關於林肯的故事

美國英雄中，除了可能做到“我沒有撒過謊”的喬治·華盛頓外，誰得到的信任都比不上,接下來，小編給大家準備了關於林肯的故事,歡迎大家參考與借鑑。

By Harold Holzer

No American hero, with the possible exception of George "I Cannot Tell a lie" Washington, has been more encrusted with myth than Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln did boast virtues that required little embellishment. He rose from obscurity through hard work, self-education and honesty. He endured venomous criticism to save the Union and end slavery. He died shortly after his greatest triumph at the hands of an assassin. But tall-tale-tellers have never hesitated to rewrite Lincoln's biography. On Presidents' Day, it's well worth dispelling some perennial misconceptions about the man on the $5 bill.

1. Lincoln was a simple country lawyer.

This durable legend, personified by laconic Henry Fonda in John Ford's film "Young Mr. Lincoln," dies hard. Lincoln's law partner William H. Herndon, looking to boost his own reputation, introduced the canard that Lincoln cared little about his legal practice, did scant research, joked around with juries and judges, and sometimes failed to collect fees. Lincoln himself may have compromised his legal reputation with his oft-quoted admonition "Discourage litigation."

True, politics became lawyer Lincoln's chief ambition. Still, in the 1850s he ably (and profitably) represented the Illinois Central Railroad and the Rock Island Bridge Co. - the company that built the first railroad bridge over the Mississippi River - and earned a solid reputation as one of his home state's top appeals lawyers.

Lincoln's legal papers testify to a diverse and profitable practice. Had he not been "aroused," as he put it, to speak out in 1854 against the pro-slavery Kansas-Nebraska Act before seeking a Senate seat, he likely would have remained a full-time lawyer and earned fame and fortune at the bar.

2. Lincoln was gay.

Gay rights activist Larry Kramer has long speculated that Lincoln was gay, claiming in 1999 that he'd discovered Lincoln's love letters to onetime roommate Joshua Speed. The claim is reportedly featured in Kramer's forthcoming history of homosexuality, "The American People," but historian Gabor Boritt called Kramer's assertion "almost certainly . . . a hoax."

Still, the idea persists. In 2005, "The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln," written by queer theory professor C. A. Tripp - a colleague of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey - purported to prove that Lincoln was an active homosexual who married only to conform to 19th-century convention and continued flirting and sleeping with young men throughout his presidency. Tripp went so far as to suggest that Lincoln's sexual indifference is what contributed to his wife's mental illness.

Is it true? And if it is, does it matter? According to Herndon, Lincoln exhibited a "powerful" attraction to women and was a regular customer in prairie brothels before his marriage at age 33. His first son was born just nine months after his marriage, which suggests enthusiasm if not experience. Then again, proving that a man loves women isn't the same as proving that he doesn't love men. Maybe it's best to throw up our hands - and remember that Lincoln's sexual orientation is but a small part of his historical legacy.

3. Lincoln was depressed.

Four generations of biographers attest that Lincoln was often morose, but Washington College's Joshua Wolf Shenk made the case in his recent book, "Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled his Greatness," that the 16th president was clinically depressed. Lincoln certainly had moments of what he called the "hypo," most notably when his first serious crush, Ann Rutledge, died in 1835, and again when he broke up with fianc??e Mary Todd on the eve of their nuptials in 1841. (They reconciled the next year.)

Though I co-edited a collection of Lincoln papers with Shenk, we disagree on this point. Genuine depression was untreatable in the 19th century, and its victims often descended into madness or took their own lives. It is impossible to reconcile this debilitating disease with the Lincoln who labored tirelessly and effectively during his demanding presidency. Clinically depressed people often can't get out of bed, let alone command an army.

Was Lincoln sad? Sure - his son Willie died of fever in the White House in 1862, while the president himself led a war that would take the lives of 600,000 other young men. It would be far more remarkable had Lincoln remained perennially jolly.

4. Lincoln was too compassionate.

Much has been made by poet and Lincoln biographer Carl Sandburg and other historians over the notion that Lincoln was a serial pardoner. This is untrue - Lincoln not only approved the execution of deserters, but 38 alleged Indian raiders were hanged by his order in Mankato, Minn. on Dec. 26, 1862, still the largest mass execution on U.S. soil.

Meanwhile, Lincoln conducted the bloodiest war in American history to preserve the Union, authorized the deployment of deadly new weaponry such as mines, ironclad warships and niter (a 19th-century version of napalm), and accepted unprecedented casualties for his chosen cause.

