GREATNESS, OF
A MAN WHO NIGHTLY FELL ON HIS KNEES To ASK THE HELP OF
GOD.
THE PAINTING SHOWS TWO OF HIS GENERALS AND AN
ADMIRAL, MEETING NEAR THE END OF A WAR THAT PITTED
BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER.
- 9 -
OUTSIDE, AT THAT MOMENT, A BATTLE RAGES. AND YET WHAT
WE SEE IN THE DISTANCE IS A RAINBOW -- THAT SYMBOL OF
HOPE, OF THE PASSING OF THE STORM. THE PAINTING'S
NAME? THE PEACEMAKERS.
FOR ME, THIS PAINTING IS A CONSTANT REASSURANCE
THAT THE CAUSE OF PEACE WILL TRIUMPH. AND THAT OURS
CAN BE THE FUTURE THAT LINCOLN GAVE HIS LIFE FOR -- A
FUTURE FREE OF BOTH TYRANNY AND FEAR.
- 10 -
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS AGO, LEAVING
SPRINGFIELD TO ASSUME THE PRESIDENCY, LINCOLN ADDRESSED
HIS HOME PEOPLE AT THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY STATION.
HE TOLD THEM: "ALL THE STRANGE CHECKERED PAST SEEMS TO
CROWD NOW UPON MY MIND."
EVEN NOW, THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN CROWDS UPON
OUR MINDS. IT IS A GREAT PRIVILEGE, THEN, To INTRODUCE
A MAN WHO HAS DEVOTED HIS LIFETIME TO THE STUDY OF ITS
TRAGEDY AND ITS GLORY.
- 11 -
ONE OF THE GREAT SCHOLARS OF PERHAPS OUR GREATEST
PRESIDENT. PROFESSOR DAVID DONALD.
[AFTER SPEECH] THANK YOU, PROFESSOR DONALD. AND NOW,
WON'T ALL OF YOU JOIN DAVID, BARBARA, AND ME FOR SUPPER
IN THE EAST ROOM?
###
Document No. 101659
0056
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE: 1/3/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 1/4/90 2:00 PM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LINCOLN LECTURE
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 2:00 PM, Thursday, January 4, with a copy
to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE: TO CHRISS WINSTON
NSC clears, but notes typo on page 2.
Brent Rates Scowcroft
James W. Cicconi
JANUARY 4, 1990
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(Smith/Blessey)
Draft One
Jaggary 33 1990 57
INC
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LINCOLN LECTURE
STATE DINING ROOM
SUNDAY, JANUARY 7, 1990
5:00 P.M.
Professor Donald, Lynn Cheney, Ladies and gentlemen.
Barbara and I want to welcome you to the White House. It is
indeed a privilege to be with you. And to host this inaugural
lecture on the Presidency of the United States.
To John F. Kennedy, the Presidency was "the vital center of
action." To Teddy Roosevelt, it was the "bully pulpit,"
reflecting America's values and her dreams. And it was Dwight
Eisenhower -- beloved Ike -- who spoke of its power "to proclaim
...
our faith," and summon "lightness against the dark."
To occupy this office is to feel a kinship with these and
other Presidents. For each in his own way sought to do right,
and thus achieve good. Each felt a sacred trust with every
American. And often wondered, I suspect, how they could be
worthy of that trust.
Perhaps no President had greater doubts -- nor more
brilliantly resolved them -- than the subject of this inaugural
lecture: Abraham Lincoln of Illinois.
As President, Lincoln abolished slavery. He saved the
Union. Perhaps no leader has been so severely tested -- before,
2
or since. And yet we remember Abe Lincoln not merely for what he
did. We revere him for what he was.
Lincoln was a strong man -- an arm-wrestler, a rail-
splitter. Yet also a mix of kindness and humility. He was at
once a hard and gentle person -- a man of grief, and yet of
humor. For he knew, as he told Secretary of War Steward, that
X
"If I did not tell stories, I feel my heart would break."
Tonight, we have here a man who will doubtless tell some
stories. About how by acting extraordinarily in times of peril,
Lincoln preserved for future generations the canons of democracy.
His name is David Donald -- the Charles Warren Professor of
American History at Harvard University.
A native of Mississippi, Mr. Donald graduated from the
University of Illinois, where he was a student of the great
Lincoln scholar, J.G. Randall. He has taught at some of
America's greatest universities -- and has written five books
about Lincoln and the Civil War -- twice receiving the Pulitzer
Prize in biography. Moreover, our guest is now working on a new
biography of America's 16th President.
