tonysilber

It was a great conversation with @niels_eichhorn and a lot of fun. He asked great questions that required reflection on my part, and hopefully brought out some of the nearly cinematic drama inherent in my subject.

@historyinmemes Utter nonsense. He was a highly successful, nationally known corporate lawyer, probably the best known in the country. He was a founder of the Republican Party and one of the 2 or 3 most influential politicians in the United States, more deft than rivals Chase and Seward.

Abraham Lincoln’s life was marked by a long series of setbacks, with early personal and financial hardships that steadily shaped his character and leadership. In 1831, Abraham Lincoln’s first business venture—a general store in New Salem, Illinois—failed due to poor location, weak demand, and his partner’s mismanagement. The collapse left Lincoln personally liable for about $1,000 in debt, a burden he spent more than a decade repaying and famously referred to as his “national debt.” Setbacks continued to follow. He lost his first bid for the Illinois legislature in 1832, endured another business failure in 1834, and suffered the death of his sweetheart, Ann Rutledge, in 1835. A severe nervous breakdown followed in 1836. His political rise was slow and painful, marked by repeated defeats: election losses in 1838, failed congressional bids in 1843, 1846, and 1848, an unsuccessful Senate race in 1855, a loss in the vice presidential contest in 1856, and a high-profile Senate defeat in 1858, even as he gained national attention. Each disappointment sharpened his beliefs, strengthened his determination, and reinforced his reputation for honesty, resilience, and empathy. In 1860, after nearly three decades of hardship and persistence, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States, proving that repeated failure can be the foundation of lasting greatness rather than its opposite.

@BuzzPatterson We don’t have a “secretary of war.” American law signed in 1947 established a Department of Defense and a Defense Secretary. That by itself undermines your statement. Anyone who served, as I did, knows the UCMJ, which requires military personnel to disobey unlawful orders.

As a career Air Force veteran, combat pilot, and former Air Force Military Aide to President Bill Clinton, my personal statement about Democrats and the Sedition Six.

Funny.

@CivilWarMonitor Excellent review. My book "Twelve Days," also reviewed by the Civil War Monitor recently, touches on some of this same topic, though the focus is on the days immediately after the surrender of Sumter.

In our latest #BookReview, historian Daniel W. Crofts takes a critical look at Erik Larson's "The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War." Read Crofts' thoughts here: bit.ly/4ahLivq #CivilWar

This is a big story as @FreightAlley and Firecrown re-invent the media-company model, both in terms of leveraging media properties to create new revenue streams, and also in terms of combining B2B and B2C.

Most surreal photos you'll ever see - thread 🧵 1. Eruption on Mount Etna gives the illusion of a Phoenix in the sky

News & Reviews feat. @MiddleWestRev @TheFourCrickets @JacobFriefeld @alex_squadron @JackGilden @schaller67 @tonysilber @SueSilverman @JaredHarel @PaulCarterCA @teresesvoboda unpblog.com/2024/02/08/new…

Review of my book from the New York Military Affairs Symposium, @NYMAS_US "Combining meticulous research, clear expository writing, and authoritative documentation...Twelve Days is highly recommended." strategypage.com/bookreviews/25…

@CivilWarMonitor @PotomacBooks Dear Civil War Monitor--Your review of my book is no longer on your website. May I ask you to make sure it's posted and to update your link?

"Twelve Days: How The Union Nearly Lost Washington in the First Days of the Civil War" by Tony Silber is a "propulsive narrative that puts the reader in company with ordinary citizens on the streets of an unsettled city," writes Gordon Berg. Read more: tinyurl.com/ytvn22ye

A conversation between Otto von Bismarck and Ulysses S. Grant: Grant (upon accepting an invitation to attend a review of the Crown Prince's soldiers in Berlin): "The truth is I am more of a farmer than a soldier. I take little or no interest in military affairs ..." [here, as in other instances, Grant had a knack for self-deprecating humor]

@scottyreno148 Not Jerry Garcia. Vague resemblance. And the finger in this pic is obviously Photoshopped to make it blurry and hard to tell.

There is some debate whether this is Jerry or not! Vote and comment✌🏻

@ChowdahHill Double unrep with a Tico (USS Philippine Sea) on the starboard side.

Can you guess what’s happening here?

@TomCottonAR This is false, @TomCottonAR. Same as when you all bloviate about Trump's tenure producing the "greatest economy in my lifetime." Not even close. Even Biden's economy as measured by GDP is better after excluding the pandemic. Anyway, the border: cato.org/blog/new-data-…

As Biden allows *millions* of illegal immigrants to cross the border without background checks or consequences, remember: his Admin is working to ban menthol cigarettes and restrict gas stoves. This administration treats illegal immigrants better than Americans.

Very nice review of my book, Twelve Days," by @armymagofficial. "The intriguing story of the tense period that President Abraham Lincoln’s secretaries termed “an epoch in American history.” Second review down.ausa.org/articles/janua…

@Anna__Johnson @apwillweissert Terrible, terrible both-sidesism. I thought you AP people were top-notch journalists. WTF. After eight years you’re still doing this? As if there are really two legitimate narratives. You should resign and take your editors with you.

One attack, two interpretations: Biden and Trump both make the Jan. 6 riot a political rallying cry — Read more by @apwillweissert

@seangriffey Semaphor is relevant. I have it as one of my shortcuts on the chrome homepage. The Messenger —I had forgotten they exist.

I know that a few folks raised eyebrows when I talked about how bullish I was about Semafor a year ago. Contrast their experience with The Messenger. Both raised material rounds and launched with aggressive ambitions. But only one took stock of the landscape and adjusted.

@joewallin @Inkling61 @jayrosen_nyu Both the 5th and the 14 amendment state explicitly that due process applies to “life, liberty and property.” Therefore, denying a candidate access to the ballot isn’t covered.

Watch as the chairman of Maine’s Republican party is asked seven times "what was your reasoning?" He seems unable to answer or even to understand the question: Why it was wrong for Maine’s Secretary of State Shenna Bellows to disqualify Trump? mediaite.com/news/cnns-bori…

@kylenabecker @kaitlancollins This is all pretty clearly stated in most of the secession ordinances, and even more clearly in the secession debates in the slave states during the winter of 1860-1861. Virginia day-by-day secession convention minutes: secession.richmond.edu

@kylenabecker @kaitlancollins The economic value of the slave states was overwhelmingly tied to their human property. The South would face economic catastrophe and massive social upheaval without that property. (Which dramatically occurred after the war anyway.) That’s the cause of the war.

Nikki Haley today: “Of course the Civil War was about slavery. We know that. That’s the easy part of it. What I was saying was what does it mean to us today? What it means to us today is about freedom. That’s what that was all about.”