Sunday, February 8, 2009

Robert Lincoln, Man of Mystery, Or Was He???

On Thursday, February 12, we will celebrate the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, perhaps our greatest president (okay George we know all about you). There are many unusual things about the man, the biggest mystery being, "Hey, Abe, what's under the tall hat?"

But, his son Robert has a couple of things to answer for, too. Robert was the only offspring to live to adulthood of the four Lincoln sons. Hmmmm. But wait, there's more. Robert thought Mary, his mom, was nuts so he had her arrested and committed to a mental institution. She swore he was a bad son. No wonder. But here is the weirdest thing about Bob. He played in politics but never got very far. He was president of the Pullman RR car company. As an emissary of the government he was scheduled to meet President James Garfield at the Washington railroad station on July 2, 1881. As he approached Garfield, Charles Guiteau walked up to the president and shot him. Garfield lingered for over two months before he died. But that's not the weirdest part (remember that Bob's dad was the first president to be assassinated, Garfield was second). On September 6, 1901 our friend Bob was attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY. As he was approaching President William McKinley to speak to him, Leon Czolgosz got there first and shot McKinley in the stomach. He lingered for a few days then died. I don't know about you, but I think Bob has some things to answer for. Or maybe....