Team of Rivals - The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln ***

by Doris Kearns Goodwin
copyright 2005 by Blithedale Production Inc.
First Simon & Shuster edition 2006
pages 754


This is a fairly long tome and I had to check the book out twice to finish reading it. The second half of the book, which focuses on the Civil War, is a faster more engaging read. I think it's worth the while to read it, though I know barely anyone reads any more, and few are willing to take the time and make the sacrifices necessary to read a book this size - too busy checking their Facebook status (guilty here too, but I still find time to read). Sigh...

The summary about this is fairly simple, so I won't waste too much time on this and perhaps delve deeper into the details. This book is a biography of Abraham Lincoln. It tends to focus on his political activity and especially his cabinet (rivals).

I may be mistaken, but I believe that President Obama has been seen carrying this book around, so clearly he is influenced by Lincoln, as he himself has said in the past. Perhaps I'll get back to that idea after discussing some of the details of Lincoln's life.

I believe most people take for granted that Lincoln is one of the greatest president ever, and very few people would disagree. But except for the obvious freeing of slaves and the winning of a long, difficult and harrowing war, I would wager few people could tell you why he was great.

In fact the beginning of his presidency had an auspicious start. He was thought of as a yokel - a prairie lawyer from the frontier. To be certain, he was much less connected than most of his rivals. In fact he was not the favorite to win the nomination of the party. But the favorites had made so many political enemies, that Lincoln ended up winning the nomination. And the start of his presidency he was clearly naive.

One major mistake was allowing his generals to delay the attacking of the confederate army in the beginning of the war. General McClellan, a dandy officer from the east, had his soldiers drilled and in fine uniforms, but when it came time to mount an offensive, he always found a way to delay it. Not only that, but he seemed to blame everyone but himself for the problems that the Union army had. Some have surmised that if the Union army had attacked earlier in the war, the war might have ended quicker and less death, pain and suffering would have been the result. Thge North always had supierior man power and technology. I always thought the industrial power of the North came later in the war, but it was always there. Lincoln refused to get rid of McClellan (It amazes me that there is a school in Chiago named after this pompous, arrogant guy). People saw Lincoln as too kind or too patient or perhaps even intimidated to do what needed to be done.

And he was a kind and generous man, and some people thought that was a fault and that he was too simple. But he began to get his footing, and his genorisity of spirit remained, yet he was definately in charge of the administration.

The rivals are the memebers he chose for his cabinet. Most presidents picked men who agreed with their policies. Lincoln felt it was best to pick the best men for the job, whether they agreed with Lincoln or not. I believe President Obama attempted the same kind of thing when picking his cabinet.

He gave the most important positions to his biggest rivals who not only felt they were more qualified to be president, but were bitter after losing the party's nomination. The two main rivals were Chase and Seward (The same Seward that later purchased Alaska and was ridiculed for that decision). In fact Seward, expeceted he would pretty much run the show as Secretary of State and that Lincoln would just be a puppet. But Lincoln proved them wrong. Lincoln proved to be shrewd and savvy when dealing with these rivals, at times placating them and at times standing his ground when he wanted something, and he always seemed to have the right balance of generosity and firmness.

Now some people are aware of his feelings toward the slaves and African-Americans. He was a Republican, and the Republican platform was anti-slavery, but Lincoln was a moderate. He did have some moderate rascist feelings torward the slaves, which can be expected for a man of his time. For example, he believed that the freed slaves would not be able to get along with the white population and wanted to set up a colony in Africa. But he proved to be a man who learned his lessons well, and when he finally did come around on some of these controversial race issues, his support for these issues did not waver. When he decided to make the Emancipation Proclamation, he not only did it for political expediency (which is what he told certain moderates in the party), but he also did it because he truly believed (eventually) that all men should be free. He was a man that didn't make rash descisions and took his time thinking about what was best. When he finally did make those descisions, he stuck to them becasue he had put so much effort and thought into those decissions,and truly believed in whatever decision he made.

An interesting thing I learned about Lincoln that they don't mention in the text books I grew up with, was that his assassination was a plot. There were three assassins and each assassin had a person to attack and they were all to attack at the same time. One, John Wilkes Boothe, of course killed Lincoln, another tried to kill Seward. He was unsuccessful, but he seriously wounded Seward and killed a couple of Seward's friends and family memebers (a son I think). The third assassin was supposed to kill Johnson, the Vice President. I believe he was in the same hotel and his vicinity at the appointed time of the attempt. He didn't go through with it. It was more that he had bargained for.


One of the saddest aspects of Lincoln's life as a president was that the Civil War started only days or weeks after his election. And he died less than one week after the end of the war. He never knew peace as a president. His whole presidentail experience was hardship and grief. His innate melancholy character became even more so during this period. He felt he had the blood of too many people on his hands. I wonder what he would have been like in his second term, being a president who ruled under peace instead of war.

He was very in tune to public sentiment (hence he waited on some crucial policies, to the chagrin of the more Radical Republicans who wanted things to be done immediately). His waits always seemed to be justified after the results of his decisions were found out.

So why was Lincoln a great President? He had a knack for making the right political decsions at the right time. He was very concerned about the public sentiment and tried to time certain policies to match that sentiment. He learned from both his moral and political mistakes. He did have comand of his various underlings, though it wasn't always outwardly apparent. And then there was his kid and generous heart.

In that sense, I think Obama has chosen an excellent model to base his presidency on. It's going to be nice to have a president that loves and care the poelpe for once. It will also be nice to have a president that makes thoughtful and intelligent decsions. We haven't seen that in the most recent years. I see Obama balancing his strong leadership with his generosity of spirit. And like Lincoln, Obabma is more concerend about putting good people into offices and not just people who agreed with his policies. It may be too early to see, but I think we got another great one here.

it might be worth an hour of your time for this.