# Did Abraham Lincoln have syphilis?

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-abraham-lincoln-have-syphilis/110472
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 23, 2002, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-abraham-lincoln-have-syphilis/110472 "2002-05-23T13:17:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2002, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-abraham-lincoln-have-syphilis/110472/1 "2002-05-23T13:17:46Z")

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I read about this several years ago in an L. M. Boyd column. But I’m not sure I have as much confidence in L. M. Boyd as I do in Cecil and the Teeming Millions.

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### Author: ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2002, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-abraham-lincoln-have-syphilis/110472/2 "2002-05-23T13:50:07Z")

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I have never read anything on Lincoln having syphilis. It is speculated that he had Marfans Syndrome however.

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### Author: ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2002, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-abraham-lincoln-have-syphilis/110472/3 "2002-05-23T14:13:24Z")

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There is no medical evidence to suggest that Lincoln had syphilis, but one of his former law partners believed he did, and spread that rumor.

Make of the rumor what you will. (Certainly, Lincoln’s detractors are eager to embrace it.)

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### Author: ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2002, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-abraham-lincoln-have-syphilis/110472/4 "2002-05-23T14:17:18Z")

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Well, it is thought that Lincoln had a leaky heart valve (aortic regurgitation) and it is true that one cause of such a problem is advanced syphlis.

However, it is equally true that Marfan’s Syndrome causes aortic regurgitation and that [Lincoln had other features of that disease](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=92818&highlight=lincoln+AND+marfans). Marfan’s seems a much more likely explanation.