Additional Highlights and News:
FEBRUARY 28, 2009
By Kaitlin Manry, Herald Writer
EVERETT -- What would Abraham Lincoln think of Barack Obama's election? How might the world be different if Lincoln hadn't won the presidency and abolished slavery? If John Wilkes Booth didn't murder Lincoln in 1865, what would the U.S. be like today?
In honor of Lincoln's 200th birthday, sailors, scholars and congressmen gathered aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on Friday to debate these questions and the legacy of the 16th president. "I think we might have witnessed the election of an African-American, perhaps long before now if Lincoln would have lived," said retired U.S. Army Gen. Donald Scott, a board member of The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. "He would have been real, real proud of Barack Obama being elected president of the United States."
The meeting is one in a series of events throughout the nation planned by the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. It is the only event scheduled on a military base. The event included a moderated debate among four Lincoln scholars, short speeches by congressmen Rick Larsen and Norm Dicks and the world premier of "Letters to Lincoln," a song Anthony Davis composed in honor of the slain president. Davis, a music professor at the University of California-San Diego, received a commission to compose the four-movement piano piece that is supposed to interpret Lincoln's growth and development.
The discussion was moderated by Adam Green, a history professor and son of Ernie Green, the eldest of the "Little Rock Nine," the first black students to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. When asked by a sailor what the U.S. would be like today if Lincoln hadn't lived, author and professor Matthew Pinsker said the entire world would be different.
"I don't think the nation would have endured without Lincoln as president," he said. "I think it would be a split nation. I just don't think we would be here at all. I think the country would have been dismembered."
Capt. Pat Hall, the commanding officer of the USS Abraham Lincoln, said he was interested to learn that Lincoln sometimes toned down his rhetoric to appease the public and win victories that furthered his long-term goal of freedom for all. Hall said he hoped his crew found inspiration learning more about Lincoln. "What a great opportunity for the officers and crew to learn something about the benefactor of the ship," he said after the event. "Many times you try to use the person the ship is named after as a motivator when times are tough."
Ship storekeepers Tyler Burke and Kellan Durrett hadn't studied Lincoln since grade school. They said hearing about the president made them proud to serve on a ship bearing his name. "It opened my eyes a little bit," said Burke, 21 from Denver, Colo. "After hearing something like that, you realize it's a little more than just a job."
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