Your Friend Forever, A. Lincoln: The Enduring Friendship of Abraham Lincoln and Joshua Speed

By Charles B. Strozier

In the spring of 1837, a long, gawky, ugly, shapeless man” walked into Joshua Speed’s dry-goods store and asked for supplies for a bed. He couldn’t afford the price, but Speed was taken with the visitor, who threw such charm around him” and betrayed a perfect naturalness.” He could act no part but his own,” Speed later wrote. He copied no one either in manner or style.” So Speed suggested the young lawyer stay with him in a room over his store for free, initiating what would become one of the most important friendships in American history.

Speed was Abraham Lincoln’s closest confidant, offering this shy and anxious political talent invaluable support after the death of his first love, Ann Rutledge, and during his rocky courtship of Mary Ann Todd. Lincoln returned repeatedly to Speed for guidance even though the two disagreed on political matters. Your Friend Forever, A. Lincoln is a rich analysis of a relationship that was both a model of male friendship and a specific dynamic between two brilliant but fascinatingly flawed men who played off each other’s strengths and weaknesses to launch themselves in love and life. Their friendship resolves important questions about Lincoln’s early years and adds significant psychological depth to his later decisions as husband, war leader, and president.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Release date: May 3, 2016
• ISBN: 9780231541305

Reviews for Your Friend Forever, A. Lincoln

[arkrayder · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!!!An enjoyable look at a man on the “edge of politics” who had a strong influence on Lincoln’s development. Joshua Speed is overlooked in the history of Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War. The author uses correspondence between Lincoln and Speed, the historical context and the recollections of other contemporaries of the time, to build a narrative of an under rated friendship in American history. Both men have a similar outlook on life and their similar tendencies bring them closely together allowing them to find support in their friendship which would endure over thirty years. I found the insights of the author fascinating. One criticism I have of the book is that it tends to over labour the point that Lincoln and Speed did not have a gay relationship. If the author believes this to be the case, I believe he should put forth that theory and then concentrate on providing documented aspects of their friendship and not rely on inconclusive evidence. Overall it was great to learn of a man who has played such an important part, (but who has stood in the shadow), of such an important historical figure as Abraham Lincoln.