Justin G. Turner

I knew next to nothing about Mary Todd Lincoln, other than the fact that she was married to and become the widow of President Abraham Lincoln after his assassination on April 14, 1865. I purchased this rather large tome because I was interested in what I might learn about this enigmatic woman who seemed to generate such polarizing views in people of her time period. Was Mary Lincoln a woman with psychological issues who probably would have received proper diagnosis and treatment in today's world or was she just a strong, opinionated woman who frequently exhibited the bad taste to make herself forward and conspicuous, a trait frowned upon by society and social customs of the time period?

There is no doubt that Mary Lincoln was a strong woman with strongly held viewpoints. She had no qualms of making these viewpoints known. She frequently wrote letters that she would then regret sending, and follow up requesting that her previously written letter be disregarded and destroyed. Based on the collection of letters contained in this book, it is obvious that her requests that her correspondence be burned by the receiver after reading it was never, or almost never, adhered to.

What I found interesting was how much she often directly inserted herself into the affairs of state during Lincoln's presidency, going so far as to write the Quartermaster to suggest to him whom the government should consider purchasing horses for the war effort from and for what price. Based on the items purchased and the prices paid during her time in the White House, I am not surprised that she had gained a reputation in certain circles for being a frivolous spender.

Her well documented letter campaign to have Congress grant her a pension after Lincoln's assassination made for very interesting reading, and unfortunately shows a desperate woman who believed that it was her right as Lincoln's widow to be afforded a pension that would allow her to live in the lifestyle that she was accustomed to. The fact that she was embarking on a precedent setting process as she would be the first presidential widow to ever be granted a pension, meant nothing to her. She just saw red whenever she saw others like General Grant receiving a stipend she felt was unwarranted. Her outright refusal to live in the family home in Springfield, Illinois and her campaign for funds to purchase a "suitable home" in Chicago probably did not work in her favor. The fact that she was scrambling to try and pay off the substantial debts her spending habits had incurred during her time in the White House - a habit that she had gone to great pains to keep secret from Abraham Lincoln when he was alive - during this pension campaign was an enormous strain on her emotionally and physically. The desperation in her letters to her two confidants, Alexander Williamson (her youngest son's former tutor) and Elizabeth Keckley (a former slave who became a successful seamstress and civil activist) is obvious.

To give Mary credit, she did eventually clear all of her debts while Congress continued to stonewall any financial support or pensionable income for her. The fact that Mary spent her final years in poor health in boarding houses and rooming hotels in Europe before returning to America to finish out her final months quietly and alone in the family home in Springfield is sad to read. By then, she was exhibiting obvious signs of mental illness of distrust, paranoia and other delusions. Her hoarding habits continued to her final days. It is reported that "In another room, the floorboards sagged under the weight of sixty-four trunks and crates, crammed with a lifetime of hoarded possessions." Dr. W. A. Evans personality study of Mary Lincoln best summarizes the battle Mary Lincoln faced:

"The three-cornered fight in her mental makeup," he wrote, "between the desire to get, the desire to spend, and the desire to hoard has lasted for nearly forty years. Sometimes one combatant was on top, sometimes another. In the final stretch, miserliness held the field of battle... This complex mania for money, extravagance and miserliness - paradoxical as it appears to laymen - is well known to psychiatrists. It is present in many people who are accepted as normal. In Mrs. Lincoln... it is was developed to the point where it did not prove actual insanity... at most, it made of her not more than a border-line case."

Overall, this was at times a fascinating read into the thinking and behavior patterns of Mary Lincoln. So why only 3 stars, you might ask? Well, for one, it was rather long-winded. The Turners choose to provide as complete a collection as possible based on the letters still available that they were able to gain permission to publish in this book, but some of it really would only fascinate a reader seeking even the most minutiae detail of Mary's life. The book also lacks a completeness in that it only consists of the letters written by Mary Lincoln. There are no letters written to Mary Lincoln in the book, leaving this reader unsatisfied with its one-sided correspondence. I did learn a lot about Mary Lincoln.... enough to have no desire to seek out further books written about her, not right away, anyways.… (altro)