EDITORIAL
COVERSTORY
As Americans participate in the Congressional campaigns of 2014 and prepare for the election of a new president in 2016, political polls consistently record a substantial lack of confidence in national political leaders of both major parties and a disturbing sentiment that the United States is on the wrong track in current policy developments. Many citizens charge that both the right and left wings of American political thought and practice are moving consistently in more extreme directions with those leaders who are able to entertain, debate, and reach compromise fewer in number each year. These sentiments lead to unfortunate summaries of alleged failures of our democratic institutions and proposals for actions that did not speak well of our Constitutional form of government. Fortunately, at this moment in our history, Fred J. Martin, Jr. has stepped forward with a comprehensive analysis of politics in the 1860s and, most importantly, the political genius of Abraham Lincoln as he led our country through a series of perilous crises into new paths of confidence and greatness. I admire, especially, Fred Martin’s mastery of political detail and the large variety of motivations, strategies, and actions of a wide assortment of political players. The 1864 presidential election victory of Abraham Lincoln was never inevitable, and readers of Fred Martin’s account will surely say a prayer of thankfulness not only for the practical political wisdom of Abraham Lincoln but for the divine guidance which surely helped bring him strength, wisdom, and a practical idealism which can be a guide to our current regaining of American
confidence in our governmental institutions. — Richard G. Lugar, United States Senator (Ret.)
EC Magazine | World Tourism Day Edition 2020 50
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