Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Im a board member of the Abraham Lincoln institute and a former executive director of the commission. Thank you for joining us today. Unlike that of winston churchill, abe lincolns humor tended toward selfdepravation. The spectators shouted that lincoln was being twofaced. Twofaced cried lincoln. If i had two faces, do you think i would wear this one . [ laughter ] lincolns humor was an essential component of his personality and political persona. Richard carwardine will explore with us whether his humor might also occasionally have been a handicap. Richard carwardine was educated at corpis kristy. He taught history before being appointed professor at Oxford University and a fellow of st. Catharines college. He was elected president of the college in 2010 and served in that post until 2016. He is the author of one of the finest modern biographies of the 16th president , lincoln a life of purpose and power which was awarded the lincoln prize in 2007 and lincolns sense of humor a doubleedged sword. Ladies and gentlemen, professor richard carwardine. [ applause ] good morning, fellow lincolnens. Im going to begin with a wellknown story familiar to some of you, i have no doubt. The occasion was an evening banquet in illinois. The month was february. The year 1856. The setting was a convention of republican newspaper editors. A Abraham Lincoln was there and spoke. He apologized for being an interloper as he put it and cast himself as the subject of a story about a man with features the ladies could not call handsome. Riding through the woods, he met a lady on horse back. He waited on her to pass but instead she stopped before saying, well, for lands sake, you are the homeliest man i ever saw. Yes, madam, but i cant help it, he replied. No, i suppose not. Said the lady. But you might stay at home. [ laughter ] once the editors had stopped laughing, lincoln said he felt that with propriety, he might have stayed at home. Well, the story is i chose it because its particularly apt. I was scheduled to speak her last year at this symposium but when it came to it, i stayed at home. And now i may possibly be the ugliest man youve ever seen, though i certainly hope not. But that wasnt why i stayed away. I simply wasnt well enough to travel. So im especially grateful to president john white and the executive committee of the Abraham Lincoln institute for extending the invitation a second time and i want to thank michael who stepped in to fill the gab a year ago. While i was working on my book on lincolns humor, i was aware of those who questioned my choice of a subject so seemingly lacking in gravitas and so marginal to the big issues of lincolns time. I believe that people are as much revealing about themselves when theyre being funny. It was plato who reflected serious things cannot be grasped without ridiculous ones. No one indulged in humor more than lincoln. It was as characteristic of him as his stove pipe hat. But it was an intensic way of the man, a habit of mind. It excessed his humanity, his sense of proportion, his understanding of human foibles. What prompted my research and my inquiry was a remark lincoln made to david ross lock. Lock was a young ohio newspaper man a man. His satire centered on a copperhead grotesque. A pastor of a proslavery church, he was a drunken, greedy, lying racist. Lock called him a nickelplated son of a bitch. Which was were syndicated in union newspapers. His use of the appalling name to ridicule disloyal opponents of the administration delighted lincoln. The papers were his constant companion. The copy in the library of congress has singe marks made by the president s candle. He could quote passages at will. And lincoln delayed dinner by reading it aloud to old friends from illinois. For the genius to write these things, lincoln told the author, i would gladly give up my office. The pleasure he took in locks savage assault on racial prejudice and antiemancipation sentiment speaks volumes about the moral springs of lincolns own humor. He admired the great ethical force of locks satire. A close associate maintained that the president red him as much as he did the bible. Lincoln relished pretty well every form of the comic. Tall tales, word play and delight in the ambiguity and surprises of language, quick whit, irony, logical fallacy and dirty jokes and stories. But his love tells us that his chief pleasure was satirical humor that elicited righteous humor. As my title indicates, i shall focus on the utility of lincolns humor. The personal and political benefits that accrued and the political danger that lay in being known as a humorist, particularly, as a leader in time of war. I would suggest on balance, but he derived more advantage from laugher and humor was an essential element in his statesman ship, in his skill in Public Affairs. We should recognize that lincoln deployed humor as an act of deliberate selfconscious therapy, as a healthgiving salve. His appetite for comic release and his vulnerability to depression were two sides of the same coin. Laugher was a therapeutic antidote to the low spirits to which he was prone. Lincoln explained if it were not for these stories, jests, jokes, i should die. They give vent, they are the vents of my moods and gloom. At the landmark Cabinet Meeting of september 22, 1862 when he unveiled the preliminary emancipation proclamation, he began by reading out a short piece. Gentlemen, why dont you laugh, he asked his colleagues. With the fearful strain that is upon he might and day, if i did not laugh, i should die. Humor was also, of course, a means of empowerment, of imposing himself on others. From an early age, lincolns comic story telling made him entertaining company. It might have been a recipe for social rez in a sense. He had a strong sense of selfworth and enjoyed the personal regard he won for his whit and quaint stories. This social empowerment, helped, for example, to secure his election as a military captain in the war, to win him in the respect of fellow congressmen and to make him the magnet for the welldisposed attention of lawyers and residents gathered at the county seats of the illinois 8th circuit. Later in life, lincoln would repeat with appreciative glee the description of a type of southwestern political orator who, and i quote, through