Lincoln's Need for Speed, or, Was Honest Abe a True Log Cabin Republican?

Great Debates
1

It’s been debated in the past on these boards and even the subject of aCecilian report, but the posthumously published C.A. Tripp bookhas been released since then and it’s his 200th Birthday this week (though those who saw him when exhumed say he hadn’t aged a day since 1865) so I thought it might make an interesting discussion.

For those not familiar with the “Was Lincoln Gay?” debate, this Wiki articlegives most of the basic arguments. To get the disclaimers out of the way,

1- No, it doesn’t matter a bit one way or the other in his presidency
2- Short of a rare pornographic tintype or sexually explicit letter, neither of which have any real likelihood of surfacing, there’s no way to prove it one way or the other

So it’s basically a matter of opinion ultimately.

SPEED-

Joshua Speed is the man that most pro-gay Lincoln theorists point to as the love of his life. They shared a bed for four years (1837-1841) in Springfield, even when neither found the need to do so anymore for economy (and even when another bed was available in the same room). This brings up the continual yes buts from both sides, most of which are true:

BEDMATES

—Sharing beds was no more uncommon than being roommates in the 19th century. This is unarguable: in fact Lincoln’s two male secretaries (both of whom were definitely hetero) shared a bed throughout his administration due to limited space in the White House. For one thing mattresses were expensive (frequently mentioned in wills even) and for another it was often cold in Illinois, and then there’s the fact that the 19th century simply did not have anything like our notion of privacy or personal space. (Huck was astounded in Mark Twain’s novel that the Grangerford family was so rich they didn’t have a bed in their parlor.)
When Lincoln was riding the circuit he often shared the bed with total strangers, a practice that was routine in taverns of the 19th century where you rented a bedspace rather than a room. John Adams and Ben Franklin are known to have shared a bed, and there’s a funny story from Abe’s circuit days of the men arguing over who had to share a bed with a 300+ lb. judge. The conditions of taverns in the times of traveling politicians and judges may actually be the origin of the expression “Politics makes strange bedfellows”.

—On the other hand, two men in their late 20s sharing a bed for several years and having no apparent desire to marry was even then perhaps a bit odd. And then there’s the fact that Lincoln had a complete nervous collapse after he got engaged and Speed left (Speed’s father had died and left a complicated very large estate in Kentucky) that resulted in Lincoln breaking his engagement to Mary Todd and only recovering after spending several weeks at the Speed family mansion.

CORRESPONDENCE
Lincoln and Speed shared very intimate thoughts and constantly expressed undying love for each other in their letters and while there

—Letter writing was much more of an art in the 19th century and even he-men wrote of their love for each other and had hyperbolic closings such as “your beloved forever”. Add to this that nobody doubts Speed and Lincoln each counted the other as their most beloved friend.

—OTOH, in his letters Lincoln frequently makes statements to the effect that he and Speed are not like other men and that consequently will probably not make good husbands. While it’s no smoking gun, the letters definitely make more sense when read with a “between lovers” possibility.

NERVOUS BREAKDOWNS

Both men suffered nervous breakdowns as their wedding day approached. on the eve of their weddings. Lincoln definitely suffered from severe depression (probably would have been diagnosed with clinical depression today) and this was neither his first nor his last depressive episode. While not as much is known about Speed, it should be added his father had just died and so had other people he was close to in recent years and there were major life changes all around.

THERE’S A CAPTAIN IN MY NIGHTSHIRT!

Captain David Derickson, Lincoln’s bodyguard for a few months during the Civil War, was known to have slept in his bed when Mrs. Lincoln was away and was once noticed to be wearing the president’s nightshirt.

The innocent explanation: well, look what happened when Lincoln didn’t have a bodyguard. And Mary was known to have taken his assassination threats far more seriously than her husband did, it’s very possible that it was at her request he slept with a guard. Also, it would make perfect sense for a bodyguard to share your bed in case of an attack during the night, and who hasn’t had to borrow clothing from a friend or host at some point [underwear, T shirt, etc.]?