Earlier, I spoke of kinship. Well -- I'm sure David Donald
would agree -- any President's kinship with Lincoln is perhaps
the most personal of all.
So often I pass the Lincoln Bedroom which then served as
Lincoln's Cabinet Room and office. On his desk, to the left of
the fireplace, is an original copy of the Gettysburg Address.
3
And on the mantle is a plaque marking an equally noble legacy.
Here, the Great Unifier signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Yet perhaps nowhere do we learn more about Lincoln, even
now, than in a portrait that I talked about last month off the
coast of Malta before meeting Chairman Gorbachev. It is by
George Healy, and hangs on the wall of my study. In it you see
the agony, and the greatness, of a man who nightly fell on his
knees to ask the help of God.
The painting shows Lincoln and his generals, meeting near
the end of a war that pitted brother against brother. Outside,
at that moment, a battle rages. And yet what we see in the
distance is a rainbow -- that symbol of hope, of the passing of
the storm. The painting's name? The Peacemakers.
For me, this painting is a constant reassurance that the
cause of peace will triumph. And that ours can be the future
that Lincoln gave his life for -- a future free of both tyranny
and fear.
One hundred and twenty-nine years ago, leaving Springfield
to assume the Presidency, Lincoln addressed his home people at
the Great Western Railway Station. He told them: "All the
strange checkered past seems now to crowd upon my mind."
Even now, the memory of Abraham Lincoln crowds upon our
minds. It is a great privilege, then, to introduce a man who has
devoted his lifetime to the study of its tragedy and its glory.
One of the great scholars of perhaps our greatest President.
Professor David Donald.
#
#
#
#
Document No. 101659
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE: 1/3/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 1/4/90 2:00 PM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LINCOLN LECTURE
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 2:00 PM, Thursday, January 4, with a copy
to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE: S.R.
I think WE need
SOME comment on the
newness of this (E)" this is the
an ongoing series on James W. Cicconi
1st of what I hope will the be
Presidening Im
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
proyd to say that
etc etc
(Smith/Blessey)
Draft One
33 1990 57
INC
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LINCOLN LECTURE
STATE DINING ROOM
SUNDAY, JANUARY 7, 1990
5:00 P.M.
Professor Donald, Lynn Cheney, Ladies and gentlemen.
Barbara and I want to welcome you to the White House. It is
indeed a privilege to be with you. And to host this inaugural
lecture on the Presidency of the United States.
To John F. Kennedy, the Presidency was "the vital center of
action." To Teddy Roosevelt, it was the "bully pulpit,"
reflecting America's values and her dreams. And it was Dwight
Eisenhower -- beloved Ike -- who spoke of its power "to proclaim
...
our faith," and summon "lightness against the dark."
To occupy this office is to feel a kinship with these and
other Presidents. For each in his own way sought to do right,
and thus achieve good. Each felt a sacred trust with every
American. And often wondered, I suspect, how they could be
worthy of that trust.
Perhaps no President had greater doubts -- nor more
brilliantly resolved them -- than the subject of this inaugural
lecture: Abraham Lincoln of Illinois.
As President, Lincoln abolished slavery. He saved the
Union. Perhaps no leader has been so severely tested -- before,
2
or since. And yet we remember Abe Lincoln not merely for what he
did. We revere him for what he was.
Lincoln was a strong man -- an arm-wrestler, a rail-
splitter. Yet also a mix of kindness and humility. He was at
once a hard and gentle person -- a man of grief, and yet of
humor. For he knew, as he told Secretary of War Steward, that
"If I did not tell stories, I feel my heart would break."
Tonight, we have here a man who will doubtless tell some
stories. About how by acting extraordinarily in times of peril,
Lincoln preserved for future generations the canons of democracy.
His name is David Donald -- the Charles Warren Professor of
American History at Harvard University.
A native of Mississippi, Mr. Donald graduated from the
University of Illinois, where he was a student of the great
Lincoln scholar, J.G. Randall. He has taught at some of
America's greatest universities -- and has written five books
about Lincoln and the Civil War -- twice, receiving the Pulitzer
Prize in biography. Moreover, our guest is now working on a new
biography of America's 16th President.
Earlier, I spoke of kinship. Well -- I'm sure David Donald
would agree -- any President's kinship with Lincoln is perhaps
the most personal of all.
So often I pass the Lincoln Bedroom which then served as
Lincoln's Cabinet Room and office. On his desk, to the left of
the fireplace, is an original copy of the Gettysburg Address.
