Lincoln Second Inaugural Centennial Reenactment by Bob Willard

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LINCOLN ROOM

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY

THE ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SECOND INAUGURATION OF

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

â&#x20AC;˘

1865-I965

REENACTMENT CEREMONIES

"With malice toward none, with

God

gives us to see the right,

let

charity for

all,

tvith

firmness in the right as

us strive on to finish the ivorl{

are in

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

—THE

PRESIDENT, 1865.

LYNDON

JOHNSON

—THE

PRESIDENT, 1965.

THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON

June

17,

1965

The moving ceremony that was held on the East Front of the United States Capitol last March 4th was more than a singular tribute to Abraham Lincoln. It represented our entire nation's deep wish--and perhaps its deep need-to remember his second induction into the Presidency and to

draw strength from

it.

Today, in retrospect, we think of the spring of 1865 as a great watershed in our history. Profound and massive forces were at work, reshaping our nation. So overwhelming were these forces that most men reacted with ennotion and many with despair. Yet the wise and thoughtful men of that spring saw it as a time of hope, indeed, of challenge. And the wisest and of those men was Abraham Lincoln. The very theme of his Second Inaugural Address was that of hope. Its whole thrust was forward. It beckoned men into the future, with both hope and courage.

most thoughtful

This is what the ceremony of last March 4th represented. symbolized our nation's profound and abiding conviction that our task is never done, that the future offers hope even as it offers challenge, and that courage is the first It

requirement for achieving I

commend

the Joint

the national

purpose,

Committee on Arrangements

Com-

memorate the 100th Anniversary of the Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln for the excellence of its centennial program. "With high hope for the future" let us today "cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.'

-S 89TH CONGRESS, 2D SESSION • HOUSE

DOCUMENT

NO. 497 l-

CEREMONIES AND REENACTMENT OF

THE ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF

The Second Inauguration of

ABRAHAM LINCOLN 1865-1965 On

the East Front of the Capitol of the United Stated-

March

ig6^

/j.,

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON

967

For

sale

by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printinj; Office Washington, D.C. 20402 Price $3

Contents

Page

Letter of Transmittal

House

The

Joint Resolution

Joint

No. 925

xiii

Committee on Arrangements

Commemoration Ceremonies and Reenactment

Second Lincoln Inaugural Reenactment and Ceremonies

The Lincoln

Procession

Commemoration Events

Collateral to the

Major Ceremony and Reenact-

ment

Dore Schary Comments

The Committee's Evaluation

Presentation of Gold Medallion to President Johnson

Epilogue

]

Letter of Transmittal

The Honorable Hubert H. Humphrey, President of the Senate

The Honorable John W. McCormack, Speaker of the House of Representatives

This report oÂŁ the official observance of the one hundredth anniversary of the second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln is submitted to you and to the Congress of the United States in devout recognition of the importance to our country, and to its youth, of the revitalization and dramatization of the high

American

points in

As Chairman, and on behalf

history.

of the Joint

Com-

high honor to present to you this record of the ceremonies and reenactment as they occurred on the East Front of the mittee on Arrangements,

Capitol,

March

hold

1965, exactly a century after the original event

and

about

the same hallowed spot. It is

contention, and

believe that of the

Committee without exception,

that this event touched with electricity the deepest emotional patriotism of those

Indeed, through the records and the films that the Committee has painstakingly had prepared and preserved, the emotional impact will

who

witnessed

it.

without a doubt be yet to

made

to endure, recurringly, for decades,

perhaps centuries

come.

from those reached by TV and by radio and, later, the printed page, was a crowd estimated by the Capitol police as between 30,000 and 35,000 people, many of them schoolchildren, and not a In the audience before the Capitol, apart

few

tourists

Committee,

from as

all

over the United States and the world.

you know,

make

filmed and

probably in color, available to every school

It is

the plan of the

taped portions of the ceremonies,

and classroom

in the

United

States,

and wherever they are sought abroad, the latter under the aegis of the United States Information

What

Agency.

Committee on Arrangements was the the ceremonies and reenactment, as this report

greatly impressed the Joint

immediately apparent

fact that

we hope

an outstanding and unexpectedly It proved an appealing, an inviting, even an entertaining, but effective success. profound lesson in the deepest moral aspects of American history and tradition, will demonstrate, developed into

imparted like the highest order of

human drama through

the strangely soul

and broodingly moving personality of the historic Abraham Lincoln, American of Americans in the immortal chronicle of our country.

stirring

the most

was

also apparent

the benign, the

tacit,

of government,

officials

throughout to the Chairman and the Committee that and wholehearted support of the top

often the enthusiastic

from President Lyndon

Hubert H. Humphrey, Speaker John levels of

B. Johnson, Vice President

W. McCormack, on down

through many government, rested behind the day's superb project and was respon-

good fortune that accompanied it. connection the Committee is pleased to emphasize the

sible for the over-plus of

In this services of

who

former Representative Fred Schwengel, of the

strategic

First District of Iowa,

introduced the joint resolution February 13, 1964, that authorized the When he lost his seat in the ensuing election and therefore his

ceremonies. post as

Chairman

friendlily

named him

which

succeeded,

and the Committee, warmly and

the project's overall Executive Director.*

The prestige and posture of the day's program rested, to be sure, squarely on the Vice President and the Speaker of the House. Their brief and compelling addresses, printed in full in this report, must have caught their infrom the second inaugural itself. Bruce Catton, the day's historianspeaker, reached deep and brilliantly into the fountain-source and trend of history to throw the light of 1965 on the event of a century before and to spiration

project a scholar's path into the future.

Probably never to be forgotten and unprecedented in any program, from his standing, was the role performed by Adlai E. Stevenson,

an individual of

United States Ambassador to the United Nations.

The Ambassador had been

and had accepted the role of narrator. Immediately after the contemporary program, which was the 1965 half of the exercises, the reenactment of the 1865 inauguration began. It was at this point that Ambassador Stevenson invited

stood apart and read his interestingly and colorfully prepared script. This He script followed the action of the reenactment as the drama unfolded.

judgment of his own on this one hundred year American chronicle as it was being duplicated the Presiprocession in costume and makeup moving slowly, almost grandly, down

offered an especially informed

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

old tableau in the dential

the celebrated East Front; the immortal address, the swearing-in, the departure.

The Stevenson

script

was written by Mr. Schary.

â&#x20AC;˘Representative Schwengel regained his seat in the 1966 election.

[x]

now

submitting this report

leadership and the

must point out

to the Congress, the

American people, with the highest praise, the central This was the reenactment itself.

achievement of the commemoration event.

bore the unmistakable stamp of the professional skill and excellence of the reenactment's arranger and producer, Dore Schary, for a generation one of the foremost American producer-director-playwrights of the American theater It

both in Hollywood and on Broadway sense of

American

history.

the authority of the

Ryan

was

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;a producer with a strong and

he, in total charge of the reenactment,

Committee and myself, who gave

as Lincoln, the

into his second term.

reverent

us,

with his

star,

under Robert

dramatic essence of the imperishable Lincoln moving And Ryan as Lincoln, both in appearance and perform-

ance, proved an almost

uncanny reincarnation of his prototype. For the dramatis personae that accompanied and surrounded Lincoln in that celebrated hour, Mr. Schary assembled, with the wholehearted cooperation of Father Gilbert V. Hartke, O.P., head of the

Drama

Department of Speech and

Catholic University of America, an enthusiastic and eager group of students of the Department, and trained them quickly in their respective roles at

supporting Ryan. With them Mr. Schary incorporated an equally willing and helpful smaller group of young people from B'nai B'rith. And when it was over Mr. Schary, with the whole company, including Ambassador Stevenson, stayed

moments,

behind

distribution here

and went over again and again the various perfect for the film aimed for the widest possible

for hours

make them

and throughout the

free world.

A tion

hundred years ago when Lincoln was inaugurated there was no invocaand no benediction, the custom having not yet been introduced into the

presidential inaugural ceremony. after, since authenticity in the

And

so there

was none

reenactment forbade

it.

House

The eloquence

was the invocation by and the

of Representatives,

invocation, after the reenactment, by the Rev. Frederick

of the United States Senate.

hundred years

But in the contemporary

portions of the ceremony, not the reenactment, there the Rev. Bernard Braskamp, Chaplain of the

here, a

Brown

Harris, Chaplain

of both, one at the beginning

of the exercises, the other at the finale, served like bookends holding the grand and majestic performances of the day together, and bathing them in sacred

language superbly pertinent and beautifully rendered.

This

spiritual emphasis,

enveloping the whole, gave the event the divine blessing of Holy Writ. This was all so emphatically and so wholly a labor of love for everybody

concerned that the

Treasury of the United States, apart from materials supplied by government sources such as film and camera equipment,

was

total cost to the

diligently constricted to a $25,000

emergency government appropriation.

[XI]

This was provided on authority of a resolution (H. Res. 241) that I, as Chairman, introduced in the House February 24, 1965. It was, it may be added, equally a labor of love for the several Civil War and Lincoln organizations, local

and private groups, and for a number of government agencies which are given recognition further on in this report. official

that

Chairman hope that this reenactment and other have gone before, and that are yet to come, will serve to

The Committee and ceremonies like

all

its

the service the Capitol of the United States can perform as a sounding board and a backdrop to relive and dramatize for the American people and the testify to

free

world

itself,

interest in this

Government's sublime

and the sound and filmed record

history.

emerge from

We believe the event it,

will

renew

in our

people a faith in their tradition and confidence in the future of democratic

government. Respectfully submitted.

Melvin

[xii]

Price, Chairman.

House

Joint Resolution 925

LAW

PUBLIC

^iightg-tifihth

88-427

Congress of the lEnited States of 2imerica

AT THE SECOND SESSION Washington on Thursday, the thirteenth of February, one thousand nine hundred and sixty-four

Begun and held

at the City of

Joint 'Resolution of the second Creating a joint committee to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary Abraham Lincoln. of inauguration

be the one hundredth anniversary of the second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States; and Whereas President Lincoln in his inaugural address looked to the end of a great

Whereas March

4, 1965, will

and spoke, "with malice toward none and charity for and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations"; and

fratricidal struggle all,"

of "a just

Whereas,

in the administration

served the States,

Union

he had completed,

Abraham Lincoln had

pre-

of the States, protected the Constitution of the United

and demonstrated

to all

men everywhere the

success of the

American

experiment in popular government; and

Whereas the previous

actions of the Congress in observing the

one hundred and

anniversary of the birth of this unique American and the one hundredth anniversary of his first inauguration as President had a vast and drafiftieth

matic impact upon the people of this Nation and throughout the world;

and Whereas these observances advanced the appreciation and understanding of the history and heritage of this Nation and ;

Whereas today

a part of the aspirations

which Abraham Lincoln held

people of the United States has been achieved:

[

XIII

]

Now,

for the

therefore, be

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled, That on Wednesday, March 4 next, the one

America

hundredth anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's second inauguration shall be commemorated by such observance as may be determined by the committee on arrangements in cooperation with the National Civil War Centennial Commission, the Civil War Centennial Commission of the District of Columbia, and the Lincoln

Group of the District of Columbia.

passage of this resolution, the President of the Senate shall appoint four Members of the Senate and the Speaker of the House shall appoint four Members of the House of Representatives jointly to constitute a committee on

Upon

arrangements.

Upon passage of this resolution and after the Members of the Senate and House have been appointed, the committee on arrangements shall meet and select a chairman from one of their own group and such other officers as will be appropriate and needed who will immediately proceed to plan, in cooperation with the National Civil

Commission of the

War Centennial

District of

Commission, the Civil War Centennial Columbia, and the Lincoln Group of the District

of Columbia, an appropriate ceremony, issue invitations to the President of the

United

States, the

Vice President of the United

ments, heads of independent agencies, tice

and Associate

Justices of the

offices,

Supreme

States, Secretaries of depart-

and commissions, the Chief

Jus-

Court, the diplomatic corps, assistant

heads of departments. Commissioners of the District of Columbia, members of the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia, centennial, commissions from the various States, Civil

War roundtables, State

and

and such other students and scholars

societies,

local historical

and

patriotic

in the field of history as

may

have a special interest in the occasion, organize a reenactment of Mr. Lincoln's second inauguration on the eastern portico of the Capitol, select a speaker and other participants, prepare and publish a

than June

program and submit

a report not later

1965.

Spea/{er of

John W. McCormack the House of Representatives.

Hubert H. Humphrey Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate.

Approved

Lyndon

August

Johnson 14, 1964.

[xiv]

The

Joint

Committee on Arrangements Melvin

Price,

Chairman

For the Senate

For the House

Paul H. Douglas

Melvin Price

of Illinois

Everett M. Dirksen

WiNFiELD K. Denton of Indiana

of Illinois

John Sherman Cooper of

William G. Bray of Indiana

Kentucky

Vance Hartke

Paul Findley

of Indiana

of Illinois

Fred Schwengel, Executive Director

William A. Coblenz, Chief Coordinator and Director

STAFF David C. Mearns, Chief Consultant Victor M. Birely, Consultant

H. Newlin Megill, Consultant

George Cashman, Consultant

Ralph G. Newman, Consultant

Virginia Daiker, Consultant

James Robertson, Consultant

Josephine Cobb, Consultant

Arthur M.

