Lincoln in the White House

Character actor Frank McGlynn, Sr. had a cottage industry of his own going with portraying Abraham Lincoln. Scroll down the list of his credits and you'll see what I mean.

Of course we get a history cardboard cutout, we don't get much more out of this short than the exhibit at Disney World. The film ends with Lincoln at Gettysburg and McGlynn recreating Lincoln's most famous speech of all.

Stripped from the myth, Abraham Lincoln was the guy who preserved the United States in being and freed this country from the stigma of slavery, nothing more, nothing less. It took a lot of lives to accomplish this, something he brooded on every minute of the slightly four plus years he occupied the White House. Had he not won the Civil War for the Union and preserved the USA in being, we would be in a much worse world than we are, no doubt in my mind about it.

The part I liked best in this was the human side of Lincoln with McGlynn comforting his son Tad played by Dickie Moore. Tad was one of two sons that survived him, his other son Robert was off at Harvard during most of the war. Lincoln was one of several presidents who buried children while in the White House, son Willie died the year before. The bond between Abe and Tad was something special after that as this short so clearly shows.

Lincoln In The White House is still a good teaching tool, but really only for the elementary school.