The Gettysburg Address had the most meaning for me and my wife when it was recited in our San Francisco kitchen in mid-1989.
We were hosting a Chinese Democracy Scholar -- it may have been too much to say we were "sheltering" him -- after some local "demonstrations" turned into a massacre. China was mass-murdering its most brilliant students in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.
This made my wife super-busy: she was the immigration and refugee staff specialist of then-very-junior Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. At the office and until late in the evenings, she was arranging for Scholar leadership to escape China and obtain refugee status here in San Francisco. (Many Members and their staffs were doing the same.)
"Ken" was a graduate of Beijing University and attending grad school in Marin County. He was doing his B-school internship in my company.
One day, something clicked in Ken's head and with great feeling, he recited Lincoln's words. Perfectly. From Memory. Ken had a strong voice, so Lincoln's words reverberated in our urban kitchen, probably better than the original was delivered in Gettysburg. Once I got over my surprise, I joined his recitation in the second half.
He then started to recite The Constitution, but we realized that was going to take considerably longer and headed him off. The concise poetry Lincoln crafted had moved Ken to major in English at Beida and then come to California to study. (He's still here!)
All the smartest youth in China wanted was four goals of freedom, equality, justice, and rule of law. Now we've been seeing Democracy advocates in Hong Kong getting long prison sentences for believing peaceful protest could get them the same goals. The Commies erased all history of Tiananmen Square from their official and informal histories, so no one learns what they did!
NOW: here at home, a pompous crook is about to take his Second Reign. I hope there is enough freedom, equality, justice, and rule of law to contain him! ONO! A Lady Wrestler Bureaucrat is going to try to kill the US Dept of Education again!!
As in the PRC, just marching in masses is not going to preserve our Democracy. Smart lawyers failed to protect us in Bush vs Gore when a GOP Supreme Court voted their party, not their Constitution.
However, today five GOP US Senators were so disgusted that their GOP rapist president-elect named a disgusting statutory-rapist to be Attorney-General that they announced they'd vote with the Democratic minority Senators against confirming him. I guess that's a start: 47 Democrats, a couple of independents, 3 GOP men, and 2 GOP women.
Not exactly the First Continental Congress, not even the 37th Congress after traitors from the South left their seats; in the Senate I understand only Andrew Johnson stayed loyal. Five? Let's hope this has shown us the national rock-bottom. But probably: 4 more years of hearing how Andy Jackson coulda prevented the Civil War and 4 more years of no Harriet Tubman on the national currency.
Sigh.
PS: about 15 years later we were watching History Channel. There was a program on the (US) Civil War, and a familiar talking head appeared on the screen. It was one of Harriet's Democracy Scholars! The US Naval Academy had appointed him a US History professor! And he's still there. Some good things endure!
Thanks for this. First thing that hit me was this pithy thought: “In just a few minutes, Lincoln managed to reimagine the America experiment in democracy at one of the lowest points in the Civil War.” Zackly.
But I was late to realize what you were doing overall. It took until I saw this: “I refuse to give in to cynicism and defeatism. If Lincoln could find the strength to rally a nation at the brink of dissolution, we can and must do so today.”
What a great idea, to match the circumstances of the Gettysburg Address with the circumstances of America’s attempt to recover from the November 5 catastrophe.
Yesterday, some friends and I were talking about Lincoln‘s public-sentiment statement: “In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed.”
In times like these I always go back to this speech. I’ve been having my HS students go through it with me. I typically write about it today. I hope to tonight as well. I am in your “Amen corner”.
"The great task remaining" is my favorite phrase from my favorite speech. My dad was born in the first village south of Lincoln's birthplace. Here's me reading the Gettysburg Address while walking at Antietam National Cemetery from the entrance to Old Simon (Private Soldier Monument) two months ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQa1eg1PcjQ
I thoroughly agree. I read one time that Lincoln's writings and speeches each had to be taken a whole to get the full impact. I think this is especially true of the magnificent Second Inaugural which is so much more than the oft-quoted "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."
I was viewing a facebook page this morning devoted to Gettysburg. Someone had post photos of the parade showing USCT re-enactors marching past protesters with a Confederate flag, also pictures of Confederate re-enactors participating in the parade. The comments were interesting; several people wanted to know where this was and what the event was, no one challenged the presence of the protestors or the Confederate participants. One person posted that the good citizens of Gettysburg would be grateful for the battle because of the ensuing tourism boom. There were other comments but you get the idea. Generally deeply disturbing and little sense of history
Well, the next time you see one of those disgusting comments that the people of Gettysburg should be grateful to the battle for the resulting tourist boom, point them to the late Gregory Coco's "A Strange and Blighted Land: Gettysburg, the Aftermath of a Battle".
The Gettysburg Address had the most meaning for me and my wife when it was recited in our San Francisco kitchen in mid-1989.
We were hosting a Chinese Democracy Scholar -- it may have been too much to say we were "sheltering" him -- after some local "demonstrations" turned into a massacre. China was mass-murdering its most brilliant students in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.
