According to documentarian Ken Burns, President Lincoln began his presidency when the Dome of the Capitol was still unfinished. When the enormous financial demands of the Civil War threatened to delay its completion, Lincoln overruled the bean counters, insisting that the work continue to symbolize the vitality of his troubled nation. 

Like Churchill in 1940, Lincoln had reason to fret about the future of the nation in his care. The unfinished dome was visible to rebellious Virginians and in range of rebel guns just two miles away. His Capital City was populated with patriots, anxious citizens, rebels, and Confederate sympathizers. He was elected with only 40% of the popular vote in 1860. If America had a hurt locker in 1860, Lincoln’s name was the first on the rental agreement.

On December 2, 1863, the Dome was completed, as workmen and engineers secured the Statue of Freedom to its top. I am not claiming that this location challenges the Western Wall in Jerusalem or Mount Sinai, but the Dome on the People’s House means much to those of us who live in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Franklin Graham’s prayer. YouTube screen grab.

Trusting in God, Lincoln and many others held this nation together through four horrendous years of war at the cost of 600,000 lives. General Lee and his rebels surrendered their fight to divide America on April 9, 1865. If you look at pictures of Lincoln taken in 1861 and those taken of him in 1865, you can see the toll the war took etched on Old Abe’s face. The news of Lee’s surrender brightened Lincoln’s eyes. We do not have a picture of him as he got the good news, but I can imagine it was one bodacious smile.

Yesterday, I felt in my heart and caught glimpses of Lincoln’s smile in the faces of other celebrating, liberated patriots. Under the Dome of the Capitol that Lincoln insisted on finishing, another Republican began his second term by removing the yoke of wokeness and political correctness from a nation accustomed to free speech.

Most importantly, President Trump gave God credit for saving him from two assassination attempts so he could perform the mission of restoring common sense to our land of Pilgrim’s pride. He gave God glory under the dome that Lincoln completed. Trump gave us the opportunity to see once again Lincoln’s smile.

On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth snuck into a theater box seat and shot President Lincoln in the back of the head. Booth convinced himself that he was killing a demon and that his act of bravery would earn him everlasting fame. With his derringer, Booth instead made Lincoln a martyr and stoked the hero adulation Lincoln deserved for playing the life-saving physician for four years to his suffering country. 

Lincoln, not Booth, was the first American to lie in state under the Capitol Dome. Booth is recalled as a coward and an assassin. Other American heroes like Billy Graham, JFK, and Rosa Parks have been honored like Lincoln, so admiring Americans can come and pay their last full respects to American heroes. 

Much can and has been said about President Trump. I marvel at his bravery and his commitment to the nation he loves and now serves for a second time. Others will comment on and evaluate the speech he gave as he began his second term.

As an analyst of Lincoln and Trump, I don’t think yesterday’s speech matched the breathtaking eloquence of old Abe, but Trump did do something quite remarkable. His words let us see again the smile Lincoln beamed to witnesses when he got word of Lee’s surrender. Trump put a smile on the faces of many American patriots yesterday, and it was glorious.

Ned Cosby, a frequent contributor to American Thinker, is a former pastor, veteran Coast Guard officer, and retired English high school teacher. His novel OUTCRY is a love story exposing the refusal of Christian leaders to report and discipline clergy who sexually abuse our young people. This work of fiction addresses crimes that are all too real. Cosby has also written RECOLLECTIONS FROM MY FATHER’S HOUSE, tracing his own odyssey from 1954 to the present. For more info, visit Ned Cosby.