America in its relatively short existence has created numerous names that shine throughout history brighter than most others. Elvis, Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, and Abraham Lincoln are some of America’s most famous individuals. But what do these and many other American icons have in common? They were all killed or died at a major height in their careers. The truth is that each one of these “American heroes” were greatly disliked and had they lived would have had a mediocre place in history. Great sympathy is often felt for an early death, and those who write the history books overlook popular opinion and create a whole new persona that is clear of all misdoings. They become gods among mere men, when in reality they were average if not below average. Lincoln is the clearest example of a rewritten history, and being that it is President’s Day he will be my focus.

Scholars and the American public commonly regard President Lincoln as the greatest president. However, Lincoln was in reality a hated man on the morning of April 15, 1865. The Civil War was only over for six days when John Wilkes Booth assassinated him, and neither side was particularly happy with Lincoln. The South was humiliated and broken, and many in the North failed to see the logic behind a war that killed over 600,000 Americans. Only months earlier there were massive protests and draft card burnings held in New York City. Lincoln broke many laws, jailed war protestors, and refused to follow rulings from the Supreme Court. His public support was hard to find.

These circumstances are very similar to the presidency of Richard Nixon. Nixon ended the Vietnam War after 58,000 Americans were killed and there was no public support to continue. Nixon also broke the law by spying on Democrats. The similarities between Nixon and Lincoln are uncanny, yet why is there such a disconnect in their historical legacies? Nixon is thought of as one of the worst presidents in history. It all comes down to who lived and who died.

At the end of the Civil War Republicans flooded all levels of the government. Lincoln was their supreme leader, and his assassination gave them an opportunity to make themselves look good. The government rewrote history to create a new version of Lincoln. They created “Honest Abe.” All of the sudden Abe could not do wrong. He saved the country. He was an outsider who as a self-made man became president. He freed the slaves because he loved all mankind. This was not Lincoln, although it is far more popular to believe this than any other less attractive alternative.

Lincoln supported slavery, broke numerous serious laws, was an experienced long-term politician, and killed as many Americans as all other American wars combined. Today we know what politicians really do and who they really are because we see history as it happens. We see an unadulterated version that has not been touched by the biases of historians. Lincoln’s story has been altered for more than one hundred and forty years. Had Lincoln lived to be an old man as most average presidents do, there would not be a taboo surrounding honest investigation into his life. He most likely would have faded into history as a severely unpopular president who presided over the largest bloodbath in American history. For Lincoln I must pose a question. Would Lincoln rather have lived to old age and irrelevance, or would he consider himself lucky to have been shot?

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