3
And on the mantle is a plaque marking an equally noble legacy.
Here, the Great Unifier signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Yet perhaps nowhere do we learn more about Lincoln, even
now, than in a portrait that I talked about last month off the
coast of Malta before meeting Chairman Gorbachev. It is by
George Healy, and hangs on the wall of my study. In it you see
the agony, and the greatness, of a man who nightly fell on his
knees to ask the help of God.
The painting shows Lincoln and his generals, meeting near
the end of a war that pitted brother against brother. Outside,
at that moment, a battle rages. And yet what we see in the
distance is a rainbow -- that symbol of hope, of the passing of
the storm. The painting's name? The Peacemakers.
For me, this painting is a constant reassurance that the
cause of peace will triumph. And that ours can be the future
that Lincoln gave his life for -- a future free of both tyranny
and fear.
One hundred and twenty-nine years ago, leaving Springfield
to assume the Presidency, Lincoln addressed his home people at
the. Great Western Railway Station. He told them: "All the
strange checkered past seems now to crowd upon my mind."
Even now, the memory of Abraham Lincoln crowds upon our
minds. It is a great privilege, then, to introduce a man who has
devoted his lifetime to the study of its tragedy and its glory.
One of the great scholars of perhaps our greatest President.
Professor David Donald.
#
#
#
#
Document No. 101659
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE: 1/3/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 1/4/90 2:00 PM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LINCOLN LECTURE
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 2:00 PM, Thursday, January 4, with a copy
to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
No Comment 1/4/90
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(Smith/Blessey)
Draft One
January 3, 1990
INC
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LINCOLN LECTURE
STATE DINING ROOM
SUNDAY, JANUARY 7, 1990
5:00 P.M.
Professor Donald, Ladies and gentlemen. Barbara and I want
to welcome you to the White House. It is indeed a privilege to
be with you. And to host this lecture on the Presidency of the
United States.
This is the first in a series of lectures on the men who've
held this office. It seeks to make them come alive. It seeks to
sketch their times. What were they like? How did they live?
How was the history of America's House molded by their dreams?
To occupy this office is to ask those questions -- and to
feel a kinship with my predecessors. For each in his own way
sought to do right, and thus achieve good. Each felt a sacred
trust with every American. And often wondered, I suspect, how
they could be worthy of that trust.
Perhaps no President had greater doubts -- nor more
brilliantly resolved them -- than the subject of this inaugural
lecture: Abraham Lincoln of Illinois.
As President, Lincoln abolished slavery. He saved the
Union. Perhaps no leader has been so severely tested -- before,
or since. And yet we remember Abe Lincoln not merely for what he
did. We revere him for what he was.
2
Lincoln was a strong man -- an arm-wrestler, a rail-
splitter. Yet also a mix of kindness and humility. He was at
once a hard and gentle person -- a man of grief, and yet of
humor. For he knew, as he told Secretary of State Seward, that
if he did not tell stories, he felt his heart would break.
Tonight, we have here a man who will doubtless tell some
stories. His name is David Donald -- the Charles Warren
Professor of American History at Harvard University.
A native of Mississippi, Mr. Donald graduated from the
University of Illinois, where he was a student of the great
Lincoln scholar, J.G. Randall. He has taught at some of
America's greatest universities -- and has written eight books
about Lincoln and the Civil War -- twice, receiving the Pulitzer
Prize in biography. Moreover, our guest is now working on a new
biography of America's 16th President.
Earlier, I spoke of kinship. Well -- I'm sure David Donald
would agree -- any President's kinship with Lincoln is perhaps
the most personal of all.
So often I pass the Lincoln Bedroom which then served as
Lincoln's Cabinet Room and office. On his desk, to the left of
the fireplace, is an original copy of the Gettysburg Address.
And on the mantle is a plaque marking an equally noble legacy.
Here, the Great Unifier signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Yet perhaps nowhere do we learn more about Lincoln, even
now, than in a portrait that I talked about last month off the
coast of Malta before meeting Chairman Gorbachev. It is by
3
George Healy, and hangs on the wall of my study. In it you see
the agony, and the greatness, of a man who nightly fell on his
knees to ask the help of God.
The painting shows Lincoln and his generals, meeting near
the end of a war that pitted brother against brother. Outside,
at that moment, a battle rages. And yet what we see in the
distance is a rainbow -- that symbol of hope, of the passing of
the storm. The painting's name? The Peacemakers.
For me, this painting is a constant reassurance that the
cause of peace will triumph. And that ours can be the future
that Lincoln gave his life for -- a future free of both tyranny
and fear.
