Team of Rivals

Team of Rivals, by noted historian Doris Kearns-Goodwin has been on my bookshelf for years. My mother-in-law gave it to me when it as first published, after she had tried and failed to get interested in the story. It seemed I was doomed to the same fate, finding the large cast of characters to be confusing and just not being in the mood for it. Yet I always went back to this book, knowing that if I could just work through my initial inability to be captured by the story, I would be okay. And finally I did. And it was worth the wait.

The story of how Lincoln rather improbably became the nominee for the White House on the Republican ticket in 1860 is a fascinating one. The tale of what he did after - running a terrific campaign, working past the prejudices of those who saw him as unschooled hick, bringing together warring factions of his party to form unity - this is the stuff that has made the Lincoln legend so compelling to generation after generation. In a time unlike any other, with a country facing civil war, Lincoln was the man for the job. If one is so inclined - and I am - ordained by God, to navigate through what remain the darkest days of our history.

Kerns-Goodwin named her book Team of Rivals because, once elected, Lincoln made the master move of including his former rivals for the nomination as key members of his cabinet. He also maintained a balance in his cabinet that helped to placate the various states in the union and wings of the newly formed Republican party. There were the radicals; men like Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, who despised slavery and saw the war as a means of ending it. And, there were more conservative men like Montgomery Blair, a powerful figure in Washington whom Lincoln named as Postmaster General, and who remained loyal to Lincoln even after his forced resignation.

Secretary of State Henry Seward emerges as the most capable and ethical "teammate" for the President, as well as being simply a fascinating man. I walked away wanting to read a book about him and him alone, for he was so much what a statesman is imaged as and ought to be. Truly, Seward - who was a passionate anti-slavery advocate with a long, distinguished career in the Senate - was Lincoln's closet confidante, a friend who was often the sounding board for the President and who many times endured criticisms as being the power-behind the throne. Nothing could have been further from the truth - Lincoln was his own man.

Like Seward, Edwin Stanton (Secretary of War) shines in this story. Stanton was not the most likable of men, and he initially treated Lincoln with contempt. However, he quickly understood the genius of Lincoln and came to respect him enormously. The two men had a necessarily close relationship, since after all, the Civil War was happening for the entirety of the Lincoln presicedcy. One sees how they played off each other; Lincoln giving Stanton all the room in world to run his War Department as brilliantly as he did, but ultimately never relinquishing his role as Commander in Chief. It is a fascinating example of judicious use of Presidential power, and an example of what (I think) our founders would have envisioned.

The places these people inhabited during the 1850's and '60's come alive under Goodwin's skilled descriptive powers. One can almost feel themselves there at Kate Chase's elegant dinners or walking from one Department head's home to another's in Washington at twilight. Lincoln with his feet up at the telegraph office or on horseback visiting his beleagered troops is a sight I could easily see in  my mind's eye, thanks to Godwin's patient unfolding of scene after scene. She all but lights a fire for us to curl up to while she describes what the men and women of the day were doing. Conversations, moods and conflicts are as expertly rendered as at the hands of the most adept novelist.

It seems that, more than any other president, understanding Lincoln the man is essential in understanding Lincoln the leader. This book focuses on the workings of a war-time administration, so there is some biographical detail of the early Lincoln, Mary Todd and others, but not an exhaustive study, which is good. Anyone already familiar with the life stories of these figures would have no interest in, for example, walking back over the dreary boyhood of Abe Lincoln. But Lincoln's personality and life experiences influenced him profoundly as a leader, perhaps in no way more than his penchance for forgiving and even rewarding those who had done him ill. When things sour between Lincoln and Chase, Lincoln rightly accepts Chase's resignation. Yet he names Chase as Chief Justcice. A picture emerges of Lincoln as a man always thinking, always aware, always able to know where he stands and what will work, but not bloviating about it all the time. Even-tempered and kind, he never grossly asserted himself, but just was who he was and did what he had to do, always thinking of the welfare of those around him. When his beloved son, Willie, died in the White House, Lincoln was consumed with grief, but never once shirked his duties. Goodwin reveals the person Lincoln was and not the myths that surround him. She suggests he was not the depressed man scholars have thought but a complicated mix of cheerfulness, gregariousness and meloncholy. She reclaims the Lincoln marriage from those who would say it was loveless and that Mary Todd Lincoln was a long-mad, nightmare wife. Indeed, their relationship seems to be one of love, loyalty and tenderness.

No historical figure, with the possible exception of Napoleon, has ever been as examined and discussed as Lincoln. And yet Goodwin finds things that are new. To approach the subject in the way she has by lacing together the stories of dozens of men and women, the saga of a bloody war, the moods of a country divided and the character of a man at the center of it, was genius. A master work by a brilliant historian.