February 13th 2025 Auction
'Robert Todd Lincoln' signed letter from 1884. Robert Todd Lincoln responds to Harings' inquiry, apologizing for the delay and politely declining to provide a public statement on the benefits of college education.On 'The Temple, Chicago' letterhead and about 6.75" x 8.75". In fine condition.
The letter reads:
"The Temple, Chicago
12 March 1897
My dear Sir,
I have been much away from home lately and must ask you to excuse my delay in acknowledging your letter.
Regret that I do not quite see my way to giving an answer to your inquiry which should be used as you suggest.
It is not that I do not most highly value the benefits of a college education and training, or believe that my own college did a number of great things for me and I have no hesitation in private indicating what I think are the special advantages of the years well spent at college.
But I think that this is one of the cases in which one may properly enough give the benefit of one's own experience in private but may not do so with great grace in public. I may be quite wrong in this, but it is at any rate my feeling and I must beg you to permit me to be guided by it.
Believe me,
Yours truly,
Robert Todd Lincoln"
Robert Todd Lincoln (August 1, 1843 – July 26, 1926) was an American lawyer and businessman. The eldest son of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln, he was the only one of their four children to survive past the teenage years and also the only to outlive both parents. Robert Lincoln became a business lawyer and company president, and served as both United States Secretary of War (1881–1885) and the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain (1889–1893).
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