The Triumph of Abraham Lincoln

For more than half a century, a survey of presidential historians has consistently rated Abraham Lincoln as the number one greatest president of the United States.
Other names on the top ten of the list, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin Roosevelt, have constantly shifted position, but Lincoln has always remained number one in the rankings.
In The Triumph of Abraham Lincoln, Garry Boulard surveys the extraordinary challenges faced by Lincoln as president, challenges greater than any previous chief executive had faced, and concludes that Lincoln was a great president because he was a great politician.
Never losing sight of his ultimate goals, a successful ending to the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, Lincoln showed an adroit understanding of how the American presidency can work, playing one political faction off against another, and ultimately expanding the office’s powers in ways never before imagined.
That Lincoln during the darkest days of the republic also displayed moral courage and an unequal mastery of language that he used to inspire the country, only expanded his political reach.
Boulard’s reporting has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Tribune, among other publications.
He is also the author of The Expatriation of Franklin Pierce—The Story of a President and the Civil War (iUniverse 2006); The Worst President—The Story of James Buchanan (iUniverse 2015); Andrew Johnson—The Renaissance of an American Politician (iUniverse 2021); and Ulysses S. Grant—The Story of a Hero (iUniverse 2024).
Boulard can be reached at garryboulard@gmail.com.