Lincoln: The First Log Cabin Republican?

A new book, "The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln" -- reviewed today in the NYTimes -- claims Lincoln was gay.

So, my first reaction to claims about homosexuality is a sarcastic "yeah, right." How do you prove something like that?

It appears uncontested between historians that, as a young man, Lincoln slept in the same bed with another man, Joshua Speed, for a period of four years. Carl Sandburg, in his biography, described the two as having "streaks of lavendar, spots soft as May violets." A dissesnting historian, David Donald, says in frontier times, space was tight and men shared beds. Really? For four years? And this wasn't occaisioned with emotional intimacy, and wasn't visited by physical intimacy?

Also, there was wide commentary on the fact that, while Lincoln's wife Mary Todd was not at home, Lincoln regularly slept with the captain of his bodyguards, David V. Derickson. As described by Derickson's commanding officer: "Captain Derickson, in particular, advanced so far in the president's confidence and esteem that, in Mrs. Lincoln's absence, he frequently spent the night at his cottage, sleeping in the same bed with him and - it is said - making use of his Excellency's night-shirts!" Donald doesn't comment if space was a premium in the White-House, too. But, he does say that if Lincoln and Derickson were so intimate, then Derickson would not have separated from Lincoln as he did when he left Washington in 1863 - apparently ignoring the fact that sometimes, relationships end. The article relates other comments which demonstrate that the sleeping arrangements were widely known.

The book, by A. C. Tripp, charts numerous relationships between Lincoln and men, including one Billy Greene, whom Lincoln is supposed to have shared a bed with, and who described to Lincoln's law partner Lincoln's thighs: "as perfect as a human being could be." I'm a bit taken back at what situation could have brought Mr. Greene into close inspection of Lincoln's thighs which did not involve physical intimacy.

I don't really know how you get to the bottom of evidence like this, and conclude that Lincoln couldn't possibly have had sexual relationships with men. A more suitable conclusion is that it seems pretty likely that he did.

The review states that no one ever described Lincoln at the time this way could be due, in part, to the fact that the word "homosexual" didn't enter the English language until 1892.