President Lincoln Combines Work with Pleasure

January 23, 1862

President Lincoln sometimes acted as an employment advisor for visitors to the White House. “This man wants to work—so uncommon a want that I think it ought to be gratified,” wrote the president about one unidentified man. “I shall be obliged by any Head of …a Bureau, or Department who can and will find work for him.”

The Lincolns to the New York Academy of Music to watch parts of two operas—Giuseppe Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” and Vincenzo Bellini’s “I Puritani.” The Washington Evening Star writes: “The President and Mrs. Lincoln were present, and on his appearance in one of the private boxes he was greeted with hearty applause.”