About book Team Of Rivals: The Political Genius Of Abraham Lincoln (2006)
If you’ve ever asked yourself, Abraham Lincoln, what is with that guy? This is the book for you.The answer to that question is both simple and complex. It’s complex because all people are complex, and the political landscape that Lincoln navigated–although lacking 24 hour news cycles, talking heads, and loudmouthed pundits–was nevertheless a treacherous and multi-faceted one. Team of Rivals is in large part Doris Kearns Goodwin’s attempt to illustrate just exactly how it was that he navigated those treacherous waters: gaining the presidency, winning the loyalty of the newly formed Republican party and love of the people despite his lack of education and political clout, bringing the country through the Civil War, passing one of the most influential pieces of legislation in history, and ultimately, ending with his assassination, and the Abraham Lincoln-shaped hole left in the world.I say it is also simple because if DKG is to be believed (and I do believe her), Lincoln accomplished these things the same way he did everything in his life: by being a kindhearted, rational man with a good head for common sense on his shoulders, and a willingness to really listen and understand both his rivals and his allies. Early on in the book, DKG chronicles Lincoln’s tendency towards ‘melancholy,’ which she concludes was largely brought on by his extreme empathy. He brought a balance to everything he did that is probably most exemplified by his decision to bring his political rivals into his cabinet, and make them his chief advisors, a decision for which he was criticized, even by those same cabinet members.The book is as much about those rivals as it is about Lincoln. William H. Seward, the most heavily favored candidate for president in 1860. Salmon P. Chase, a noted abolitionist, and a man simultaneously riddled with insecurities and absolutely rabid about his desire for the presidency, to the point where he believes himself destined for it, even though he has no talent for judging the climate of a situation. Edward Bates, the elderly statesman, who ran for president and then joined Lincoln’s cabinet despite a fierce desire to remain at home with his family. And Edwin M. Stanton, the famous lawyer, who upon first meeting Lincoln thought him incredibly dull and a hopeless rube. These are the men Lincoln surrounded himself with, and it’s notable that with the exception of Chase, who was a first class egomaniac and a total asshole to the end, all of them came to understand what a remarkable man Lincoln was, and to appreciate his unique abilities.DKG’s writing is remarkably thorough, and by time I finished the book, I felt like I’d been through a master-class of Civil War era politics. Like all good historical writers, she mostly refrains from passing judgment, letting the evidence speak for itself. There were a few parts where I questioned the ‘Team of Rivals’ concept, but mostly only in regards to Chase. Seriously, you guys, that dude was really smart and he’s basically the reason we have paper money and everything, and he almost single-handedly helped fund the war effort, but . . . ASSHOLE. He never once acknowledged Lincoln’s aptitude for the presidency, believing until the end that HE should have been president, even going so far as to sow disloyalty in the cabinet leading up to the 1864 election (which he again was surprised at not being a top candidate, showing his total inability to understand why people disliked him). Of course, these actions cost him his place in the cabinet, even if he never understood why (he also never understood why his actions were so harmful). I mean, this is a guy who REGULARLY threatened to resign as a negotiation tactic with Lincoln, because he had the emotional maturity of an eight year old. But I will not say any more about Chase other than to emphasize that I really wish DKG would have clarified a little more why exactly he was such an essential piece of the team, because honestly, I think he was more trouble than he was worth. Lincoln, bless his heart, probably would have disagreed with me. He defended Chase’s integrity to the end, even giving him the Chief Justice position over several other less controversial candidates, because he truly believed Chase was the right man for the job, despite the backstabbing and manipulating he very well knew about.Besides the big stuff, Team of Rivals was also chock full of tiny little details that were by turns amusing and disturbing. I will never get over Mary Lincoln and her shopping addiction, or how Lincoln’s secretaries called her ‘The Hellcat’ (they called Lincoln ‘The Ancient’). VP Andrew Johnson was totally wasted at the 1965 inauguaration, to the point of forgetting cabinet members’ names during his speech, and pointing to them instead. Almost all of the cabinet members took drastic paycuts to be in the cabinet, to the point where a couple risked financial ruin. And of course, the little tidbits about Lincoln himself. How awkward he was with the ladies, how much he loved to read (he carried a book with him everywhere), how he told stories constantly as a way to communicate . . . so many tidbits.It took me three months to read this book, via audiobook. It was worth it. This is the kind of history I wish I would have read in high school, not that sanitized dumbed-down crap. The kind that takes history out of the realm of story, and gives it flesh and blood. The kind that makes me feel enough to cry for ten minutes while driving, to the point where I had to stop and park to gather my bearings. The kind of history that makes you feel the joy, and the wasted potential. The thing that makes me most sad–besides Lincoln’s death, obviously, is that with that idiot Andrew Johnson running things, the chance of a productive Reconstruction period (full of Lincoln’s trademark common sense and empathy, even for the South) went to almost nothing. How much different things could be even today if Lincoln had been the one to shepherd the reunification of our country, we’ll never know. But I like to think it would have mattered. That one man can be that influential, just by being kind and sympathetic from a place of power. It’s the reason Lincoln is so mythologized. He’s easy to mythologize. Hell, this is my favorite t-shirt, and I wear it with pride:Fittingly, DKG ends her book with this quote, that I feel sums up things nicely.“Washington was a typical American. Napoleon was a typical Frenchman, but Lincoln was a humanitarian as broad as the world. He was bigger than his country – bigger than all the Presidents together.”It’s a good book, is what I’m saying.[4.5 stars]