Lloyd A. Dunlap, Consultant Eric Goldman, Consultant Carl Haverlin, Consultant

Clyde Walton, Consultant Don Robert Kendall, Staging Manager

Paul

[XV]

Schlesinger,

Jr.,

Consultant

Sedgwick, Public Relations

A summary of the ceremony and reenactment dramatization mar\ing the One Hundredth Second Inauguration

of the

Abraham Lincoln

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; i86^-ig6Â§

Anniversary

Commemoration Ceremonies and Reenactment

npHE

CEREMONIES and reenactmcnt of the

Lincoln second inaugural on the steps of the Capitol of the United States,

March

sionate

The

4th,

trib1965, proved, more than anything else, a ute to the intellectual and emotional, the al-

American

ently in one of the most honored

moments universal

and compas-

in the life of the Nation.

and

oft-repeated

theme

"with malice toward none, with charity for enveloped the whole and invested

all" that

has upon the American people. The nearly identical exercises four years before, and on

moment, lent a note to the proceedings akin to the feelings inspired by the statue in the Lincoln Memorial. Or the Gettysburg

the same spot,

Address.

most

religious hold, that

commemorating

the

history

first

Lin-

every

the words of farewell to his

coln inauguration was, the Joint Committee

townspeople

on Arrangements

Washington and

said

"the greatest epic of

its

then in

its

report,

kind in the annals of

This commemoration of the second

in-

first,

considerably outmatched

in scope,

for the

left

was not

as a re-creation.

hundred years

after,

Springfield for

White House never

dominating mood

Lincoln

much

auguration, profiting from the experience of the

Lincoln

to return except as a corpse.

under the

the Capitol of the United States."

For the players of Robert

Ryan

a play or a tableau so It

called into being a

tenderly and with a re-

and audience appeal and in public attention and residual influence. What helped so much to make it so was that

spectful sensitivity, an evanescent instant in

Hu-

people everywhere and through all time. What came across to the onlookers in 1965

in professional talent

everyone involved, from Vice President

mankind's unending reach for freedom, an instant rich in the profoundest

H. Humphrey, Speaker John W. McCormack, and historian Bruce Catton, to the merest supernumerary serving as a Union

bert

soldier at the foot of the

podium before

as in 1865

was not the

meanings for

exultation spirit of

and

glory for a war practically won. There was none of the atmosphere of a great military

the

triumph achieved on

battlefields holding 600,000 American dead, not a celebration and the

and the crowd of 30,000 to 35,000 out on the Plaza, seemed immersed rever-

Capitol,

[I]

CONTEMPORARY SCENE LINCOLN (FROM shouting of multitudes. pressed and

SECOND INAUGURATION MARCH

Leslie's

1865

newspaper).

What the deeply im-

tion

time

this

day's

program

commemoration.

thoughtfully spoken speeches

The reenactment weather

was cold

conveyed, from the Reverend Braskamp's invocation to the Reverend Harris' benediction,

but relatively clear and not nearly as uncom-

and

fortable as the

in every syllable of the

Chairman Melvin

words spoken by

and the participating notables, was the emergence, amid the awfullest national tragedy, of a great moral prinPrice

The moment,

ciple.

from

originally

and

streets of a

mud,

in 1965

the clouds, the

century before.

Then,

unpaved some of

the records say, the sun burst forth like a great

only as Lincoln spoke. This March 4th was brisk and chill but for the most part

omen

as here

impending victory, of magnanimity and sadness, which compelling in the words of the Lin-

pleasantly sunny throughout, ideal for the

coln inaugural that their impact, after a cen-

Lincoln's day, that was crowded, with their

permeated every syllable and every

crews, onto a three-deck camera platform

re-created, far

joy in

was one

massive and complicated camera equipment

was so

and the

tury,

frac-

[2]

electronic apparatus

undreamt

of in

t'.^i PHOTOGRAPH OF ACTUAL LINCOLN INAUGURATION CEREMONY

—MARCH

SCENE 100 YEARS LATER RE-ENACTING HISTORIC EVENT.

1865.

several feet before the

And

podium.

the

made

had been carved out of the extension of the

East Front of the Capitol, while Executive

represent as authentically as possible the very

Director Fred Schwengel, explained the ap-

podium was

in itself a stage setting

tone and color of the

beams, and the modest

wooden boards and little

white

constituted the total furniture

table, that

proximate positions each was to take in cordance with Committee protocol.

The group moved through

when President

the

ac-

Capitol

on schedule.

Lincoln spoke. Out front crowds had begun to assemble hours before, and soon school-

corridors to the platform almost

children by the thousands filled the periphery

right or Senate side of the Capitol, the United States Marine Band, Lt. Col. Albert F.

of the Plaza, the inner area of

which had

Below and out front on the concrete

USMC

conducting, had already Schoepper, begun a concert of mostly Civil War music and tunes of the period, that helped to estab-

been carefully arranged with hundreds of chairs for members of Congress â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the

House

on the right facing the Capitol, the Senate

on the

left,

precisely in relation to the

House

lish

and the Senate wings of the Capitol edifice. The Supreme Court of the United States found

impossible to attend in a

President

Lyndon

speechmaking up to a few days before the event, also found the pressure

dressing tables, for changing into their cos-

War makeup. Sandwiches had been provided while trucks arrived and were unloaded with the paratumes and

and

these

exceptions the mass before the inauguration stand was a long catalog of the most dis-

and professional

legal,

of celebrated statesmen

known

By day

program, not the players

set

proceeded from

to begin at 12

through the corridors of the East Front extension, into the sunlight down the broad steps

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;both

the

inside the Capitol edifice,

on the inaugural stand. The Committee had divided the program exactly

in 1965 as in 1865.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; prearrangement

in the reenactment,

and diplomats

the world over.

The program had been noon

and the

life,

Civil

coffee

phernalia and costumes of their art. Then, the audience waiting, the distinguished participants in the contemporary portion of the

Ameritinguished and the foremost names can politics and government, in the city's

names

bowels of the Capitol, Dore

formers in especially set-aside rooms, complete with quickly assembled mirrors and

B. Johnson, expected to

social,

in the

Schary, the producer, had collected his per-

body and

With

the atmosphere of 10 decades before.

Deeper

participate in the

of the public business too great.

to the

to their places this

being

Thurs-

House and the Senate

ad-

in half so that the

journed for the

contemporary portion, pre-

approximate period of the The Joint Committee on Arrange-

ceding the reenactment of the Lincoln second inauguration, would come first, followed by

ments, the guests and speakers, the two Chap-

the play that would reproduce the historical circumstance all were anticipating.

exercises.

with reservations on the inaugural stand. Speaker McCormack and Vice President Humphrey, and Chairman Melvin Price, lains, all

gathered in one of the great

new rooms

The prelude

that

[4]

to the

reenactment that

now

began was

in itself a historic event of the first

magnitude

for the

contemporary

light

shed

NOTABLES WHOSE ADDRESSES MADE MEMORABI SECOND INAUGURAL ON THE SPOT WHERE T

THE

REV.

CHAIRMAN MELVIN PRICE

BERNARD BRASKAMP, CHAPLAIN OF

IN OPENING ADDRESS.

THE HOUSE, OFFERS PRAYER.

HISTORIAN BRUCE CATTON DISCUSSES LINCOLN

ADLAI STEVENSON, IN MAJOR ROLE, REVIEWS LINCOLN SCENE OF CENTURY BEFORE.

PLACE IN AMERICAN TRADITION.

BRILLIANT RE-ENACTMENT OF LINCOLN'S IGINAL TOOK PLACE 100 YEARS BEFORE.

speaker

john w.

cormack spoke of moment."

VICE-PRESIDENT

WHO

THE

Lincoln's influence in "present

FRED SCHWENGEL, IOWA,

HUBERT

HUMPHREY

RE-

CALLED Lincoln's prayer for "lasting peace."

INITIATED LEGIS-

LATION FOR INAUGURAL RE-ENACTMENT.

[7]

REV. FREDERICK BROWN HARRIS, SENATE CHAPLAIN, OFFERS CLOSING PRAYER.

back into the history it extolled. Conductor Schoepper lowered his baton. The Civil War

music ceased.

The crowd

of Representatives

and Senators, diplomats, judges,

government employes, cabinet

with

visitors

from

and

tourists, together

abroad,

speeches that followed: reverence for the past,

hope

teachers,

members and

of agency executives, and a vast scattering District schoolchildren

memoration, and established the tone of the

momentarily

"Help

prayed the Chaplain of the House of Representatives "he belonged to that

"Above

all,"

great 'aristocracy of souls' who daily struggle with the hard facts of life but firmly believe that the truth of

God

will prevail,

be the posture and temper of the times, days and its hours."

its

The

drawn together

hearted humanity shall be

and healed and

live in

peace

Chairman Price, in part said

are bearing witness to the realization of a

profound prophecy in free government made on this spot and now hallowed by a century of the reaffirmation of the democratic ideal.

Referring to the imminent reenactment performance he observed :

whatever

may

he said "to hasten the dawning

day of prediction for which Lincoln prayed and labored when all broken-

Chairman

Bernard Braskamp for the invocation.

us,"

of that glorious

moment, caught the awe Price stepped forward to present the Rev. of the

for the future.

cannot hope to achieve in

all

their

brooding

humble and compassionate spirit of moderating and healing influence, the

sincerity, their

victory, their

Chaplain's words caught the essence of the program and the meaning of the com-

immortal moments of

CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY PERFORMERS IN COSTUME START DOWN CAPITOL STEPS.

SEATED ARE ACTORS IN ROLES OF THE LINCOLN

this

century ago.

anymore than we can produce

ENTOURAGE.

[8]

cannot

in duplicate

the true

and natural voice of Abraham Lincoln

have shaped into law 30 or 40 years.

much

of the history of the

shine in our enlightened

himself.

last

But there are people here who, out of a boundless and the deepest respect for the Lincoln legacy, will reenact for us the sceme on

postwar legislative history when we rehabilitated with our own treasury the very nations who had been brought to book as our enemies after a fierce

these very steps before this noble edifice, that occurred at that time and that has since done so much

and savage world war.

love of country

to shape the destiny of free

men everywhere ....

Speaker McCormack, speaking from his firsthand experience with 45 years of elective office

behind him, told

how

the Lincoln in-

fluence permeates the legislation of our time.

At one point he I

said

venture to suggest, as one having had a

something

do with the

little

legislative decisions of

these crises-ridden decades, that the Lincoln

phi-

losophy invested the thinking and the action of our time in the Chambers of this great Capitol. Words

"emancipation" and "freedom," words like "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposi-

And is

of course our domestic legislative history

an object lesson

all

men

are created equal," can be

Vice President

wise and effective compassion

for

all

the

American people.

Humphrey immersed

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

told

what

the inauguration

a battle-weary

Union

was

soldier,

The Vice

the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

when

he,

saw Lincoln

President quoted Representative

seats

for

There were no

Congressmen or anybody

LINCOLN INAUGURAL GUESTS.

HERE, AS 100 YEARS AGO,

[9]

take the oath.

There was no general platform.

ROBERT RYAN, DISTINGUISHED ACTOR, AS LINCOLN, EMERGES FOR CEREMONY.

by Representative Sherwood, of Ohio, in which the Congressman 60 years after

reserved

audience in the specific quality of the second inaugural with a quotation from a speech

Sherwood

shown

profoundly to have touched with resolution and

and thoughtfulness

tion that

They

else.

GREETS

were

all

dom and

There must have been

standing up.

Lincoln stood

20,000 people in front of the Capitol. there on the East Front, on a

little

to build

man

with deep lines of care furrowing his cheeks; a sad face, a strong face, the face of a man of many sorrows; a face

up with

lit

rested

responsibility

anew on

the progress that had been

Only now are we beginning broader freedom that was won

spare

tall,

inescapable

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;and

the shoulders of this, "His almost chosen people,"

platform with a He had a white

stand and a glass of water. pocket handkerchief around his neck. little

therefore

had been destroyed

brotherhood

must be made good

the inspiration of a great

realities of

day-to-day

all

insist

made. the

that

in the Civil

across the board

War the

Only now are we

life.

be-

soul as he voiced in prophecy the ultimate destiny

ginning to see that in our land there can be no

of this Nation.

room

for a second-class citizenship,

and

freedom of the most fortunate of us

Further in his address the Vice President

that the

limited by

the freedom that can be enjoyed by the least for-

said:

tunate.

of this generation

yet to

come owe

coln.

and indeed of generations

this Nation's life to

repay that

we can do no

Abraham

And

than to be

time of great trouble and perplexity, see more than a few feet along the road ahead. In the last two generations we have

It is is

the

can be generous, and we will not be diverted from the wise course set for us by that wise and good man lOO years ago today. We are all living witnesses to

Abraham

suffering

humanity on

seen the past destroyed for

new

are

forces

being made,

Lincoln's pledge, and

commitment

live in a

when no man can

who

that pledge continues to be our

then further on author Catton said

Linthis:

less

guided by his greatness and his compassion. the strong who can afford to be peaceful. It free

all

action,

the world.

