Stretching the Truth With Honest Abe’s Story

The latest literary scandal concerns the biography of Ronald Reagan titled “Dutch.” Edmund Morris has admitted to having a bad time recording Reagan’s life, so he decided to invent a fictitious character--himself--and wrote about all the good times he and Dutch had together.

It has been a lively topic of conversation in literary circles. If Mr. Morris invented himself, how can we be sure he didn’t invent the entire book? I have been working on a biography of Abraham Lincoln, and recently when I hit a stone wall, I decided to put myself in the book as one of Abe’s dearest friends.

This is where I am so far.

“Abe Lincoln was born next to our log cabin in Kentucky on Feb. 12, 1809, and we became bosom pals soon after. Abe and I studied law and then formed the firm of Buchwald & Lincoln, specializing in civil rights cases.

“Then he fell in love with Mary Todd, a girlfriend I introduced to him.

“In 1856, I urged Lincoln to run for the U.S. Senate. Lincoln lost, so he decided to run for president, a campaign I can take complete credit for. At my urging, Lincoln came out against slavery, and eight Southern states withdrew from the Union.

“Then we had a war between the states, and I served as Lincoln’s chief of staff. I also wrote the Gettysburg Address at his request.

“During the conflict I urged Lincoln to forgive the South. Lincoln thought it was a good idea and adopted the Emancipation Proclamation, which I had written to my wife earlier in the war.

“On April 14, 1865, I stopped by the White House and said, ‘You folks interested in catching a show at Ford’s Theater?’

“Lincoln thought it was a good idea.”

That is all I’ve written so far. But Abe’s biography makes so much more sense with me as a character in it. The title is “Honest Abe and Me--From One Rail-Splitter to Another.”