back his head, shined his eyes, opened his mouth and left the consequences to god. In sharp contrast, there was little in lincolns own speeches that was not planned and well calculated. His use of humor and stories in his public addresses and private conversations was rarely lacking in broader intent or designed to cover up empty thought. The utility of his humor can be categorized under six headings, at times it lay at crushing opponents. When used as means of selfdeprecation, humor could be a weapon of subtle attack. Sometimes it was a way of planting a selfserving idea into the mind of his hearers. It provided too a means of tactical diverse and it had a role in relation to public morale. He used his stories as parables, as a persuasive form. The use of humor to crush opponents. As an inspiring wig politician, he went to crude went to eviscerate and humiliate his opponents. The roasting was one stance of lincoln using his power to hurt to withering effect. The occasion was a meeting in front of a large crowd in springfield during his campaign for reelection to the state legislature in 1836. Lincolns speech prompted a request from george folker, a local democrat, that he be given the stand. Folker was a recent convert from lincolns wig party and had been rewarded by his new associates with a lucrative public office. He had also built the best house in the city over which he had erected a lightning rod, the only one in the place. 15 years, lincoln senior declared that the young man would have to be taken down. After waiting with excitement, lincoln resumed the stand. He acknowledged that he was young, but he said his critics should remember, i am older in years than i am in the tricks and trades of politicians. I desire to live and i desire place and distinction, but i would rather die now than like the gentlemen lived to see the day i would change my politics for an office worth 3,000 a year and then feel compelled to erect a lightning rod to protect a guilty conscious from an offended god. During the same phase of life, he learned that aggressive humor could injure its author as well as its target. In september 1842 he wrote for the pages of the journal a satire ridiculing the 36yearold james shields, the state auditor. Shields was an impetuous man with a short fuse and had good reason to rage at the insult with its Sexual Assault on his character. He challenged lincoln to a duel and duel accepted the challenge. We cant be sure how long he intended the dark humor, broad swords, precisely equal in all respects. Lincoln would have a huge advantage in reach. He did manage a joke on the way to the duel. He was reminded, he said, of the Young Kentuckian whose sweetheart, as he was leaving home to fight in 1812, presented him with a belt that she had embroidered with the motto, victory or death. Isnt that rather too strong, the volunteer said, suppose you put victory or be crippled . [ laughter ] only at the last moment was the duel averted. Never again would lincoln, who was deeply embarrassed by the whole episode, never again would he write asupplementisaulting s. Lincoln learned to be more deft and subtle in sharpening a debating edge. He used gentle wit to put his opponents on the back foot. Stephen douglas said he did not fear lincoln in debating matters of substance, but theres one thing which i stand in dread. When lincoln begins to tell a story, i begin to get apprehensive. Every one of his stories seems like a whack on my back. Thats the effect th. Next, selfdeprecation and subtle attack. In the face in his face to face engagement with the public, lincolns recalls of stories and jokings was designed to remind his hearers of his lowly origins. It encouraged Common People to look at him as a natural man, able to engage with farmers on equal terms. Lincolns lifelong selfidentification with plain folk was closely aligned to his habit of selfdeprecation. As i voted at the outset, he made much of his unprepossessing appearance. Conscience of his height and proportions and many considered him an ugly man, he faced that head on. His jesting gave rise to a that as he was splitting rails he found himself looking down the gun barrel of a passer by who explained that he had promised to shoot the first man he met who was uglier than himself. Getting a good look at the mans face, lincoln remarked, while bearing his chest, if i am uglier than you, blaze away. [ laughter ] this selfmockery amounted to more than securing a laugh by preempting remarks about his strange looks. It was a means of enlisting the audience on the size of the underdog. He use this big man, little man technique throughout his prepresident ial years against some of the biggest oratorical beasts. In political wrestling, he assumed the identity of a modest provincial facing the democrats prime hope for the white house who enjoyed the status of a very great man while he himself was only a small man. The heavy irony of this language intensified by the sight of the little giant standing next to the elongated lincoln. Lincoln also used laugher to a larger selfserving idea. As a lawyer, he wielded humor to plant a seed that would shape the deliberations of a jury. During a lunch break, he is said to have told jurors a story of a small boy. The hired man and sis and hes pulling down his pants and shes lifting up her skirt. And theyre getting ready to pea all over our hay. The father said, youve drawn the wrong conclusion but have your facts right. Following his opponents speech, lincoln told the jurors, my opponent has his facts right but drawn the wrong conclusion. He used anecdotes to smooth the conversation without giving offense. In late 1863, a nuisance of a brooklyn postmaster with his eyes on the following years president ial election fastened himself to the tycoon and tried to get into conversation on the subject of the succession. Would lincoln run again . The president quickly put him off with a story of his friend jesse who as state auditored controlled the use of the statehouse. A quack preacher requested it as the venue for a lecture. Whats it about . The Second Coming of christ. Nonsense, if christ had been to springfield once, he would be damn clear of coming again. [ laughter ] one of the president s most stressful tasks as leader of the new administration in 186 was dealing with the avalanche of