Devil Doc
When Death smiles, Corpsmen smile back
It was on this day in 1860 that Abraham Lincoln was elected for his first term as president of the United States. Before that, Lincoln's only experience in national politics had been a single term as a congressional representative and two unsuccessful runs for senator. There were three other men who might have gotten the Republican nomination that year, all of whom were better known, better educated, and more experienced than Lincoln. Lincoln only had the upper hand because he was from the swing state of Illinois. It also helped that the Republican convention was held in Chicago that year. Lincoln's campaign operatives arranged it so that Illinois railroads would offer special rates for train rides to the convention, thereby flooding it with Lincoln supporters.
Once he got the nomination, Lincoln basically laid low until the election. His campaign distributed printed transcripts of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Lincoln only attended one campaign rally, in Springfield, and he didn't even make a speech. His strategy was to let the opposition tear itself apart without stirring up any controversy of his own. And the strategy worked. Lincoln wound up winning only 40 percent of the popular vote, but he won in the Electoral College, even though he didn't receive a single electoral vote from a Southern state.
Most commentators at the time thought Lincoln had won the presidency by a stroke of luck, and they expected little of him. The Harvard professor James Russell Lowell wrote in 1863, "All that was known of him was that he was a good stump-speaker, nominated for his availability ... [and that] he had no history."
Doc.
Once he got the nomination, Lincoln basically laid low until the election. His campaign distributed printed transcripts of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Lincoln only attended one campaign rally, in Springfield, and he didn't even make a speech. His strategy was to let the opposition tear itself apart without stirring up any controversy of his own. And the strategy worked. Lincoln wound up winning only 40 percent of the popular vote, but he won in the Electoral College, even though he didn't receive a single electoral vote from a Southern state.
Most commentators at the time thought Lincoln had won the presidency by a stroke of luck, and they expected little of him. The Harvard professor James Russell Lowell wrote in 1863, "All that was known of him was that he was a good stump-speaker, nominated for his availability ... [and that] he had no history."
Doc.
