May 30, 1922: The Lincoln Memorial Is Dedicated

May 30, 1922: The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. The monument to the 16th President of the United States, who defeated the Confederate States of America, ended slavery, and restored the Union was designed by Henry Bacon. His seated statue inside was sculpted by Daniel Chester French.

Inside the south wall of the statue's chamber is an inscription of his Gettysburg Address of November 19, 1863; inside the north wall, one from his Second Inaugural Address of March 4, 1865. Above the statue is an inscription written by American historian Royal Cortissoz: "In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever."

There are a total of 87 steps: 29 from the Reflecting Pool to the Plaza, and 58 steps from the Plaza to the chamber. The Memorial It has 36 columns, representing each of the 36 States in the Union in 1865, including the ones in rebellion. There are 48 festoons above the columns, representing the 48 States in the Union in 1922.

President Warren G. Harding speaks at the dedication ceremony. So does the Chief Justice of the United States, former President William Howard Taft, who had been head of the commission to build it. The other living former President, Woodrow Wilson was ill, and did not attend.

Black people were permitted to attend, in a segregated section guarded by U.S. Marines.

Robert Todd Lincoln, the sole surviving child of Abraham Lincoln, did not want to attend. He had been nearby when his father was assassinated in 1865. He had been in the room when President James Garfield was assassinated in 1881. He had been nearby when President William McKinley was assassinated in 1901. He did not want to jinx another President. Harding and Taft talked him into coming.

On August 2, 1923, Harding died -- not from an assassination, but a heart attack. Robert Todd Lincoln swore he would never meet another President, and died in 1926 without doing so.

In 1929, the $5 bill was redesigned, with Lincoln's portrait on the front, and his Memorial on the back. In 1909, the 100th Anniversary of his birth, the Lincoln Penny replaced the Indian Head Penny. In 1959, the 150th Anniversary of his birth, the back side of the Lincoln Penny, which had stalks of wheat since its introduction in 1909, was replaced with the Memorial.

The Memorial has been the site of many demonstrations, including:

* April 9, 1939: Marian Anderson's nationally-broadcast Easter Concert, after she was denied the right to sing at nearby Constitution Hall.

* August 28, 1963: The March On Washington for Jobs and Freedom, highlighted by the "I Have a Dream" speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, with an inscription now on the spot where he delivered it. Marian Anderson also sang there in that ceremony.

* October 21, 1967: A demonstration against the Vietnam War, a fictionalized version of which was depicted in the film Forrest Gump.

* July 4, 1970: A "counter-counterculture" demonstration, a "celebrate America" event headlined by President Richard Nixon, and clergymen like the Rev. Billy Graham and Bishop Fulton Sheen.

Other notable memorials to Lincoln a statue of him outside the Essex County Courthouse in Newark, New Jersey, sculpted by Gutzon Borghlum, who later had Lincoln's face carved on Mount Rushmore outside Rapid City, South Dakota, along with those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt.

A commemorative issue of Time magazine, 1960,

for the 100th Anniversary of Lincoln's election

The capital of the State of Nebraska is named for Lincoln. Countless other towns are named for him. Schools in black neighborhoods were named for him, as is the high school in Brooklyn that represents the neighborhoods of Brighton Beach and Coney Island. There was a Lincoln Highway, stretching from Times Square in New York to Lincoln Park in San Francisco. The Lincoln Tunnel goes under the Hudson River, connecting Manhattan to Weehawken, New Jersey.

Ford Motor Company issued a line of luxury cars named Lincoln. When he became Vice President in 1973, Gerald Ford -- not related to that Ford family -- told the nation, "I'm a Ford, not a Lincoln." When the laughter inside the Capitol subsided, he added, "My addresses will never be as eloquent as Mr. Lincoln's. But I will do my very best to equal his brevity and his plain speaking."

Ford became President the following year, and, in 1976, running for a term of his own, campaigned aboard a customized Amtrak car named the Honest Abe. Since 1909, the 100th Anniversary of his birth, Lincoln has appeared on the penny, America's one-cent coin. Since 1914, he has appeared on the $5 bill. In 2005, 140 years after his death, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum opened in his adopted hometown of Springfield, Illinois.

