Of all the Presidents who
have had strong ties to New York City, Abraham Lincoln might not jump into the
forefront of consciousness. In fact, by most accounts, Honest Abe only graced
the Big Apple with his presence a grand total of six times (and one of them was in a casket). Yet, his influence on NYC is undeniable if not particularly
direct. Perhaps his most triumphant and well-known visit was for his
career-making address at the Cooper Institute in February of 1860. The stakes
couldn’t be higher for the would-be President as he was effectively launching
his platform to the public. The age old adage rang just as true in Lincoln’s
day – “if he could make it there…” and he was well-aware that New York was a
critical and decisive audience. Though he had given speeches in Congress ten
years earlier, he was regarded as an "entire stranger" to the East
and considered rough around the edges in more ways than one to the de rigueur populous of NYC. Lincoln was
armed and ready with an arsenal of arguments compiled after months of pouring
over volumes in the Springfield State Capitol library. A lawyer by trade, he
decided his best strategy was to base his speech on facts garnered from
first-hand interviews of all the signers of the Declaration, and the document
itself, as well as the entire history of the slave trade. Though he was
intellectually prepared, the fact remained that Lincoln appeared as though he
had only just crawled out from his log cabin in the rural West. In an attempt
to urbanize his look, Lincoln’s wild hair was tamed and trimmed and his
photograph was taken by then-shutterbug of the stars: Mathew Brady. By cleverly
employing symbolic props worthy of the Da
Vinci Code, Brady was able to clearly convey Lincoln’s intellectuality,
selflessness, and strength and as well as highlight his most flattering
physical features. Though the Cooper Union address was hailed by the New York
Tribune as "one of the happiest and most convincing political arguments
ever made in this city," many still argue that it was a haircut and a
picture that ultimately won Abraham Lincoln the Presidency.
From frumpy... to FABULOUS! 