When Rod Blagojevich was impeached and hauled off to prison, that made four of the previous seven Illinois governors to have done time. Countless representatives and aldermen have been locked up, too. Then there was my wife’s favorite: a former Secretary of State found after his death to have $800,000 stuffed in shoe boxes. Our reputation for corrupt politicians is, I dare say, unsurpassed. Fortunately, we here in the Land of Lincoln (as we call it on our license plates) have one historical figure capable of tipping the scales back towards respectability.I’ve taken a real interest in Abe and his legacy in recent months (more on why in a minute). Of the books I’ve read, this one and David Herbert Donald’s Lincoln are my favorites. They both deserve credit for finding unique space within what is arguably the most densely populated expanse of American history. Goodwin focused on Lincoln’s clever leadership in bringing together a group of his former opponents, thinking them to be the most capable cabinet members at a very challenging time. We get thoroughly researched sketches of:Edwin Stanton – a bitter rival contemptuous of Lincoln when they were both involved in a famous court case. He called Lincoln a long armed ape, but was subsequently recruited by a magnanimous Lincoln to be Secretary of War and grew to love the President.Salmon Chase – one of the founders of the new Republican Party who felt he was owed the nomination that Lincoln ultimately won, later did laudable work as Lincoln’s Treasury Secretary.William Seward – a senator and later governor of New York, was certain he was going to win the nomination in 1860. After Lincoln offered him the Secretary of State post, Seward figured on seizing power by essentially running his own government within the cabinet only to discover Lincoln’s skill at bringing different factions together. In Seward’s capacity as the anti-yes man, he became Lincoln’s best ally and friend.Edward Bates – a senior presence within the party who was coaxed into running against Lincoln in the primaries. After losing that battle he reluctantly took the job as Attorney General for the good of the troubled nation. He initially thought of Lincoln as an incompetent bureaucrat, but ultimately concluded that he was “very near being a ‘perfect man.’” Naturally, most of the spotlight fell on Lincoln himself. Goodwin showed us the tricky waters that led to the Emancipation Proclamation on 4/1/1863 – a Good Friday in every way – as well as other less famous but still important milestones that required a masterful helmsman. I give her ample credit for underscoring his sound judgment, his political savvy, his wry sense of humor, and his superabundant humanity. So why my sudden interest in Lincoln? I thought you’d never ask. Aside from the fact that he is probably the most analyzed and lionized figure in American history, it looks like I have a personal connection as well. I was revisiting some genealogical research I’d started years ago, knowing that the internet now reveals more ties than those dusty tomes I used to find in libraries and court houses ever did. One of my ancestors, Joseph Hanks, had a sister named Lucy who I’d never bothered following up on before. Anyway, according to ancestry.com, she was the mother of an illegitimate daughter named Nancy who was, by all known accounts, Abe’s mother. It was one of those can-this-really-be-true moments. But I triple-checked every link and am as sure as anyone can be given existing records that Abe is my second cousin six times removed. I’d originally thought to look into a DNA test like the one they did to explain all those red-haired, brown-skinned kids running around Monticello, but then decided against it. I wouldn’t know who to contact, it would likely be expensive, and I’d rather just assume that it’s true.Of course I realize this is a watered down relationship, and for all I know hundreds if not thousands of other people can make this same claim. I have to confess, though, that for a while I thought of myself differently. My gaunt face and hollow cheeks were no longer flaws, but indicative family traits. And though I haven’t tried to grow a beard in years, I’m certain if I did, it would be scraggly. I even looked for examples where I could count myself as a cut above in probity, eloquence and fair-mindedness. Before I got to the point of imagining Daniel Day-Lewis playing me in a biopic of my soon-to-be famous life, I realized that I was still just me – a guy who needs to remember that humility is one of his few attractive traits. Besides, (this is the really weird part) I did more digging into my family roots and discovered that my great-great-grandmother, Cora Claudine Flickinger from Byhalia, Ohio had a sister named Lula Dell Flickinger who the internet shows was the grandmother of one Barbara Pierce Bush. That makes me a somewhat less diluted third cousin once removed of George W. Bush. Suffice it to say I now think of these genealogical ties as less meaningful. I lack the power and initiative to unshackle an oppressed segment of society, but then I don’t feel any compulsion to invade Iraq either.So please understand I’m not obsessed by my connections, but today of all days, after reviewing this wonderful book, I feel enough of a kinship to quote my famous cousins. As Lincoln said, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” Cousin Dubya modified the quote (for real) observing that, “You can fool some of the people all the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on.”Are any of you picturing Pinocchio in a jester’s hat right now, perhaps in place of a white Rubik’s cube? Any theories on why I feel compelled to do this? I’m curious myself. Am I dissatisfied with reality and need the artifice to spice things up? (No, I’m luckier than most and I know it.) Am I simply attempting to entertain? (Hmm… sounds a little too noble and generous – probably not.) Am I trying to switch the focus away from anything relevant to shine the light on me, myself and I? (That’s probably closest to the mark. Either that or I’ve got a genetic predisposition for dishonesty.) If there’s any good that’s come of this, it’s that I’m now truly eager to read Team of Rivals.