There are other things given as evidence of gay Lincoln, among them:

—He wrote a poem about a same sex marriage (true, but it was clearly meant to be a farce; it was a taunt on an acquaintance he didn’t like whose fiancees kept jilting him and so he finally ends up with another bachelor)

—Larry Kramer’s claim of having conclusive proof (utter and complete shite in my opinion; there’s no way in hell he wouldn’t show them to everybody who’d look if he had them)

—His unhappy union with Mary Lincoln (though I don’t think this had anything to do with their sex life or a lack of love- they both were problem personalities and mixed like kerosene and fire at times)

—The odd “best set of thighs” comment of one of his “on the circuit” bedmates (people say weird things).

=–+===========

I think there’s enough evidence for an indictment but not for a conviction. My personal take:

He and Speed were men in their sexual prime (or only a few years after) who were intimate friends and shared a bed each night. Whether either or both or even neither was gay, there was probably physical intimacy at some point. (I’m gay and I doubt I could share a small bed with an attractive woman every night for years without something happening, and Speed was hot.) I think Lincoln and Speed (who was far better educated than Lincoln) were probably also acquainted with the notions of Greek love and thus saw it as an extra intimacy to their friendship, though both may have worried about it.
I see little in the Derickson relationship that indicates sexual intimacy, besides which Lincoln was plagued by insomnia and under unimaginable stress at the time and it’s highly probably sex with anyone was the last thing on his mind. (His sexual relationship with his wife was probably severely limited after their son Tad was born as she was advised not to have any more children and “abstinence only” was the only sure way to avoid pregnancy.)

So what’s your take on this historically irrelevant but personally interesting issue?

2

Not that it proves anything, of course (he could have been bisexual, or just overcompensating), but wasn’t Lincoln a rather notorious womanizer? I seem to recall rumors of a number of heterosexual affairs.

3

It’s one of those “depends on whose recollections you’re going by” things. Literally, depending on the source, he was either a total horndog who could barely keep his hands off women whether they were young virgins or old hags (this mainly from his law partner William Herndon) or he was so socially awkward around women it’s surprising he was able to consummate his marriage (his barber Billy Fleurville among others).

Herndon is one of several sources that when he was a young bachelor he occasionally used prostitutes (female of course- no idea if male prostitutes would have been known of in the small town midwest or not) and was very worried he’d contracted a STD from one. (There’s no evidence he did.) Herndon also told a story about Lincoln going to bed with a prostitute before negotiating the fee; upon learning it was $5 and he only had $2, he wouldn’t go any further, saying that he couldn’t even make a promissory for the rest as he didn’t know when he would have it; there the story splits- by some accounts she said ‘well, give me $2 and forget the rest’, and in some she wishes him a good day and tells him she’s the most honest man she ever met [but no freebies]).

He’s not generally believed to have fooled around on his wife, but he probably wasn’t a virgin groom.

4

You guys will debate this for years just because you don’t want to claim Buchanan, Sampiro.

Not that I blame you, of course. I’m embarrassed enough that he’s the only president who was a Pennsylvanian.

5

Oh I totally accept that Buchanan was gay. In fact his longtime lover, William Rufus Devane King, represented my home state of Alabama. His nickname was Mrs. Buchanan, Buchanan was sometimes called Mrs. King or William Rufus Queen, and both were sometimes referred to as Miss Nancy. (Apropos of nothing, one of King’s collateral descendants [descendant of one of his siblings] is a married old poof who’s sexually harassed me at my job; just an interesting [if only to me] tidbit.)

James Garfield is also given as a gay president upon times (though he was married with children). Supposedly there are love letters he wrote when he was in college. No idea of how conclusive the letters are as I haven’t really looked into it.
While not a president, Alexander Hamilton wrote somelettersto John Laurens that are also evidenced, though some dismiss them as the flowery prose of the 18th century. Hamilton later married and had 8 kids, and later yet was involved in a sex scandal with a woman, an old con called “the badger game” involving being caught by the woman’s husband in a compromising position; since he was a known adulterer anyway, some have theorized the real blackmail was that it wasn’t the wife he was caught with, but of course that is total conjecture.

6

Normally the evidence of a Simpsons cartoon would be irrefutable. But it was a Treehouse of Horror episode so it’s not canon.

7

Well, Honest Abe wasn’t exactly Out of the Closet Abe if he was gay. But we will never know, will we?

8

I might be wrong, but I think Maria Reynolds’ husband was in prison for at least the first time Hamilton boinked her, Sampiro – I think the blackmail started with a letter the man sent him rather than with an immediate discovery. I’ve always found the gay-Hamilton theories spurious.

