Debates over Abraham Lincoln’s private life have lingered for years, but the upcoming documentary Lover of Men, hitting theaters Sept. 6, takes the conversation to new heights.
Using historical letters, expert analysis and daring reenactments, the film contends that one of America’s most revered presidents — the man who effectively ended slavery — engaged in passionate love affairs with men throughout his life. While some historians maintain that the 16th U.S. president was heterosexual, others argue in the film that Lincoln was a queer icon erased from history.
“He’s the greatest president the United States ever had, but he also loved men and he loved his wife [Mary Todd Lincoln],” director Shaun Peterson told Yahoo Entertainment. Peterson first learned of Lincoln’s potential relationships with men after reading Gore Vidal’s 2005 Vanity Fair article on C.A. Tripp’s biography The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln, which faced pushback from scholars when it was published posthumously that same year.
Despite an abundance of what experts in the film describe as Lincoln’s “love letters,” and corroborating notes from alleged lovers and eyewitnesses, Peterson acknowledges that making such claims has always carried risk.
“Fifty years ago, it would have been hugely risky and threatening for historians to say this,” Harvard professor John Stauffer, who appears in the film and whose book Giants (2008) faced criticism for suggesting Lincoln was bisexual, told Yahoo Entertainment. Now, he believes audiences are more open to accepting it.
Thomas Balcerski, a professor at Occidental College and Eastern Connecticut State University, agrees. “Knowledge can be lost very quickly, and it takes much longer to build a historical case with scholarly consensus,” he told Yahoo Entertainment. “What’s different now is you have out queer scholars, like myself, who are very much engaged.”
Despite potential backlash, Peterson is confident that today’s LGBTQ population — over 1 in 5 Gen Z adults and 7.6% of the U.S. adult population, according to Gallup — is ready to embrace Lincoln as a queer figure.
“I think it’s a risk worth taking,” he said. “The time has come for this to be accepted and embraced.”
The men in Lincoln’s life
Lover of Men explores Lincoln’s intimate relationships with four key men: Billy Greene, Joshua Speed, Elmer Ellsworth and David Derickson.
After moving to New Salem, Ill., in 1831, Lincoln quickly bonded with Greene, historians say, sharing a small cot above the store they both worked in — a living arrangement they suggest was intimate and potentially Lincoln’s first sexual experience.
A few years later, in Springfield, Ill., Lincoln reportedly shared a bed with shop owner Joshua Speed every night for roughly four years, despite the fact that Lincoln, then a practicing lawyer, was able to afford a place of his own.
According to Peterson, practices like sharing a bed with another man were commonplace in Lincoln’s time, and physical intimacy was almost an expected part of male friendships.
“You would be intimate with each other, even get each other off, and that was part of the culture,” said Peterson. Lincoln and Speed were different, however. Described in the film as “lust at first sight,” their relationship lasted their entire lives and they exchanged a number of affectionate letters over the years.
“There is heart and soul and beauty and intimacy in those letters that do not exist in Lincoln’s other letters, in terms of this profound fondness for another man,” Stauffer said.
Historians argue that Speed, who came from a wealthy slave-owning family, was not only Lincoln’s first love but also a major influence on his political ambitions. When Lincoln visited Speed’s family home in Kentucky, he wrote later about how witnessing the brutal reality of slavery up close left an indelible mark.
What’s more, their letters touch on mutual anxiety about sex with women, a fear some historians in the film believe led to Lincoln briefly breaking off his engagement to Mary Todd, which resumed only after Speed reassured him how the “roof didn’t fall in” following his own wedding night.
Their letters continued through the 1850s and ‘60s, with some intended to remain private. In one instance, Lincoln sent Speed two separate notes: one deeply intimate, with explicit instructions not to share it with his wife; and a more polished “cover letter” crafted for Speed to show Fanny, explained Peterson.
Speed died in 1882, nearly two decades after Lincoln’s assassination, but their relationship remains well-documented.
“The men who knew about Lincoln’s relationship never changed their story,” Balcerski noted, referencing letters from family and friends, including Lincoln’s own son, Robert, who described Speed as his father’s “most intimate” friend.
‘He had a type’
The film also explores his relationships with Col. Ellsworth, the first Union death of the Civil War, and Capt. Derickson, who served as both bodyguard and bed companion, though these were not as intimate as Lincoln’s bond with Speed. In the film, both are described by historians as being dashing, strong and handsome, not unlike Greene and Speed.
“He had a type,” Balcerski noted. “But the loves of Abraham Lincoln’s life have different meanings, and time and place. Ellsworth is in a transitional place for Lincoln, when he’s a candidate put forth for the presidency. All sorts of people are attracted to Lincoln at that time, and Ellsworth is one of them.”
Ellsworth was killed in 1861 while removing a Confederate flag from the roof of the Marshall House Inn in Alexandria, Va. After his death, Lincoln reportedly screamed, “My boy! My boy! Was it necessary this sacrifice should be made?” and spent some time in mourning.
By 1862, as Lincoln worked on the Emancipation Proclamation at a cottage outside Washington, D.C., he became especially close with Derickson. The film chronicles eyewitness accounts in letters suggesting the two shared a bed when Mary Todd was away, and Derickson was often seen allegedly wearing Lincoln’s nightshirts.
Lincoln historian Harold Holzer, who is not featured in the film, dismisses claims that Lincoln had intimate relationships with men, telling Yahoo Entertainment that “no sufficient evidence exists.”
Holzer referenced a letter in which a woman claimed she “heard” Lincoln was seen in bed with Derickson, and remarked, “What stuff,” which he argues could simply mean “stuff and nonsense,” a common expression of the time.
Peterson, however, contends there is ample evidence, including firsthand accounts from guards, indicating Lincoln’s relationships.
“There were enough people that saw Lincoln and Speed going up to their bedroom for four years, or Lincoln and his bodyguard, where everyone knew they were sharing a bed and nightshirts,” said Peterson.
Such interactions were so commonplace in Lincoln’s era, he added, that they didn’t spark suspicion until decades later, when societal views on sexual identities became more rigid and narrowly defined.
‘A queer hero’
Despite the film’s controversial topic, Stauffer hopes the documentary will challenge perceptions of American history and LGBTQ acceptance.
“A large number of Americans define the United States as a heterosexual nation, so to call Lincoln gay threatens them,” he said.
Peterson welcomes that discomfort, saying the film aims to “get under the skin of the haters” as a way to open the door to greater LGBTQ acceptance.
“He’s kind of a queer hero,” Peterson said of Lincoln. “His example shows that democracy, inclusion and equality are possible, and, hopefully, this will help us accept queer people in a way that feels under threat today.”
Holzer, while disagreeing with the film’s conclusions, asserts that Lincoln’s legacy transcends these debates.
“Whatever he really was, whomever he really loved, he saved the country and ended slavery — that remains the lead on his epitaph,” he said.