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An elegantly crafted epic that is as gripping of a read as a novel: history can be eminently entertaining. I heard Goodwin interviewed on Radio West and she describes researching this book for 10 years. She utilizes a richness of primary sources to give the reader the opportunity to know well not just Lincoln but the many who surrounded him.I dreaded reaching the last pages of this book--there was only one way for it to end. The death of Lincoln, although foreshadowed, comes as abruptly in this account as I am sure it did for those there. And, having become intimately acquainted with those close to Lincoln, the evoked emotion is not only at the death of great leader just when the country most relied on his magnanimity to repair and reconstruct a war-torn land, but for those whose grief was inconsolable at that time.
—Kelly
I heard Goodwin talk about this book on NPR, and she sounded like she'd been an eyewitness to the events. Sold me the book.On June 17th--I've been a hundred pages from the end for ten days. I don't want Abe to die.July 17th -- Okay, I finally made myself finish. Abe's dead and I'm a wreck.In this book Goodwin puts Abraham Lincoln in the context of his peers, many of whom ran against him for the first Republican nomination for president (remember they'd just invented that party) and one of whom, Stanton, had treated him with outright contempt in a law case years before. Seward accepted the job of Secretary of State thinking Lincoln would be his puppet, and Chase literally ran his second campaign for president out of the Department of the Treasury. Lincoln understood them all, tolerated them all, put them all to work for the nation that needed them so badly, and jollied, coaxed, cajoled and reasoned them all to victory. A reporter asked him how he could take all these vipers to his bosom and Lincoln replied that these were the best and most able men available and their country needed them, and that he wouldn't be doing his job if he didn't put them to work for it. There can't be anyone who has ever occupied the Oval Office more selfless than Abe.This book is wonderfully written, accessible even to the most casual reader, full of humor and choler and kindness and vitriol, and wisdom. Goodwin has that ability known only to the best historians (David McCullough does, too) to pluck the exact quote necessary from the record to illuminate the scene she is describing, and make the transition from past to present seamless. Listen to Goodwin on Lincoln in his 1862 state of the union address (pp. 406-7):...he closed his message with a graceful and irrefutable argument against the continuation of slavery in a democratic society, the very essence of which opened "the way to all," granted "hope to all," and advanced the "condition of all." In this "just, and generous, and prosperous system," he reasoned, "labor is prior to, and independent of, capital." Then, reflecting upon the vicissitudes of his own experience, Lincoln added: "The prudent, penniless beginner in the world, labors for wages awhile, saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land for himself; then labors on his own account another while, and at length hires another new beginner to help him." Clearly this upward mobility, the possibility of self-realization so central to the idea of America, was closed to the slave unless and until he became a free man.The American Dream, articulated, in words guaranteed to be understood by everyone. You close this book knowing not just about these people, you actually feel like you know them, especially Abe.Impossible, after reading this book, not to wonder what our nation would look like had Lincoln survived his second term. Impossible not to grieve his loss.
—Dana Stabenow
How many political leaders would select some of those who had been competitors for power to serve with them? This book explores just that question--with Abraham Loncoln as the leader who seated some of his top opponents for the Republican nomination for President in 1860 in his Cabinet. This is a multiple biography, demanding a well organized volume to keep the five key characters' lives and actions in focus. The key players who served on Lincoln's Cabinet whom Goodwin examines include Edwin Stanton, Salmon Chase, William Seward, and Edward Bates--as well as Lincoln himself. The chemistry among these players was sometimes problematic. Chase's ambitions sometimes drove him to near mutiny against Lincoln. Seward began by thinking that Lincoln should, in essence, defer to him. Bates was an elder statesman who had some presidential ambitions in 1860. And, of course, the workaholic Edwin Stanton. The book revolves around the interaction of these characters in what is akin to a fine drama. It also displays Lincoln's ability to get the most out of this set of powerful political actors, to keep them moving forward as a team (even when there were clear differences and tensions). It made good political sense for Lincoln to reach out to this disparate group of people--but it also brought some of the most capable leaders into his Cabinet. In short, an illuminating volume that informs the reader in some detail about the unique set of characters who had to work together to maintain the Union.
—Steven Peterson
