Andrew Ferguson lectures about new book

Andrew Ferguson, School of Journalism alumnus and senior editor at the Weekly Standard, spoke about his book, “Adventures in the Land of Lincoln,” on Monday at the Ernie Pyle Auditorium.

As he came out to speak, he addressed one of the reasons he pursued the written word.

“One of the reasons I wanted to be a writer was so I wouldn’t have to be a talker,” he said.

Ferguson said he has been interested in President Abraham Lincoln’s life since he was a child. He grew up on Lincoln Street, and his father worked for a law firm started by Lincoln’s son.

His parents once took him on a vacation to the Lincoln Heritage Trail. He later took his own children, who didn’t share his excitement. When he took his children to a musical about Lincoln, his son replied, “that’s a whole lotta Lincoln.”

He said people would often question him about why he wanted write a book about Lincoln, since 14,000 books about the man are already published.

Ferguson said other authors today are trying to write about Lincoln to make him seem like them.

Liberals write books about Lincoln being liberal, and conservatives write books about Lincoln being conservative, he said.

Ferguson’s book, however, features the people who look up to Lincoln for who he was. Ferguson has traveled to places such as Florida, Beverly Hills and Seattle to research and has met many different people.

He told a story of a Thai immigrant who came to the United States in the 1970s and adored Lincoln.

Since 1972, every spring,his family would go to Springfield, Ill., near Lincoln’s tomb to have a picnic and honor his life. In the back room of the immigrant’s restaurant, he had a replica of the Lincoln Memorial Statue. Every morning, he and his wife would place a meal next to Lincoln but never included pork, believing Lincoln was Jewish.

“When a Thai restaurant owner in an Arab neighborhood builds a Buddhist shrine to a Jewish president, I knew I was onto the right thing,” he said.

Ferguson visited Louise Taper, who he considers “the greatest Lincoln collector of the last 50 years.”

She has the gloves Lincoln was wearing the night he was shot, still stained with his blood, as well as his wallet, one of his top hats and his chamber pot.

“The stuff she had was unbelievable” he said.

Ferguson said he has spoken with Lincoln impersonators. Some were spot on, he said. Many were not. He also spoke about a man who was in a concentration camp who claimed Lincoln would come to him to and say all men are created equal and that he would be safe. This man saved money for 40 years to have the opportunity to come to Springfield.

These experiences helped Ferguson develop a picture of the president.

“Eventually I did, I think, begin to see the Lincoln that I was looking for, the Lincoln that endures and continues to speak to us,” he said.