Abraham Lincoln had the confidence to choose a cabinet that included people who disagreed with him. He kept his eye on his moral compass and his goal, which was, ultimately, keeping the Union together. He believed deeply in equality of opportunity, but refused to be rushed into the Emancipation Proclamation until he judged the time was right.
On the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth, VPR’s Jane Lindholm talks with Presidential Scholar and biographer Willard Sterne Randall and with Seth Bongartz of Manchester’s Hildene, the former home of Robert Todd Lincoln about some of the key decisions Lincoln made during his presidency and consider how they resonate with our own times.