Sacred Trust Talks 2014 - Allen Carl Guelzo

"Lincoln's Strangest Document: The Cabinet Memorandum of August 23, 1864"

Despite Abraham Lincoln's best hopes at the start of 1864, the campaigns of that year did not seem to be bringing the end of the war any closer than those of the preceding years. What made this more critical was that 1864 would call for the next presidential election, and by the summer of 1864, Lincoln was gloomily convinced he would be defeated. In anticipation, Lincoln circulated a folded memorandum to his cabinet on August 23rd, which he asked them all to sign as witnesses -- without reading. In that memorandum, Lincoln laid out what he felt he must do in the event that his opponent, George B. McClellan, was elected. But what would form would that action take? Surrender to the results of the election? Using the Army to resist eviction from Washington? Was he trying to implicate his cabinet in his decision? All of these anxieties are wrapped around the blind memorandum, making it the most mysterious and impenetrable document Lincoln ever wrote.

Recorded at the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum & Visitor Center in July 2014 as part of the annual Sacred Trust Talks and Book Signings.

[kingmeeko]

Dr. Guelzo has it all ... First rate scholarship sprinkled with humor, and delivered with an Actor's projection.