One hundred and twenty-nine years ago, leaving Springfield
to assume the Presidency, Lincoln addressed his home people at
the Great Western Railway Station. He told them: "All the
strange checkered past seems to crowd now upon my mind."
Even now, the memory of Abraham Lincoln crowds upon our
minds. It is a great privilege, then, to introduce a man who has
devoted his lifetime to the study of its tragedy and its glory.
One of the great scholars of perhaps our greatest President.
Professor David Donald.
#
#
#
#
[AFTER SPEECH] Thank you, Professor Donald. And now, won't all
of you join David, Barbara, and me for supper in the East Room?
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
January 4, 1990
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
FROM:
ROGER B. PORTER
RBP
SUBJECT:
Presidential Remarks: Lincoln Lecture
We have no suggested changes from a policy standpoint and
approve of the draft in its present form.
CC: James W. Cicconi
Document No. 101659
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
1/3/90
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 1/4/90 2:00 PM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LINCOLN LECTURE
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 2:00 PM, Thursday, January 4, with a copy
to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(Smith/Blessey)
Draft One
Jagguage 33 57
INC
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LINCOLN LECTURE
STATE DINING ROOM
SUNDAY, JANUARY 7, 1990
5:00 P.M.
Professor Donald, Lynn Cheney, Ladies and gentlemen.
Barbara and I want to welcome you to the White House. It is
indeed a privilege to be with you. And to host this inaugural
lecture on the Presidency of the United States.
To John F. Kennedy, the Presidency was "the vital center of
action." To Teddy Roosevelt, it was the "bully pulpit,"
reflecting America's values and her dreams. And it was Dwight
Eisenhower -- beloved Ike -- who spoke of its power "to proclaim
...
our faith," and summon "lightness against the dark."
To occupy this office is to feel a kinship with these and
other Presidents. For each in his own way sought to do right,
and thus achieve good. Each felt a sacred trust with every
American. And often wondered, I suspect, how they could be
worthy of that trust.
Perhaps no President had greater doubts -- nor more
brilliantly resolved them -- than the subject of this inaugural
lecture: Abraham Lincoln of Illinois.
As President, Lincoln abolished slavery. He saved the
Union. Perhaps no leader has been so severely tested -- before,
2
or since. And yet we remember Abe Lincoln not merely for what he
did. We revere him for what he was.
Lincoln was a strong man -- an arm-wrestler, a rail-
splitter. Yet also a mix of kindness and humility. He was at
once a hard and gentle person -- a man of grief, and yet of
humor. For he knew, as he told Secretary of War Steward, that
"If I did not tell stories, I feel my heart would break."
Tonight, we have here a man who will doubtless tell some
stories. About how by acting extraordinarily in times of peril,
Lincoln preserved for future generations the canons of democracy.
His name is David Donald -- the Charles Warren Professor of
American History at Harvard University.
A native of Mississippi, Mr. Donald graduated from the
University of Illinois, where he was a student of the great
Lincoln scholar, J.G. Randall. He has taught at some of
America's greatest universities -- and has written five books
about Lincoln and the Civil War -- twice, receiving the Pulitzer
Prize in biography. Moreover, our guest is now working on a new
biography of America's 16th President.
Earlier, I spoke of kinship. Well -- I'm sure David Donald
would agree -- any President's kinship with Lincoln is perhaps
the most personal of all.
So often I pass the Lincoln Bedroom which then served as
Lincoln's Cabinet Room and office. On his desk, to the left of
the fireplace, is an original copy of the Gettysburg Address.
3
And on the mantle is a plaque marking an equally noble legacy.
Here, the Great Unifier signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Yet perhaps nowhere do we learn more about Lincoln, even
now, than in a portrait that I talked about last month off the
coast of Malta before meeting Chairman Gorbachev. It is by
George Healy, and hangs on the wall of my study. In it you see
the agony, and the greatness, of a man who nightly fell on his
knees to ask the help of God.
The painting shows Lincoln and his generals, meeting near
the end of a war that pitted brother against brother. Outside,
at that moment, a battle rages. And yet what we see in the
distance is a rainbow -- that symbol of hope, of the passing of
the storm. The painting's name? The Peacemakers.
For me, this painting is a constant reassurance that the
cause of peace will triumph. And that ours can be the future
that Lincoln gave his life for -- a future free of both tyranny
and fear.
One hundred and twenty-nine years ago, leaving Springfield
to assume the Presidency, Lincoln addressed his home people at
the Great Western Railway Station. He told them: "All the
strange checkered past seems now to crowd upon my mind."
