Preview
Creation Date
1959
Description
Galesburg, Illinois native Carl Sandburg wrote a six volume biography of Abraham Lincoln for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in History in 1940. In 1959 he was invited to address a joint session of Congress on the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's birth on Feb. 12, 1959.
Sandburg began, "Not often in the story of mankind does a man arrive on earth who is both steel and velvet, who is hard as a rock and soft as a drifting fog, who holds in his heart and mind the paradox of terrible storm and peace unspeakable and perfect." Sandburg continued, "For millions, Lincoln was a personal treasure. Lincoln carried Democracy in his blood and bones, in the breath of his speeches and writings, in the lights and shadows of his personality. His most enduring memorial lay in the hearts of those who love liberty unselfishly for all men."
Keywords
U.S. Civil War 1861-1865