After 100 Years, The Lincoln Memorial Still Inspires
Recently, my wife and I took our three children to Washington, D.C. for the first time. We saw much of the city, including all of the memorials on the National Mall. Everyone’s favorite by far was the one dedicated to President Abraham Lincoln 100 years ago today.
On May 30, 1922, President Warren G. Harding, Chief Justice (and former president) William Howard Taft, and Lincoln’s only surviving son — Robert (then 78) — stood in front of thousands to open to the public a Roman-style temple in memory of our 16th president — who could save the union but sadly, not himself.
As early as a few days after Lincoln’s assassination at Ford’s Theater in April 1865, there were calls for a national memorial to the martyred president before he had even been buried in Illinois. While smaller-scale models sprang up around the country, decades of Congressional opposition and wrangling couldn’t get the entire country to rally behind a singular way to remember the Great Emancipator. It wasn’t until 1910 — 45 years after Lincon’s death — that Congress was able to move forward with plans and appropriation of funds to design a fitting memorial opposite the Washington Monument, which by then was only 25 years old.
It took 12 years and a few fights over size, scale, look and feel, but by Memorial Day 1922, construction was finished. The structure, which was seen rising over the western end of the mall (previously an actual swamp) was complete. The centerpiece of the interior is a 19-foot statue of Lincoln designed by the renowned artist Daniel Chester French. Above his head is an inscription that reads:
IN THIS TEMPLE
AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE
FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION
THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
IS ENSHRINED FOREVER
It’s hard to imagine words like that being written about anyone in contemporary American politics, particularly over the last few decades. Words like these — coupled with the millions of visitors to the memorial every year, make me wonder why Lincoln still resonates almost 160 years after his time on Earth. Much has been written about him, his life, and his presidency. More books have been written about Abraham Lincoln (approximately 15,000) than any other person who has ever lived, sans Jesus of Nazareth. His every word and thought have been dissected by historians and scholars. But it’s important to remember for the sake of history that, when Lincoln was killed, he was still hated by millions of Americans who had just fought a war in an attempt to break away and start a new country. It was only through Lincoln’s insistence that the country must remain intact that we even had a chance to do so.
His legacy is one of union and, of course, emancipation. For millions of African-Americans, many of whom were enslaved during Lincoln’s lifetime, his legacy is a complicated one. While he may not have been personally dedicated to abolition as a public figure, his ultimate actions in signing the Emancipation Proclamation and his push to pass the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery are rightly seen as more important.
In memorializing Lincoln, who was — after all — just a rail-splitter from Kentucky, the United States chose to literally place him and his memory upon a pedestal. While many Americans have been lionized (Washington, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and — lately — the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.), Lincoln has been deified. His temple is a holy place where generations have come to gather and in whose spirit many have pushed for new truths and old, inalienable rights. Dr. King had a dream on those steps and Marian Anderson before him was allowed to sing on them when she could not sing anywhere else.
Besides the statue and solemnity of the “temple” dedicated to our 16th president, his words are carved onto either side of the interior walls. On one side is his second inaugural address which sought “malice toward none … charity for all.” On the other, the Gettysburg Address, in which Lincoln half-falsely reminded those in attendance at the new Pennsylvania military cemetery that “… the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they [the soldiers who died] did here.”
How wrong Lincoln was when he suggested such a thing. The proof, of course, is that those very words — and the remaining 251 of the speech — have not only been recited by generations of schoolchildren but were forever carved into marble a century ago. They will continue to be read by millions upon millions, most likely for at least another few centuries.
The Lincoln Memorial is a masterpiece. There is no better for my money (but the new-ish MLK Memorial is almost equally as impressive). My family and I went back to it more than once during our April trip, especially at night, when it was cooler and the crowds had dissipated a bit.
Even in this age of hyper-partisanship and almost irreparable division (something Lincoln knew a bit about), the visitors to his memorial are visibly reverential and humbled in his presence. Both sides of the political spectrum in 2022 claim him as their own. His words and his actions still assuage a nation in need of some comfort. But there is something about the statue itself — a giant, paternalistic, seated, patient man — which can perhaps do the most good if we just stop and let it.
We should all look to Lincoln’s Memorial — if not to Lincoln himself — for a little guidance and inspiration in the face of violence and division. It’s what’s needed the most right now and something which has been offered to millions for one hundred years and counting.
