“Team of Rivals” exhibit opens October 14 at Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum
Exhibit examines President Lincoln’s Cabinet and the start of the Civil War 150 years ago; opens with lecture, book signing by author Doris Kearns Goodwin
Springfield, IL – The new, little-known boss assembled a group of people whose egos he had bruised on his way to the top and gave them key jobs in the organization. And, while some of those people did all they could to undermine his authority, the new boss desperately tried to avert the worst crisis in the organization’s history.
The boss was President Abraham Lincoln, the group of people was his newly formed Cabinet, the organization was the 85-year-old United States of America, and the crisis was the impending Civil War. A new exhibit about these charismatic, difficult men and this critical time period in U.S. History, “Team of Rivals,†opens Thursday, October 14 at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Illinois. This one-of-a-kind exhibition begins Illinois’ commemoration of the Civil War Sesquicentennial and runs through August 2011.
Named after the book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and renowned presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, the exhibit will feature original artifacts from Lincoln and his cabinet, as well as artifacts from Fort Sumter, displayed together for the first time. It will use innovative video components and creative productions to immerse visitors in the tumultuous days leading up to the Civil War. Goodwin will act as the personal tour guide throughout the exhibit with recorded videos that narrate each section. She will also hold a book signing and lecture the day the exhibit opens.
“Team of Rivals†will demonstrate how Lincoln chose his initial Presidential cabinet, composing it of men with differing viewpoints, some of whom were his opponents for the 1860 Republican Presidential nomination. They include William Seward, Secretary of State; Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury; Simon Cameron, Secretary of War; Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy; Caleb Smith, Secretary of the Interior; Edward Bates, Attorney General; and Montgomery Blair, Postmaster General. Seward, Chase, Cameron and Bates all vied with Lincoln for the Republican nomination.
“Lincoln said that these were the strongest men in the country, and the country was in peril, so he needed them by his side,†said Goodwin. “Having this entire group of rivals together who could question his assumptions, argue with him, and debate him made Lincoln a much stronger president than he otherwise would have been. I think Lincoln would have said that the price he had to pay for this unruly cabinet was worth it in the end.â€
Goodwin will officially open the exhibit at 9 a.m. Thursday, October 14; hold a book signing in the Presidential Museum Gift Shop that day from 10 a.m. to noon, where copies of her books may be purchased; and present a lecture that evening at 7 p.m. in Sangamon Auditorium at the University of Illinois at Springfield. Tickets for the lecture are $15 each and may be reserved at www.sangamonauditorium.org or by calling (217) 206-6160 or (800) 207-6960.
Local actors and museum volunteers will take part in performed readings of various sections of the book Team of Rivals throughout the ten months of the exhibit. The first readings, 30 to 40 minutes in length, will begin opening week: Thursday, October 14 at 2:30 p.m.; and Friday and Saturday, October 15 and 16 at 11 a.m. These presentations will take place in the Union Theater. Free tickets will be distributed 90 minutes prior to each performance.
The “Team of Rivals†exhibit will feature an in-depth investigation into Fort Sumter, including the key people and developments before, during and after the bombardment that started the Civil War. Original artifacts from the fort and the commanders on both sides of the battle are included.
Visitors entering “Team of Rivals†will first learn how and why Lincoln chose his first cabinet. They will move into a section covering his First Inaugural Address, including original Lincoln artifacts pertaining to the speech, then see a digital map that notes the Federal installations taken over by the Southern states before and during Secession. A corridor will follow the military and political path toward war as some of Lincoln’s own cabinet members work behind his back to undermine his authority. After the Fort Sumter section, visitors will enter an area with in-depth information about Lincoln’s cabinet members along with displays of original personal artifacts from them. While there, visitors may find answers to the following questions:
- Which cabinet member had seventeen children; one of his sons served in the Confederate army and another in the Union army; wore old-fashioned Quaker clothes; and his black hair and white beard caused Abraham Lincoln to say that he used “his chin more than his head?â€
- Who was described as “awkward, shy, homely, and repellent, and makes few friends;†had his home was burned to the ground by Confederate soldiers; and was the great-grandfather of a famous Hollywood actor?
- Who was accused of being so corrupt that the only thing he wouldn’t steal was a red-hot stove; uttered the now-famous quote, “an honest politician is one who, when he is bought, stays bought;†and his federal government career included a stint as Minister to Russia?
- Who “looked as you would wish a statesman to look;†had buried three wives by his 44th birthday; recited psalms while bathing and dressing; was extremely near-sighted but didn’t like to wear glasses; and presided over the impeachment trial of Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson?
- Who was well-known for his liberal use of profanity in private conversation; was Lincoln’s greatest rival and eventually became his greatest friend; nearly died the night Lincoln was assassinated; and made a foolish purchase that turned out to be not so foolish after all?
- Whose middle name was Blood; was the first citizen of Indiana to hold a Presidential cabinet position; and whose biggest impact on administration policy was his support for schemes to colonize former slaves and free blacks in Central America?
- Whose boss called him “Father Neptune†and joked that he was examining a model of Noah’s Ark with an eye toward introducing it into the U.S. Navy; was infamous for wearing a bad toupee; and predicted that Lincoln would be “better appreciated in the future than now?â€
Original artifacts for the “Team of Rivals†exhibit are being loaned by the Ohio Historical Society; Maine Historical Society; Seward House Museum in Auburn, New York; Louisiana State Museum; The Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia; Virginia Historical Society; Indiana State Museum; Lincoln Heritage Museum in Lincoln, Illinois; the Raab Collection; Historical Society of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania; Hartford History Center/Hartford Public Library, Connecticut; Fort Sumter National Monument at Charleston, South Carolina; Memorial Hall Museum, New Orleans; and the Smithsonian Institution.
“Team of Rivals†will open just prior to the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s election as President on November 6, 1860; his Farewell Address to Springfield as President-elect on February 11, 1861; and the start of the Civil War on April 15, 1861.
“When experiencing the exhibit, I think people will see that these strong and independent men who made up Lincoln’s cabinet gave their lives in so many ways to public service, and they were able, even in the midst of having very different points of view, to somehow work together for the common cause of winning the war and ending slavery,†said Goodwin. “We’ve come through really tough times before, and we can come through really tough times now if all factions put aside their differences and work together just like Lincoln’s ‘Team of Rivals.’â€
For more information about “Team of Rivals†or other programs and exhibits at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, visit www.presidentlincoln.org.
