Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., has been preserved by the National Park Service since 1933 as a National Historic Site due to its status as the infamous venue in which President Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth. But now more than 150 years since Lincoln's assassination, it seems the National Park Service has different thoughts on their duty to preserve and share a piece of consequential American history.
On Saturday, some bureaucrat running the verified National Park Service account dedicated to Ford's theatre shared a question: "Do you ever feel we, as a nation, put Abraham Lincoln 'on a pedestal'?"
Maybe a fair question, although it has an obvious answer — yes we do. There's literally a temple built in his honor on the National Mall, and more than 200 statues of his likeness exist across the country.
The tweet then takes a woke turn: "What do you think might be a more useful, more complex, or more realistic way to think about or memorialize the 16th president?"
Ah.
Do you ever feel we, as a nation, put Abraham Lincoln “on a pedestal”?
— Ford's Theatre NPS (@FordsTheatreNPS) September 18, 2021
What do you think might be a more useful, more complex, or more realistic way to think about or memorialize the 16th president?
Image: Library of Congress pic.twitter.com/6mQJGTUz7J
To most, the reason we literally put Abraham Lincoln on a pedestal is obvious. He held firm in his belief that all men are created equal and carried the nation through a civil war over whether that founding promise should apply to all Americans. In the process he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, defeated the Confederacy, and reunited the country as one. For his steadfastness, he paid with his life, dying shortly after being shot while attending a play at Ford's Theatre, a venue which now turns around to ask if there's a "more realistic way" to remember the American hero some Biden bureaucrat apparently doesn't believe belongs on a pedestal.
Unsurprisingly, the tweet from the people supposed to be preserving a key piece of President Lincoln's story did not play well.
Ye, I do feel we put Abraham Lincoln “on a pedestal.” And appropriately so. If Lincoln doesn’t deserve a pedestal, no one does. That @FordsTheatreNPS of all people/orgs questions this is a sad commentary on the @NatlParkServlce. https://t.co/bDhg40tIn7
— John Bicknell (@JohnBick1960) September 19, 2021
Ironic that the Twitter account for Ford’s Theatre is trying to assassinate Lincoln’s character. https://t.co/rA7D5ig9Xq
— Amy Lutz (@amylutz4) September 19, 2021
I’d just like to say that Ford’s theater did enough to Abe Lincoln
— GOPPouncer (@Mellecon) September 19, 2021
Other than that, @MrsLincoln, how are you enjoying twitter https://t.co/W9ZC0VOJ3a
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 19, 2021