Since his death in 1865, Abraham Lincoln has been an iconic American figure depicted, usually favorably or heroically, in many forms. Lincoln has often been portrayed by Hollywood, almost always in a flattering light. He has been depicted in a wide range of forms including alternative timelines, animation, documentary, small cameos, and fictionalized interpretations.
Statues
Statues of Abraham Lincoln can be found in the United States and in other countries. In Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, is a 13-foot (4 m) high bronze statue, a gift from the United States, dedicated in 1966 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The U.S. received a statue of Benito Juárez in exchange, which is in Washington, D.C. Juárez and Lincoln exchanged friendly letters during the American Civil War. Mexico remembers Lincoln's opposition to the Mexican–American War. (For his part, Juárez refused to aid the Confederacy and jailed those Confederates who sought his help.) There is also a statue in Tijuana, Mexico, showing Lincoln standing and destroying the chains of slavery. There are at least three statues of Lincoln in the United Kingdom—one in Parliament Square in London by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, one in Manchester by George Grey Barnard and another in Edinburgh by George Bissell. There is also a bust of the President at St Andrews Church in Hingham, Norfolk, where Lincoln's ancestors lived. In Havana, Cuba, there is a bust of Abraham Lincoln in the Museum of the Revolution, a small statue of him in front of the Abraham Lincoln School, and a bust of him near the Capitolio. In Quito, Ecuador, a statue of Lincoln can be found in the Plaza Abraham Lincoln. Avenida Abraham Lincoln, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic is one of the capital city's most important and trafficked streets. In the Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, there is a city named Lincoln.
Poetry
Shortly after Lincoln's death, hundreds of poems were written on the topic. The historian Stephen B. Oates noted that "never had the nation mourned so over a fallen leader" while the professor William Pannapacker argued "Perhaps no event in American history produced so great an outpouring of verse." Describing Lincoln as a martyr became a "popular sub-genre."
Walt Whitman was fascinated by Lincoln during the Civil War and wrote several poems about him after his death. Whitman's Lincoln poems are: "O Captain! My Captain!", 1865 "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", 1865 "Hush'd Be the Camps To-Day", 1865 "This Dust Was Once the Man", 1871 Other poems on Lincoln include: "Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight", Vachel Lindsay, 1914 James Russell Lowell's "Commemoration Ode" (sixth stanza)
Songs
Over 1000 pieces of music spanning every generation since his presidency have been written about Lincoln. Abraham, Martin and John, written by Dick Holler, recorded by Dion (1968). This popular song first appeared under a sheet music cover picturing Mount Rushmore.
Classical music
A Lincoln Portrait, by Aaron Copland, for narrator and orchestra. The subject is Lincoln's words. Contains excerpts from his 1862 annual address to Congress, the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, and the Gettysburg Address. The narrator is usually a distinguished person the orchestra wishes to honor; among them have been Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Barack Obama.
Film, drama, and fiction
Lincoln has been portrayed in many films and television shows since 1908.
1846
Lincoln himself wrote poetry and at least one piece of fiction loosely based upon one of the murder cases he defended as a young lawyer. In April 1846, The Quincy Whig published Lincoln's short story under the title "A Remarkable Case of Arrest for Murder". The story was republished in March 1952 by Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and retitled "The Trailor Murder Mystery." Lincoln refers to his own unnamed character as "the defense" and "the writer of this".
Late 1800s
In Jules Verne's 1870 novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, a fictitious steam frigate, the Abraham Lincoln, is sent to hunt down the "monster" that has been attacking ships at sea, and is attacked itself. Captain Nemo also has a portrait of Lincoln hanging in his study on board the Nautilus. In the sequel The Mysterious Island, the five shipwrecked Union prisoners name the island which they discover, "Lincoln Island". The German writer Karl May wrote two stories about Canada Bill Jones: Ein Self-man (1878) and Three carde monte (1879). The narrator meets several times with the young Abraham Lincoln and together they oppose "Kanada-Bill". Both stories have in common the first meeting of the heroes: The narrator finds Lincoln in a forest training to orate.