The Other Lincoln

Mary Todd may have been the first to see greatness in her husband. But once he was a legend, history saw only the worst in her.

By Anna Quindlen | NEWSWEEK
Published Feb 21, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Mar 2, 2009

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  • Posted By: brymarbuch @ 03/02/2009 1:28:28 AM

    Another point made about Mary in the book ???House of Abraham: Lincoln & the Todds, A Family Divided by the War??? by Stephen Berry is that her family represented the divided nation. Some of her family members sided with the Union and some with the Confederacy. Two of Mary???s brothers and one brother-in-law were killed in the war. Her family also received negative press coverage, scandals were exposed, because of their connection to the President and because they were an example of what was happening to the nation. This is another part of Mary Lincoln???s life that possibly affected how the public perceived her. Perhaps people would have been more sympathetic towards Mary if she wasn???t from the south.

  • Posted By: mflam @ 03/01/2009 12:38:24 PM

    Thanks for your insight. Ms. Quindlen, in case you missed it, please check out the work of Thomas Cahill. In his Mysteries of the Middle Ages, he helped me understand how women managed to influence the Catholic church in spite of the entrenched clergy.

  • Posted By: Conservative55 @ 02/28/2009 5:38:47 PM

    You see it in the Catholic Church, which refuses to ordain women while the number of priests dwindles and its influence wanes,
    ......

    It seems quite a stretch to me to equate the Catholic denial of priesthood to women and the sad decline of Mrs. Lincoln. And to say that this "lack of equality" in the Church and the lack of priests somehow diminishes the Church's influence is really just the personal opinion of Ms. Quindlen. Catholics who continually think that the Church should model itself on the current culture really have no understanding of the role of the Church....the Catholic Church. It's job is to protect the Deposit of Faith and teach authoritatively on beliefs and morals. Catholics who say their the influence of the Church is waning are only saying that they disrespect it, and others should to.

  • Posted By: AJS5005 @ 02/28/2009 2:44:28 PM

    Thank you for highlighting Mary Todd Lincoln. I hate seeing people who claim to love and revere President Lincoln then sneer at and dismiss Mary. I wish part of this year of Lincoln would also highlight Mary and what she had to go through as he wasn't the only one to suffer.

  • Posted By: MAnderford @ 02/26/2009 3:58:51 PM

    I think that despite personal opinions or even statement of fact about WHICH pieces of evidence Ms. Quindlen chooses to use in her article, the core fact is still correct. That in all of those places where people are restricted or rebuked because of their beliefs, their color, their gender, their sexual orientation, and truly, even the place where they live and its customs, we miss out on a grand diversity of ideas and thoughts that could surface if we treated one another, throughout the world, with dignity and respect. Kudos to you, Ms. Q, for pointing that fact out by using the case of Mary Todd Lincoln - a woman whose culture defined her as crazy, but whose true roots and personal testimony tell a stronger story.

  • Posted By: peterhey @ 02/25/2009 12:46:37 PM

    As is so often the case with your columns, you get right to the heart of the matter. When you say "societal customs and laws that hobble individuals not only sentence them to lives of frustrtion and desperation, but also deplete the stock of available human talent" you remind us that we all suffer, our society, nation and world suffers, when oppression is aloud to continue. Our most prescious natural resource is our people. When we oppress or diminish any group, we all suffer. Think of all the scientists, philosphers, doctors, lawyers, poets, politicians, etc. that have been lost forever due to oppressions and "societal customs and laws" that diminish and restrict individuals and groups. Until we have true equality, justice and opportunity for all...we all suffer.

  • Posted By: presbyteros @ 02/24/2009 5:40:31 PM

    Apparently Ms. Quindlen should go back to school. She seems to have missed in the "obligatory 'Lives of the Saint'" the lives of women who established entire school systems, pioneered and administrated medical facilities (including the Mayo Clinic). How about Joan of Arc? Her opinionated views allow her only the same kind of narrow view she condemns in others. Women are not ordained as priests in the Catholic Church not because of a lack of intelligence, administrative abilities or even degree of saintliness. It is a matter of iconography: the priest images Christ the Bridegroom while the Church is the Bride. Those roles are not interchangeable.

  • Posted By: presbyteros @ 02/24/2009 5:33:54 PM

    It's amazes me that Anna Quindlen read the "obligatory 'Lives of the Saint'" and managed to miss the women who pioneered administrating hospitals, establishing entire school systems, advised popes, even Joan of Arc! Rather her own narrow view of things allows her to only see what fits in her opinionated view of both society and religion. Women not being ordained priests is not a matter of disregarding intelligence, administrative abilities or even degree of saintliness. It is rather a major of iconography where the priest stand for Jesus, the Bridegroom of the Church. The Bridegroom is not interchangeable with the Bride

  • Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 02/23/2009 2:11:23 PM

    Uhhh. Anna. This rigidity of thought is evident in all ideologies,not simply ''fundementalists''[unless one rightly infers that secular zealots,are no differant in their way than religious ones]. This California mess is a case in point with its NEWSWEAK article raking ''hysterical greens''over the coals,high-priests of racebaiting who continue to seek and disseminate themselves, racial intrigue under every rock [Sharpton now wants to sic the FCC on newspapers already protected by the Ist Amendment].[Of course,Quindlen does not address the 800 Pd Gorilla of Islam,which allows no female leadership roles,criminalizes homosexuality,and most customs routinely practiced by the modern woman,thus she aims cheap shots from a errant pop gun,and thus exposes her own rigid thought,honed by years of ''progressive'' regression].

    • Posted By: Ralph039 @ 02/23/2009 3:28:55 PM

      Lee and Anna, you are both on each of the extremes of a pendulum swing...which is called, of course, extremism.

      • Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 02/23/2009 5:26:38 PM

        Nonsense. If you can rebut with citation,a scintilla of what has been written by this poster on Islam, [or Sharpton for this matter], then feel free to do so.

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