The Indispensable Trio

John Nicolay, John Hay and William Stoddard were young men when they each took a role in Abraham Lincoln’s White House as personal secretaries to the President. Articulate, intelligent, and at the President’s beck and call at all hours of the day, these three men saw more of Abraham Lincoln during his time as President than anyone else outside of his immediate family.

In this book author Daniel Mark Epstein draws on the writings of the three men to paint a portrait of their time in the White House with Abraham Lincoln. The book delves more deeply into the personalities and activities of the three secretaries than of the President.

Nicolay first met Lincoln in 1856 in Illinois. A publisher of a small-town weekly paper, Nicolay was spellbound by Lincoln’s oratory at a free-soil rally and sought him out. For his part Lincoln was impressed with the idealistic young printer and the two men became friends. Nicolay continued to publish his weekly, and he himself wrote many pieces - for his own paper and for others - supporting Lincoln’s campaign for the Presidency. His carefully assembled scrapbook became the basis for the publication of a contemporaneous book about the Lincoln-Douglas debates. When Lincoln was elected Nicolay was asked to join the White House staff as the President’s personal secretary.

John Hay was a graduate of Brown University and Nicolay’s best friend. He too was spellbound by Lincoln. When Lincoln won the Republican nomination for President, Hay began writing articles and giving speeches endorsing him. He was at first a volunteer in the Lincoln transition to the White House, but became a paid employee at Nicolay’s request, to which Lincoln responded “We can’t take all Illinois with us…” before relenting and putting Hay on the payroll.

Stoddard presented himself at the White House as one of many who were seeking roles in the new administration. An acquaintance of Nicolay’s he made enough of an impression that he was offered a role dealing with Land Patents, which subsequently led to his becoming an assistant to Nicolay and Hay at the White House.

All three secretaries had writing backgrounds and were trained in the law. But each had their own personalities. Stoddard, who was given to financial speculation and gambling, also became the only one of the three who gained the trust of Mrs. Lincoln. John Hay was the most diplomatic, and his tendency to overwork himself led to more than one trip to recuperate. Nicolay was the able writer who could get the President’s views out to the public via his newspaper friends or through anonymous articles he penned himself.

Both Hay and Nicolay were also sent more than once “into the field”. They met in person with Civil War generals and other important figures as emissaries for the President, and also as “investigators” - acting as the President’s eyes and ears, with instructions to report back directly to Lincoln.

All three formed their own personal bonds with the President and while they all had their assigned tasks to perform, they also were not shy in voicing their own opinions, which Lincoln sought out and encouraged.

This is a short book on a topic that would be better served by a longer, deeper account. The aim seems to be a meditation on the three men and their relationship with the President, rather than on providing an understanding of the roles each played in the significant events of Lincoln’s presidency. I hoped for more historical insight than I got.

This is also a book whose cover promises an “intimate portrait of Lincoln” and a “dreamy novelistic tone” (blurb from USA Today) by poet and author Epstein. While you do get a fair amount of the promised portrait of the President, the writing style - competent as it is - failed to match the expectation set for me going into the book.

RATING: Three and a Half Stars ⭐⭐⭐🌠

RATING COMMENTS: A short read on a topic that deserves a longer treatment. Well written though not as lyrical as the cover blurbs will lead you to believe.

WHERE I GOT MY COPY: I read a paperback copy that I purchased used from a book fair in Brisbane.