Abraham Lincoln is one of the most studied and written about people in American history, and rightfully so. He was the president during the most significant moment in our nation’s history. One can find as much scholarly material on the sixteenth president as you could ever desire and almost as much fiction.
One novel about this president stands above all others - Gore Vidal’s Lincoln. Vidal famously resided on the liberal end of the political spectrum and spent much of his career writing historical novels set in the political arena.
Lincoln is the best of the bunch (though Burr is a close second). Vidal attempts to show every side of the many-faceted president and doesn't shy away from the negatives. While his Lincoln may have slightly exaggerated elements, the novel does portray Lincoln in a well-rounded and complex manner that has never been seen executed so well.
What makes Gore Vidal’s Lincoln the best novel about the former president?
Lincoln’s story, including the myths and truths, is well-documented. He was a small-town lawyer who grew up poor. He served one insignificant term as a Congressman in Washington, lost a Senate race to Stephen Douglas, and won the Presidency when the Democratic party split its votes between candidates.
Because of his debates with Douglas, he had a reputation as a good orator, if a folksy one. However, when he won the election, he was relatively unknown on a national level.
Vidal used the notes, diaries, and co-authored biography of Lincoln’s personal secretaries, John Hay and John Nicolay, as his primary sources. These two men had access to and admiration for the president. Vidal’s admiration is obvious, too.
Vidal truthfully portrays Lincoln. The president was underestimated by the career politicians forced upon him by the Republicans. Salmon P Chase, William H. Seward, and Montgomery Blair held cabinet posts early on, and all underestimated the president. Physically, Lincoln was tall, and thin, with a rugged face and a high-pitched speaking voice.
Lincoln had minimal experience in Washington or in the arena of national politics, but he was astute and much more intelligent than his opponents thought him. Vidal shows how the president navigated and manipulated his way around those career politicians. Lincoln was ever willing to use his opponents’ perceptions of him against them and to use them to steer them where he needed them to go subtly.
Vidal also didn’t back away from Lincoln, the man. Lincoln most certainly suffered from depression, especially after his son William died in 1862. He suffered from nightmares that he thought were, at times, prophetic. In the book Lincoln, the president is shown as a father and a husband. He loved his two young sons, Willie and Tad.
Vidal also explored the president’s relationship with his wife, Mary Todd. The First Lady had grown up in some degree of comfort, and it was a step socially when she married Lincoln. Vidal portrays her as overbearing at times, and she caused trouble for her husband with her spending habits in trying to update the White House while the war was going on. She was ambitious but devoted to Abraham. She was intelligent, educated, and a great conversationalist. She also suffered from numerous health issues like migraines. She also most likely suffered from depression as she was often a target for the president’s distractors. No one is sure what health issues may have hounded Mary, but Lincoln delves into her moods and whims and how they affected the president.
The best aspect of Lincoln was how Vidal illustrated how quickly the president gained confidence and how he was able to manipulate his cabinet and Congress over time. Lincoln played the long game, laying political traps and plans to steer the Union where he was convinced it needed to go.
Lincoln wasn’t an abolitionist, either. He believed in the Union as an unbreakable entity above all else. His famous Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863 was merely political maneuvering. It freed slaves in areas where the Federal government held no sway, but it did not free slaves in states under his control. It was a ploy, and it gave hope to millions of enslaved people in the South. In the end, it worked.
In the book, Abraham Lincon is portrayed with a complexity not often seen in books about the man. Lincoln combines the complexities of the president as a master politician, of a man at times all but crippled with depression, as a man bound to re-unite his country under one government. The president was far from perfect, as Vidal does not shy away from his many foibles.
For history buffs and casual readers, Lincoln is worth reading. It gives readers a sense of the man not often seen on a page. It simultaneously amplifies the myths surrounding him and humanizes him. He was the right person in the right place at the right time in our history. Vidal captures him as realistically as possible and highlights the complexities that made him great.