Episode 130: Abraham Lincoln and the Fight for Peace with John Avlon
"Lincoln's prescription was unconditional surrender followed by a magnanimous peace. He combined strength with mercy, and understood if you don't win the peace, you don't really win the war."
John Avlon joins the podcast, new book in hand, called Lincoln and the Fight for Peace. What is required for real leadership? Lincoln possessed a unique blend of strength, mercy, and magnanimity. What happened between the end of the Civil War and Lincoln's death? What did Lincoln do and plan that was so crucial to find a lasting peace? Who was the man and what was his character? As we look towards history as our guide in a polarized and divided modern day America, what can Abraham Lincoln teach us today? While we all may wish for a modern day Lincoln, we know there isn't. So can we use his spirit and his wisdom to guide us to better times?
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In his twenties, Avlon served as chief speechwriter to New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. After the attacks of September 11th, 2001, he and his team were responsible for writing the eulogies for all firefighters and police officers murdered in the destruction of the World Trade Center. Avlon's essay on the attacks, "The Resilient City" concluded the anthology Empire City: New York through the Centuries and won acclaim as "the single best essay written in the wake of 9/11." He's appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Real Time with Bill Maher and The Daily Show. He won the National Society of Newspaper Columnists award for best online columnist 2012.
He lives with his wife Margaret Hoover, host of Firing Line on PBS and a CNN contributor, and their two children in New York.