9

In those days it was actually “Out of the Chifferobe”.

10

Theres no mention of Old Abe’s (well, he was Young Abe at the time) young girlfriend. He lost her to illness, although they were close to getting married at the time. This launched him into a depression (from which some argue he never fully recovered).

11

Ann Rutledge. Biographers debate her importance.

12

But he was so pretty…would be a waste if he wasn’t at least bi.

13

Must be hard for you, getting turned on by your folding money.

14

“Mr. Hamilton hath nicer legs than Hitler, and his tits be bigger yet than Cher’s.”
Ben Franklin (Obadiah Hitler was the manager of a livery stable in NYC and Mme. Cher de Lupin was the proprietress of a chandler’s office and slaughterhouse near same.)

15

It is - one of my coworkers said “but he’s dead” and I said “yeah, like I’m ever going to meet Brad Pitt either.” In the world of fantasy crushes, dead guys on money seems about as valid as movie stars.

16

And Hamilton is a definite 10 on the Fine-o-meter.

17

I think the only way to really discuss this is in terms of how likely it is that people in general now or in the future believe that he was. And I think the whole crux of the idea is 99% based on his having shared a bed with another man for a long period of time. I doubt most people know about any of the other potential clues.

And the only reason its gotten this far is because to men of today (myself included), sharing a bed with another guy like that for that long is often simply too hard to ignore or completely rationalize.

But, as the OP makes clear, its nothing more than a case of the tremendous differences in social graces and decorum between today and two centuries ago. It would be like debating whether George Washington really believed in democracy because he owned slaves. Because slavery is such an incomprehensible idea now it can’t help but taint the image. But even so, yes, of course Washington believed in democracy. Probably more than anyone at the time.

And whether Lincoln was gay or not, him sharing a bed with another man at the time provides exactly 0% evidence towards it.

18

Isn’t it generally agreed that it’s kind of anachronistic to apply firm categories of “gay” and “straight” to eras that didn’t really have the idea of “sexual orientation?”

This is an interesting point I had never considered before, and it probably applies to all “was he gay?” discussions regarding educated men in the 18th-19th centuries.

19

It’s true that gay as a lifestyle wasn’t really an option or a notion to most people, but homosexuality was even if the word was not yet coined.

A bit off topic, but there’s an old joke everybody’s heard about Hillary Clinton and Bill going to a gas station. Short version: Bill learns that Hillary and the station attendant, a minimum wage flunky, were high school sweethearts and says “If you’d married that man you’d be living in his trailer behind the gas station”. She responds “If I’d married that man he’d be president.”

The more I read about her the more I’m convinced Mary Todd was like that. She said when she was 14 she was going to be first lady one day and repeated it several years later. She courted both of the front runners for the 1860 election- Douglas and Lincoln, and according to rumors (possibly started by her detractors) had even been courted by Jefferson Davis when he was a young officer and she was about 15, which if true would also have made her a first lady. She was a total nutcase by most accounts and could be horrifying, but I hadn’t realized how brilliant she was: ate, drank, ingested, and excreted politics, read several newspapers per day at a time when no woman did that (they couldn’t even vote), voluminous reader, and was probably better informed on political events outside of Illinois than her husband.
When Gore Vidal and others say his marriage to her was simple “hypergamy” (marrying above one’s station for personal gain) or Herndon says it was loveless, I seriously think they’re talking out of their asses. Had she been from a family as poor as Lincoln’s, I think he’d still have fallen for her; he was passionate about education (people could joke in his presence about his height, skinniness, mole, or pretty much anything else, but his lack of education was one of his few very sensitive points [another was his broadsword duel that didn’t come to fruition]) and to find these qualities in a woman who found him attractive in spite of his lack of money and lack of finesse, and who was beautiful to boot (by the standards of the day- pale skin, brown hair, blue eyes, 5’2), I can see that he would fall head over heels. (And it’s the silliest of notions that lack of love is what makes a marriage unhappy; Lincoln’s father and stepmother probably never loved each other in the romantic sense and were probably infinitely happier than Abe and Mary; I think Mary and Abraham had a co-dependent relationship that was probably total hell at times and at other times was probably magic.)

20

fascinating subject–19th century gayness, including Lincoln–but this title just cracks me up. I keep picturing Abe and Josh in those stupid “Maverick” and “Goose” helmets high-fiving and chanting it in unison.