I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone say to me lately, “Pete Buttigieg will be our first gay President some day.” Hell, I’ve even said it myself a number of times. But what if we’ve already had one or two, albeit not openly so? Rumors have abounded over the years that James Buchanan, POTUS #15 and the only bachelor President, was a gay man who had a relationship with our 13th Vice President, William Rufus King. Some, including Andrew Jackson referred to the pair as “Aunt Fancy” and “Miss Nancy”. While Buchanan’s legacy has seemed less than stellar, not long after, the man considered one of our arguably greatest Presidents, Abraham Lincoln, may have also been gay. Shaun Peterson certainly makes a compelling case in his fascinating new documentary, Lover Of Men: The Untold History Of Abraham Lincoln.
While not groundbreaking in its approach, utilizing a mixture of talking heads from historians and activists, dialogue-free recreations, and excerpts from existing letters, Peterson nonetheless makes a convincing and moving case for Lincoln’s queerness. Furthermore, he’s created something moving which astutely links the past to the present.
Throughout the film, we see Lincoln’s involvement with four men, with one in particular, Joshua Speed, ostensibly serving as the love of his life. Peterson certainly has the receipts to prove his point by dipping into Lincoln’s own correspondence, sometimes backed up by observations of those in his circle. Sure, some have said the nature of same-sex friendships at the time allowed for overt displays of affection and shared sleeping arrangements, but the film makes the case for historical erasure. It strongly states that this happened and those in power don’t want the public to know about it.
One can’t deny Lincoln would sign letters to Speed with the words, “Yours forever”, which he never would do in letters to his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln. He’d also speak of a fear of women and opted to share a small bed with Speed even when offered his own room. I found myself touched deeply when Speed ended his relationship with Lincoln by marrying a woman, thus encouraging Abe to do the same. It may have been for Lincoln’s political gain, but it doesn’t make it any less heartbreaking.
Pundits in the documentary speak of the cultural demands to tuck anything gay away by hiding behind such marriages. The last act carries us from that age of the closet to today, where so many, especially in politics, have lived openly and proudly. I could have done without the end credit Diana Ross needle drop and the Ziggy Stardust-ing of Lincoln’s face, which I feel take away a bit from the pathos of his life, but Peterson’s reaching out to younger generations feels admirable nonetheless. Yes, this film could easily slot itself right into a History Channel program, but the use of recreations adds a cinematic touch which makes for a lovely collective experience in a theater. I’m really grateful this film exists, bolstering what used to be a lot of cocktail party chatter. It makes me so proud of our forebears. Pete Buttigieg may end up making Presidential history some day, but if so, he stands on the shoulders of at least two others.
By Glenn Gaylord, Senior Film Critic
Lover Of Men: The Untold History Of Abraham Lincoln opens in theaters only on September 6th. Lover Of Men has partnered with HRC; those who purchase tickets to see the film in theaters this weekend via the link below will directly benefit The Human Rights Campaign.
wow!! 85Queer dispatches from TIFF 2024: Misericordia (Miséricorde) ★★★★
It would be almost impossible to list all the misrepresentations and purposeful deceptions in the faux “documentary,” and maybe no one would have the time or patience to read my whole post if tried to do so. I only mention a very small fraction of them here. My opinion is that Lincoln, Lover of Men, is a hoax, a shameful falsification of known facts, and a project that no legitimate historian would be associated with. I write because I am a lover of history, and strongly believe that Truth matters.
1. “What stuff!”
Captain David Derickson was Lincoln’s bodyguard for part of 1862 and 1863. Elizabeth Fox wrote in her diary for 11/16/1862: “Tish says, ‘Oh, there is a Bucktail soldier here devoted to the president, drives with him, and when Mrs. Lincoln is not home, sleeps with him.’ What stuff!” The person reading this diary entry in the film does so with an intonation that suggests “What stuff!” is synonymous with something like “What a shocking piece of knowledge!” In fact, as any real historians involved in the film do know, “What Stuff!” meant “What rubbish!” or “What nonsense!” or “How absurd!” What really happened here is that Fox recorded in her diary a piece of gossip that she considered foolish, ridiculous and untrue.
2. Sharing a bed.
The film offers as proof that Lincoln had sex with men and that Joshua Speed was his one true love, that Lincoln shared a bed with Speed in a room above Speed’s store. Viewers are led to imagine that this was their private spot for lovemaking. This is the single most important piece of “evidence” in the whole film. But to make this sleeping arrangement into proof of same-sex sexual activity, they must keep from viewers that fact that Lincoln and Speed did not have the room to themselves. David Herbert Donald was twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize for biography, and in his highly regarded biography of Lincoln he wrote that “Much of the time when Lincoln and Speed were sharing a bed, young William H. Herndon, who … was clerking in Speed’s store, slept in the same room, as did Charles R. Hurst, a clerk in another dry-goods store. Donald, David Herbert. Lincoln, Simon & Schuster, NY, 1995, p.70.
3. “Yours forever”
Much time in the film is also spent on Lincoln’s letters to his friend Joshua Speed, and his closing lines of “Yours forever,” which they repeatedly emphasize Lincoln never used in letters to his wife. In fact, Lincoln used the same closing in letters to at least six other men (https://www.hnn.us/article/broken-promises-plagiarism-misused-evidence-and-th), and he used various other closing words in his letters to Speed (Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln at the University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln1/1:333?rgn=div1;view=toc).
4. Letters to Joshua Speed.
The film says that Lincoln was devastated when Joshua Speed moved back to Kentucky and married. They take a couple lines out of context in a single letter to make their case. The entire letter refutes their claim, and can be found at https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln1/1:297.1?rgn=div2;view=fulltext. Another letter which shows how Lincoln truly felt about his best friend’s marital happiness can be found at https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln1/1:298.1?rgn=div2;view=fulltext, and reads in part:
“Dear Speed: Springfield, March 27th. 1842
Yours of the 10th. Inst. was received three or four days since. You know I am sincere, when I tell you, the pleasure its contents gave me was and is inexpressible. … It can not be told, how it now thrills me with joy, to hear you say you are “far happier than you ever expected to be.” That much I know is enough. I know you too well to suppose your expectations were not, at least sometimes, extravagant; and if the reality exceeds them all, I say, enough, dear Lord. I am not going beyond the truth, when I tell you, that the short space it took me to read your last letter, gave me more pleasure, than the total sum of all I have enjoyed since that fatal first of Jany.’41.” [The date on which Lincoln was to have been married to Mary Todd.]
This embarrassing film seems to rely in large part on the discredited book The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln, by the late C.A. Tripp. It’s many faults and falsehoods, many of which are identical to those in this film, are discussed in the article “Broken Promises, Plagiarism, Misused Evidence and the New Gay Lincoln Book”, https://www.hnn.us/article/broken-promises-plagiarism-misused-evidence-and-th
Can’t find anywhere the name of the actor who played young Joshua Speed in this film. Curious to know what else he’s done.