Robert Todd Lincoln

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Robert Todd Lincoln

36th United States Secretary of War
In office March 5, 1881 – March 4, 1885
Preceded by	Alexander Ramsey
Succeeded by	William C. Endicott

Born	August 1, 1843 Springfield, Illinois, USA
Died	July 26, 1926 Manchester, Vermont, USA
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Mary Eunice Harlan Lincoln
Profession	Lawyer, Politician

Robert Todd Lincoln (August 1, 1843 – July 26, 1926) was the first son of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Ann Todd. Born in Springfield, Illinois, United States, he was the only one of President Lincoln's four sons to die at an old age.

1 Biography
- 1.1 Early life
2 Politics
- 2.1 Secretary of War (1881-1885)
- 2.2 Ambassador to the United Kingdom
3 Presence at assassinations
4 Death
5 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Robert Lincoln graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy, then studied at Harvard University from 1861 to 1864 where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon. (Later in life, Lincoln also joined the Delta Chi fraternity.) He then enrolled in Harvard Law School. However, he did not graduate and in 1865 joined the Union Army. He held the rank of Captain, serving in the American Civil War as part of General Ulysses S. Grant's immediate staff, in a position which sharply minimized the likelihood that he would be involved in actual combat.

Following his father's assassination, in May of 1865 he moved with his mother and his brother Thomas (Tad) Lincoln to Chicago where Robert completed his law studies at the University of Chicago (a school different from the university presently known by that name). He was admitted to the bar on February 25, 1867. On September 24, 1868, he married Mary Eunice Harlan (September 25, 1846 – March 31, 1937), the daughter of Senator James Harlan and Ann Eliza Peck of Mount Pleasant, Iowa. They had two daughters and one son:

Robert Todd Lincoln's mansion on the Hildene estate.

Mary "Mamie" Lincoln: October 15, 1869 - November 21, 1938
Abraham Lincoln II (nicknamed "Jack") - August 14, 1873 – March 5, 1890
Jessie Harlan Lincoln - November 6, 1875 – January 4, 1948

The last direct descendant of Abraham Lincoln, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, died in 1985.

His mother's "spend-thrift" ways and eccentric behavior concerned him. To gain control of his mother's finances he had her committed to a psychiatric hospital in Batavia, Illinois in 1875. She was released after a three-month stay. The committal proceedings led to a profound estrangement between Lincoln and his mother; they were never reconciled.

[edit] Politics

[edit] Secretary of War (1881-1885)

In 1877 he turned down President Rutherford B. Hayes's offer to appoint him Assistant Secretary of State, but did accept an appointment to become the US Secretary of War from 1881 to 1885, serving under Presidents James Garfield and Chester A. Arthur.

Chief Justice William H. Taft, President Warren G. Harding and Robert Lincoln c. 1922.

Following his service as Secretary of War, Lincoln helped Oscar Dudley in establishing the Illinois Industrial Training School for Boys in Norwood Park in 1887 after Dudley discovered "more neglected and abandoned children on the streets than stray animals." The school relocated to Glenwood, Illinois in 1889, beginning to enroll girls in 1998. Under the name Glenwood School for Boys & Girls, the school continues to operate as a haven for boys and girls whose parents are unable to care for them.

[edit] Ambassador to the United Kingdom

In addition, he served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1889 to 1893 under President Benjamin Harrison after which he returned to private business as a lawyer. He became General Counsel and subsequently the President and Chairman of the Board of the Pullman Palace Car Company where he worked until his retirement in 1922. He made his last public appearance at the dedication ceremony in Washington, D.C. for his father's memorial on May 30th of that year.

A serious amateur astronomer, Lincoln constructed an observatory at his home in Manchester, Vermont, and equipped it with a refracting telescope with a six-inch objective lens. Lincoln's telescope still exists; it has been restored and is used by a local astronomy club.

[edit] Presence at assassinations

There is an odd coincidence in regard to Robert Todd Lincoln and presidential assassinations: he was either actually present or very near by three of them.

The night his father was shot, Lincoln was invited to accompany his parents to the theater, but declined and remained behind at the White House. When President Garfield was shot in a Washington, D.C. train station in 1881, Lincoln, Garfield's Secretary of War, was present at the President's invitation. When President William McKinley was shot at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York in 1901, Lincoln was present at McKinley's invitation. (He was not, however, an actual eyewitness to any of these assassinations.)

In another odd coincidence, Robert Lincoln was once saved by Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes Booth, from possible serious injury or death. The incident happened at a railroad station in Jersey City in 1863 or 1864, when Robert was traveling from New York City to Washington, and was recounted by Lincoln in 1909.

[edit] Death

Robert Lincoln died at his Vermont home on July 26, 1926, and was later interred in Arlington National Cemetery [1] next to his wife Mary and their son Jack, who died of blood poisoning at the age of 16 in London, England.

Prior to his death, Lincoln had been the last surviving member of the Garfield and Arthur Cabinets.