The recent scandal over an altered National Archives pardon - a document allegedly changed by historian Thomas P. Lowry in 1998 to make it appear that Lincoln spent his final hours pardoning a soldier for desertion - gives us the opportunity to reconsider the chronic oversimplification of Lincoln's soft touch. In light of the Archives melee, historians should re-examine the thousands of pardons Lincoln issued to weigh their authenticity and balance them against the death sentences he did allow.

5. Lincoln was mortally ill.

No shortage of armchair physicians are ready to diagnose Lincoln 150 years after his death. He had cardiovascular disease, some say. Or he had the rare genetic disorder Marfan's Syndrome. Or he had the fatal cancer MEN2B. Had Lincoln not been assassinated on April 14, 1865, medical historians like John Sotos imply, he would have died soon enough without John Wilkes Booth's help.

If any of these illnesses wracked Lincoln's body during his presidency, how do we explain his inexhaustible physical constitution? Or the rarity of his wartime illnesses, limited to a mild bout of smallpox which killed his valet? How do we explain the ease with which the 56-year-old demonstrated his favorite frontier feat of strength - holding a heavy ax at arm's length between his fingers - just a few days before his death?

Like many presidents, Lincoln grew visibly haggard during his presidency. He also lost weight. But the physicians who attended him on his deathbed marveled at his muscular arms and chest. A weaker man, they concluded, would have died the minute he was shot. Lincoln fought off death for nine hours - hardly within the ability of a man with a pre-existing condition.

關於林肯的五個流言

Annuska/譯

美國英雄中，除了可能做到“我沒有撒過謊”的喬治·華盛頓外，誰得到的信任都比不上——被捧上神堂的——亞伯拉罕·林肯。林肯誇張地擁有未經雕飾的美德。他通過努力工作、自學，以誠實的品質，從卑微的位置往上走。爲保衛聯邦，爲結束奴隸制，他忍受了惡毒的攻擊。在贏得一生中最重要的勝利後，他死於暗殺。但誇張敘事的作者們從來不曾猶豫重寫林肯傳記。在總統日，消除一些——這男人的頭像印在5美元紙幣上——流言，是一件很有意義的事情。

流言1、林肯只不過是鄉村律師

精幹利落的亨利·方達在約翰·福特的電影《少年林肯》中的表演，使該傳言形象化，因此深入人心。林肯的合夥律師威廉姆·H·赫唐，爲了吹噓自己，造謠說林肯不關心自己的律師事務：調查潦草;與陪審員和法官開玩笑;有時候，還收不到賬。林肯經常輕責自己“對官司漠不關心”，因此可能也糟蹋了自己律師的名聲。

當然，律師林肯的第一追求是政治。然而，直到19世紀80年代，他成功地(也賺了一大筆)代表了伊利諾伊州中央鐵路和洛克島橋樑公司，該公司修建了第一條橫跨密西西比河的鐵路橋。這項業務確定了他在本州——屬於頂級律師行列——的牢固地位。

林肯的法律文件證明他業務多多、利潤豐厚。1854年，在競選參議員之前，如果他不“出頭”，強烈反對擁奴的《堪薩斯-內布拉斯加法案》，那麼他就可以依然當全職律師，在法庭上名利雙收。(《堪薩斯-內布拉斯加法案》使奴隸制得以向北擴張，引起堪薩斯內戰，進一步爆發了南北戰爭。——譯者注)。

2、林肯是同性戀

長久以來，同性戀權利活動家拉瑞·克拉梅認爲林肯是同性戀。1999年，他聲稱發現了林肯寫給以前室友——阿爾弗雷德·斯比特——的幾封情書。在克拉梅即將出版的同性戀歷史《美國人民》一書中，將突出該論斷。但歷史學家蓋博·博瑞特說克拉梅的說法“基本肯定……胡說八道。”

但，這說法一直流傳。2005年，一位酷兒理論教授C·A·特里普出版了《亞伯拉罕·林肯的隱祕世界》。該教授也是性學家阿爾弗雷德·金賽的同事。在書中，他一本正經地聲明林肯是一位活躍的同性戀人士，他結婚只是要符合19世紀的風俗，並且在總統任職期間，繼續和年輕男子調情、睡覺。特里普進一步深化，認爲林肯妻子由於他的性冷落，才患上精神疾病的。(酷兒理論：最早與同性戀有關的一些理論、說法，隨後引申至情色、男女等方面的研究，進一步指前衛觀點。——譯者注)

