Our Mary, Mrs. Lincoln's Photographic Legacy

One things pretty much for certain in my mind. Lincoln's last words were to Mary Todd. “Why, she will think nothing about it,” Lincolns response after playfully Mary asked him “What will Miss Harris think of my hanging onto you so,” Mary asked, referring to her grip on her husband’s hand.
 
Crazy, isn't it? There will of course always be the nay-sayers- I'm inclined to wonder what in blazes anyone could hope for which would have made it better? I'd wondered how Day Lewis could look enough like Lincoln- after seeing him wondered how I never saw it before! Of course, Thaddeus..... OH my goodness. There are no words for that portrayal- he might as well have come back, walked into the studio and read for his own part.

Gotta love him. No one ever threw better insults at anyone ever!!!!!
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There's so much pain here, tough to look at
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A lot of pain behind that face, you can see it in her body language as well. She had a very hard life with the loss of her sons and her husband, in addition to her Washington social experiences. After her husband was killed she basically spent her life in perpetual mourning, only wearing black.
 

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One things pretty much for certain in my mind. Lincoln's last words were to Mary Todd. “Why, she will think nothing about it,” Lincolns response after playfully Mary asked him “What will Miss Harris think of my hanging onto you so,” Mary asked, referring to her grip on her husband’s hand.

I'd forgotten this, War Horse. In fact it's not really all that widely known, is it? Can you imagine the shock- for real of that moment for her? I'd say for him if he hadn't been knocked senseless. That comment shows their intimate, husband/wife relationship was still very much alive.

She'd just been blackmailed, too- by a charleton psychic, one, more reason to feel awful; it turned out this man warned Lincoln about a plot- Booth's kidnapping plot. Psychic got a lot of personal information out of Mary through those ' sittings ', threatened to reveal it unless Mary got him a war-time pass for the trains. She'd told her husband- since she'd brought him into the White House blamed herself. Plus it was a ' friend ' who turned out not to be one. Weirdly turned into a ' good ' guy since somehow was Booth's ' psychic, too- warned someone of the kidnapping plot. This was a terribly hurt, lonely woman.
 
A lot of pain behind that face, you can see it in her body language as well. She had a very hard life with the loss of her sons and her husband, in addition to her Washington social experiences. After her husband was killed she basically spent her life in perpetual mourning, only wearing black.

You don't know how on earth she did it. THREE sons dead, THREE, the son left to her had her committed against the best knowledge of some of the top professionals of the day. Robert Lincoln had a lot of power. You read his reasoning and it sounds reasonable, too- until you get a good look at other material.

* Lost 3 sons
*Murdered husband
*Single offspring betrays her
*Best friend betrays her in a book
* Charleton writes a book about her, completely false, most of the country believes it
* Lost several homes
* Denied pension despite her husband's service

Not in order- and being denied a denied a pension despite her husbands employment ( and murder while employed ) by our country was a shame we should still be living down.
 
I'd forgotten this, War Horse. In fact it's not really all that widely known, is it? Can you imagine the shock- for real of that moment for her? I'd say for him if he hadn't been knocked senseless. That comment shows their intimate, husband/wife relationship was still very much alive.

She'd just been blackmailed, too- by a charleton psychic, one, more reason to feel awful; it turned out this man warned Lincoln about a plot- Booth's kidnapping plot. Psychic got a lot of personal information out of Mary through those ' sittings ', threatened to reveal it unless Mary got him a war-time pass for the trains. She'd told her husband- since she'd brought him into the White House blamed herself. Plus it was a ' friend ' who turned out not to be one. Weirdly turned into a ' good ' guy since somehow was Booth's ' psychic, too- warned someone of the kidnapping plot. This was a terribly hurt, lonely woman.
That's the first I had heard of the Psychic. Very interesting. I have the book Mary Todd just haven't read it yet.
 
You don't know how on earth she did it. THREE sons dead, THREE, the son left to her had her committed against the best knowledge of some of the top professionals of the day. Robert Lincoln had a lot of power. You read his reasoning and it sounds reasonable, too- until you get a good look at other material.

* Lost 3 sons
*Murdered husband
*Single offspring betrays her
*Best friend betrays her in a book
* Charleton writes a book about her, completely false, most of the country believes it
* Lost several homes
* Denied pension despite her husband's service

Not in order- and being denied a denied a pension despite her husbands employment ( and murder while employed ) by our country was a shame we should still be living down.

I had forgotten that Robert had her committed for a time. Ultimately, didn't she end up confined to a friend's home for the duration of her life after her institutionalization?

And you're right, not a clue how she could have handled all of the loss in her life and remained even remotely lucid.
 
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