A plain letter, please

Web Extra | The cause of war needs a new spokesman | Mindy Belz

Halfway through the Civil War a Boston businessman asked Abraham Lincoln to defend the war with "a plain letter to plain people." The result was the Gettysburg Address. But few at the time saw or heard its majesty. A reporter called it "silly, flat and dishwatery" and Lincoln himself sat down on the dais and said to a friend, "That speech won't scour." With two years of war still to go, Lincoln was a man on the ropes; even congressional ally Thaddeus Stevens, learning of Lincoln's plan to speak at the Gettysburg cemetery dedication, responded scornfully: "Let the dead bury the dead."

Historians—and Confederates who fired on Fort Sumter—know that Charleston, S.C., is an easy place to start a civil war but a hard place to end one. A day after the city hosted Democratic presidential hopefuls for a televised debate, President Bush visited Charleston Air Force Base. While the candidates sparred Monday night over which one could most quickly bring U.S. troops home, the president gave an impassioned speech Tuesday about why they should stay.