Hat-gate

It’s the story that just keeps on giving.

I call it “Hat-gate.”

Not long ago I lamented the fact that the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation in Springfield was begging the state for $9-million dollars to pay off a $23-million dollar loan it took out in 2007. The loan was to buy several authentic Lincoln artifacts----the centerpiece of which----one of his signature stovetop hats.

Guess what? A radio station in Chicago disclosed some historians and an FBI analysis suggest the hat was never owned by Lincoln.

State Representative Tim Butler is calling for hearings to get to the bottom of the matter.  He says he finds it incredible that the foundation sat on a report that is five years ago indicating they may have been fleeced---all the while raising money from public and private donors to retire their debt.

This is scandalous. How do you buy a collection for such a lofty price without being doubly sure that it is authentic?

 If I had only known. I have a handkerchief that I am relatively sure was once owned by the Great Emancipator. The museum can have it for a steal---say a few hundred thousand. I’ll throw in second hanky if the museum calls me in the next fifteen minutes.

Obviously this puts a crimp in the Presidential Library Foundation’s fundraising into the future. If I was them, I’d welcome a hearing that confirms it is indeed Abe’s hat because they won’t raise a Lincoln penny to retire the debt without one. And if the stovetop hat is bogus, they are dead in the water. What comes to mind is a famous Lincoln quote---  “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”

Obviously Abe didn’t pick the folks who run his museum.