Even now, the memory of Abraham Lincoln crowds upon our
minds. It is a great privilege, then, to introduce a man who has
devoted his lifetime to the study of its tragedy and its glory.
One of the great scholars of perhaps our greatest President.
Professor David Donald.
#
#
#
#
Document No. 101659
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE: 1/3/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 1/4/90 2:00 PM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LINCOLN LECTURE
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 2:00 PM, Thursday, January 4, with a copy
to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
N/C EBH 1-4-90
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
THE WHITE house
WASHINGTON
alaily human
who seem mythic
life of people
17860310
"make men : women
come alive"
Document No. 101659
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE: 1/3/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 1/4/90 2:00 PM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LINCOLN LECTURE
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 2:00 PM, Thursday, January 4, with a copy
to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE: No comment
89 DEC 4 4 P2 27
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(Smith/Blessey)
Draft One
Jaggary 33 57
INC
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LINCOLN LECTURE
STATE DINING ROOM
SUNDAY, JANUARY 7, 1990
5:00 P.M.
Professor Donald, Lynn Cheney, Ladies and gentlemen.
Barbara and I want to welcome you to the White House. It is
indeed a privilege to be with you. And to host this inaugural
lecture on the Presidency of the United States.
To John F. Kennedy, the Presidency was "the vital center of
action." To Teddy Roosevelt, it was the "bully pulpit,"
reflecting America's values and her dreams. And it was Dwight
Eisenhower -- beloved Ike -- who spoke of its power "to proclaim
...
our faith," and summon "lightness against the dark."
To occupy this office is to feel a kinship with these and
other Presidents. For each in his own way sought to do right,
and thus achieve good. Each felt a sacred trust with every
American. And often wondered, I suspect, how they could be
worthy of that trust.
Perhaps no President had greater doubts -- nor more
brilliantly resolved them -- than the subject of this inaugural
lecture: Abraham Lincoln of Illinois.
As President, Lincoln abolished slavery. He saved the
Union. Perhaps no leader has been so severely tested -- before,
2
or since. And yet we remember Abe Lincoln not merely for what he
did. We revere him for what he was.
Lincoln was a strong man -- an arm-wrestler, a rail-
splitter. Yet also a mix of kindness and humility. He was at
once a hard and gentle person -- a man of grief, and yet of
humor. For he knew, as he told Secretary of War Steward, that
"If I did not tell stories, I feel my heart would break."
Tonight, we have here a man who will doubtless tell some
stories. About how by acting extraordinarily in times of peril,
Lincoln preserved for future generations the canons of democracy.
His name is David Donald -- the Charles Warren Professor of
American History at Harvard University.
A native of Mississippi, Mr. Donald graduated from the
University of Illinois, where he was a student of the great
Lincoln scholar, J.G. Randall. He has taught at some of
America's greatest universities -- and has written five books
about Lincoln and the Civil War -- twice, receiving the Pulitzer
Prize in biography. Moreover, our guest is now working on a new
biography of America's 16th President.
Earlier, I spoke of kinship. Well -- I'm sure David Donald
would agree -- any President's kinship with Lincoln is perhaps
the most personal of all.
So often I pass the Lincoln Bedroom which then served as
Lincoln's Cabinet Room and office. On his desk, to the left of
the fireplace, is an original copy of the Gettysburg Address.
3
And on the mantle is a plaque marking an equally noble legacy.
Here, the Great Unifier signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Yet perhaps nowhere do we learn more about Lincoln, even
now, than in a portrait that I talked about last month off the
coast of Malta before meeting Chairman Gorbachev. It is by
George Healy, and hangs on the wall of my study. In it you see
the agony, and the greatness, of a man who nightly fell on his
knees to ask the help of God.
The painting shows Lincoln and his generals, meeting near
the end of a war that pitted brother against brother. Outside,
at that moment, a battle rages. And yet what we see in the
distance is a rainbow -- that symbol of hope, of the passing of
the storm. The painting's name? The Peacemakers.
For me, this painting is a constant reassurance that the
cause of peace will triumph. And that ours can be the future
that Lincoln gave his life for -- a future free of both tyranny
and fear.
One hundred and twenty-nine years ago, leaving Springfield
to assume the Presidency, Lincoln addressed his home people at
the Great Western Railway Station. He told them: "All the
strange checkered past seems now to crowd upon my mind."
