SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS (December 20, 2019) — Ray LaHood, former long-term Illinois Congressman and the US Transportation Secretary from 2009 to 2013, will be the featured speaker at the annual Abraham Lincoln Association (ALA) Birthday Banquet on Wednesday, February 12 in Springfield. Four renowned Lincoln authors and historians will highlight the Benjamin P Thomas Symposium on February 11–12, which will feature discussions on Mary Lincoln, Lincoln and the Abolitionists, Lincoln's “informer,” and Lincoln's early life in Indiana.
LaHood was recently nominated as the chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum's Board of Trustees. He was the chief of staff to US House Minority Leader Robert Michel from 1982 to 1994 and served as Illinois' 18th District Congressman from 1995 to 2009. LaHood, a Republican, was the Department of Transportation Secretary under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013. He is now the Senior Policy Advisor for DLA Piper, a global business law firm.
The Banquet, held to observe the 211th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, will take place at the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel in downtown Springfield. A reception starts at 6PM followed by dinner at 7PM. Tickets are $85 each and can be obtained online at www.abrahamlincolnassociation.org or by calling (217) 546-2656 (217-LINCOLN).
The banquet is one of many activities scheduled each year to commemorate Lincoln's birthday. The Abraham Lincoln Association's annual Benjamin P Thomas Symposium begins Tuesday, February 11, at 6PM in the Old State Capitol Hall of Representatives with a free presentation by Carl Guarneri, professor of history at St Mary’s College in California, who will present “Lincoln's Trusted Informer: The Confidential Reports and Postwar Reminiscences of Charles A. Dana.” Dana was the managing editor of the New York Tribune until 1862, and during the Civil War he was the Assistant Secretary of War, serving as the liaison between the War Department and General Ulysses S Grant.
The Symposium resumes at 11AM, Wednesday, February 12, at the Old State Capitol. Manisha Sinha, professor of history at the University of Connecticut, will speak on “Allies for Emancipation: Lincoln and the Abolitionists.” She will be followed by Jason Emerson, a writer and historian from upstate New York who has been researching and writing about the Lincoln family for more than 25 years. Emerson's topic will be “Mary Lincoln For the Ages: Why Lincoln's Wife is Not the Woman We Think We Know.” The Wednesday morning session is free and open to the public.
The Thomas F Schwartz Symposium Luncheon begins at 1PM on Wednesday, February 12, at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. William Bartelt, the ALA’s second vice president, and Joshua Claybourn, an ALA director, will discuss “Lincoln’s Youth and the Indiana Lincoln Inquiry.” The topic concerns an effort that began in the early 20th century to document Lincoln's life from age seven to 21 when he lived on the Indiana frontier. Bartelt is a historian and former teacher at both the high school and college levels. Claybourn is an attorney, author and historian. The men are co-editors of Abe's Youth: Shaping the Future President. The luncheon is $30 per person and reservations can be made at www.abrahamlincolnassociation.org or by calling (217) 546-2656 (217-LINCOLN). Those not dining may listen to the presentation for free after the meal.
A roundtable discussion featuring all of the Symposium speakers will begin at 2:30PM at the Presidential Library followed by a book signing. The session will be moderated by Michael Burlingame, the Chancellor Naomi B Lynn Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield.
The public is also invited to the Lincoln Home National Historic Site for the free George L Painter Looking for Lincoln Lecture on Tuesday, February 12. The program begins at 8:30AM in the site's Visitor Center and features the little-known story of Julius Rosenwald, who spent his boyhood years in a home on Eighth Street across from Lincoln’s home and later became the president of Sears, Roebuck, and Company. Rosenwald amassed a fortune and dedicated most of it to helping those who faced the injustices of a racially-divided America. The home in which Rosenwald lived will be renamed in his honor following the lecture, and a new exhibit panel about Rosenwald in Springfield and his legacy will be unveiled.
The Symposium is named for Benjamin P Thomas (1902-1956), the renowned Lincoln biographer and one-time Executive Secretary of The Abraham Lincoln Association. The symposium is supported by a generous gift of Thomas's daughter, Sarah Thomas, and her family to The Abraham Lincoln Association Endowment Fund. The event is co-sponsored by the University of Illinois Springfield and hosted by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. For more information about the Abraham Lincoln Association, visit www.abrahamlincolnassociation.org.
