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The Presidency: The Silent President-Elect

Historian Harold Holzer

Historian Harold Holzer

Washington, DC
Sunday, January 9, 2011

On the 150th anniversary of the election of the 16th president, author Harold Holzer spoke to the annual Lincoln Forum about Abraham Lincoln’s strategic silence during what was known as "The Secession Winter." From Election Day until Inauguration Day in March 1861, Lincoln declined to speak publicly. Lincoln called his silence "masterful inactivity."

Updated: Monday, January 10, 2011 at 12:04pm (ET)

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