Immense

profound changes are seem to be dis-

of the old certainties

To see us through this time of trial we have no better reliance than the ancient faith that

appearing.

to a

this day.

way in the past. Now as never before remember that what we are struggling Lincoln said, "something more than com-

lighted our

Through

all

of the addresses there ran a

we need

thread of relationship, strong and eloquent, between the meaning of the second inaugural for

its

and

time, for the present

for

all

time.

for

moment of history,

and

of Bruce Catton,

been introduced

to the

all

time to come."

That "something more than common" the

thing

we have always been

of course

dedicated

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

human

freedom, complete, unabridged and eternal, here and everywhere, based on the belief in the dignity and worth of the individual human being.

beautifully

wrought speech

that holds out a great promise to

the people of the world, to

all

This aspect was even

contemplative

mon â&#x20AC;&#x201D; something

stronger in the major address of the day, the carefully

is,

who had

moves with power, and it is above everything important for us to continue our dedication to it.

It still

audience by former

Congressman Fred Schwengel. Thus historian Catton in the polished and

else

persuasive style that explains his literary fame emphasized his view of the enduring quality

between the contemporary program, now ended, and the reenactment pageant of the

of Lincoln.

second inaugural that was about to begin.

He said

great obstacle to the advance of

in the proceedings the

break occurred

Chairman

For what Lincoln was saying then remains true. Civil War was not an end but a beginning.

The One

Here

human

free-

pressive

Price had just spoken of the "imand penetrating insight" afforded by

the Catton address, as the latter took his place

beside the podium.

[10]

The

notables

moved

off

LINCOLN SECOND INAUGURATION RE-ENACTMENT SCENE, MARCH

now

the Stage ers.

The

conform

make way

setting

much

for the perform-

was being rearranged

be to the scene

al-

may

stage

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Director

tall,

1965.

Schary unseen by the audi-

ence, gave the signal, son,

and Ambassador Steven-

distinguished, impressive, every inch

most exactly as it was in the days of Lincoln. Even the paint on the beams, the little table,

diplomat and a statesman, emerged into the spot set aside for him and began his role to

and simple arrangement of whatever scant furniture there was, was brought

bring back to the audience the Lincoln situation at the time of the second inauguration.

the rustic

out in authentic simulation of the relatively

The Ambassador,

humble inauguration

And

of a century before.

were being made Chairman Price introduced what was as

these

arrangements

without a doubt the most novel and extraordinary feature of the day

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Off

a small, separate stand, carefully

had been put special

apart.

domain

off,

This was the one-man

who. Chairman Price announced, was be none other than the United States Am-

eant, to

...

Price said

another

moment

so,

March

Abraham

Washington, ferent look.

And

Ambassador

Stevenson, one of the foremost figures of our time, will take his place as chronicler and narrator, and

1965, to

began: mark the

Lincoln's second inaugural.

hundred

years ago,

had

a very dif-

the narration by this Lincoln-scholar

and statesman-diplomat went into the character of the Capital and its color and excitea

hundred years

before.

There was, of

course, throughout the audience the con-

sciousness that this narrator, in this instance so clearly a merely leading

bassador to the United Nations.

Chairman

here,

ment

of the narrator for the pag-

met

centennial of

one side

roped

are

in superb voice,

member

of the

Schary troupe, and a performer, held not only the most critical ambassadorial post in the gift of the President,

Governor of

Illinois

but had been himself

and twice

his party's

us in on the color and the atmosphere of this place a hundred years ago, explaining much of the

candidate for President of the United States.

recnactment as

HIGH MOMENTS IN LINCOLN RE-ENACTMENT CEREMONY (SEE FOLLOWING PAGE).

fill

Chairman

proceeds.

Price

moved

off

the

central

[II]

^m:-

'JHK^^T'h

From everywhere was

ration

the attention to his nar-

and concentrated, except

for

few playing schoolchildren, on the outer

periphery of the crowd, for whom the voice out of the loudspeaker was out of reach. The Ambassador reset the 1865 scene.

He and

described in

noise, the

some

detail the confusion

crowd and the public business

transacted in the Senate

Chamber

that Satur-

reenacted procession, beginning the pageant, was at long last visible to the now fully as-

sembled audience of some

dor Stevenson turned to point them out, one by one, performers in costume in the role of the Cabinet members,

He had

ing,

than Lincoln in the

an amendment tury ago

and

profoundly significant a cen-

in this 1965

moment

of history.

The Ambassador quoted the amendment: No citizen of the United States shall be excluded from any railroad car, steamboat or other conveyance on account of any State or municipal law .

the penalty being $500 fine or imprisonment 3

months

from

to 5 years.

From

that acute vignette the

went on

to describe the

orama.

There was

Ambassador

whole inaugural pan-

briefly

Andrew Johnson

in the Senate

and

his

occupancy then of the chair, calling the new Senate to order for the first time. There was the recital of the proceedings at the

House and

White

of Mrs. Lincoln in her carriage

being escorted in a procession to the inauguration.

The

seemed

celebrities,

Robert Ryan, looklike Lincoln

some, more life,

emerge

into the sun-

manner

what

any other context would have been a grand There had been just before a mcv

entrance.

ment

of utter silence, absence of action

anticipation. tial

The members

moment

and

of the presiden-

entourage had finished descending

the steps of the East Front.

down

They had taken

for the inauguration.

In the

of expectancy for the presence of

the President, the

tall,

almost solemn figure,

slowly appeared alone against the Capitol edifice.

But

this entrance, rather

than smacking of

was touched movingly by a quality once of the great and the solitary. It was

the grand, at

not physically exactly what had happened a hundred years ago, for Lincoln had marched

down with

a group.

certain inner

real for

meaning President, signing bills in the Capitol,

his star,

light of the noonday, in the

an account of the

scene of the swearing in of Vice-Presidentelect

the day.

their places

That amendment, Ambassador Stevenson added, was passed 21 to 14.

and

It was at this juncture that Producer Schary allowed himself the one dramatic license of

ment, he

then being discussed,

officials

of a century before.

day morning. There was the reading, amidst the debate and the disorder, of an amendsaid, to a bill

Ambassa-

30,000.

and it

But, poetically

historical truth,

and

for a

was even

conveyed to the observer the

of Lincoln's

life

from the vantage

point of a century after.

a person-by-

Almost simultaneously came the drum ruffles and the Marine Band's performance of

person description of the Lincoln procession

"Hail to the Chief" as the Lincoln of 1965

coming down the East Front of the Capitol. As he started to give the order of march, the

came down the

had gone before. The U.N. Ambassador gave

steps to the

equipped with about

[14]

podium, a podium modest a stick of

ACTORS FROM CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY S SPEECH AND DRAMA DEPARTMENT WHO PLAYED LEAD ROLES IN RE-ENACTMENT UNDER DIRECTION OF THE THEATRe's FAMED DORE SCHARY. furniture as had ever been seen at a presidential

and

inauguration, a tiny table and a water

Ambassador Stevenson narrating

glass.

scene

now

this

told of the matchless quality of the

second inaugural

itself.

Said the

Ryan was

as nearly the real

an actor could make him.

Lincoln

manner

of adjusting the spectacles, of hold-

ing the

Ambas-

tall

to retrieve

sador:

hat and handing

later,

Ryan's

an associate

of speaking,

seemed, not

whole generacome, conveyed

to this audience alone, but to tions of

It was a short address, less than 700 words. The second half of the speech contains 332 words. It is this latter part where again we see the evidence

of Lincoln's incredible gift with words.

332 words, 265 are of one

a superb

lesson of style for writers

The Ryan derstated

oratory.

syllable.

performance.

The words were

emphasis

was

by the phrasing, the style bereft of

of the

for eons to

what was

called for by the reverence

moment and

the

meaning

of the

called for

all flourish

com-

memoration.

The

grave, deeply lined face, the attitude

of total involvement in a great tragedy

rendition was a deliberately un-

clearly heard, the

precisely

these

and speakers.

mankind

drawing

to a close,

and the intermittent

now spirit

of desolation that enveloped the Lincoln fig-

uncanny realism above and beyond anything akin to the theater. For ure, held a touch of

[15]

an evanescent instant

seemed that

this

was

Ryan playing Abraham Lincoln was Lincoln indeed seen through the

not Robert

but this

;

true light of a

whole century of history. address was ended.

phatic

handshaking,

warm and em-

sitting

roded parts in

weeks prior

not

oil for

its

than twelve

less

use to insure

The

and easy maneuverability.

The immortal

There was a moment of

soak the wheels and other somewhat cor-

its

safety

current Mr.

Meeks, grandson of the Meeks of Civil days, is an avid student of history.

Ambassador Stevenson returned

down and

address system with a

War

to the pub-

commentary and

standing up, and the appearance of the portentous Salmon P. Chase, the Chief Justice of

peroration

the Supreme Court, who stepped forward to administer the presidential oath. Never had play-acting seemed so real. Again, after the

"Let us pray," the Ambassador concluded, that what he said then [the second inaugural] will act as a beacon for good and just men to-

brief oath, there

was

moment

two

lic

day and

his inauguration.

Another carriage of

vintage drove up and carried Mrs. Lincoln from the scene. The horse drawn vehicles

in years to

come."

The reenactment

congratulations and President Lincoln, step-

ping down from the podium, was seen to climb into a carriage that was actually the one in which Ulysses S. Grant had ridden to

Chairman

over.

resuming, for the finale the contemporary portion of the program, presented the Rever-

end Frederick Brown Harris, Chaplain of U.S. Senate, for the benediction.

"And now,"

said the Chaplain, "let us

forth to serve the present age.

provided an unexpected and surprising touch

forth into this divided world

of genuineness and authenticity to the

did Thy servant, Abraham Lincoln, ago to bind up the wounds that

last

moments of the reenactment. Indeed, research and negotiations by Paul J. Sedgwick, Chairman of the Government of the District of Columbia Civil War Centennial Commission, revealed that the man-

ufacturers of the Ulysses S. Grant carriage,

then as still

now The Meeks

Carriage Works, are in business in the Capital and are the

owners of

this

famous conveyance.

notable that they have preserved

requested.

In fact,

when

this

the carriage

used in the 1961 Lincoln inaugural

vowing here

100 years hate has

Chairman

Price

announced the commemo-

ration ceremonies over

and the crowds melted

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; away thoughtfully, dreamily, as a multitude that

had been witness

duplication of history

some unbelievable

made

possible by an

unimaginable time-machine.

4, 1965,

ration

ceremony and reenactment marking

the

was

commem-

under similar circumstances, and in the same locale, it was found necessary to

oration,

made.

go Send us

The March

over the

century and more and that they prepare for public use without charge

Price

Congressional Record, in detailed in full the

issue of

commemo-

one hundredth anniversary of the Second

Inauguration

Abraham

4133-4138, which the

Arrangements report.

[16]

its

Joint

herewith

Lincoln,

pages

Committee on

reprints

this

The Committee

inserts, at this point in the report, the full

printed in the Congressional Record,

account of the ceremony and reenactment as

Thursday, March

196^, pages ^/jj-^/j5

Second Lincoln Inaugural Reenactment and Ceremonies East Front of

the Capitol,

Commemoration Ceremony of the igoth Anniversary of the 2d Inauguration of

Abraham Lincoln,

1865-1965,

March

1965

He made such an indelible impression upon his own and succeeding generations because he was

just,

merciful,

magnanimous,

1965, ON THE East Front of the Capitol, City of Washington, Hon. Melvin Price,

humble, and had that calm, inner trust in Thy divine will, greater than his own, which

Chairman.

he sought to know, to follow, and to

work

with.

Mr. Price. Ladies and gentlemen, that was, as always, an excellent and an appropriate performance by the U.S. Marine Band, under the

conductorship

Schoepper.

Lt.

Col.

We will now open

Albert

this part of the

program commemorating the second inauguration of President

Abraham

Above

all

he belonged to that great

tocracy of believing souls"

with the hard

who daily

"aris-

struggle

facts of life but firmly believe

that the truth of

God

will prevail, whatever

be the posture and temper of the times, days or its hours.

may its

Lincoln, 100

Help us

to hasten the

dawning of

that glori-

years ago, with the invocation by the Reverend Bernard Braskamp, Chaplain of the

ous day of prediction for which Lincoln prayed and labored when all brokenhearted

House of

humanity shall healed and live

Representatives.

BERNARD BRASKAMP, CHAPLAIN OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

invocation by

Psalm lasting

112: 6:

dr.

life

fame there

Abraham

shall be

together

and

in peace "with malice tofor

all,

with firmness

God gives us to see the right." the name of the Prince of Peace.

in the right as

Hear

us in

Amen.

Almightly God, we invoke Thy blessing as we call to mind the grandeur and splendor of the

drawn

ward none, with charity

The righteous shall be iÂŤ ever-

remembrance.

Lincoln, of whose

no end.

Mr. Price. Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Governor Kerner, Ambassador Stevenson, the diplomatic corps, it

[17]

fellow Americans,

in this spirit of prayer, this prayer

have

just

heard and which

find so moving,

this spirit of redeedication to the greatest prin-

ciples of righteousness since the

gion and government,

that

dawn

of reU-

welcome you

are

and enthusiastic

The

efforts.

