On the eve of the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth a story
has come to light that got very little attention when it occurred,
but deserves it, for it is an example of the selfless patriotism
that the 16th president inspired in Americans, and still does.
Last September, Chicago area businessman Mickey Straub embarked
on a pilgrimage he had been thinking about for several years.
His mission: to
recite aloud Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address from the steps of all 50
state capitols within the course of 50 days.
“I wanted to make the trip during a national election campaign,
not for political reasons, but because that is a time when many
Americans are focusing on our nation’s values, its history and its
future,” he said after the trip.
His trip began in his hometown, Burr Ridge, Illinois, last
September 4 with a presentation to a veterans’ group at the local
Veterans’ Memorial. From there he headed by automobile — a
Lincoln, of course — to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where Lincoln
had stayed at the home of David Will the night before he gave one
of the nation’s most memorable addresses. Straub then proceeded to
the state capital, Harrisburg, where he recited the address. He
continued by auto to 47 other state capitals. (Scheduled airlines
took him to other two, Alaska and Hawaii.) He also spent three of
the 50 days “at rest,” as he put it later.
On arriving at a state capitol building he first introduced
himself to capitol police on duty, to explain the purpose of his
visit. He said he would like to pay his respects to workers in the
offices of various state elected officials. He says the police were
uniformly helpful and cordial. He also told them he would like to
take 50 to 100 photos in and around the capitol. They directed him
to various offices and legislative chambers. An outgoing man,
Straub introduced himself about. Often, officials or staff members
served as impromptu guides to legislative chambers and other sites.
In Columbus, Ohio, for example, a State Senate official took him up
a long, winding non-public staircase to the top of the dome. The
man also took him into the Governor’s office where a bust of
Lincoln commemorates the fact that in that room where Lincoln
received the telegram notifying him in 1860 that he had been
elected the 16th President.
Along the way, as he toured a capitol, Straub kept his eye
peeled for inscriptions that included the words, “God,” “Lincoln,”
and “Liberty.” Many capitols also had one of the Liberty Bell
reproductions that had been distributed to all capitols in the
1950s.
After touring a capitol he went to the front steps to recite the
Gettysburg Address. In some cases there was no one there to hear
him. He was not seeking publicity, so he had no publicist promoting
his visit in advance. In most cases, though, workers from the state
offices came out to hear him, as did tourists he had met during his
building tour.
The last stop on Mickey Straub’s patriotic adventure was at his
home state capitol, Springfield, Illinois, last October 17. On the
steps of the capitol the board members of a trade association of
which he is a member joined him as he recited Lincoln’s immortal
words.
He made a final pilgrimage, a visit to Lincoln’s tomb, in
Springfield. There, the Catholic archbishop led the small group in
prayer.
Mickey concluded from his journey of 14,900 automobile and
15,000 air miles that his faith in the goodness of the American
people was stronger than ever and that the experience was, for him,
“very humbling.”
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
