Wilson and Davis Featured on Public Television Program

Rod Davis and Doug Wilson came from different backgrounds -- Davis was a professor of American History, and Wilson, American Literature. But the two Knox professors found common ground in their interest in our 14th president. Thirty-six years ago this fall, the pair began teaching courses jointly at the College. This partnership led to the development of the American Studies program at Knox, and when the pair decided to retire, the founding of the Lincoln Studies Center, also at Knox College. Through the center, the pair seeks to broaden the understanding of Lincoln and his legacy through research, publications, public events, lectures, conferences, and classroom instruction.

Davis and Wilson discussed their recently published books on Abraham Lincoln, what they've learned about Lincoln through their research, and Knox College's Lincoln Studies Center on “Interesting People,” a monthly series on Public Television Station WTVP-47. Hosted by local attorney and media personality Ed Sutkowski, “Interesting People” features conversations with a wide range of individuals about their lives, careers, ideas, goals and accomplishments.

The interview focused primarily on the recent publication of Wilson’s book, Lincoln's Sword: The Presidency and the Power of Words. The book won the coveted Lincoln Prize in 2006, considered by many to be the greatest award given in the field of American History. This was the second time Wilson has received the award. Lincoln's Sword explores Lincoln's presidential writing, providing a window into his presidency and a key to his accomplishments. “[Lincoln] was a real writer, a literary craftsman,” says Wilson. “His writing was like poetry -- it had a cadence, it was musical and charged with emotion.”

The program also featured the recent publication of Herndon’s Lincoln. This account of Abraham Lincoln's pre-presidential life, first published in 1889, is based on the research and personal knowledge of Lincoln's law partner, William H. Herndon. Davis and Wilson spent three years transcribing papers delegated to them by Congress to restore the publication’s original text. “Much of Lincoln's early life, as depicted in Herndon's Lincoln, is based not on documents but on reminiscence,” says Davis. “Reminiscence is something that is enormously valuable. It stands on a par with documentation at a time, as in Lincoln's early life, when documentation is scanty. If we didn't have the reminiscences of the people William Herndon went out and interviewed, we probably wouldn't know much about Lincoln's early life at all.”

Herndon's Lincoln is the inaugural volume in a series of books from the Lincoln Studies Center and the University of Illinois Press. Additional books are planned for release during 2008, the 150th anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas debates; and 2009, the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth.

During the WTVP program, Davis and Wilson also reflected on Lincoln’s achievements as president. Davis says that Lincoln had “an unerring sense of just exactly when the time had come in order to make things happen. The issuance of the emancipation proclamation is a perfect case and point. A year before, that would have been impossible to issue. But the right combination of circumstances had come together at the end of 1862 to enable him to issue that proclamation without tearing his party apart, without too terribly disaffecting the democrats, without ensuring that he would have political punishment for this happening later.”

When asked if Lincoln could have succeeded in the politics of today’s modern world, Wilson only needed two words in response. “You bet.”

View The WTVP Interview with Doug Wilson and Rod Davis

More About The Lincoln Studies Center