# Lincoln Movie Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 25, 2012, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-movie-question/642042 "2012-11-25T05:39:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-movie-question/642042/21 "2012-11-26T22:15:05Z")
> [@williamweigand](#): > > Just scanned the wikipedia article on Mr. Seward - saw no mention of Massachusetts. Quite right - my mistake! The sitting in his garden thing is accurate though - it’s mentioned in Team of Rivals. I’ll check later tonight to confirm. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-movie-question/642042/22 "2013-09-02T02:01:40Z")
Regarding the OP question about the lack of the vice president in the film, I have read a number of books on the Civil War and Lincoln. Hannibal Hamlin’s name is seldom mentioned. He was chosen for geographical balance (Hamlin was from Maine) by the convention. Lincoln and Hamlin didn’t meet until after the election. Vice Presidents used to joke about how insignificant their job was (what John Adams called it). Thomas Marshall (Wilson’s VP) said there was were two brothers. One ran away to see, the other became vice president and neither was heard from again. In the last 50 years or so, presidents from both parties have used the VP more than earlier ones. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-movie-question/642042/23 "2013-09-02T12:34:37Z")
The inclusion of the Vice President in political discussions at the White House pretty much began under Truman. Harry had been VP for 39 days, although he had been the VP elect for five months. During that five month period, FDR was involved in a lot of decisions, trying to bring the war to a close, preparing for post-war America, (and post-war Europe and Asia), including meeting with Churchill and Stalin, getting the idea of a United nations off the ground, and a host of other issues in the most massive undertaking with which the U.S. had ever been involved, and Truman had not been seriously involved with any of them. They all landed in his lap with almost no preparation. Based on his experience, while he had no vice president for his first term, there being no provision for it in the Constitution, he is reported to have kept Barkley in the loop on most major decisions following the 1948 elections. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-movie-question/642042/24 "2013-09-02T15:37:30Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > I’m still wondering why they cast Sally Field (age 66) as Mary Lincoln (age 47 in 1865). I don’t even understand the question. They cast Sally Field for the same reason the Tigers bat Miguel Cabrera in the middle of the lineup; she’s a fricking amazing actress who looked the part. That people in the 1860s looked very old to us by comparison to today is a bonus. She could have pulled it off even if Mary Todd Lincoln hadn’t looked old. But she did. Here is a photo of Mary Todd Lincoln; how old do you think she is? > **[File:Mary Todd Lincoln2crop.jpg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mary_Todd_Lincoln2crop.jpg)** > > Original file (1,395 × 1,803 pixels, file size: 236 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) > > This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or fewer. > https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/PDMCreative Commons Public Domain Mark 1.0falsefalse To my eyes she looks no different in age from Sally Field - but in fact she’s just 43 there. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-movie-question/642042/25 "2013-09-02T19:58:53Z")
> [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](#): > > Because they needed a short actress who was willing to appear about 50 years old? > [@RickJay](#): > > I don’t even understand the question. They cast Sally Field for the same reason the Tigers bat Miguel Cabrera in the middle of the lineup; she’s a fricking amazing actress who looked the part… And who was willing to put on some additional weight. In an NPR interview not long after the movie came out, Field said she had to eat some disgusting things to pack on the pounds. [http://www.npr.org/2012/11/19/165472869/sally-field-captures-history-in-role-of-mrs-lincoln](http://www.npr.org/2012/11/19/165472869/sally-field-captures-history-in-role-of-mrs-lincoln) ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-movie-question/642042/26 "2013-09-03T06:52:57Z")
Since we’re discussing the vice-presidency, I thought I’d make a relevant book recommendation: _The Warm Bucket Brigade_ by Jeremy Lott is an amusing, informative look at the vice presidency in general and several important vice presidents in particular. Hardcover link [here](http://www.amazon.com/The-Warm-Bucket-Brigade-Presidency/dp/1595550828/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378191040&sr=8-1&keywords=the+warm+bucket+brigade), Kindle book link [here](http://www.amazon.com/Warm-Bucket-Brigade-Presidency-ebook/dp/B007FZXM7Q/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1378191040&sr=8-1&keywords=the+warm+bucket+brigade). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-movie-question/642042/27 "2013-09-03T08:28:30Z")
I have to admit, Miguel Cabrera really is an amazing actress. Forget about just looking the part - she totally had me convinced she was a real baseball player. Is she even Venezuelan or is that part of the performance? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-movie-question/642042/28 "2013-09-03T19:57:36Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I have to admit, Miguel Cabrera really is an amazing actress. Forget about just looking the part - she totally had me convinced she was a real baseball player. Is she even Venezuelan or is that part of the performance? Huh. I don’t remember any pro baseball players appearing in _Lincoln_. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-movie-question/642042/29 "2013-09-03T21:24:50Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Huh. I don’t remember any pro baseball players appearing in _Lincoln_. That would be the Richmond Gray Sox, there, in some of the background shots, in the far distance. (Their real color is “butternut”, though. Go figure.) ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-movie-question/642042/30 "2013-09-03T22:34:33Z")
A good example of the role the Veep used to play in U.S. Politics 100-150 years ago, although I don’t have a cite handy, would be how a group of industrialists worked to promote Theodore Roosevelt as William McKinley’s running mate in 1900 because they were concerned about Teddy’s anti corporate “trust busting” agenda and they figured that as VP he would not be relevant enough to be a problem for them. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-movie-question/642042/31 "2013-09-04T00:38:05Z")
> [@skdo23](#): > > A good example of the role the Veep used to play in U.S. Politics 100-150 years ago, although I don’t have a cite handy, would be how a group of industrialists worked to promote Theodore Roosevelt as William McKinley’s running mate in 1900 because they were concerned about Teddy’s anti corporate “trust busting” agenda and they figured that as VP he would not be relevant enough to be a problem for them. It apparently was more because as Governor of New York in cleaning up machine politics that got TR pushed to the VP slot, according to his wiki page. The job was available since the death of Garret Hobart a year earlier. Interesting Hobart was one vice president who was given significant role. Roosevelt may have gotten the nod anyways. He was a war hero, governor of a large state from a different region than McKinley and a Harvard graduate who also earned the respect of the cowboys he worked with following the death of his first wife and mother in a 24 hour period. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-movie-question/642042.md?page=1)