Library of Congress has been a main-

through research directed by Mr. William A. Coblenz.

stay,

commemorating

the looth anni-

versary of the 2d inauguration of

And we make

Abraham

Lincoln.

our

thankfully to the Civil

are bearing witness to the realization

of a profound prophecy in free

made on

to espe-

cially assigned experts, for their wholehearted

the ceremonies here today.

and President Johnson on, through

government

and now hallowed by

acknowledgements

War

Centennial

Com-

mission and Lincoln groups and organizations, to the District of

Columbia and the

century of the reaffirmation of the democratic

board of trade, and especially to the National Park Service and the Architect of the Capitol

ideal.

for their contributions.

this spot

Our program today laws

—

which

under

like the

live

—a

from Father Gilbert V. Hartke's Uni-

government

Law

cannot hope to achieve in

all

Players

versity

their

humble and com-

passionate spirit of victory, their moderating

and healing influence, the immortal moments of a century ago. We cannot do this anymore

and

think

us the scene on these very steps before this

destiny of

much

The

and groups, and those you

several Federal agencies

Band and

the

Army

make

this

are indebted to the

—such as the Marine

Signal Corps, the

USIA,

the National Park Service, and to all branches of our Government from the White House

will see

mentioned

your programs, for the goals they

shape the

worthy

event

work of be shown

— today the

dramatic

have

set

reenactment perfection

in every classroom

and

schoolhouse in the United States.

To all this we welcome you today. And now for the contemporary portion

grateful for the services of the distinguished

gratis to this event.

[Applause.]

committee of the Congress and I, chairman, thank all these individuals

— proper a

producer-playwright, Dore Schary, his star Robert Ryan, and his own staff, contributed

Governor of the

joint

and

freemen everywhere. Thus we are

moment

assemblage an un-

the Honorable Otto Kerner,

spect for the Lincoln legacy, will reenact for

—a

expected guest, one whom we are very happy to have with us on this commemoration day,

as its

done

University

company.

to present to this large

But there are people here who, out of a boundless love of country and the deepest re-

that has since

Catholic

see,

should pause here for a

State of Illinois.

edifice, that occurred at that time

a devoted

we can produce in duplicate the true and natural voice of Abraham Lincoln himself. than

noble

come

costume,

to us

brilliant

brooding

whom we shall soon

ers in

invoked by authority of Public

sincerity, their

of the perform-

Government

88-427.

Most

this

commemoration

have the great honor

you the eminent Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Honorable

to present to

John W. McCormack,

of Massachusetts.

McCormack. Speaker Representative Mr. Vice President, reverend clergy, Price,

[18]

my distinguished

minutes, in a few paragraphs of the spoken word, the total meaning of civilization. I,

colleagues in both branches

Governor Kerner, of Illinois, Ambassador Adlai Stevenson, Mr. Bruce Catof the Congress,

ton,

members

having heard for a half century and an endless procession of speeches, some more, for one,

of the diplomatic corps, ladies

and gentlemen, and

my fellow Americans, our time that can get so close to the heart and the history of our there

country

no event

commemoration today

as this

Abraham Lincoln

a tribute to

in preserving

But

it is

For what we are doing

ment

in this

ciliation, as

hour thrusts

promise of a policy of conthat ever so simple and so humble

"with malice toward none; with

venture to suggest, as one having had a

little

something to do with the

legislative deci-

all

sions of these crises-ridden decades, that the

men, down through the corridors of time

Lincoln philosophy invested the thinking and the action of our time in the Chambers of this

since the invention of the

few heroes

For, of

are to hear

charity for all."

mo-

and promises

far into the future.

so full of the

phrase:

of our Nation's existence

to project

and

that.

the Lincoln influence into the present

in the last para-

once so rich in beauty, so vigorous in action

for the im-

against disintegration.

more than

words mostly

that quite sur-

reenacted today. I cannot recall anything in the better language of politics that is at

he performed for our country

services

know nothing

graph of the second inaugural

acting a century later the second inauguration Abraham Lincoln. This commemoration

noblest utterances in the literature

passes those

reen-

mense

them the

of our country,

word "freedom,"

in the long chronicle of

much

done

War

President.

man

have

in so brief a span as our Civil

Those words of

his, on about this very spot 10 decades ago, compress within a matter of

great Capitol.

Words

"emancipation"

and "freedom", words like "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all

men

are created equal," can be

shown

foundly to have touched with resolution

pro-

and

HERE, BEFORE THE RE-ENACTMENT EXERCISES BEGAN, ARE THE DISTINGUISHED PARTICIPANTS ADDRESSES MARKED THE NATIOn's GESTURE OF RESPECT TOWARD THE lOOTH ANNIVERSARY

WHOSE

OF THE LINCOLN SECOND INAUGURAL.

[19]

ARTISTS DRAWING OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IN LINCOLN

have shaped into law

of the last 30 or 40 years.

much

of the history

They

shine in our

enlightened postwar legislative history when we rehabilitated with our own treasure the

few of

own, and

left

that will benefit free

men

It is

his

for this reason that

House

who had been brought to book our enemies after a fierce and savage world war. And of course our domestic legislative

members of

liant

an object lesson in wise and effective compassion and thoughtfulness for all the

moment

American people.

can see the

Lincoln gave us his enduring restatement of our title deeds of freedom, created not a

us.

us with a heritage to the

end of time.

Speaker of the

of Representatives, congratulate the

very nations

history

TIME.

the joint committee,

and the

bril-

producers and directors and the staff, that have brought all this into this dramatic of reverence

As you and

and commemoration.

are gathered here today

spirit of

Abraham Lincoln

with

he could send a message to us from the great beyond he would say to you and

[20]

Americans, "Carry on and preserve and strengthen the spirit of this great coun-

In 1865 at the second inaugural which we commemorate today the end of a horrible

try of ours."

war was

Chairman

in sight.

Some

60 years

later,

Rep-

resentative

Sherwood, of Ohio, rose in the

you have given us the essence of the mean-

House

Representatives

ing of these ceremonies.

came from

Price. Mr. Speaker,

beHeve

This

Humphrey. Thank

President

for these

commend

ceremonies and

commendation

committee

this joint

may I

just say a

word

to the distinguished for-

mer Representative from

the State of Iowa,

Mr. Schwengel,

dedication to this

for

his

great occasion.

greetings today from

that

bring you

body on

this his-

was 100 years ago today

that

Abraham

Lincoln stood outside this Capitol to receive the oath of office for his second term and to deliver a

memorable and unforgettable

augural address.

in-

Just 4 years before at Lin-

coln's first inauguration the setting

an unhappy one.

all

had been

Sharpshooters with

rifles

There were no

standing up. in

There must have been

of the

front

a white pocket handkerchief tall,

man

spare

with deep

around

his neck.

lines of care

man

many

sorrows; a face

lit

up with

Congressman Sherwood told us graphic and telling words of that

unfitted sections of this very Capitol

The dome

which you see today reminding us of our American form of government, those unfitted sections lay scattered

stands.

near the inaugural

in these

occasion. to-

day here than on that second inauguration. It

was from

of office

these very steps in front of this

Abraham Lincoln

took that oath

under such circumstances

have

recounted.

Abraham Lincoln platform

stood on that inaugural

as the leader of the

military force in the world.

most powerful His theme that

day was not military victory; it was not revenge, wrath or bitterness. Abraham Linfor malice

was ready on

the in-

more people

windows and General

and cannon.

furrowing

spiration of a great soul as he voiced in prophecy the ultimate destiny of this Nation.

coln prayed for the passing of war.

Scott

his cheeks; a sad face, a strong face, the face of a

stood on watch then at these very Capitol

Capitol Hill with troops

Lincoln

Capitol.

stood there on the east front, on a litde platform with a little stand and a glass of water. He had

Capitol that

toric occasion. It

were

Actually, there are possibly

the President of the Senate

soldier

Congressman Sherwood's account:

20,000 people

Representative Price.

personally

how

tell

weary Union

reserved seats for Congressmen or anybody else.

you,

Mr. Speaker, Governor Kerner, Ambassador Stevenson, Members of the Congress of the United States, and my fellow Americans,

There was no general platform.

and President of the Senate, the Honorable Hubert H. Humphrey. States

Vice

a battle as a

to witness that inaugural.

now my

high honor to present to you the distinguished Vice President of the United It is

He asked

toward none, with charity for

all.

He asked for binding of the Nation's wounds. He called for a just and lasting peace among ourselves

Yes, he

and with

was

all

nations.

a strong

man;

yet

he was a

forgiving man. Yes, he was a strong man; yet he was a compassionate man.

[21]

We of this generation and indeed of generacome owe

tions yet to

Abraham no

Lincoln.

this Nation's hfe to

repay that

can do

than to be guided by his greatness and compassion. It is the strong who can

less

his

afford to be peaceful,

it is

the free

who

can be

generous, and we will not be diverted from the wise course set for us by that wise and

good

man

1965 and with charity for

commit-

to be our

now

all

but with firm-

then as

God

gives us

knowledge to see the right this is our commitment, ever humbly remembering in our wealth and strength and gratefully in the

now as then

the last best

that

America

hope on

earth.

Price.

Thank

Chairman

indeed

committee's gracious gesture inviting me to introduce the historian-speaker of the day.

you, Mr. Vice

honor that the

altogether in the

Lincoln story and in the glorious chronicle

and tradition of our country. It

whom I am about to present. not unusual for the Congress of the United States to invite the outstanding conIt is

temporary historians and poets to participate in events of this nature.

joint

committee and

have had Carl Sandburg

have

in the recent

past.

we had

Further back

George and

the great historian,

Bancroft. a noted Lincoln authority

a distinguished

tation at this point a place of particular

heart, of course,

Today we have

[Applause.]

President.

There

and the

with the remarkable author and memorialist

humanity on this day. With malice toward none in this year of

our riches

Price, for his

Abraham Lincoln's pledge,

to a suffering

ness in the right

Melvin

are all

and that pledge continues

ment

the Honorable

happens also that my association has been close and more or less constant over the years

lOO years ago today.

living witnesses to

successor as chairman of the joint committee,

and fame

man of letters.

His repu-

believe will live through

the centuries.

Ladies and gentlemen for today's major

Abraham

reserved for the Honorable Fred Schwengel.

commentary on

The former Representative from the First Disinspira-

Lincoln's second inaugural address, I have the honor to present to you my friend and

Indeed,

one of the foremost historians of our time, Mr.

trict

Iowa

was

gress that

the father

who,

he,

duced the

and the chief

commemoration

tion of this

today.

in the first instance, intro-

now

Mr. Bruce Catton. One hundred years

public law and constitutes

ago today Abraham Lincoln, in this place, delivered one of the greatest of all his

the congressional authority for these proceedings.

Bruce Catton.

Con-

joint resolution in the 88th is

will present the historian

on our

program. Ladies and gentlemen, the Honorable Fred

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;his second inaugural.

the speech

Mr. Schwengel. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, my fellow country-

because, he said

first I

want

thank very sincerely

my [22]

few days later a friend complimented him on this address, and Lincoln said that he did not think

speeches

Schwengel.

men,

the significance of

"Men

would be immediately popular; :

are not flattered by being

shown

that

there has been a difference of purpose between

the

To deny

Almighty and them.

ever, in this case,

deny

God governing the world." The second inaugural was

it,

how-

that there

ration; but in

had

really fought to

wanted

ing, mystic attempt to explore that difference

to be in

War; crisis

was

applied to the

American

serve an

they

never again be what

end larger than they are

Americans of

1865,

to the utmost.

more than lost; a

the most terrible 4

had

tried

In those 4 years, the

young Americans number, higher by the way, 630,000

than has been recorded by all of our other wars put together, from the Revolution down

through Korea. Out of long agony and great bewilderment, people desperately needed to

know what all of this had accomplished. Had they done something that would finally all

that

had

who had won, and lost

—or

was

cost

—worth

also to those

reserves of courage

testified to the

mighty and endurance which the

human spirit can display in time of trial ? Abraham Lincoln did not try to give them a soft, easy answer.

them

had been before

1861.

Instead he reminded

that in 1861, trying to

make

peace, they

had instead made a war, and that it was not the kind of war they had supposed it was to be.

When

the

war came, men on

going both sides fought to the utmost to preserve a

be like they had to go on into

because there was no other place for them to go. In Lincoln's unforgettable words: "Each

looked for an easier triumph and a result less fundamental and astounding." Here was the most poignant of human tragedies. Each side, as

he pointed out, read the same Bible

and prayed

to the

same God "the prayers :

both could not be answered — that of neither

Then he added "The Almighty has

has been answered fully." the

moving

His

own purposes."

conclusion:

This speech, then, was

to those

who had

simply an empty tragedy,

meaningless save that

was going

a reminder.

years in their history, years that

be worth

people had opened a door to the future, and although no one knew what the future

both in the North and

needed such

They had been through

had been

They

Its

in the South, greatly

lives of

to.

something that seemed

everyone was that instead of preserving the past they had destroyed it. America could

mean

able to see.

them

to get back to

uncom-

danger of slipping away from them. Yet in 1865 the one thing that was clear to

Civil

a reminder that in times of great

men somehow do more than

do and

alike they

keep the quiet,

plicated national life they were used in fact a brood-

of purpose as

North and South

first

we are moving on a than we are. History is that

tide

all a

reminder

more powerful

not simply a mean-

ingless record of unrelated events, of accidents

without cause and tragedies without recompense;

some way

follows, in

that goes be-

yond our immediate understanding a moral imperative, and it is up to us to adjust our-

ham

couple of years earlier AbraLincoln had cried out: "My fellow citi-

selves to

zens,

we cannot

pleaded:

Now,

it.

escape history," and he had

"We must

with the war

disenthrall

at last

ourselves."

coming

to a close,

cherished past.

he called for an end to malice — an

Union and the other

and hatreds and suspicions that cause war and poison peace and a return to

They saw that past in different ways, to be sure, one side fighting for side fighting for sepa-

to the fears

[23]

—

enc^, that

is,

THIS

A STREET SCENE THAT LINCOLN MIGHT HAVE WITNESSED.

PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE PRESENTS A MILITARY SPECTACLE IN 1865.

[24]

men

move with

instead of trying to

One

common" which might bring hope to everyone, everywhere, had somehow been

swim

brought a

that enable

against

it.

that

it is

not exultant.

Here was

talk of victory.

made

very

umph

that of the Gettysburg Address,

which

Lincoln took the position that victory by itself was not enough. At Gettysburg he put

the emphasis

and

liberty

equality,

and

in-

ground where the solhad been buried he called on his listeners

stead of dedicating the

to dedicate in the

might had cost. look

which,

themselves— to something that end justify the agony Gettysburg

was

future — to

the

Lincoln wanted to

here.

reunited

both

at fearful cost to

sides,

nation

had

could go on

now

and

to realize the magnificent

nearer to realization in the

War.

Yet even though he emphasized this point, Lincoln said nothing whatever

President

about specific plans for the difficult time of reconstruction that lay ahead. Inviting his

countrymen give

them

ought

to look to the future, he did not

show what

a blueprint to

how

to be like or

the future

might be con-

In the second inaugural there is not a hint of the concrete things he might be

structed.

preparing to ask people to do. Instead of recommending a course of action he simply called for a new mental and emotional attitude.

sense did he lay out anything

resembling a program.

Perhaps that

at last

rid itself of the crippling blight of slavery

little

four terrible years of the Civil

contains

a speech

moment of triumph, but the trinot mentioned. The mood is like

at the

diers

than

of the notable things about the second

inaugural

the great tide of history

and understanding

the charity

the strangest thing about

this great speech.

almost seems as

coln were saying that

Lin-

men's hearts were

What he

had inspired it from the beginning. This had been in his mind all along. In the winter of 1861, when he was on his way

right their heads could be trusted.

Washington to begin President, he had stopped

his at

Trenton, N.J.,

understanding of the inner meaning of the terrible experience that was then coming to

to address the State senate,

and

in that speech

ideals that

first

term

he said that he had always at

felt that George Trenton had been

Washington's army fighting—as he put it—"for something more than common something that held out a

—

great promise to to all time to

all

the people of the world,

come."

said then that

he began his second term in the White House, was nationwide

an end.

own

of this, His almost chosen people, for perpetuating the object of that great struggle." all through the second inaugural is the deep conviction that the "something more

all,

Somehow,

suffering

much

at their

hands, the American people had pushed

their national horizon

Abraham Lincoln

outward

to infinity.

obviously believed that

that fact could be fully grasped the people

would do what had

to be done.

So he offered no suggestions, even though

hoped that he himself might become an instrument, in the hands of the Almighty "and

Running

wanted most of

a definite

program

for

action

was greatly

The country

has to be put back together again and the sections could not be

needed.

nailed together with bayonets. to be accepted in such a

endure forever by

[25]

way

common

Reunion had that

consent.

would

Lincoln

did not say

how

this ought to be done; he on everyone to shed the crippling emotions born of war and build on a basis of good will and understanding. In the

simply called

War must

Civil

board in the

now

are

made good

realities of

we beginning

day-to-day

zenship, and that die freedom

should be brought forward into

can be enjoyed by the

Instead

—devoting

freedom.

— slavery he

defined

an immense

evil, pointed out that both sides shared in the responsibility for its existence, and remarked that both sides had

paid an awful price for its removal. moment, that was all he had to say.

For the

What he

apparently wanted more than anything else, on March 4, 1865, was for people to read the

and earnestly

lesson of the past prayerfully

before they began to build the future.

And

that of course

of the second inaugural

commemorating nothing

less

The

nearly half of his brief

speech to the subject of slavery as

full

today.

why is

much worth

That speech was

than a challenge to

men

all

recognize the divine purpose that

then to get on with the job.

And

had been

served, to put themselves in tune with

of the

most

citi-

for-

limited by the freedom that least fortunate.

War ended a century ago, and the

and pain it caused no longer have any place in the memories of living men; but the cause that was served then still lives, and the brief

which the war created

responsibility It

ists.

still

ex-

upon our shoulders, here and As Abraham Lincoln said, we

rests

now, today.

cannot escape history. Nor can we escape the sobering knowledge that what we do can serve ends that we our-

do not always see. You may if you choose deny that a hidden purpose runs through history, but it is impossible to deny selves

this centennial

Civil

Only

for a second-class

same way he said nothing at all about the way in which four million former slaves

tunate of us

across the life.

to see that in our land

no room

there can be

all

it,

that

and is

that history

inexorable, bringing far-reach-

ing results out of innumerable small actions.

Whether we mean

or not,

are always

— moving in one direction or another.

instance

for

accept the notion that our class-

American

does contain

challenge to us, today, as well as to the people who stood here a century ago to listen to it.

less

For what Lincoln was saying then remains true. The Civil War was not an end but a beginning.

we open the way to a denial of all freedoms. If we accept a racist doctrine for one group, we accept it for all. Freedom is a

seamless robe

One great obstacle to the advance human freedom and brotherhood had been

— destroyed and

therefore an inescapable responsibility rested on the shoulders of this,

"His almost chosen people," to build anew on the progress that had been made.

Today we

classes

that the broader

freedom that was won

in the

really

their separate

levels,

stroy

all

—cut

There

it.

anywhere and you deno use trying to find

an easy ground halfway between Abraham Lincoln and Adolf Hitler. There simply is not any such place.

What we do

are compelled to realize that

during the last century poor progress was made. Only now are we beginning to insist

society

which must be kept on

of terrible importance.

live in a

plexity,

[26]

with our responsibility today

when

time of great trouble and perno man can see more than a

few

along the road ahead. In the last two generations we have seen the past destroyed for all the world. Immense new feet

profound changes are beof the old certainties seem to

forces are in action,

ing made, all be disappearing.

To see us through this

we have no

of trial

that

what we

said,

way

we need

never before

are struggling for

in the past.

remember

is,

Lincoln

— "something more than common some-

thing that holds out a great promise to all the people of the world, to all time to come."

That "something more than common"

we have always been dedihuman freedom, complete, un-

course the thing

—

cated

abridged and eternal, here and everywhere, based on the belief in the dignity and worth of the individual

human being.

with power, and

It still

moves

above everything else important for us to continue our dedication to

the last day of his

April

life

— 1865 Lincoln

14,

dream

that

had often come

him

Lincoln said he dreamed that he was in an indiscribable ship, that

great rapidity toward a

hearts.

When ham

was "moving with dark and indefinite

usually take

he stood here a century ago AbraLincoln was talking to us, and his urging

good: That we go forward without malice, with charity for all the struggling

still

peoples of the earth, standing firmly for the right as God permits us to see it to the end

—

that

we may do

and cherish ourselves

all in

a just

and a

and with

all

In a

moment

or two, after the necessary

Abraham Lincoln United spot

the

when,

States.

image of the agonizing

at the

moment

all

moving on

the tide toward

dark and indefinite shore.

have no

action,

impending

victory,

wounds

the open

For the high drama of this priceless instant man's march to freedom, this committee

of the Congress, has,

are

this

Nation with the bandage of reconciliation and compassion.

his

But he spoke also for his people. North and South, of that generation and of

of the

moment of own death approaching it.

Abraham Lincoln bound up

but failed to recog-

the President of the

will see recreated

fey

among

and a sympathetic historian to the immortal words spoken here a century ago.

for granted that

dream Lincoln simply had a second sight, in which he saw

this.

lasting peace,

nations."

Chairman Price. We have just had an impressive and penetrating insight from a great

in that eerie

nize

our power "to achieve

the opening of a second term, reestablished

always on the eve of some great As Gideon Welles remembered it,

shore."

What we eventually find there, like the progress we make, will depend in the last analysis on what we carry in our own

Friday,

in the past,

event.

on our way toward something

are

Cabinet

his

about a haunting dream he had had the night before; a

We only know

rearrangement of the setting, bringing us back through a whole century of time, we will all be witness to the great scene that, for

—Good

told

dim.

lights are

incalculable.

it.

that

better reliance than the

ancient faith that lighted our

Now

time

and the

chart,

the art

must

repeat, entrusted

sincerity, the authenticity and

and the

the emotion, to

Dore Schary, who

among

the greatest executive and writing talents in the

American

Freeman, and

[27]

theater; to his assistant, their

staflf;

Mr.

to the players

Joel

from

Catholic University and the B'nai B'rith,

young people of whom, now, in emphasis

all

for the second time,

having their fancy fixin's spotted by drenching rain and mudbath combined. The night had been drizzling and this morning, about 6 o'clock, a heavy gale sprang up from the south lasting but for a

pleased to accord

the acknowledgements of the Congress of the United States, expressed through this

few minutes and doing considerable damage, upIt was followed by rooting shade trees. brighter

joint committee.

skies

But today there is an element unique pageant even of this dimension.

new

This

touch, this feature,

rator of

the U.S.

Twice

the processionists

States, a all,

march of

distinguished American than

determining the practicability of laying pon-

toons from the Capitol to the White House, but it was found that the mud bottom was

United Nations.

to the

former Governor of

a devout

too soft to hold the anchors of the boats and

Illinois,

and recognized Lin-

coln scholar, his role today to the

be tried by a

was further reported that the Engineer Corps had made a survey for the purpose of

Ambassador

and, above

was

discomfort.

among usâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; as the nar-

dynamic and hitherto unexampled less a

through the morning, but as the day wore became pretty certain that the manhood of

considerable

a candidate for the Presidency of the

United

ways

on,

ingredient, this totally original

the presence

in a

the key in

reenactment

the project

many

Wryly

are about to

The

was abandoned.

the reporter

police

commented

were careful

to confine all to the side-

witness.

walks

At some

of the shallow

Thus, in another moment or so. Ambassador Stevenson, one of the foremost figures

crossings, a steady stream of people

were passing

of our time, will take his place as chronicler

and narrator, and

fill

us in

on the

the atmosphere of this place a ago, explaining

much

color

and

The Nation was monies had ence of

proceeds.

can

I turn the program over to this and internationally famous Ameri-

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Adlai

Stevenson

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;who

will

take

a military

many

war and

the cere-

look due to the pres-

generals and their aides.

President-elect

from taking

and according

to our reporter, this possibility

his

place as soon as the stage has been reset.

still

There was some anticipation that secessionists would make an effort to prevent the

And now brilliant

could not swim.

throughout the day, some of whom dashed out into the avenue in the most reckless manner, but fortunately no one is believed to have been lost.

hundred years

of the reenactment as

who

his oath of office

Ambassador Stevenson. March 4, 1965, to mark

the centennial of

caused an extraordinary rush to the city some days in advance of the inauguration. All

Abraham Lincoln's second

inaugural.

Wash-

roads leading to Washington were heavily

ington, a

ent look.

are

hundred years ago, had

met

here,

a very differ-

writer for the Evening Star in

this city, reported:

This 4th of March 1865 opened rather disagreethe eyes of those designing to take part in the procession and who do not relish

ably, especially in

picketed and

all

the bridges were guarded

with extra vigilance.

Cavalry units were

as-

signed to a continual search for suspicious looking characters. The dark rumors faded as the

day drew on and the

interested

[28]

the

visitors

became

approaching cere-

LONG

aqueduct bridge as seen from virginia in

AUGURATION.

Lincoln's day.

monies and

less

which

concerned with the possi-

who had made

Enterprising pickpockets

way from

other

cities

watched or corralled by

were carefully

to a bill

detectives.

and firehouses provided extra sleeping spaces. No mention is made if there was a charge for these accommodations.

was

The agony

casualties

tired.

of the

had created

at this

point in

Determined, but

war and

a festering

its

horrible

anger that

was a Saturday and the Senate had con-

tinued in session

all

Friday night until 7

o'clock in the morning.

3 hours

later

But

o'clock.

Chambers were crowded and eral Senators

much

complained

reconvened

The noisy

Senate

and

that there

confusion that they did not

sev-

was so

know

of order

Arms

achieved

and one amendment

under discussion declared that

citizen of the

United States

shall

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

be excluded

the penalty being I500 fine or imprisonment

months

nays

from

to 5 years.

The amendment was

the West, the

supported the Union's resolve and tempered the weariness. It

was considering.

from any railroad car, steamboat or other convey* * * ance on account of any State or municipal law

With Grant's victories in war was soon to be won, but tired.

the Senate

some semblance

Needless to say, the hotels were crowded

1865, the Nation

bills

Apparently the Sergeant

bility of violence.

their

IN THE CAPITAL AND OTHER WERE STRICTLY GUARDED DURING IN-

BRIDGE

POINTS

passsed

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; yeas

21,

14.

While debate on that matter had been going on. Cabinet members and Justices of the Supreme Court had entered the Chamber.

