One sees William Seward (Secretary
of States) again and again in the movie and that is the way it should be as
that was what happened.
Seward would have been the President in 1861 had Lincoln
not been in the Republican ticket. Obama’s choosing of Hillary Clinton as the
Secretary of State was his first act of emulating Lincoln.
Lincoln and Seward evolved from fierce political rivals to mutually respected
and trustful friends in the four years fighting a savage war together.
Lincoln spent 2 weeks of his last 3 weeks of life
visiting General Grant at City Point, Virginia (Mary went along), and upon his
return in the early evening of April 9, 1865, Lincoln hurried to visit Seward at
his home for Seward was injured badly in a horse carriage accident 4 days
earlier. Carl Sandburg described a touching scene of this visit. Adding this scene in the movie would let
movie goers understand the great friendship between the two great men. Five days later Lincoln
went to the Ford Theater for the last time.
When
William Seward paid $7.2 million for the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 (two years after Lincoln was assassinated); he was then ridiculed calling “Seward’s
icebox” or “Seward’s folly”. According to Carl Sandburg, Lincoln apparently knew we’re going to have Alaska.
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