But on this Presidents’ Day and the anniversary of his birthday (February 12, 1809) just past, there will be no fear in saying that he will ever cease to be a figure of fascination for the historian and the biographer. Little did he know-or could ever realize-what an impact his 56 years would have upon his times and beyond. When he was a youngster, he had scribbled some doggerel about someday being famous, not knowing “where or when” and wondering whether his life would amount to much or have any meaning after he had left this Earth. In historical terms, that stretch of years isn’t much but for the ordinary person studying the man and his times, it is another world. To use Abraham Lincoln’s formulation, he was born some ten score and six years ago in a log cabin in the backwoods of Kentucky-which comes out to be some 206 years ago.
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