They were followed by members

of the diplo-

matic corps in their ornate and elegant dress.

and the

Soon Members floor

of the

official

House arrived

The hour of 12 was Vice President Hamlin deliv-

was

filled.

approaching. ered his valedictory and introduced the VicePresident-elect, the

son,

who was

Mr. Johnson

[29]

Honorable Andrew John-

ready to take the oath of first

office.

delivered a speech identi-

fying himself as a plebian and maintained to

Chamber that United States came from

everyone crowding the

the

power of the

the

people.

[The

Tennessee—even though it had seceded was a State of this Union and he

God

that

was.

The ex-Vice Members of

After offering these

—for

mon P.

Then Vice and

the

White House,

a large

o'clock that everyone, including a of U.S. marshals, learned that the

President was

of Senators

and

working

at the Capitol.

Union Light Guard, drove

a fine procession.

squadrons of the

New York

Territories,

and

escorts

guests.

last official is seated]

Mrs.

Ambassador Stevenson. There was a moment of quiet and then the crowd heard the

drum

ruffles

and the

first

sounds of "Hail to

the Chief" as President Lincoln appeared and

advance of the procession to the Capitol.

made his way to the podium.

included police,

Cavalry, fire bri-

gades, floats, companies of marines,

mounted

[President Lincoln appears

and marching bands, and all manners of marshals, officials, and military units.

Band

the hour of 12 approached, the black clouds which had threatened rain dispersed and the sun came through, lighting up the

dress, less

parade.

latter part

Crowds were massed in front of the Capitol and as the Marine Band struck up appropriate came

Justice Sal-

Chase.

[As the

Harlan and Anthony and under

escort of the

tunes,

Supreme Court of the

Members of the Senate, diplomatic corps, heads of departments. Governors of States

Lincoln entered her carriage in the company

was

the

Hannibal Hamlin.

ney.

crowd had

number

President,

The Vice President, Andrew Johnson. The Secretary of the Senate, John W. For-

new Senate to order. The

gathered, waiting to see President Lincoln start the procession to the Capitol. It was not until

Lamon,

T. Brown.

President Johnson assumed the

called the

newly elected Senators then took office and proceedings were terminated until 12 o'clock on Monday, March 6.

The Sergeant at Arms of the Senate, George

moment. chair

Hill

United States headed by the Chief

Mr. Johnson was sworn

and the Senate again adjourned

Ward

escorting Mrs. Lincoln.

—

verbal credentials,

appear]

Ambassador Stevenson. The marshal the District of Columbia,

took the opportunity to mention

that

thanked

officials

the favored dignitaries and officials to take their places on the platform.

and the Marine

plays "Hail to the Chief"]

Ambassador Stevenson.

was

a short ad-

than 700 words. The second half of the speech contains 332 words. It is in this

where again we

see the evidence

of Lincoln's incredible gift with words.

those 332 words, 265 are of one syllable. It is a superb lesson of style for writers and speakers.

[30]

was somehow the cause of the war.

Lincoln goes to podium]

[

strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interwas the object for which the insurgents

Lincoln's second inaugural address

est

[Mr. Lincoln]. Fellow countrymen, at this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential Office there

less

occasion for an ex-

tended address than there was

Then

a statement

course

Now,

proper.

somewhat

than to

restrict the territorial enlargement of Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has al-

at the first.

it.

in detail of a

be pursued seemed

would rend the Union even by war, while Government claimed no right to do more

the

and

fitting

ready attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even

at the expiration of 4 years,

during which public declarations had not been constantly called forth on every point

before the conflict

and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the Nation, little that

new

progress of our arms, upon else chiefly depends, is as well

which

all

known

to the public as to myself,

trust,

to all.

and

ventured.

ARRANGEMENTS

the

occasion corresponding to this 4 years ago

all

thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was

being delivered from

this place,

gether to saving the

Union without war

devoted

the

without war

Union and

Both

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;seeking

THE INAUGURATION

altoin-

surgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,

to dissolve

divide effects by negotiation.

parties deprecated war, but

would make war rather than

one of them

let

I'orRTIl

OF MARCH.

the Nation

and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came. survive,

One-eighth of the

the Union, but localized in the southern part it.

These

powerful

slaves constituted a peculiar

interest.

so-.-'

r.or.r..,

R<i

i,si,ii.,

ic--<-ii

whole population was

colored slaves, not distributed generally over

All

Each

it is, I

reasonably satisfactory and encouraging With high hope for the future, no pre-

diction in regard to

should cease.

reproduced here is the original programme OF arrangements for Lincoln's second inauguration. (SEE also pages 32 AND 33)

could be pre-

The

sented.

itself

and

knew that this interest [31]

WAÂŤII1NOTON;

IHfiTi

looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the

same

and pray

Bible

to the

same God, and

ofTense cometh."

American

one of those offenses

slavery

shall

which, in the providence of

suppose that

God, must needs

each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare

come, but which, having continued through His appointed time. He now wills to re-

God's assistance in wringing from the sweat of other men's

move, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to

to ask a just their bread faces,

but

let

The

judged. answered.

swered

us judge not, that

be not

prayers of both could not be

That of neither has been anThe Almighty has His own fully.

purposes.

"Woe

offenses; for

unto the world because of

must needs be that offenses

come, but woe to that

man

whom

the

those by

discern

whom therein

divine attributes

the offense came, shall

ing

God

hope, fervently do

mighty away.

always ascribe to scourge of

Yet,

any departure from those which the believers in a liv-

God

Him ?

pray, that this

war may

wills that

Fondly do

speedily pass

continue until

all

and cherish

the wealth piled by the bondsman's 250

years of unrequited toil shall be sunk,

drop of blood drawn with the lash be paid by another drawn with the

sword, as was said 3,000 years ago, so still it must be said, "The judgments of the Lord

and righteous altogether." With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God

are true

gives us to see the right, finish the

work we

let

and

his

orphan, to do

up the

him who shall and for his widow

all

which may

made

expect I

wear

as well as,

have produced; but

it.

after

he was

his address,

asked of his views concerning I

among

lasting peace

nations.

said:

perhaps better than believe it is not im-

mediately popular. Men are not flattered by being shown that there has been a diiTerence of purpose

Nation's wounds, to care for

have borne the battle

President Lincoln

anything

us strive on to

are in, to bind

all

Stevenson. Sometime

Ambassador

until every shall

and

a just

ourselves and with

and

achieve

between the Almighty and them. ever, in this case,

deny

most direcdy on myself,

It is

needed

to be told, and, as

there

[33]

might

falls

which

governing the world.

others

To deny

that there

afford for

a truth

how-

God

thought whatever of humiliation

to tell

it.

thought

Neither the President nor the audience to

and Mr. William Coblenz, of the Li-

efforts,

brary of Congress, as director of research.

whom

he spoke knew that some of those words were to become immortal.

want

Again

thank Speaker John

was

McCoRMACK, whose to be joined

[Lincoln goes to the podium Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase] president's

(the oath of office). affirm) that

the best of

Humphrey to whom we owe

do solemnly swear (or

and

Ability, preserve, protect

And now

began anew

for the President.

cussed.

Plans,

bills,

dreams

for the days of peace to

the day

There were

to be considered

White House.

drive to take the soon to be martyred Presi-

dent on his

way

then.

They

are

Americans but

The words

to his destiny.

he spoke are meaningful today

they were

meaningful not only

and the auditors on

Now

God by

Let us pray that what he said then will act as a beacon for good and just men today

and

in years to

Chairman

of us â&#x20AC;&#x201D; as mittee â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that

all

its

detail

must be apparent to certainly is to the joint com-

Price. it

this

reenactment surpassed,

and perfection, the fondest expec-

tations of those

come.

who helped

congratulate

them

to bring all.

Honorable Fred Schwengel for

to pass.

tele-

the blessing of

returning to our

contempoanniverlooth the and closing rary program the second of commemoration inaugurasary almighty

tion of

Abraham

from

tion

erick

Lincoln, with the benedic-

our old friend, the Reverend Fred-

Brown

Harris, Chaplain of the U.S.

Senate.

Chaplain Harris.

And now

let

us go forth

to serve the present age, whose standards and acts are being weighed in the scales of justice

by that one of

whom

a historic voice at this

the judgspot a century ago this day declared ments of the Lord are true and righteous

Send us forth into

altogether.

days.

radio.

we invoke

once more

to citizens of all nations of

the world in these troubled and tormented

Supreme Court and the and to our guests here on

the Capitol plaza, and the viewers vision

There was

come.

the drive back to the

left

States.

Field orders to be dis-

dispatches to read.

of the U.S.

diplomatic corps,

and

of the Constitution.)

Ambassador Stevenson.

members

will to

defend the Constitution of the United (Article

much, and

will faithfully execute the Office

our distinguished historian, Bruce Catton. are thankful also to the presence here of

PRESIDENT

of President of the United States,

Hubert H.

wholehearted, to Vice President

oath of office

Chief Justice Chase and the

cooperation

world vowing here

ham

did

Thy

this

divided

servant, Abra-

Lincoln, lOO years ago to bind

up the

that hate has made, and with malice toward none, with charity for all, and with

wounds

firmness in the right as

are in

and

and cherish ourselves

salute the

his brilliant

[34]

a just

and with

all

and all

Thou

on to

see the right to strive

dost give us to

finish the

work

which may achieve

a lasting peace

nations.

among

Amen.

Chairman Price. Ladies and gentlemen, the commemoration is ended.

The Inaugural Committee

for the Lincoln

Second Inaugural, March

186^, prepared the following

arrangements which were procured by the Joint Committee on Arrangements for the one hundredth anniversary

commemoration from

the Library of Congress.

The Lincoln 'T~'HE

ORDER of the proccssion

East Front

the

down

the

Capitol on the day

Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated

special session of the Senate

March

was

Those assembled proceeded

in the Senate

to the platform

tico of the Capitol in the

[Ward

Departments Governors of States and Territories of

Washington and Georgetown

Other persons admitted

to the floor of the Senate

Chamber

[35]

Chamber

on the central por-

following order:

Hill

Lamon]

[Hannibal Hamlin]

[George T. Brown]

[Abraham Lincoln] [Andrew Johnson ant

JohnW. Forney] The members of the Senate The Diplomatic Corps

The Mayors

1865,

According to the report of the special seswas like this:

The marshal of the District of Columbia The ex-Vice President The Supreme Court of the United States The Sergeant of Arms of the Senate The President of the United States, the President elect The Vice President and the Secretary of the Senate

Heads

sion the order of the procession

20,

Washington, D.C. This report was taken from an account of a 1865, in the Daily Globe, of

on March

the day of the inauguration.

President

of the United States for the second time detailed in a subsequent report,

Procession

UNVEILING OF HITHERTO UNKNOWN LINCOLN PORTRAIT, STATUTORY HALL, U.S. CAPITOL: (L. TO R.) MRS. DOROTHY MESERVE KUNHARDT, OF NEW YORK CITY, OWNER OF THE MESERVE COLLECTION OF LINCOLNIANA; FRED SCHWENGEL, former IOWA REPRESENTATIVE, WHO PRESIDED; MISS JOSEPHINE MRS. COBB, NATIONAL ARCHIVES; REPRESENTATIVE HOWARD W. ROBISON, OF OWEGO, N.Y.; MR. AND LEWIS B. PARMERTON, OF OWEGO MR. ROSCOE GELLER, PRESIDENT OF THE TIOGA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, OWNERS OF THE PORTRAIT; AND PRESIDENT ELDEN E. BILLINGS OF THE LINCOLN GROUP OF ;

THE

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

[36]

Commemoration Events COLLATERAL TO THE

Major Ceremony and Reenactment npHE COMMEMORATION was signalizccl cral incidental but

sev-

memorable events

col-

lateral to the principal

One

actment.

ceremony and reen-

of these inside the Capitol edi-

Horwitz Nagel,

a conservator

with the Pier-

pont Morgan Library of New York. Circumstances of the unveiling were parpertinent to the commemoration.

ticularly

proper, and about a half hour before the main program was to begin, was the unveil-

Statuary Hall where it took place had been the Chamber of the House of Representatives

Abraham Lincoln never exhibited publicly before. It is known that the artist, working from a Mathew

when Lincoln was

fice

ing of an

oil

portrait of

nois in 1847-48.

Brady photograph, was a contemporary of Lincoln whose name was withheld pending its

announcement

some date

to be

de-

termined by the Tioga County Historical of

Society,

Owego, N.Y., who own

the

unveiling was an American flag that had been flown in Washington, D.C. on the day of the

Lincoln funeral.

imprimatur of Miss Josephine Cobb, an auchives

on iconography at the National Ara Lincoln devotee active in bring-

and

ing the find to the commemoration exercises.

The

actual unveiling

was

graphs and Lincoln history.

Former Representative Fred Schwengel,

authenticity of the portrait bears the

thority

The

done by Mrs. Dorothy Meserve Kunhardt, of New York, noted authority of Lincoln photo-

painting.

