<p><span class="deck"> If Buchanan had met the Kansas problem firmly we might have avoided civil war<br />
The fourth in a series on TIMES OF TRIAL IN AMERICAN STATECRAFT </span></p>
<p><span class="deck">Had there been a Warren Commission exactly a century ago, when Abraham Lincoln was shot, its report might have read like the somber, moving, and impressively researched book from which the following narrative is taken.</span></p>
<p><span class="deck"> WAR WAS DAYS AWAY, A UNION STRONGHOLD WAS THREATENED, AND THROUGH A FOG OF RUMOR, DOUBT, CONTRADICTORY ORDERS, AND OUTRIGHT LIES THE ARMY AND NAVY SET OUT TO HELP</span> </p>
<p><span class="deck"> <span class="typestyle"> Would the great fighter come over for the Union? Italian freedom and lead troops Lincoln hoped so</span> </span></p>
<p><span class="deck"> <span class="typestyle"> Conjectural or speculative history can be a silly game, as in “What if the Roman legions had machine guns?” But this historian argues that to enlarge our knowledge and understanding it sometimes makes very good sense to ask …</span> </span></p>
<p><span class="deck"> <span class="typestyle"> To stave off despair, the President relied on a sense of humor that was rich, self-deprecating—and surprisingly bawdy</span> </span></p>
<p><span class="deck">Every presidential election is exciting when it happens. Then, the passing of time usually makes the outcome seem less than crucial. But, after more than a century and a quarter, the election of 1860 retains its terrible urgency.</span></p>