There have been 2 ships named the USS Abraham Lincoln: A submarine in service from 1961 to 1981, and a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, CVN-72, a.k.a. the Abe, in service since 1988. There was a troop transport named USS President Lincoln, sunk by German torpedoes in World War I in 1918.

Just as more books have been written about Lincoln than any other American, so have more films been made about him. Among the actors who have played him: Francis Ford in 9 silent films from 1909 to 1915, Walter Huston (father of John, grandfather of Anjelica) in Abraham Lincoln in 1930, Frank McGlynn in 5 films in 1936 and '37, John Carradine in Of Human Hearts in 1938, Henry Fonda in Young Mr. Lincoln in 1939, Raymond Massey in Abe Lincoln in Illinois in 1940 and How the West Was Won in 1962, Hal Holbrook in Carl Sandburg's Lincoln in 1974 and North and South in 1985, Gregory Peck in The Blue and the Gray in 1982, Sam Waterston in Gore Vidal's Lincoln in 1988, Lance Henriksen in The Day Lincoln Was Shot in 1998, Brendan Fraser in Bedazzled in 2000, Glenn Beck in National Treasure: Book of Secrets in 2007, and Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln in 2012.

Even science fiction, fantasy and time travel stories have gotten in on the act: Austin Green on The Twilight Zone in 1961, Robert Marsden on Doctor Who in 1965, Lee Bergere on Star Trek in 1969, Robert V. Barron in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure in 1989, David Selby on Touched By an Angel in 1998, David Livingstone on Supernatural in 2009, Benjamin Walker in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, both in 2012, and Michael Krebs on Timeless in 2016.

Hugh McCulloch was the last survivor of Lincoln's Cabinet. He served as Secretary of the Treasury for the length of what was meant to be Lincoln's 2nd term, including under the next President, Andrew Johnson, 1865-69. He briefly returned to the office, 1884-85, under President Chester Arthur. He lived until 1895.

In a 2010 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, "Nice" Peter Shukoff played Lincoln, against "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist as actor and martial arts master Chuck Norris.

*

May 30, 1922 was a Tuesday. It was also Memorial Day: Until 1970, Memorial Day was celebrated on May 30, regardless of the day of the week. Since 1971, it has been on the last Monday in May, regardless of the date: It can be anywhere from May 25 to May 31.

Football, basketball and hockey were out of season. These baseball games were played that day, many of them doubleheaders, as was once traditional for baseball on Memorial Day:

* The New York Yankees split a doubleheader with the Philadelphia Athletics at the Polo Grounds. The Yankees won the opener, 3-2, behind Hall of Fame pitcher Waite Hoyt. The A's won the nightcap, 4-3, with Fred Heimach outpitching Bob Shawkey. Babe Ruth went 3-for-8 in the doubleheader, including a home run in a losing cause in the nightcap.

* The New York Giants split a doubleheader with the Philadelphia Phillies at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. The Phils won the 1st game, 9-8 in 10 innings. The Jints won the 2nd game, 16-7.

* The Brooklyn Robins (as the Dodgers were known during Wilbert Robinson's tenure as manager, 1914-31) swept a doubleheader from the Boston Braves at Ebbets Field, 9-3 and 8-4.

* The Washington Senators swept a doubleheader from the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, 7-4 and 5-3. Amazingly, they did it without Walter Johnson pitching in either game.

* A doubleheader was split at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. The Cincinnati Reds won the 1st game, 9-3. The Pittsburgh Pirates won the 2nd game, 7-3.

* The Chicago White Sox swept a doubleheader from the Cleveland Indians at League Park in Cleveland, 4-0 and 7-6. Gorham "Dixie" Leverett pitched a 6-hit shutout in the opener. Tris Speaker was 1-for-6 with 2 walks over the 2 games.

* The Chicago Cubs swept the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-1 and 3-1 at Cubs Park in Chicago. (It was renamed Wrigley Field in 1926.)

* And a doubleheader was split at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The Detroit Tigers won the 1st game, 6-5. The St. Louis Browns won the 2nd game, 2-1 in 16 innings. Over the 2 games, George Sisler went 6-for-10 for the Browns, while Ty Cobb, also the Tigers' manager at the time, was injured and didn't put himself in either game.