The

a Congressman from IlliBehind the portrait at the

portrait

first

made

its

appearance

Washington, D.C., through the

offices of

Rep-

Howard W. Robison, of New whose home is in Owego, where the

Iowa, presided. Among the guests and speakers were: of the Tioga Mr. and Mrs. Society; County Lewis B. Parmerton, of Owego; Elden Bill-

Roscoe

Geller,

president

Historical

president of the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia, that helped sponsor ings,

and members and

officers of the

resentative

the event,

York,

Group; Mrs. Minna Horowitz Nagel; and

Tioga County Historical Society engaged interest,

tion

his

leading to the portrait's authenticaits restoration by Mrs. Minna

and soon

others.

dinner

Capitol,

[37]

at the Capitol Hill

Club, near the

Wednesday evening, March

3, 1965,

Dore Schary Comments npHE WORK -'-

day of March 4th,

surrounding the staging and Reenactment of Abraham

filming of the

1965.

And

Lincoln's Second Inaugural reminds me of the old story of the bass player in the orchestra

who was

all

repetitive to

he played was a series of to sound monotonous

the film together.

These came

notes.

and

the long and arduous task of putting

acutely aware during a certain

concerto that

him.

concert hall to listen to the orchestra.

home and

had

pictorial

took the night off and went into the

returned

then came

find

material

back up the nar-

ration, get the ex-

told his wife happily that

act

we wanted, and

sound and music

he had had no idea that those few notes he

rearrange and rerecord some

played created the wonderful sound which he had heard sitting in the concert hall.

out of

Everyone

who worked on

One

the staging and

among

while.

the contributors was, of course,

Chief

Mr. Frank Payne,

Island.

Am-

brought expert

they I

skill.

made

producer, and

work.

grateful to

all

those

who

helped me.

Perhaps by putting together all those little sounds each of us made, we have produced

for

What we all started with was a reverence Abraham Lincoln and what we have

ended with

Joel

came

home

long experience and the film works, it is because

the right foot.

son Jeb, helped

to their jobs

something of merit.

that

found

Mr. Robert Mathews, a film editor, moved in beside me and went to work and they

gress whose thorough and patient coorperation was of enormous value and whose knowledge and experience stepped us off on

Freeman, my Production Asand the assistant directorial aid of

Army." Well, the fact is and I say with no irony, I found a home in the Army at the Motion Picture Center in Long

Congressman Fred Schwengel, the Coordinator of the Lincoln Reenactment, and certainly I must give a special thank you to William A. Coblenz of the Library of Con-

Mr.

was

this

bassador Stevenson and Robert Ryan, but special mention has to be made of former

sistant,

GI remarks

in the

Reenactment played trust that the combined

filming of the Lincoln

some notes and I result was something worth

of the ironic

World War

trim,

of the voices.

his

during that long

[39]

is,

trust, a

worthy

tribute to

memory.

DoRE Schary

Committee on Arrangements Evaluates Impact of the Decision of the Congress of the United States Commemorate the Centennial of the Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United

]oint to

States

The Committee's Evaluation T^HE

Joint

Committee on Arrangements

for the celebration of the centennial of

and

will be in the future

public

mediate impact of the event produced the

The

and exciting values on behalf of the American inheritage and the public most

fruitful

interest.

Its

residual values cannot so early

computed but they promise on the

basis

of manifest evidences to be little short of ex-

traordinary.

the

All this was achieved through

employment

of the regular

agencies and personnel and at irreducible

minimum

government an absolutely

$25,000, of which, as of this

writing, a goodly portion

may

be returned

attention

the

centennial

throughout the Nation and in

received

many

parts of

the world â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including the Soviet Union. centennial, as a fact in history,

was

be sure a landmark in the chronicle of free

government apart from any celebration of the event. But the focus of interest, national and international, was provided by this official, congressionally ordered and directed

commemoration on

the East Front of the

Capitol of the United States. Here were assembled on this day the eyes and ears of the

nication

impossible to estimate the inspirational

media

for

which very

rangements had been provided. tol itself

nified

to the Treasury. It is

commemo-

Nation and the world through the commu-

of expense.

In fact the total appropriation for the event

by Congress was

this

ration and the monumental acceptance and

Second Inauguration is sincerely and profoundly moved to report, on the highest level of satisfaction, that the merely imthe Lincoln

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;by

cises.

special

The

ar-

Capi-

afforded one of the world's most dig-

and respected stage sets for the exerThe immediate setting and platform

35,000 people present on the Capitol Plaza

were of course precisely pertinent because, with slight variations due to alterations to the

contemporary ceremony and the reenactment unfolded because inspiration is not

East Front authorized by Congress in 1955, this was the spot almost exactly where the

influence of the event proper

on the 30,000

as the

a measurable quantity.

Nor can

the

Com-

mittee say, like an answer to a poll or a prob-

lem

in arithmetic, just

how much

apprecia-

tion of American history and the American dream was advanced at home and abroad

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

second inaugural of actually taken place.

Abraham Lincoln had

And

the lofty distinc-

tion of the orators of the day,

and the

ance of excellence of the film to

assur-

come from

the reenactment because of the professional

[40]

talent

and

behind

it,

the Joint

this,

Committee on Arrangements.

historic attention.

The members and

guaranteed contemporary

of the Senate

and the House

painstakingly engineered asset of the event that helped bring the voices of the par-

and individuals

and the audience, so far as possible generally, were furnished a comprehensive and excellently compiled program of

crowds and that stored the happenings, syllable for syllable, on tape and film, was the

the occasion, assembled by Lloyd A. Dunlap,

apparatus furnished the Committee by the

of the Manuscripts Division of the Library of

MDWUSA Signal Support Unit of the Audio

their guests,

Congress, and rushed through the Govern-

ment Printing Office at high pressure through H. Newlin Megill, a consultant

the offices of to the

Committee.

copy of

this

program

ticipating

For reasons outside the control of

and the notables on the platform had the ad-

skillful

arrangements by the Capi-

Police under Chief Carl D.

Schamp and

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Captain Leonard H. Ballard old and experienced hands at handling huge Capitol crowds. All automobile parking on the Capitol

grounds was prohibited for the period of

the exercises.

Much from

of this perfection of detail resulted

careful planning in advance by the office

of the Architect of the Capitol through the

Thomas

F. Clancy,

and

also the overseership

and

supervising engineer, the assistant supervising engineer, Carl Fogle.

There was

participation of T. Sutton

Jett,

the Regional

Director of the Department of the Interior; Cornelius W. Heine of that Department's

National Park Service,

who

directed the car-

pentering and planning of the inaugural stand to conform as much as may be to the

was not

the coverage for the

tol

the

total

this unit

although adequate

most part so that the success, however incomplete, was beyond normal expectations. an even greater technical

ficiency

and

vital

because

it is

level of pro-

a record for his-

was the work of the Photographic Division, Pictorial and Audio Visual Directortory,

ate, of

and

the Office of Chief of

Communications

Department of the Army. with a most competent team of

Electronics,

This

outfit,

engineers and technicians, operated under the direction of the Division's chief. Col. Charles E. Campbell.

Its

work

dovetailed with the

needs of Dore Schary, producer of the reenactment, and worked with its companion unit of

MDW for the filming in sound of the con-

temporary program ment.

The ment

as well as the reenact-

National Park Service of the Depart-

of the Interior, through the Division of

Operations and Maintenance of the regional office, provided more than some 2,000 chaiis for

members

of the

House and

stand of a hundred years ago, and the overall

and for the diplomatic

direction of these aspects of the

source

Don

low Victorian

came

coln,

William G. Bray, of Indiana, a member of

which the famous

and the

corps.

the Senate,

From

the

same

the inaugural stand proper, the

program by Robert Kendall, the staging manager, working out of the office of Representative

[41]

Visual Communication Center, of Fort Myer, Va., under Signal Corps Lt. Charles Badgett.

may be found in a pocket of this report. Moreover, the convenience of the guests vantage of

groups

table of the type used

by Lin-

small, set-apart platform,

narrator.

from

Ambassador

'p'V'^

J'i

HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGE OF ABOUT LINCOLN VINTAGE USED IN RE-ENACTENT DEPARTURE.

ROBERT RYAN AS LINCOLN MOUNTS CARRIAGE AFTER INAUGURATION

Adlai Stevenson, performed his

role.

The

which the 1965 Mary Todd Lincoln drove in departing from the

four sections of platforms varying from 5 to 15 feet in height, which the regional office set up for the use of motion picture and

behind the President,

other cameras, and for the apparatus of the

$20,000 policy

several offer a full

networks, were planned so

as to

minimum of obstruction to the crowd's

view of the proceedings.

rangement of the

members

In fact the ar-

seats especially

provided for

of Congress, diplomats,

invited guests, gave

them

at least

The Grant

Capitol Plaza. the

Committee had

the offices of

carefully insured with a to the project

Chairman Paul

the District of nial

came

which

carriage

Columbia

Commission, and

Civil

through

Sedgwick of

War

Centen-

the property of

Meeks' son, of Washington, D.C.,

who

the carriage originally, the present inheritor

an unim-

of the enterprise being Pearson S. Meeks,

The

satisfying to the

the ist Battalion (Reinf), 3d Infantry

Committee, the crowds, the communication media and the record, was

1965

War

vintage carriage that took the

Abraham Lincoln from

the scene in

front of the Capitol ostensibly to the

House.

White

This was not the actual conveyance

which President Lincoln rode at any time, but it was the carriage used by President in

Ulysses

Grant

at his

inauguration.

This

time the carriage merely circled the Capitol. And this was about as near as the Committee could

come

was supplied

to the authentic thing.

There

in addition another carriage of

identical vintage,

and

this

built

and other

peded view of the ceremonies. An item of authentic color that proved so

the Civil

S. J.

was the conveyance

other carriage was provided through the cooperation of Col. Joseph B. Conmy, Jr., of

(The Old Guard), Fort Myer, Va., Capt. Morris L. Coston being in charge.

The

headquarters

of this battalion also furnished four white horses,

two

in costume,

Lincoln

for each carriage,

who

and the drivers

looked every inch out of the

era.

The cumulative

effect of arrangements so and detailed and the brilliant orathorough tory throughout from the most important

American government and the world of scholarship was reflected in the acclaim audible on the spot and in printed and figures

video form afterward.

[42]

The body

this

CAMERAS OF 1965 CAPTURE RYAN

LINCOLN

REST OF CAST APPLAUDS AS

DEPARTING CEREMONIES.

CBS

report prints in full the spoken works of the

galaxy of notables so It

records, too, the

vital to

work

the program.

of the selfless

and

was offered

local repertory

dimension to be without

precedent

who

groups

this event that

gave a

believed to

commemorative

projects.

Evidence from

tronic.

Committee

over the Nation shows

lowing reply April Seavey,

the

9, 1965,

association's

government In part Mr. Seavey wrote the Committee:

writing

this letter in response to

your recent

request for a report on radio and television coverage of the ceremonies

commemorating

the Centennial

of the Second Inauguration of President Lincoln.

The

networks

have

information:

ABC

Television

—An

provided

the

excerpt

from

brief

stories

and

ex-

from 30 seconds to 3 mincerpts, ranging utes, on the 9 a.m. news, the noon news, the Lowell Thomas news program, and "The World Tonight." in length

Television

— Film

March

and/or

a.m. in

On March

"TODAY"

scheduled on the

fol-

affairs.

—

were

reports

Additionally, on

show

March

5 stories

at 7:25

the

were

and 8:25

NBC

affiliate

Washington, WRC, its 7 and 11 p.m. news program.

scheduled stories about the

event on

from HoUis M.

representative

minute and 15 seconds of film

in syndication to 86 domestic clients

4:25 p.m. on

the National Association of

Broadcasters for precise data, brought the

scheduled on the "Afternoon Report" at 12:55 ^""^

news media, printed and elecinquiry, for example, from the to

—

and 30 foreign clients. CBS Radio There were

NBC all

the sweep and scope of the impact throughout the Nation's

Television

were used on the Walter Cronkite news program on March 4. Additionally, a 2 minute film segment

devoted folk from the American theater and

from the

MARY TODD LINCOLN

DRIVES OFF.

Thus tens of millions of American homes heard some manner of report of the Washington commemoration exercises and saw if for no more than a matter of minutes or The seconds some aspect of the event. newspaper reports were even more complete and respectful in their coverage. Thus the

—

Committee has

its

possession clippings or

following

the

cere-

monies was shown on the Evening News, March This program reaches five million homes.

NEWSPAPERS FROM ALL OVER THE NATION GAVE

AMPLE

REPORTAGE

(SEE PAGES 44

[43]

AND

45).

THE

RE-ENACTMENT

Wa/ke U& '

313,8"

WASHINGTOS I

None' Rings Out Again Century

Toivxird

IJin'ftlns

AtirahWT.

PP**' mend their

ceniirn-o'"!

L 10 Ampncari to wlin I dUtri

r„f

portl«

"•^"

^^^ ^^

THE filmed

I-

1 1 l?W

made

members prrwdcnl

Vire

film

The

available

Ih' Congress authortacd euBclment and ctdered «

cew

re-

,«d :(ied

For dl<l^

<"'

Hubert

eue-'W' **""' the event.

^'"^

^^^^^^^ j^y, p„^. Producer D-:irf Schary

Mid one

'^»'"»»*»

,.,^^^

„iir<»«.

Mrt

1'* l\

titu

none

jiinjftil

today

lat^

*''*"

Ui« dir.

"Ut

-r.-uH^

W// '^o//.

n»i;

could tleod

McCorniBcli

h„r^».

