A Letter From The Editor
The Press — Vital Factor to
Democracy or a Pain in the Rear?
Answer: Yes!
J
4
ust over 155 years ago,
President Abraham Lincoln
delivered the Gettysburg
Address. Using only 272 words,
Lincoln brilliantly reminded
a war-weary public why the
Union was fighting in the War
Between the States, and why
winning was imperative.
Today, the Gettysburg
Address is considered to be
one of the most memorable
speeches in American history,
but at the time Lincoln delivered
it, he received mixed reviews.
Lincoln’s most prolific critics
were members of the press.
The press, for the most part,
panned President Lincoln’s
Gettysburg Address.
The Chicago Times reported,
“The cheek of every American
must tingle with shame as he
reads the silly, flat and dish-
watery utterances of the man
who has to be pointed out to
intelligent foreigners as the
President of the United States.”
Patriot & Union (The
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Daily
that is now The Patriot-News)
called the president’s speech,
“silly remarks” deserving “the
veil of oblivion.”
It wasn’t just newspapers
in the U.S. that panned the
president’s speech, but foreign
newspapers were equally nega-
tive about the president’s speech
across the board. The Times of
London commented, “The
ceremony [at Gettysburg] was
rendered ludicrous by some of
the luckless sallies of that poor
President Lincoln.”
It seems hindsight is 20/20.
Lincoln’s “little speech,” as
he later called it, is widely
considered today to be the most
eloquent articulation of the
American vision to date.
It didn’t help that Lincoln was
the first Republican president of
the United States. Lincoln was
embroiled in his own info wars
of his day—one of epic propor-
tions. His opponents include the
entire party of Democrats, the
press, and just about everyone
who’d lost a loved-one in the
brutal War Between the States.
Donald Trump referred to
his battles with the press adding
that “Abraham Lincoln … fought
with the media.” That was some-
thing of an understatement.
“No president ever cracked
down on the press more than
Abraham Lincoln did,” said
Harold Holzer, who is a bit of
an authority on Lincoln having
authored Lincoln and the Power
of the Press: The War for Public
Opinion, released in 2014.
According to Holzer’s book,
Lincoln wrote the playbook on
aggressively dealing with the
press. Lincoln didn’t call them,
“Purveyors of Fake News,” going
beyond pulling a press pass or
two, he and his administration
actually closed down a number
of newspapers and treated some
Democratic newspapers and
editors as traitors.
Lincoln’s actions toward the
press continued to spark contro-
versy.
Did The Great Emancipator
have the right to interfere with
freedom of the press and free
speech, freedoms that are
hallowed in the Bill of Rights?
Not sure. I’m not a constitu-
tional law expert. But, I do know
that Lincoln didn’t put up with
a whole lot of shenanigans from
members of the press.
According to Holzer’s book,
Lincoln was a master at manipu-
lating the media with leaked
stories, courting the favor of
certain editors, and releasing
public letters to the press.
Reminds you a bit of a certain
Commander-in-Chief from
our time? Before you answer,
remember, there was no Twitter
in those days.
While today’s journalists sob
if you take their press pass away.
I can only imagine what they
would do if they were jailed
and their company’s operations
suspended.
Michael Burlingame, author
of Abraham Lincoln: A Life,
wrote that Lincoln was bothered
by the negative press coverage
he received, much like from the
current president.
Lincoln would talk to his wife
about his concerns.
“She would tell Lincoln
that he was too thin-skinned,”
Continued on page 73