Presidents of the United States - Biography, U.S. Politics & Government - 19th Century, 19th Century American History - Politics & Government - General & Miscellaneous, Presidents of the United States - General & Miscellaneous, 19th Century American Histo

Reelecting Lincoln

Name: Reelecting Lincoln
Author: John C. Waugh
ISBN: 9780517597668

by John C. Waugh

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Overview

Reelecting Lincoln: The Battle for the 1864 Presidency tells the dramatic story of perhaps the most critical election campaign in American history. Taking place in the midst of the Civil War, this election would determine the very future of the nation. Would the country be unified or permanently divided? Would slavery continue?

Weaving corroborative detail and rich anecdotal material into a fast-paced narrative, John C. Waugh succeeds in placing this pivotal election in its proper context while evoking its rich human drama. In these pages, the men and women who figured in this epic campaign emerge in bold relief, with all their strengths, weaknesses, and idiosyncrasies. The result is a page-turner that also happens to be a true story.

The best historical writing is the kind that makes the past come alive. Waugh, a former newspaper correspondent, proves that history need not be dry: he uses his journalistic skills to infuse the pages with the sights, sounds, and atmosphere of those times. Drawing from an extensive array of sources, including published and unpublished reminiscences, memoirs, autobiographies, letters, newspapers, and periodicals, he clearly evokes the drama and uncertainty of that fateful year with all the immediacy of a political reporter covering a national presidential election today.

About the Author, John C. Waugh

John C. Waugh is a newspaperjournalist turned historical reporter. He was a staff correspondent and bureau chief for The Christian Science Monitor for many years. He has also served on the staffs of Vice President Nelson Rockefeller and U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico. His previous book, The Class of 1846, won the New York Civil War Round Table's Fletcher Pratt Literary Award for the best nonfiction book on the Civil War published in 1994. Waugh lives in Arlington, Texas.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The appeal of this portrait is that it is not overly ambitious: it does not attempt to redefine or reinterpret Lincoln, but to present him as a politician running for reelection during a particularly difficult year. Waugh, a former Christian Science Monitor journalist, states that he set out to cover the presidential election of 1864 as a reporter rather than as a historian, covering such nonpolitical matters as the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg or the elaborate wedding of Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase's daughter. The book remains a richly detailed examination of wartime politics in which the radical elements within Lincoln's own party and in Congress were more of a threat than the Democratic candidate, retired Gen. George McClellan. Waugh covers Lincoln's major political battles, such as the Democratic national convention in Chicago, but does not overlook the seemingly small ones, such as an obscure but important appointment for a hack job in the New York City customs house. In August, Lincoln thought he would lose the election; in November, after Lincoln was reelected, General Grant wrote that it was "worth more to the country than a battle won." Typical of Waugh's effective use of small details are his descriptions of weather, especially of brutally humid Washington summers.