Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 1809, became a lawyer, a politician, and finally our 16th President. While in office, he led his country though the wrenching division of civil war, he granted freedom to the slaves, and he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth while attending a play in Ford’s Theatre in Washington on Good Friday of 1865.
For most of his life Lincoln lived on the frontier—in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. In the village of New Salem, Illinois young Lincoln began to make a mark, running for public office and beginning the study of law. He eventually moved to the growing city and soon-to-be capital of Springfield, Illinois. Here Lincoln came into his own as a politician, lawyer, writer, and public speaker. His debates with Senator Stephen Douglas over the spread of slavery brought him national attention and led to his election as President in 1860.
Abraham Lincoln was an imposing man, seeming much taller in person than one would expect. He was a man of legendary physical strength. His formal schooling was minimal—a total of about one year. Yet he wrote two pieces—the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address—that scholars consider perhaps the finest words ever written in the English language.
A man of great contradictions, he could be unyielding on some occasions, yet amazingly flexible and willing to compromise at other times. Seemingly lost in some sad reverie, moments later he might regale listeners with hilarious stories and jokes. He is known to have owned a book of jokes, some of which he adapted to his own purposes.
Abraham Lincoln was the ultimate high achiever. This is the man of whom the famous newspaperman Horace Greeley wrote: “He was not a born king of men…but a child of the common people. He gladly profited by the teachings of events and circumstances, no matter how adverse or unwelcome…. There was probably no year of his life that he was not a wiser, cooler, better man than he had been the year preceding.”
Lincoln liked to describe himself as an ordinary man who set out to make the most of himself. His own accomplishments should be incentives for common people everywhere, Lincoln believed. High achievement was not just for the privileged few. When a regiment of Ohio soldiers passed through Washington, Lincoln made a little speech for them that included this telling remark: “I happen temporarily to occupy this big White House. I am living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father’s child has.”
Gene Griessman, Ph.D.
Gene Griessman, who wrote and performs this one-man play, has had a life-long fascination with high achievers. For a decade he interviewed many of the legends of our time for his show “Up Close” on TBS—a network created by the high achiever Ted Turner. Griessman’s book, Time Tactics Of Very Successful People, which is in its 16th printing, and the audio book, Lessons Learned From High achievers, focus on career success. His newest book, The Words Lincoln Lived By, and the audio book, The Inspirational Words of Abraham Lincoln, concentrate on the beliefs, values, and actions that made Lincoln a high achiever.
Dr. Griessman has taught at prominent universities, including the College of William and Mary, North Carolina State University, Auburn University, Tuskegee University, and Georgia Tech. He has served as Fulbright Professor at the University of Islamabad in Pakistan, and as a visiting researcher at the National Agrarian University of Peru and at the University of New South Wales in Australia.
This play has been performed at Ford’s Theatre, the Ice Palace, and the Georgia Dome and at hundreds of conventions, annual meetings, schools and universities.
Griessman’s work has won numerous awards. He is a fellow of the American Anthropological Association, past-president of the Georgia chapter of the National Speakers Association, and a member of the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has been listed in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World for decades.
Mike Rounds of Rounds-Miller has described Griessman as “the most celebrated character actor in the world playing Abraham Lincoln."
Original music for this portrayal was composed, arranged, and performed by Donny Black and Jeff Thomas.
Information about Gene Griessman’s presentations, books, posters, and cassettes can be obtained from Griessman & Associates, Suite 814, 13600 Marina Pointe Drive, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292. Phone 310-922-1864, 800-749-4625; fax 310-822-1764. E-mail: abe@mindspring.com; Website: www.presidentlincoln.com
