Book Report: Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Since sometime in the summer, July I think, I have been pretty immersed in Team of Rivals.  It was my first read by Doris Kearns Goodwin, and it was just a phenomenal read about a phenomenal man.  The crux of the book is how Lincoln put together a cabinet of men who had run against him in the Presidential elections or been unkind to him in his early professional life and used them to power through a terrible war and inspire the respect and love not only of those close to him but of a nation.

Lincoln's ability to delay his reactions, to think before he spoke, to relinquish the personal pain inflicted by others and to speak and act with a complete absence of pride and always the presence of humility made him seemingly a divine choice to be our 16th president.  On page 174 Goodwin states that Lincoln revealed "a singular ability to transcend personal vendetta, humiliation, or bitterness."  That statement sums up Lincoln's behavior with everyone in his life: his wife, his children, his colleagues and his enemies. He could let it all go and do the right thing EVERY TIME.  He did not look to satisfy or avenge.  He truly lived a life of forgiveness and putting others first in every situation.

In fact, the only criticism that I would have of Lincoln is that he should sometimes have acted faster.  He should have moved McClellan out as Major General earlier.  McClellan accomplished nothing for too long, but Lincoln gave him the benefit of the doubt.  He should have allowed Salmon Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury, to resign the first time he turned in a resignation letter, but he continued to be kind to him over and over even after he attempted to undermine Lincoln's reelection campaign which would have been devastating to a country at war.

When the South surrendered, Lincoln encouraged Grant to let Jefferson Davis (the president of the Confederate States) know that if he disappeared out of the country it would be best.  Lincoln had no desire to punish he and the other Confederate officers. Goodwin wrote well about how the South lost its greatest ally when Lincoln was assassinated; there was no one else who would have been as lenient.

I learned to really love and respect Ulysses S. Grant and and William T. Sherman.  They saw their jobs through to the end, forging ahead where McClellan had cowered. They had the great foresight to see that without decisive action they could not get to the end of the war and thus the end of the massive loss of life.  Also, they were not divas, they were low-key and worked hard.

I have so many favorite stories from Team of Rivals, but one that best illustrates Lincoln might be the time when he visited the front and there was not a horse his size, but he was determined to ride out and express his gratitude to the troops, so he climbed on the tiny horse that was available (maybe it was a mule) and his legs were too long for the stirrups so his legs just hung.  This made his pants ride up to his knees and his socks and legs were exposed and the soldiers all laughed, and he laughed with them.  He had no personal vanity that would have stopped him from making sure that every soldier felt appreciated.

I liked Mary Todd better than I thought.  She was horrible and made a hard life harder for Lincoln, but she put in a lot of hours working at the military hospitals and she lost three dear children and the remaining child committed her to an asylum later in life.  She did not have an easy time of it.

I think what most strikes me is that there was no one who should have had a leisurely retirement surrounded by his children more than Lincoln.  The tragedy of his loss for our country and just for the dear man that he was is so senseless that it hurts.  Doris Kearns Goodwin paints a picture of a man that you cannot help but love and feel drawn to. His death was incredibly emotional as there are quotes from his devastated cabinet members and the people who knew him best.

Having read American Lion earlier this year about Andrew Jackson, I cannot help but compare the trajectories of the two men.  It is ironic that Andrew Jackson, who spent most of his life alternately chasing and deserving death, lived to old age and died at home in his bed, while Lincoln who spent his life doing the opposite, should be taken from a family and country that needed him when he was quite young really.

I feel that this book is a must read, but it is a big commitment.