This made my wife super-busy: she was the immigration and refugee staff specialist of then-very-junior Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. At the office and until late in the evenings, she was arranging for Scholar leadership to escape China and obtain refugee status here in San Francisco. (Many Members and their staffs were doing the same.)
"Ken" was a graduate of Beijing University and attending grad school in Marin County. He was doing his B-school internship in my company.
One day, something clicked in Ken's head and with great feeling, he recited Lincoln's words. Perfectly. From Memory. Ken had a strong voice, so Lincoln's words reverberated in our urban kitchen, probably better than the original was delivered in Gettysburg. Once I got over my surprise, I joined his recitation in the second half.
He then started to recite The Constitution, but we realized that was going to take considerably longer and headed him off. The concise poetry Lincoln crafted had moved Ken to major in English at Beida and then come to California to study. (He's still here!)
All the smartest youth in China wanted was four goals of freedom, equality, justice, and rule of law. Now we've been seeing Democracy advocates in Hong Kong getting long prison sentences for believing peaceful protest could get them the same goals. The Commies erased all history of Tiananmen Square from their official and informal histories, so no one learns what they did!
NOW: here at home, a pompous crook is about to take his Second Reign. I hope there is enough freedom, equality, justice, and rule of law to contain him! ONO! A Lady Wrestler Bureaucrat is going to try to kill the US Dept of Education again!!
As in the PRC, just marching in masses is not going to preserve our Democracy. Smart lawyers failed to protect us in Bush vs Gore when a GOP Supreme Court voted their party, not their Constitution.
However, today five GOP US Senators were so disgusted that their GOP rapist president-elect named a disgusting statutory-rapist to be Attorney-General that they announced they'd vote with the Democratic minority Senators against confirming him. I guess that's a start: 47 Democrats, a couple of independents, 3 GOP men, and 2 GOP women.
Not exactly the First Continental Congress, not even the 37th Congress after traitors from the South left their seats; in the Senate I understand only Andrew Johnson stayed loyal. Five? Let's hope this has shown us the national rock-bottom. But probably: 4 more years of hearing how Andy Jackson coulda prevented the Civil War and 4 more years of no Harriet Tubman on the national currency.
Sigh.
PS: about 15 years later we were watching History Channel. There was a program on the (US) Civil War, and a familiar talking head appeared on the screen. It was one of Harriet's Democracy Scholars! The US Naval Academy had appointed him a US History professor! And he's still there. Some good things endure!
A fine column Kevin, one worth referencing in the future as we move forward into the next several years.
Thanks, Brad. Appreciate the positive feedback.
Thanks for this. First thing that hit me was this pithy thought: “In just a few minutes, Lincoln managed to reimagine the America experiment in democracy at one of the lowest points in the Civil War.” Zackly.
But I was late to realize what you were doing overall. It took until I saw this: “I refuse to give in to cynicism and defeatism. If Lincoln could find the strength to rally a nation at the brink of dissolution, we can and must do so today.”
What a great idea, to match the circumstances of the Gettysburg Address with the circumstances of America’s attempt to recover from the November 5 catastrophe.
Yesterday, some friends and I were talking about Lincoln‘s public-sentiment statement: “In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed.”
We think that principle is going to be crucial.
Right now I will take anything to lift my spirits and hope for the future.
Kevin,
In times like these I always go back to this speech. I’ve been having my HS students go through it with me. I typically write about it today. I hope to tonight as well. I am in your “Amen corner”.
All the best,
Steve
Definitely one of those days when I wish I was back in the classroom.
"The great task remaining" is my favorite phrase from my favorite speech. My dad was born in the first village south of Lincoln's birthplace. Here's me reading the Gettysburg Address while walking at Antietam National Cemetery from the entrance to Old Simon (Private Soldier Monument) two months ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQa1eg1PcjQ
Thanks for sharing, Paul. The National Cemetery at Antietam is an incredibly powerful place.
I thoroughly agree. I read one time that Lincoln's writings and speeches each had to be taken a whole to get the full impact. I think this is especially true of the magnificent Second Inaugural which is so much more than the oft-quoted "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."
I was viewing a facebook page this morning devoted to Gettysburg. Someone had post photos of the parade showing USCT re-enactors marching past protesters with a Confederate flag, also pictures of Confederate re-enactors participating in the parade. The comments were interesting; several people wanted to know where this was and what the event was, no one challenged the presence of the protestors or the Confederate participants. One person posted that the good citizens of Gettysburg would be grateful for the battle because of the ensuing tourism boom. There were other comments but you get the idea. Generally deeply disturbing and little sense of history
I posted this at Bluesky the other day. https://bsky.app/profile/civilwarmemory.bsky.social/post/3lb2spqgjq22n
Well, the next time you see one of those disgusting comments that the people of Gettysburg should be grateful to the battle for the resulting tourist boom, point them to the late Gregory Coco's "A Strange and Blighted Land: Gettysburg, the Aftermath of a Battle".
Thank you. I'm always a bit choked up (it got dusty all of a sudden) and inspired when I read the timeless words of Mr. Lincoln.
Thanks so much for taking the time to write.