Professor John Y. Simon of Southern Illinois University goes after plans for the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum with an animus I would have thought reserved only for faculty feuds.
There has not been a Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in America. A small band of dedicated people, largely from Springfield, have cajoled, pleaded and preached, and now this huge gap is being filled.
Professor Simon should be proud that millions of people spend part of their vacations at a temple of scholarship about a man who still captures the imagination of average people around the world nearly a century and a half after his death.
Professor Simon decries the possible use of high-tech figures of Lincoln to help portray major events in his life.
Had there been video or audio recording in the 1860s, would the professor object to the use of Lincoln’s own image and voice to bring him to life for young people?
Many young people will be prompted to pick up books about Lincoln once they have consumed the easier stuff.
The professor should relax. Kids and “rubber” Lincolns are no threat.
