Abraham Lincoln

I ended up taking Wednesday off from running since I was up late getting my laptop fixed. I ran 8 miles on Thursday and 5 miles today. I am planning to run 8 tomorrow and 17 on Sunday so I will be running for four day in a row, a total of 38 miles. I will likely sign up for the Freedom Run this weekend.

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

I heard of this book from the aftermath of the recent presidential election when this book was mentioned when people were discussing the cabinet that President Obama would select. I am not normally a big history reader, but I saw this book at Costco for about $10 and thought I would give it a try.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=20219683

This is a very large book that I read a lot on the train commuting to work. It was uncomfortable logging a book this size around and made me want to buy a kindle. http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Amazons-Wireless-Reading-Generation/dp/B00154JDAI/ref=amb_link_84770351_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=1XDTK4BYN30RF3Z73B62&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=484585691&pf_rd_i=507846

However, the book is excellent. It was easy to reading because most of the material was fascinating. Like most people I knew some about Lincoln, the slavery battle and the civil war. In addition, I knew that the jist of the book was that Lincoln selected political rivals to his cabinet and developed respect and relationships with them in order to make the cabinet and his administration the most effective. However, to me the strength of the book was learning about the members of the cabinet and their families.

Two of the most fascinating individuals were Salmon Chase and William Seward.

Chase was obsessed with becoming president. He was not loyal to Lincoln and his top priority always appeared to being making himself look good and pursuing the Presidency. Chase had been married three times, but his wives all died young. He was very close with his daughter Kate, who was much admired in Washington society, was considered one of the most beautiful woman of the day and the most talked about woman.

Seward was the heavy favorite to win the Republican nomination for president in 1860. However, he had some enemies who worked against him enabling Lincoln to win. Lincoln selected Seward as his Secretary of State. Seward and Lincon developed a great friendship and had a lot of respect for each other. Seward and his son were attacked but not killed at their house the night that Lincoln was assasinated.

Another interesting thing was that the Vice President appears to be insignificant at that time, but of course becomes President if the President dies. Andrew Johnson had just become the Vice President the month before Lincoln was killed, Lincoln did not select him, he apparently made a fool of himself during a drunken speech as his inauguration and did not appear to have any influence over any policy prior to Lincoln's death. It would appear that Seward would have been a far more appropriate successor to Lincoln.

This book made me want to ready additional history books. I give Teams of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln an A.