At their annual convention, Abe and Mary Todd take over small-town Illinois - Al Jazeera America
It’s a spring afternoon in southern Illinois, and that man checking into the Holiday Inn Express on the edge of town sure looks like Abraham Lincoln. In fact, the only thing more disconcerting than watching the nation’s 16th president check into an economy motel is seeing four or five Abraham Lincolns wandering about the lobby, each a tall man with a beard and a skyscraping chapeau. The 2015 annual convention of the Association of Lincoln Presenters (ALP) — do not call them impersonators, please — is underway in Vandalia, a hamlet about an hour northeast of St. Louis. The numbers are a little short of previous conventions, says Lewis “Abe” Clymer, the local host of the meeting, which is in its 21st year and has hosted up to 60 presenters on previous occasions. After all, the opening day of this convention, April 15, is the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s assassination at Ford's Theatre, and many of their members are booked. “It’s hard to get a lot of Lincolns this year,” says Clymer, 84, a hint of mischief in his eyes. And given the choice of going to a convention or making money, they’ll make money. It’s not just Lincolns who can’t make it this weekend to this town of 7,000. “Stephen Douglas has a job,” says Clymer, referring to the fiery politician who faced Lincoln in a series of historic debates. Source: projects.aljazeera.com
