Robert Lincoln will be the focus of July 21 event

A century after his death, Robert Lincoln will be the focus of a discussion at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum about his accomplishments, his role as protector of the Lincoln legacy and the difficulties of growing up in the shadow of America’s greatest president.

Historian Jason Emerson, author of “Giant in the Shadows: The Life of Robert T. Lincoln,” will speak at 6:30 p.m. on July 21. The evening also includes a pop-up exhibition of historic artifacts from Robert Lincoln’s life, including his photo in a watch case carried by his mother and an 1864 theater bill highlighting his participation in Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Club.

Robert Lincoln died in 1926 at the age of 82. He had been secretary of war, a diplomat and head of a powerful company. He was often mentioned as a potential candidate for president or vice president. But today he is mostly forgotten except as the son of a great man and a troubled woman – and as the answer to a trivia question. (What person had close connections to three different presidential assassinations?)

“He was, in my opinion, a great man who inherited many of his father’s best traits, and he very faithfully and heroically preserved his father’s legacy for more than half a century,” Emerson has said. “He made his own history, separate from his parents, that is worthy of its own study.”

Doors will open at 6:00 p.m., and the program begins at 6:30 p.m. This America 250 event is free, but reservations are required. Visit www.PresidentLincoln.Illinois.gov/events.

After the discussion, audience members can meet Emerson and, if they want, buy a copy of his book and have it signed.

In many ways, Robert Lincoln was one of the most successful children of a U.S. president. He became one of the top attorneys in the Midwest and was picked by James Garfield to serve as secretary of war, a position he continued to hold after Garfield was killed and Chester A. Arthur became president. Then in 1889 he was named minister to the United Kingdom. After four years overseas, he returned to America as general counsel to the Pullman Palace Car Co., eventually becoming its president and chairman. He was a significant figure in Gilded Age America.

To modern audiences, his most controversial action was placing his mother in an insane asylum. Was he doing what he thought best to keep Mary Lincoln from harming herself or anyone else in an era of limited treatment for mental illness? Or was he manipulating the system to lock away a woman he felt was embarrassing him and the Lincoln name?

“It would be easy to portray Robert Lincoln as a caricature – either a villain who was more concerned about image than fairness or as a dedicated public servant following his father’s example. But he was more complicated than that,” said Christina Shutt, executive director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. “We look forward to exploring the highs and lows of his life.”

The mission of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is to inspire civic engagement through the diverse lens of Illinois history and share with the world the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln. We pursue this mission through a combination of rigorous scholarship and high-tech showmanship built on the bedrock of the ALPLM’s unparalleled collection of historical materials – roughly 13 million items from all eras of Illinois history.

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