••-,;,

and House EpeiVer Hump^feJ ' were -1

*-8«

sponsorvhlp

Alri^g'mcnU.

will ,

•

E R EM ON T

under

uit

rtwd on

>^^

'^ecn ,„« .0

T'y/.r/''^^o.

AmbasMdor

Wsin/ 'v^"l-,/ "ne^J'

11,../°' „..y>»r

.''

tBlT

'^.e.

.%' •

\ic»T

ia""!*

the >re«»'

"ess

W°'"^ K^"'<i' '»'7i"». "^./

''fy r,

'"B-ifv*

the mary todd lincoln carriage follows Lincoln's

from capitol plaza.

THE 1965 CROWDS WITNESS CLOSING OF LINCOLN second inaugural RE-ENACTMENT CEREMONY.

photographic facsimiles from newspapers in the Capital

itself,

ark, Chicago, phia,

from Boston,

Dallas,

In fact newspaper cov-

cities.

erage practically blanketed the Nation. the

Committee

feels

bound

news media

a credit to the mass

And

to say,

in all

its

forms not only for the time and space devoted

commemoration but

to the

the wire services

tainly, torial

some

reportorial treatment via

and correspondents

that the

This,

cer-

indicia of the dramatic repor-

Union was alerted own commemoration of the centennial the Soviet

commemoration

the

press releases

commemoration preliminary press contacts were made

and

and the press and other communication media kept informed through the offices of the Metropolitan Washington Board of Trade

William A. Ring, and through Paul J. Sedgwick who was in charge of public rela-

and

its

tions.

The

pertinent

officials

of the Library

and furnished other preliminary

of the second inaugural

dateline

self-explanatory.

news media informed on developments

own, cannot be determined here. But an Associated Press story from Moscow under an 14, 1965,

Before

the

on the East Front of the Capitol, or whether the Soviet officials arrived at the idea on their

April

Library of Foreign Literature. The exhibit includes about 100 publications by and about Lincoln.

Lincoln's death by the worldwide attention to the

exhibition

devoted to the looth anniversary of the death of Abraham Lincoln has opened in Moscow's

of Congress, associated with the project, kept

impact.

Whether its

in these pages gives a frag-

accorded the centennial.

press

Moscow (AP) â&#x20AC;&#x201D;A Memorial

also for the taste

and balance and the reverence generally with which the story was handled. montage of the news coverage ment of the solid

it is:

Russia Honors Lincoln

San Francisco, Tulsa, Philadel-

and other

all this,

Here

New-

data, largely

of a historical nature.

Raleph E. Becker, General Counsel for the Board of Trade, directed one of the most

permanent features memoration. This medallion and the

com-

come out

the lOoth anniversary

official plate in

of the

honor of the

event.

[46]

OFFICIAL PLATE IN CONGRESS.

HONOR OF ANNIVERSARY IS STRUCK OFF UNDER PUBLIC LAW 88-427, 88TH WERE TAKEN FROM THE COLLECTION OF RALPH E. BECKER, POLITICAL

ILLUSTRATIONS

AMERICANA, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, WASHINGTON,

The medal carries a sculptured profile of Abraham Lincoln by Charles Calverley, an artist

of considerable reputation

native of Albany, N.Y., (see picture p. 48).

One

Centennial.

in 1914

side of the

medal

has the legend: "1865-1965. ral

who was

who died

and

D.C.

reverse side there

the famous excerpt

the second inaugural:

none

two in

fasces.

from

"With malice toward

inscribed in a frame consisting of

The medallions were

bronze and sterling

silver.

struck off

few

in 14

Second Inaugu-

karat gold are for presentation to the Presi-

On the

dent of the United States, the Vice President,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Abraham Lincoln."

[47

MEDALLION TO COMMEMORATE INAUGURAL RE-ENACTMENT.

and the Speaker of the House. The bronze medals are being sold for $3 and the sterling

The

for $10. is

official distributor

Charles Ernest,

ton,

D.C.

#711

14th Street,

The medals were

medal

of the

cast

Washing-

by Medallic

The

ceramic

official

plate

(see

picture

47) was illustrated from the collection of

General Counsel Becker of cana

value as a pictorial lesson, of intriguing interest, in one of the most absorbing moments of

American

It is

history.

anticipated that

distribution will be practically unlimited

Arts.

Schary film to come from the commemoration is expected to be of compelling classroom

now in

central

Ameri-

political

the Smithsonian Institution.

Its

and dominating scene shows the

reception

the

Surrounding

White House, March

4, 1865.

background view of the general inaugural scene, the "without malice" excerpt, and facing each other the portraits of Lincoln and Johnson.

his

Vice President,

Andrew

In a small inset just below the

scene of the

effectiveness

White House reception

interesting and gay reproduction of the tacle at the Patent Office

spec-

Building during the

Grand Ball celebrating the inauguration. The educational significance of the Dore

and this

predicated upon the quality of

the product under the direction

enjoyed,

sponsorship under con-

the dignity of

its

gressional aegis,

and the engaging, appealing

and

are scenes of the taking of the

Presidential oath, a

Assurance of

for time without end.

its

historical nature of the subject.

It is

official

congressional documentary

on freedom. This Committee

feels

that

first

rate

achievement of excellent merit throughout has been accomplished by the

commemora-

one hundredth anniversary of the second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln on tion of the

the steps of the Capitol and takes pleasure in paying tribute to the Congress for passing the resolution

who

[48]

making

possible,

did their part for

its

and

to all those

success.

Presentation of

Gold Medallion

to President TN -*

A SMALL but distinguished White House

ceremony, April

com-

1967, a special

mittee of the Joint Committee on Arrangements of the Congress of the United States, celebrating the centennial of

Abraham

Johnson

Chairman

Lyndon

B. Johnson,

struck off gold a

full

two

years after the

inauguration of

offi-

function honoring this point in history

reached one of

The medal on one

its

(see

side of

high moments.

page 47) bears the profile the

inscription in raised lettering at the circum-

2nd

ference: "1865-1965. tennial

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Abraham

sculptured profile

Inaugural

Lincoln."

1914.

The

Cen-

superbly

was taken from the work

of the noted Charles Calverley

who

died in

reverse side has carved

the immortal sentence

upon it from the second in-

augural "with malice toward none

The White House

Illinois.

Executive Director of the re-enactment.

The

actual

hand-to-hand

presentation was rich in

dignity and addresses of mutual appreciation. The special committee was headed by the

presentation

was made by Mr. Becker, who said: "Mr. President, I am honored that Congressman Price has requested

Abraham Lincoln with

his

Representative Fred Schwengel, of Iowa, who had been re-elected in 1966, and who was the

Thus

the

and

Committee. Representative Paul Findley of

commemoration

Abraham Lincoln

Price, of Illinois,

were:

Ralph E. Becker, a noted Washington lawyer, who was Chairman of the Special Program

Lin-

hundredth anniversary of the second

of the

cial

occasion.

who

appointees,

with an especially

medal of the

Melvin

sentative

coln's second inauguration presented Presi-

dent

of the Joint Committee, Repre-

to be the

spokesman as the Chairman of the Program Committee of the Second Inaugural Centennial of

with

this

Abraham Lincoln

you to which was struck medal gold

commemorate sion.

to present

This

this

important historic occa-

an important commemorative

item that has sculptured on one side a profile

ley of

Abraham Lincoln by

New

York,

who

Charles Calver-

died about 50 years

ago. The medal was made by the Medallic Art Company of New York. This company also made many of the recent inaugural

medals.

[49]

THE WHITE HOUSE PRESENTATION CEREMONY a special committee of the joint committee on arrangements on april 5, 1967, presents president johnson with the gold medallion commemorating the centennial of abraham

ralph e. becker, chairman program committee; REP. MELVIN price, OF ILLINOIS, CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON ARRANGEMENTS; THE president; rep. PAUL FINDLEY, of ILLINOIS; REP. FRED SCHWENGEL, OF IOWA, WHO INITIATED CENTENNIAL PROGRAM. Lincoln's second inauguration,

(l.

r.)

[50]

"On

believe that

the reverse side of the medal, as you

will see,

an excerpt from

the Second Inau-

one of our greatest

With Malice Toward None With Chanty For All With Firmness in The Right

know

others do, the heavy sibilities

your

The

know

exemplified

most

difficult

had come

him from

parents of soldiers in Vietnam.

This

In carrying this

Lincoln

a pile of letters

and burdensome respon-

dent read from some

philosophy is an

them

man-

random.

hundreds of such

of the

soldiers

and the

The

letters,

Presi-

selecting

explained he receives

letters

every

week and

to this

philosophy

through

the

appreciate your kind words.

made

The

lettersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; with

a point to reply to

them

individually.

some few exceptions

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

expressed deep loyalty for President Johnson

circumstances."

and endorsed the position he

President Johnson replied: "I

and showed them

that

this

it is

and the

President then called the small group

to his desk

you have lived up You have also standard. noble and high I

office

philosophy that has guided this administration in both domestic and foreign policy."

transcends political parties and today it international goal for the well-being of kind.

you have indicated.

full well, as millions of

office.

States.

will merit the confidence

out the duties of

"This philosophy, Mr. President, is as true over loo today as it was when it was uttered I

loyalty that

As God Gives us To See the Right Let Us Strife On To Finish The Worl{ We Are In."

years ago.

that

hope

not the greatest Presi-

dent in the history of the United

gural speech: "

Abraham Lincoln was and

truly

Vietnam.

[51]

taking in

Tragic Sequel to the Second Inauguration

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; The Death

Abraham Lincoln

Epilogue "As

would not be

a master. racy.

a slave, so

This expresses

Whatever

differs

tent of the difference,

The

assassination of

lowed so that the

would not be

idea of democ-

from this, to the no democracy."

Abraham Lincoln

second

must extinguish our resentment if we harmony and union. There is too much of the desire on the part of some of

"We fol-

close upon the second inauguration Committee feels this report incom-

without a brief and compact summary of this agonizing historical tragedy second

War itself. It how different the

only to the tragedy of the Civil simple enough to foresee

full

ex-

plete

decency had Lincoln survived his term in the White House.

immediate post-Civil War period and reconstruction would have been in conciliation and

expect

our very good friends to be master, to interwith and dictate to those States, to treat

fere

people not as fellow citizens; there is too little respect for their rights. I do not sympathize in these feelings."

On Good

Friday, April 14, 1865, a flam-

boyant, ranting hopelessly vain actor, whose sanity

for historians

still

a matter of grave

FORD S THEATRE, SCENE OF Lincoln's ASSASSINATION,

NOW

BEING

REMODELED.

PHOTOGRAPH OF ACTUAL LINCOLN FUNERAL HEARSE.

THE LINCOLN FUNERAL PROCESSION ON PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE.

3-^s?i

m;'-'^r

;;.:

doubt, shot and killed President Lincoln.

This was

during a performance of a play of

American

"Our

distinction:

special

Washington, Cousin," in Ford's Theatre D.C. This theater is even now, 1965, being in

chinist

was arrested

for assault

and

battery.

followed by perhaps the most extraordinary paragraph in the annals of police

This

history in the United States.

Here

it is

verbatim:

15, 1865,

"Between the hours of ten and Eleven o'clock at Night A telegram was received at

words—"with charity just 42 days after the for all"— that contribute so much to making

the 8th precinct station from headquarters S. that Abraham Lincoln President of the

restored to

as of the

identical appearance

its

time of the assassination.

April

box

the second inaugural address perhaps the outside of Holy greatest speech ever spoken Writ, Lincoln died. Lincoln's secretaries,

had been

who were present at the bedside observed that: "A look of unspeakable peace came over And at about 7:22 that his worn features."

Honourable William H. Seward Secretary of State had been stabed [sic] and seriously

fateful April morning, Stanton, seeing the President breathe his last, spoke the words

and

that will be recalled in history to

the end of

"NOW HE BELONGS TO THE

time:

AGES."

new theatre on tenth street tween E & F streets North Also

Here,

the

Library

Congress

that the

injured in the neck and his sons

Seward Assistant Secretary of Major C. Seward U.S.A.—had tally injured.

were

at [the]

The

who

—F.

State

been

fa-

assasin or assasins [sic]

time unknown.

became currently reported

the person

west be-

Fords

from

shot while sitting in a private

a late

hour

W. Booth

shot the president.

was

The

ex-

through the courtesy of the 5th Precinct of the

citement was Great throughout the precinct

the text

the feeling deep but the people were orderly

Washington Metropolitan of

the

pertinent

Police,

portion

page from

ARREST BOOK. The

the Precinct's

on Lincoln's assassination on April

entry

14, 1865,

preceded by the record of several routine arrests. One, at 4 in the afternoon of that is

fateful

day,

tells

20-year-old

hauled into the station on grancy.

Another

charge of va-

about 6 o'clock reports

the arrest of a 36-year-old soldier

charged

Then

with

"suspicion"

7 in the

woman

evening

and

who was dismissed.

a 36-year-old

ma-

[54

and

quiet.

The whole

force were

immedi-

ately put on duty by order of Supt Richards and were vigilant in the discharge of their

duty.

The

sad inteligence [sic] was received

by them with feelings of deep regret and an unbounded willing[nes]s was manifested to avenge the death of their beloved Chief MagThe gloom that overshadowed the istrate nation by the sad occurrence deeply affected the whole force and brought forth many heart felt

sympathies for the Nations

loss."