Even now, the memory of Abraham Lincoln crowds upon our
minds. It is a great privilege, then, to introduce a man who has
devoted his lifetime to the study of its tragedy and its glory.
One of the great scholars of perhaps our greatest President.
Professor David Donald.
#
#
#
#
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
January 4, 1990
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
FROM:
JIM PINKERTON onl
SUBJECT:
Lincoln Lecture Draft Speech
pg. 3, para. 6, line 1 "Even now, the memory of Abraham Lincoln
crowds upon our minds."
We need to make sure that the sense of "crowds upon our
minds" is positive, and not in the sense of burdening as in the
original Lincoln quotation. We suggest something like: "Even
now, the memory of Abraham Lincoln crowds upon our minds, but
crowds upon our minds in order to inspire us to endeavors that
are faithful to that memory."
###
12:2d $ 030.68
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
January 4, 1990
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT
FOR COMMUNICATIONS
FROM:
FREDERICK D. NELSON FON
ASSOCIATE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT
SUBJECT:
Presidential Remarks: Lincoln Lecture
Counsel's Office makes no legal objection to the above-mentioned
Presidential Remarks.
Thank you for the opportunity to review this matter.
CC: James W. Cicconi
PO:2d DEC 68
Document No. 101659
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE: 1/3/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 1/4/90 2:00 PM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LINCOLN LECTURE
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 2:00 PM, Thursday, January 4, with a copy
to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(Smith/Blessey)
Draft One
Jaggaryaw 33 57
INC
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LINCOLN LECTURE
STATE DINING ROOM
SUNDAY, JANUARY 7, 1990
5:00 P.M.
Professor Donald, Lynn Cheney, Ladies and gentlemen.
Barbara and I want to welcome you to the White House. It is
indeed a privilege to be with you. And to host this inaugural
lecture on the Presidency of the United States.
To John F. Kennedy, the Presidency was "the vital center of
action." To Teddy Roosevelt, it was the "bully pulpit,"
reflecting America's values and her dreams. And it was Dwight
Eisenhower -- beloved Ike -- who spoke of its power "to proclaim
our faith," and summon "lightness against the dark."
To occupy this office is to feel a kinship with these and
other Presidents. For each in his own way sought to do right,
and thus achieve good. Each felt a sacred trust with every
American. And often wondered, I suspect, how they could be
worthy of that trust.
Perhaps no President had greater doubts -- nor more
brilliantly resolved them -- than the subject of this inaugural
lecture: Abraham Lincoln of Illinois.
As President, Lincoln abolished slavery. He saved the
Union. Perhaps no leader has been so severely tested -- before,
2
or since. And yet we remember Abe Lincoln not merely for what he
did. We revere him for what he was.
Lincoln was a strong man -- an arm-wrestler, a rail-
splitter. Yet also a mix of kindness and humility. He was at
once a hard and gentle person -- a man of grief, and yet of
humor. For he knew, as he told Secretary of War Steward, that
"If I did not tell stories, I feel my heart would break."
Tonight, we have here a man who will doubtless tell some
stories. About how by acting extraordinarily in times of peril,
Lincoln preserved for future generations the canons of democracy.
His name is David Donald -- the Charles Warren Professor of
American History at Harvard University.
A native of Mississippi, Mr. Donald graduated from the
University of Illinois, where he was a student of the great
Lincoln scholar, J.G. Randall. He has taught at some of
America's greatest universities -- and has written five books
about Lincoln and the Civil War -- twice, receiving the Pulitzer
Prize in biography. Moreover, our guest is now working on a new
biography of America's 16th President.
Earlier, I spoke of kinship. Well -- I'm sure David Donald
would agree -- any President's kinship with Lincoln is perhaps
the most personal of all.
So often I pass the Lincoln Bedroom which then served as
Lincoln's Cabinet Room and office. On his desk, to the left of
the fireplace, is an original copy of the Gettysburg Address.
3
And on the mantle is a plaque marking an equally noble legacy.
Here, the Great Unifier signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Yet perhaps nowhere do we learn more about Lincoln, even
now, than in a portrait that I talked about last month off the
coast of Malta before meeting Chairman Gorbachev. It is by
George Healy, and hangs on the wall of my study. In it you see
the agony, and the greatness, of a man who nightly fell on his
knees to ask the help of God.
The painting shows Lincoln and his generals, meeting near
the end of a war that pitted brother against brother. Outside,
at that moment, a battle rages. And yet what we see in the
distance is a rainbow -- that symbol of hope, of the passing of
the storm. The painting's name? The Peacemakers.
