Projo Politics Blog

In a new book called Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe’s America, author James Ferguson goes “from Rhode Island to Beverly Hills” to examine what Abraham Lincoln means to the country. And along the way, Ferguson, a senior editor at the conservative Weekly Standard magazine, devotes 14 pages to state Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank J. Williams, a Lincoln expert and collector.

“Numbering, by his own estimate, 22,000 items, the Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana is generally regarded as the largest in private hands; sometimes it seems as if there’s no type of Lincolniana that Frank doesn’t have a couple specimens of, at least,” Ferguson writes. “Statuary, for instance. What strikes you about the Lincoln statuary in Frank’s office isn’t the quality, which varies, but the quantity, which is huge.”

By way of background, the book says: “The governor of Rhode Island appointed Frank chief — and that’s what most people call him, simply ‘Chief’ — in 2001. From the start, his tenure has been a maelstrom of criticism and conflict.”

Ferguson says, “Rhode Island’s politics rivals Illinois’s for shadiness and self-dealing; ethical difficulties had driven two of the last three chiefs from the bench. Frank offered himself as a reformer. He immediately went to war with the governor and the legislature over control of the judiciary budget and other questions of judicial independence.” And eventually, “a river of bad blood” separated Williams “from the other powers in the state, the media included.”

Williams tells Ferguson that when facing criticism, “I would sit here and I would see Lincoln and I’d say, ‘He could survive for the sake of the whole country, I can do it for one state.’ ”

Ferguson focuses on Williams’ 51-page resume, saying, “One reason for its impressive length, I saw, was repetition. Several of his speeches are listed as publications, and several publications are listed two or three times.”

The author then describes going to lunch with Williams at Venda Ravioli, the “old-style Italian delicatessen” on Federal Hill managed by House Finance Chairman Steven M. Costantino, D-Providence. “Cries of ‘Chief!’ rose from behind the counter or from the massed ranks of customers cradling their weekend supply of capriole and agnolotti.”

During lunch, they discuss how in 1986 Williams became president of the Abraham Lincoln Association, based in Springfield, Ill., but in 1995 “a rump group of Springfielders seized control of the ALA board, ejected Frank as president, and elevated another Springfielder to the post.” Williams then formed “a competing national organization,” the Lincoln Forum.

Finally, Ferguson follows Williams to his home in Richmond, where there are thousands of Lincoln books, documents and items such as coin banks shaped like log cabins or Lincoln’s head. “We collect fewer of these gewgaws than we used to,” the Chief said. “My wife has a new thing. She collects outhouses now.” He saw my surprised look. “I don’t know,” he said, with uncommon mildness. “She’s from Texas.”

Harold Holzer, an author, co-author or editor of 28 books on Lincoln and the Civil War, reviewed the book in the June 17 edition of The Washington Post, saying Ferguson “manages to mischaracterize — character assassinate might be a better term — a number of Lincoln enthusiasts whom I have known for years.” For example, he says, “Frank Williams, who founded and still chairs the Lincoln Forum, is undeservedly caricatured as a self-aggrandizing don.”

Political Scene sought comment from Williams about the book, but courts spokesman Craig N. Berke said the chief justice would not comment if Political Scene mentioned a comparison to Napoleon. The book says: “For many reasons, including the size of his Lincoln collection, the chief really is a potentate in the Land of Lincoln, even if, like Napoleon, he crowned himself.”

Berke said, “I think it’s a shame that someone like the chief justice, who has had a lifelong passionate pursuit of the life and times of Abraham Lincoln, is characterized in the negative manner that he is in this book, as Ferguson did with other individuals in this book.” Also, Berke said, “The reference to a river of bad blood is not true. I think the chief justice has a good relationship with the governor and the General Assembly.”

Berke noted that when interviewed on a C-SPAN program, Ferguson described Williams as “a man of great integrity” and said, “I want to convey my respect for him, which is formidable.”

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