David Herbert Donald: A great many people started out with a negative view of Lincoln. First of all, in looks, he was ungainly. In those days, a man six-foot high was something very unusual. Six-foot-four, he stood out in any crowd, and especially since he insisted on wearing that top hat, which put him even higher. He looked odd, though he tried, and Mary tried even harder, to keep him pressed and neat. He just could not be neat. His clothes always looked wrinkled, and this is partly because he traveled so much. He had stuff in the suitcase. He’d take it out and put it on. His accent was Western with a twang. He would tend to say, “Well, why don’t you sit in that chee-er…” rather than “chair,” that sort of thing, and people thought, “This is an uncouth kind of person. How could this man be president?” Then you got to working with him, got to know him, and I would offer it as kind of a general law: there was nobody associated with Abraham Lincoln closely who did not come to admire and love him. He had almost nothing in the way of personal enemies from anything that he said or did. He was a very attractive, interesting, engaged man who would listen to you and actually hear what you’re saying. That’s a remarkable thing. So that, by the time you got to see Lincoln three or four times, you realized, “This is an intelligent man who likes me and I like him.” And with the feeling being mutual, they became often very close.