“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may
have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of
memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better
angels of our nature.”
Abraham Lincoln, first inaugural address. An effort to stave off the Civil
war.
Of the presidents I have been aware of during my short life, in my opinion only
the following would have had the temperament to have penned the quote:
Kennedy
Regan
Perhaps Bill Clinton
Maybe Obama but probably not.
And then this:
Executive Mansion,
Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.
Dear Madam,
I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the
Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have
died gloriously on the field of battle.
I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to
beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from
tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the
Republic they died to save.
I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement,
and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn
pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of
Freedom.
Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,
A. Lincoln.
Mrs. Bixby.
Neither of our candidates could do this. They could get an aide to perhaps pen
something similar, but if you consider their heart, neither possess this type
of heartfelt caring or duty to serve.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a president that truly has these kinds of thoughts
and feelings?
Someone that could be a role model for kids.
I wonder if it will ever happen again.
