Lincoln's Greatest Speech

Lincoln's Greatest Speech

By Ronald C. White Jr., Simon & Schuster, $24

Anybody who writes a book about a speech these days will be compared to Gary Wills and his "Lincoln at Gettysburg."

Not to say Ronald White's "Lincoln's Greatest Speech" is a waste of time. It's a close look at Lincoln's second inaugural address, a short, remarkable speech that placed blame for the Civil War on North and South and called for reconciliation, not retribution. Closing with the familiar "With malice toward none ...", Lincoln astounded and disappointed most who heard him.

White's evocation of time and place doesn't match Wills', and his premise falls a little flat. To say any one of Lincoln's speeches is clearly better than any other is risky. Lincoln's positions on religion, slavery and government were constantly evolving, as expressed in his Cooper Union Speech in 1860; his first inaugural address, the Gettysburg Address; and the stacks of letters and writing he left behind. It's hard to get a picture of this complex man without considering the body of his speeches and writings.

Put that aside, and what you have in "Lincoln's Greatest Speech" is a carefully researched and footnoted look at Lincoln's impassioned attempt to steer the country out of civil war and into peace.

White begins by describing Washington as the long war winds down - a muddy city filled with hospitals and thousands of amputees - and the mood of the country - giddiness over impending victory thinly covering a heavy sense of gloom and plots of revenge against the South.

He breaks the speech into segments, analyzing each for meaning and nuance. He muses over Lincoln's choice of pronouns, his use of alliteration. He spends a lot of time on Lincoln's deeply ambivalent feelings toward religion and how that plays out in this speech.

But reading the book, one gets a feeling of something unsaid.

White, for whatever reason, overlooks the fact Lincoln's eloquent speech would turn out to be just that - a speech, that Lincoln and his dream of North and South walking hand in hand toward some glorious destiny would die in little more than a month, replaced by the harsh reality of Reconstruction.

IF YOU GO WHAT: Ronald C. White will discuss and sign "Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural" WHEN: 2 p.m. Saturday WHERE: Carnegie Reading Room at the Penrose Library, 20 N. Cascade Ave.

Copyright 2002
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