For me, this painting is a constant reassurance that the
cause of peace will triumph. And that ours can be the future
that Lincoln gave his life for -- a future free of both tyranny
and fear.
One hundred and twenty-nine years ago, leaving Springfield
to assume the Presidency, Lincoln addressed his home people at
the Great Western Railway Station. He told them: "All the
strange checkered past seems now to crowd upon my mind."
Even now, the memory of Abraham Lincoln crowds upon our
minds. It is a great privilege, then, to introduce a man who has
devoted his lifetime to the study of its tragedy and its glory.
One of the great scholars of perhaps our greatest President.
Professor David Donald.
#
#
#
#
Staffed Blessey by 700 PM 1/3
(Smith/Blessey)
Draft One
January 3, 1990
INC
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LINCOLN LECTURE
STATE DINING ROOM
SUNDAY, JANUARY 7, 1990
5:00 P.M.
Professor Donald, Lynn Cheney, Ladies and gentlemen.
Barbara and I want to welcome you to the White House. It is
indeed a privilege to be with you. And to host this inaugural
lecture on the Presidency of the United States.
To John F. Kennedy, the Presidency was "the vital center of
action. To Teddy Roosevelt, it was the "bully pulpit,"
reflecting America's values and her dreams. And it was Dwight
Eisenhower -- beloved Ike -- who spoke of its power "to proclaim
our faith," and summon "lightness against the dark."
To occupy this office is to feel a kinship with these and
other Presidents. For each in his own way sought to do right,
and thus achieve good. Each felt a sacred trust with every
American. And often wondered, I suspect, how they could be
worthy of that trust.
Perhaps no President had greater doubts -- nor more
brilliantly resolved them -- than the subject of this inaugural
lecture: Abraham Lincoln of Illinois.
As President, Lincoln abolished slavery. He saved the
Union. Perhaps no leader has been so severely tested -- before,
2
or since. And yet we remember Abe Lincoln not merely for what he
did. We revere him for what he was.
Lincoln was a strong man -- an arm-wrestler, a rail-
splitter. Yet also a mix of kindness and humility. He was at
once a hard and gentle person -- a man of grief, and yet of
humor. For he knew, as he told Secretary of War Steward, that
"If I did not tell stories, I feel my heart would break."
Tonight, we have here a man who will doubtless tell some
stories. About how by acting extraordinarily in times of peril,
Lincoln preserved for future generations the canons of democracy.
His name is David Donald -- the Charles Warren Professor of
American History at Harvard University.
A native of Mississippi, Mr. Donald graduated from the
University of Illinois, where he was a student of the great
Lincoln scholar, J.G. Randall. He has taught at some of
America's greatest universities -- and has written five books
about Lincoln and the Civil War -- twice, receiving the Pulitzer
Prize in biography. Moreover, our guest is now working on a new
biography of America's 16th President.
Earlier, I spoke of kinship. Well -- I'm sure David Donald
would agree -- any President's kinship with Lincoln is perhaps
the most personal of all.
So often I pass the Lincoln Bedroom which then served as
Lincoln's Cabinet Room and office. On his desk, to the left of
the fireplace, is an original copy of the Gettysburg Address.
3
And on the mantle is a plaque marking an equally noble legacy.
Here, the Great Unifier signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Yet perhaps nowhere do we learn more about Lincoln, even
now, than in a portrait that I talked about last month off the
coast of Malta before meeting Chairman Gorbachev. It is by
George Healy, and hangs on the wall of my study. In it you see
the agony, and the greatness, of a man who nightly fell on his
knees to ask the help of God.
The painting shows Lincoln and his generals, meeting near
the end of a war that pitted brother against brother. Outside,
at that moment, a battle rages. And yet what we see in the
distance is a rainbow -- that symbol of hope, of the passing of
the storm. The painting's name? The Peacemakers.
For me, this painting is a constant reassurance that the
cause of peace will triumph. And that ours can be the future
that Lincoln gave his life for -- a future free of both tyranny
and fear.
One hundred and twenty-nine years ago, leaving Springfield
to assume the Presidency, Lincoln addressed his home people at
the Great Western Railway Station. He told them: "All the
strange checkered past seems now to crowd upon my mind."
Even now, the memory of Abraham Lincoln crowds upon our
minds. It is a great privilege, then, to introduce a man who has
devoted his lifetime to the study of its tragedy and its glory.
One of the great scholars of perhaps our greatest President.
Professor David Donald.
