Flickan som fick Lincoln att skaffa skägg

I ett århundrade fullt av skäggiga herrar valde Lincoln att gå slätrakad ända till han passerat de femtio och kandiderade i presidentvalet. Det ett historiskt faktum - kanske inget intressant faktum, men lätt att bekräfta.

Svårare att bekräfta var en episod som förekom i en släkt i Massachusetts. Men den lät ju sannerligen inte som något annat än en ren familjemyt (se Faktoider: Familjemyter) ...

“My grandfather used to tell us we had a footnote in history,” Liz Bedell explained. “We were a working-class family. To impress people, he’d say, ‘Oh, we are descendents of Grace Bedell. When she was a little girl she wrote to Abe Lincoln and suggested he grow a beard so he could win the election.’ 

“I didn’t believe him,” Liz Bedell said. “None of us did.”

- The Advice of a Little Girl: Lincoln Exhibition Confirms a Family Myth, Library of Congress

Döm om hennes förvåning när hon så småningom hittade breven ifråga:

“I almost died,” Bedell said. “I called my father. He said, ‘Are you serious? My father was telling the truth all this time.’”

Huruvida det verkligen var fröken Bedell som övertygade den blivande presidenten om att anlägga ansiktsbehåring är väl oavgörbart men berättelsen som Liz' farfar återgav den var 100 % korrekt.

I have yet got four brothers and part of them will vote for you any way and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husbands to vote for you and then you would be President.

- Grace Bedell den 15 oktober 1860

As to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a silly affectation if I were to begin it now?

- Abraham Lincoln den 19 oktober 1860