National Book Fair

The 6th annual National Book Festival was held on the Mall this Saturday. What a great even to go to. It is an all day fair with authors talking about there books. There are half a dozen or so tents set up on the Mall. Each tent is about a specific subject ranging from poetry to fiction to history.

I went down to see Doris Kearns Goodwin talk about her book Team of Rivals. As one review put it: Goodwin makes the case for Lincoln’s political genius by examining his relationships with three men he selected for his cabinet, all of whom were opponents for the Republican nomination in 1860: William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, and Edward Bates.

It is a great book. She talked about how Lincoln was able to put aside his personal feelings on many of these men and include them in the cabinet because these were the best men in very troubled times. Seward became one of Lincoln’s closest friends in the end along the Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.

You could tell by the way she spoke how much she admires Lincoln. She went over some of the key points in her book about Lincoln’s poor upbringing and lack of school. And the series of set backs in his life that molded his character. She also commented on Lincoln’s great story telling. In answering one of the questions after her talk about if Lincoln could get elected today, she said Lincoln was the consummate politician. In this day and age he would be a huge hit on the Daily Show or Steve Colbert Show.

Over and over again she made the point that Lincoln was able to put aside his personal hurts and feelings on these men (Chase tried to get Lincoln dumped by the Republicans in 1864 and have Chased put on the ballot for president. He ended up appointing Chase the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. When asked why he did this, Lincoln said that Chase would be the best person to look after the interests of the freed slaves. Seward thought he would run the show while Lincoln would be a mere figurehead) and pick the best people for the job.

The best comment she made was when asked if you could ask Lincoln one question what would it be. She said most would ask about what he would have done about reconstruction. Ms. Goodwin’s answer was she would ask Mr. Lincoln to tell one of his stories because they meant so much to him and showed a great deal of what his thinking was. She ended by saying she hope we all were able to get an idea from her book about the man she considered to be the greatest President this country has ever seen.

I wonder around little more after that. I stopped and listened to a mystery writer speak. He was very funny. He said he’s biggest job was convincing his family he actually had a job.

In all it was a very enjoyable Saturday event on the Mall.