applicants for government posts. He was bombarded with far more requests than he had jobs. One day a delegation called to urge the appointment of an acquaint ens of him. They emphasized his fitness for the post but his poor help which would benefit from the climate. The president closed the interview with effected regret. Im sorry to say that there are eight other applicants for that place and theyre all sicker than your man. [ laughter ] but above all else, lincolns stories served as parables, as a colorful and pointed means of instruction. They gave him the means of driving home political arguments with engaging economy. He never seemed to talk without some aim in mind, one acquaintance reflected. The few stories i heard him relate were told in each instance to illustrate a welldefined point. Lincoln himself told a colleague, they say i tell many stories, i reckon i do, but i have found in the course of a long experience that Common People, Common People, take them as they run, are more easily influenced and informed through the medium of broad illustration than in any other way. As president he used stories to drive home political arguments with engaging economy. When Major General john pope telegraphed that he had captained 5,000 confederates, the cabinet asked the president s opinion. That reminds me of an old woman who was ill. The doctor gave her medicine for her constipation. The next morning, he found her fresh and well and getting breakfast. She confirmed that the medicine had worked. How many movements the physician inquired . 142, she replied. Madam, i am serious. 142. I must know the exact number of movements. I tell you 142. 140 of them wind. [ laughter ] lincoln closed the discussion, im afraid popes captains are 140 of them wind. Finding himself with the support of only one member of the cabinet during a critical phase of the trent affair when britain threatened war over the navys seizures of envoys he recalled the drunk who strayed into an Illinois Church and fell asleep in the front row. He slumbered on as the revivalist asked, who are on the lords side . And the congregation responded by rising en masse. When the preacher inquired, who are on the side of the devil . The sleeper stood. But not fully grasping the inquiry and seeing the minister on his feet, he stood up. I dont exactly understand the question, he said. But ill stand by you parsen to last, but it seems to me that were in a hopeless minority. [ laughter ] the power of lincolns humor to enforce his argument was on one estimate irresistible. It confirmed the president as the representative american. The womens right activists and abolitionist dole rebuked those fine ladies who were repelled by the president s homely manners and jokes. As a nation, she wrote, were an intelligent but not as a resucu people. Hes never written a letter that his constituents can understand. Aesop told stories and his wisdom had kept his name alive. Our divine master new little of classic law but did know how to tell a simple instructive story. During his presidency, lincolns supporters seized on his studied use of humor to show how an occupant of the white house could remain a genial man of the people. Proadministration newspapers drew attention to the president s latest story. Lincolns private secretary cultivated a warm relationship with several journalists and supplied them with examples of the president s wit. Commercial interests exploited this benign reading of lincolns humor. In compilations of jokes and stories, supposedly, but rarely originating with the president. In setting out the moral value of lincolns storytelling, his supporters sought to counter his opponents disdain for a chief magistrate whose taste in jokes made him unfit for his position. Both confederates and critics in the union seized on lincolns humor as a stick to which to beat him. His appetite for low jokes revealed a lack of gravitas, that he used humor to mask his deficiencies. His comic tales measured his cruel disregard for the victims of war. Lincoln, the heartless man. A harpers weekly cartoon, columbia confronts her children, published after the union losses at fredericksburg, a cartoon which i think is available to you in your packs this morning. A female figure with her arm outstretched, the female figure being columbia, points at lincoln who stands outside the War Department between stanton and hooker and asks, where are my 15,000 sons murdered at fredericksburg. Lincolns answer, this reminds me of a little joke, prompts an outraged interruption, go tell your joke at springfield. It was insinuated into each of their campaigning themes of 1864. None was more challenging than the charge of lincolns shocking levity in the face of numbing military slaughter. The oppositions theme of lincoln, and i quote, the widow maker who lays the nation across his knee and tickles the catastrophe with obscene jokes became a campaign staple. Nothing gave this attack greater power than the that. He asked to hear a vulgar comic song with bodies yet warm in their graves. Lincoln drove over the field as heavy details of men were burying the dead. Lincoln slapping upon his knee, come on, give us that song about butler. With a shutter, the general protested, not now, if you please, marshal, i would prefer to hear it another place and time. The campaign gave political cartoonists unbridled opportunity to exploit this familiar theme of lincolns compulsive jesting. In the lithograph columbia commands her children, an angry columbia points at a president and shouts, mr. Lincoln, give me back my 500,000 sons which elicits a feeble response, well, the fact is, by the way, that reminds me of a story. And a cartoon running the machine has lincoln laughing at his own jokes while the new secretary of the treasury churns out green backs. Above all, the bogus episode offered the best target of graphic attack. A poorly executed but still arresting cartoon headed the commander in chief conciliates, the soldiers vote on the battlefield which you also have in your papers. It has lincoln in a long cloak and harding a cap, a reminder of the disguise he is said to have worn when cutting his trip short to washington. Several dead bodies are being carried from the field. A distraught figure, his back to the viewer signals his distress by holding a hand to his eyes. He de