For the past several decades, Michael Burlingame has been considered one of the nation’s leading scholars on Abraham Lincoln. The 83-year-old academic and president of the Abraham Lincoln Association has spent half of his life studying America’s great statesman. He has written or edited 21 works on Lincoln, including his award-winning two-volume biography. James McPherson, the preeminent Civil War historian, once noted that Burlingame “knows more about Abraham Lincoln than any other living person.” When one considers Lincoln’s life, it seems as though destiny led him to greatness. When considering Burlingame’s life, it seems destiny guided him to the great man.
Burlingame jokes about his age, saying that he was born “after the unfortunate event at Ford’s Theatre.” But the Lincoln-Burlingame connection actually began long before his birth in 1941. Burlingame is a descendant of Anson Burlingame, who was Lincoln’s ambassador to China. At 83, the final stop in the professor’s academic career appears to be Illinois, the same place Lincoln’s political career began. Conversely, Burlingame was born in Washington D.C., the same city Lincoln died.