# # # #
101659SS
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
1/5/90
---
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LINCOLN LECTURE
STATE DINING ROOM
SUBJECT:
SUNDAY, JANUARY 7, 1990
(1/4 - draft two)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
The attached has been forwarded to the President.
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
January 4, 1990
INFORMATION
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
CHRISS WINSTON
FROM:
CURT SMITH
I. SUMMARY
Wd tj. NVC 0661
On Sunday, January 7, at 5:00 p.m., in the State Dining.
Room, you will introduce Professor David Donald, the first
speaker in a series of lectures on the Presidency. The subject
of the first lecture will be Abraham Lincoln. About 100 people
will attend.
II. DISCUSSION
The attached remarks (6 minutes, speechcards) discuss
Lincoln in personal and Presidential terms -- particularly, his
kinship with every President. The text also refers to the career
of the Lincoln lecturer, Professor Donald of Harvard University.
(Smith/Blessey)
Draft Two
January 4, 1990
INC
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LINCOLN LECTURE
STATE DINING ROOM
SUNDAY, JANUARY 7, 1990
5:00 P.M.
Professor Donald, [ACKNOWLEDGMENTS TO COME], Ladies and
gentlemen. Barbara and I want to welcome you to the White House.
It is indeed a privilege to be with you. And to host this
lecture on the Presidency of the United States.
This is the first in a series of lectures on the men who've
held this office. It seeks to make them come alive. What were
they like? How did they live? How was the history of America's
House molded by their dreams?
To occupy this office is to ask those questions -- and to
feel a kinship with my predecessors. For each in his own way
sought to do right, and thus achieve good. Each felt a sacred
trust with every American. And often wondered, I suspect, how
they could be worthy of that trust.
Perhaps no President had greater doubts -- nor more
brilliantly resolved them -- than the subject of this inaugural
lecture: Abraham Lincoln of Illinois.
As President, Lincoln abolished slavery. He saved the
Union. Perhaps no leader has been so severely tested -- before,
or since. And yet we remember Abe Lincoln not merely for what he
did. We revere him for what he was.
2
Lincoln was a strong man -- an arm-wrestler, a rail-
splitter. Yet also a mix of kindness and humility. He was at
once a hard and gentle person -- a man of grief, and yet of
humor. For he knew, as he told Secretary of State Seward, that
if he did not tell stories, he felt his heart would break.
Tonight, we have here a man who will doubtless tell some
stories. His name is David Donald -- the Charles Warren
Professor of American History at Harvard University.
A native of Mississippi, Mr. Donald graduated from the
University of Illinois, where he was a student of the great
Lincoln scholar, J.G. Randall. He has taught at some of
America's greatest universities -- and has written eight books
about Lincoln and the Civil War -- twice, receiving the Pulitzer
Prize in biography. Moreover, our guest is now working on a new
biography of America's 16th President.
Earlier, I spoke of kinship. Well -- I'm sure David Donald
would agree -- any President's kinship with Lincoln is perhaps
the most personal of all.
So often I pass the Lincoln Bedroom which then served as
Lincoln's Cabinet Room and office. On his desk, to the left of
the fireplace, is an original copy of the Gettysburg Address.
And on the mantle is a plaque marking an equally noble legacy.
Here, the Great Unifier signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Yet perhaps nowhere do we learn more about Lincoln, even
now, than in a portrait that I talked about last month off the
coast of Malta before meeting Chairman Gorbachev. It is by
3
George Healy, and hangs on the wall of my study. In it you see
the agony, and the greatness, of a man who nightly fell on his
knees to ask the help of God.
The painting shows Lincoln and his generals, meeting near
the end of a war that pitted brother against brother. Outside,
at that moment, a battle rages. And yet what we see in the
distance is a rainbow -- that symbol of hope, of the passing of
the storm. The painting's name? The Peacemakers.
For me, this painting is a constant reassurance that the
cause of peace will triumph. And that ours can be the future
that Lincoln gave his life for -- a future free of both tyranny
and fear.
One hundred and twenty-nine years ago, leaving Springfield
to assume the Presidency, Lincoln addressed his home people at
the Great Western Railway Station. He told them: "All the
strange checkered past seems to crowd now upon my mind."
Even now, the memory of Abraham Lincoln crowds upon our
minds. It is a great privilege, then, to introduce a man who has
devoted his lifetime to the study of its tragedy and its glory.
One of the great scholars of perhaps our greatest President.
Professor David Donald.
#
#
#
#
[AFTER SPEECH] Thank you, Professor Donald. And now, won't all
of you join David, Barbara, and me for supper in the East Room?