Gay Abe? C.A. Tripp missed the mark when he "outed" the Great Emancipator

[Tweed]

http://www.illinoistimes.com/gbase/Gyrosite/Content?oid=oid%3A3966

"It would be difficult to describe all the factual errors and failures in historical judgment in C.A. Tripp’s The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln in a short review. But I will try.

I did not know Tripp, though I had heard about his work over the years. From all accounts, he was a generous man with a sincere interest in Lincoln. After Tripp’s death, his literary executor, who was preparing the manuscript for publication, asked me to review it with an eye to writing an introduction. I was a logical choice because my book Lincoln’s Quest for Union (1982; revised, 2001) was the first to explore seriously the general topic of Lincoln’s intimate life. When I read Tripp’s book, however, I was appalled and politely declined to be associated with the project. I assumed that it would go nowhere, along with all the other thousands of books by Lincoln buffs, and frankly forgot about it. Then it all burst forth from a leading publisher last month, along with a major story in the New York Times, packaged between an astonishing introduction by Jean Baker and mostly praiseworthy afterthoughts by Michael Burlingame and Michael B. Chesson, not to mention fawning blurbs from Gore Vidal and Thomas Schwartz, among others. One has no choice but to comment.

Tripp argues that Lincoln was an active homosexual who was mostly frustrated in his relationships with women. He had a heterosexual side and, of course, fathered four children, but the core of his world of desire was homosexual. If true, such a conclusion changes rather remarkably one’s view of his childhood and youth, his relationship with his wife, aspects of his personality such as his humor, and even the meaning of his spirituality — or so Tripp argues.

Tripp leads off with a chapter about Lincoln’s relationship with Capt. David V. Derickson. This handsome and appealing man, born in 1818, was in Company K, which served as the President’s Guard when he was staying at the Soldier’s Home just outside Washington. Tripp argues that whenever Mrs. Lincoln was away, Derickson slept in the same bed with Lincoln, who lent Derickson his own nightshirt for these occasions."

For you Lincoln buffs, the Illinois Times actually had reviews on six or seven books about Lincoln this week. You can read them all off of this link. You have to backtrack a little, but it's all there.

[CubsFan1982]

1. I dunno

It certainly seems this Tripp guy is really grasping at straws here. It wouldn't matter one bit to me if it were found out that Lincoln were gay, nor should it matter. But to base that supposition on flimsy and unsupported evidence is really not sound. Besides, there's a much stronger case for a gay President with Lincoln's immediate predecessor, James Buchanan.