真的嗎?就算真的，又怎樣?據赫唐說，林肯對女人有“強烈的”吸引力;在33歲結婚前，他是牧場妓院的常客。結婚後9個月，他的長子就降生了，這說明即使他經驗不夠，也算熱情如火。當然，證明一個男人愛女人，並不能證明他不愛男人。或許最好的辦法是放開這個問題——要記住，林肯的性取向和其歷史功績幾乎沒有關係。

3、林肯性格憂鬱

整整四代傳記作家都認爲林肯常常憂鬱，然而，華盛頓大學的約書亞·沃爾夫·沈克在近期出版的《林肯的傷感：憂鬱症如何挑戰總統、激勵他的偉大》中列出證據，說第十六屆總統已被診斷患有憂鬱症。林肯自己也說有過不少“抓狂”的時候，特別是遭受了第一次嚴重打擊：安妮·魯特雷吉死於1836年;隨後1841年，在婚禮前夕，他與未婚妻瑪麗·託德分手。(第二年，兩人複合。)

儘管我與沈克一起編撰林肯資料，但對該問題，我們意見不同。在19世紀，真正的憂鬱症是不治之症，患者經常發瘋或自殺。總統的責任繁重，林肯不知疲倦地工作，並且效率很高。將令人崩潰的疾病和林肯聯繫起來，真的不可能。確診得了憂鬱症的人，幾乎不能下牀，遑論指揮軍隊了。

林肯鬱悶嗎?當然——1862年，他的兒子發高燒，死在了白宮;當時，他是總統，指揮一場戰爭,這場戰爭還奪走了60萬年輕男子的性命。如果這樣還要林肯保持開朗，未免太強人所難了。

4、林肯很仁慈

這個說法很大程度來自卡爾·桑伯格(詩人、林肯傳記作家)和其他一些歷史學家，他們認爲林肯一直慈悲爲懷。這不是真的——林肯不僅同意處決背棄者;而且簽署了——1862年12月26日在明尼蘇達州曼卡託絞死38名印第安襲擊者——的命令，迄今爲止，是在美國大地上發生的最大屠殺。(“最大”是指美國建國後，不包括殖民時代。——譯者注。)

同時，林肯爲保衛聯邦，進行了美國曆史上最血腥的戰爭，批准使用了一些致命武器，如水雷、裝甲戰艦和硝石(19世紀的凝固汽油彈);而且爲了他信仰的理由，不顧傷亡如何慘重。

近來，出現了一個醜聞：國家檔案館內的特赦令被扭曲了——1998年，歷史學家托馬斯·P·羅瑞有意扭曲了文件的內容，使其表現出林肯在最後時刻特赦了一名逃兵。這件醜聞讓人有機會反思：長期以來，過於簡化林肯柔軟的一面。隨着各類紛雜檔案的公佈，歷史學家應該重新審視林肯簽署的上萬份特赦，有多少是真實的;而且，還要對比他簽署的死刑令。

5、林肯身患重疾

他死後的150年，不少想入非非的內科醫生準備給林肯診斷。有人說，林肯有心臟病。還有人說，他患有罕見的馬凡氏綜合症(一種先天性、遺傳性結締組織疾病。——譯者注)。還有些人說，他患有致命的MEN2B癌症 (MEN2B爲甲狀腺髓樣癌，粘膜神經纖維瘤和嗜鉻細胞瘤。——譯者注) 。醫療歷史學家，如約翰·所託斯推論，如果1865年4月14日，他不死於暗殺，不用約翰·威克斯·布斯幫忙，他也快死了。(約翰·威克斯·布斯：刺殺林肯的兇手。——譯者注)

如果任職總統期間，林肯真患有這類疾病，那如何解釋他力量無窮無盡的體質?如何解釋戰爭期間，除了出過一次溫和的天花外，他極少生病?而那次天花，要了身邊男僕的命。在死前的幾天，56歲的他，用最愛的邊疆方式展示力量——用手指夾着一把重重的斧頭，伸出一臂的距離。他輕而易舉做到，該如何解釋?

林肯和很多總統一樣，在任職期間日益憔悴。他也變得消瘦。但臨終前，來到他牀前的醫生們，都對他健壯的胳膊和胸膛感到驚訝。他們說，體格稍微弱一些的人，挨槍子的幾分鐘後就會死亡。林肯和死亡搏鬥了九個小時——如果人以前患病的話，根本做不到。