Editor’s Note:
The following is an English translation by Dr. Emmanuel Yi Pastreich to the Preface of Roh Moo-hyun’s Encounters with Lincoln (Roh Moo-hyun i mannan rinqkon), Hakkojae Publications, Seoul, 2001.

As the first book on America’s sixteenth president by an Asian political leader, it was selected for the 2006 Abraham Lincoln Book Award by the International Lincoln Center for perpetuating a “Lincolnesque inspiration around the world for the 21st Century.”

Roh Moo-hyun
President of the Republic of Korea
Preface from President Roh’s book

We often hear about President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). President Lincoln has appeared in numerous textbooks and novels in Korea and he is frequently mentioned when people speak of great figures in world history. The Lincoln I first encountered was the man of myth found in popular tales of the famous. I read repeatedly about Lincoln in elementary and middle school. When I thought about Lincoln back then, I pictured him as an honest and sincere man of remarkable ability. For years after, my impression of Lincoln was not that different from what most everyone imagines him to be.

Lincoln appeared to me in a new manner when I started out on my political career. My political difficulties led me towards the gloomy conclusion that righteousness is condemned to failure. But I simply could not accept that history offered only examples of failure for the upright.

I resolved in my mind that I must break out of the mindset of adversity. I felt like an outcast in the Korean political world at the time. People reassured me that the difficult decisions I had made had been noble. But the result was that in the 1992 general election, in the 1995 Busan mayoral election, and then again in the 1996 and 2000 general elections I continued to lose. Wracked with doubt, I asked myself, “If the way of justice is but a series of failures throughout the ages, is it not futile for us to teach our children that they should follow the path of justice and that righteousness is victorious?” That question helped me poke a hole in the surrounding fog and in the new vista that unfolded, Lincoln’s visage appeared to me.   
   
When we read history, we find numerous examples of men who conquered nations and achieved great victories through overwhelming power. We need not look further than Genghis Khan and Napoleon. Many such leaders left eternal contributions to civilization. It is less clear that such leaders have left us anything that serves as an inspiration.

When I am asked by reporters which historical figure I respect I am at a loss. Who among the famous leaders can I say I deeply respect?  That man would have to be someone who demonstrated a commitment to righteousness, someone who is recognized around the world. And it would have to be someone who had been successful in his efforts. He must be someone who established a model for decency and integrity that cannot be easily dismissed. Such a man would have to be someone who gave us hope that righteousness can be victorious.

Abraham Lincoln was such a man. It was Lincoln who demonstrated that the cynical assumption that “righteousness inevitably fails,” is a flawed prejudice. I found in Lincoln the bravery I needed to carry on, to make history on my own.  

I took a new interest in Lincoln on Election Day, 2000. Up until that moment I had only considered the personal history of Lincoln as it is commonly narrated in biographies. But if we wish to uncover the aspects of Lincoln that suggest his true stature, we must consider the historical environment that he faced.     

When I lost the election on April 13th, 2000, I read again Lincoln’s second Inaugural Address. His character and his circumstances suddenly became clear for me. Lincoln, a man charged with pursuing a war he had never wanted, spoke of the truth I was learning myself:

Neither side anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. 

Whereas previously I imagined Lincoln to be a talented politician who was caught up in the flow of history, I realized from his speeches that here was a man who had reached the highest rank but retained great dignity—a Politician who was a profound thinker.

Lincoln was not a hurried reformer who ignored reality as he strove for quick results. Lincoln understood that his project had to conform with the flow of history. Although Lincoln upheld clear personal standards in the face of public opinion and did not alter his beliefs, he was never a slave to rules. Lincoln moved forward with infinite deliberation and an unshakable passion for progress and understanding. He strove for the absolute best within the limits of political reality. Lincoln was, in a word, a man who pursued the highest ideals with both feet firmly planted on the ground. Although he was fully aware that the road he wished to travel was long, he never rushed his pace. He was an idealist, but he was also strategist and pragmatist. 

The German journalist Teo Zommer once remarked “the mark of greatness at any historical moment is the ability to achieve within the given situation that which clearly needed to be completed.” I feel that Zommer’s words apply to Lincoln better than to anyone else.

Even as we speak of Lincoln’s success, we must not forget his failures and his weaknesses. Lincoln first ran for the state legislature of Illinois at the age of twenty-two, but was roundly defeated. After he finally won that office, Lincoln ran unsuccessfully for congress twice.  He could not even get a public endorsement. Only in 1846 was Lincoln elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois, but for only one term. He then ran for U.S. Senator in 1855, but was defeated. He was similarly defeated in bids for vice president and senator. When he was inaugurated as president, Lincoln’s only experience in national office was his two-year term as a congressman.

Lincoln’s trials were not limited to politics. Many sorrows followed him in his personal life. He lost his first love at the age of 26 and wrestled with severe depression throughout his life. He lost his second-born son and then his third-born son. At the same time, his own wife’s family fought for the Confederate Army during the war.   
 
Lincoln paid a visit to the encampment of General George B. McClellan in the midst of the war. He waited for two hours, but the general simply went to bed without seeing him. This anecdote is often cited as an example of Lincoln’s remarkable forbearance towards others. The true state of affairs was quite the opposite. Lincoln was in no position to order around even the generals he had appointed. He was subject to unrelenting attacks from his political enemies during his term. Lincoln found himself constantly in a precarious position. Nevertheless, he displayed a remarkable decisiveness and tolerance in while carrying out his duties.

There are many today who assert there is a need for strong leadership in Korea. Their words are redolent with nostalgia for the authoritarian rule of Park Chung-hee. There are even those who call the authoritarianism of General Jeon Du-hwan “strong leadership.” But times have changed in Korea. Today one’s administration would fall if one tried to use authority in such a manner.

Strong leadership does not mean authoritarianism. Strong leadership must be rooted in the trust of the people and commitment to democratic process. Great leadership emphasizes horizontal relations, openness and autonomy. Moreover, only that sort of leadership that can overcome the challenges of the Korea’s North-South division, ease regional tensions and heal the economic and social problems of our nation.

Lincoln fully comprehended the challenges of his age. He strove to overcome political and social obstacles through ideals and courage. As a humble leader who refused to be seduced by his power, Lincoln was able to save a nation torn apart by a civil war. His humble use of authority established a strong nation.

I will be so bold as to say that if there had not been an Abraham Lincoln, a man with a healthy wisdom fired in the kiln of adversity, the political history of the United States would have been quite different. Lincoln created for us the very model of someone of modest origins who retained his humility in his official authority and built a powerful nation.  That is exactly the kind of man Lincoln was. He took the straight path. He remained honest and sincere as he followed that path. His success gives us hope that righteousness will be victorious.
 
Sometimes it appears that in history one must take the lesser road to be successful, that the sincere cannot be victorious. Such misperceptions are rampant. If we do not first correct such assumptions and the culture that breeds it, we cannot move up to the next level in our social and historical development. We must establish a society in which those who are decent and upright, honest and straightforward, can succeed.

I have a dream that all of us will be able to pass down to our children a great history. That history will be one in which principle was victorious. That is my most heartfelt wish, and the very reason I have taken up politics.

November, 2001
Yeouido Island
Seoul