Officers of The Lincoln Forum

Hon. Frank J. Williams, Chairman

Frank J. Williams, Chairman of the Lincoln Forum, is Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, and one of the nation's most prominent authorities, collectors, and leaders in the Lincoln field. He served for 12 years as president of the Lincoln Group of Boston, for nine as president of the Abraham Lincoln Association, and has been chairman of the Forum since its inception -- all while working as well as president of the Ulysses S. Grant Association. The author of a dozen books he is also a popular lecturer, whose papers have appeared in several books, including We Cannot Escape History and The Lincoln Forum series. Williams co-edited Abraham Lincoln: Sources and Style of Leadership and Abraham Lincoln: Contemporary, and with Harold Holzer, authored Lincoln's Deathbed in Art and Memory: The "Rubber Room" Phenomenon. His most recent book is Judging Lincoln, a collection of his essays, and LSU Press will soon publish his The Emmancipation Proclamation: Two Views. (Co-authored with harold Holzer and Edna Greene Medford.) A member of the U.S. Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, he lives with his wife Virginia in Hope Valley, RI.

Harold Holzer, Vice Chairman

Harold Holzer who also serves as co-chairman of the U.S. Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, has authored, co-authored, and edited 23 books on the Lincoln era, including The Lincoln Image, Lincoln on Democracy (with Mario Cuomo), The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Dear Mr. Lincoln: Letters to the President, and The Lincoln Mailbag. His more than 350 articles for popular and scholarly publications include regular appearances in American Heritage, Civil War Times, and many other publications. Holzer's latest book Lincoln At Cooper Union: The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln President (2004) won a Lincoln Prize and other awards. Holzer serves as Senior Vice President for External Affairs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and lives in Rye, NY. A frequent commentator on C-Span and other television networks, Harold and his wife Edith have two daughters Harvard grad Remy, and Yale grad Meg, a recent graduate of NYU law school. Harold's website is Haroldholzer.com.

Russell H. Weidman, Treasurer

Mr. Weidman is a 1956 honors graduate of the United States Naval Academy. In 1964 he was awarded a Masters Degree with honors in High Energy Nuclear Physics. He continued his career in the Navy as an aviator and Aeronautical Engineering Officer until he retired in 1978 as a Commander.  He then joined the engineering firm of Science Applications International Corporation where he worked on numerous technical programs for 18 years. He retired as Vice President in 1996.  Russ has served as Treasurer for the Cruise Missile Association and is a member of the Lincoln Forum, the Lincoln Group of D. C. and the Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia. He supports the Civil War Preservation Trust and the Central Virginia Battlefield Trust.  Currently, Russ volunteers at the National Archives preparing Civil War records for microfilming and digitization. He has worked with the Compiled Military Service records, the Freedmen’s Bureau and is now arranging records and preparing a database using the Civil War widows’ pension files.

John Y. Simon

John Y. Simon is professor of history at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where he also serves as executive director of the Ulysses S. Grant Association and for 43 years as editor of the multi-volume Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, whose 27th and 28th volumes appeared recently. He has provided introductions for many Civil War memoirs republished by SIU Press, and contributed "Abraham Lincoln in Southern Illinois" for the new reprint of When Lincoln Came to Egypt. His famous droll wit and vast knowledge have been on frequent display on television, particularly on C-SPAN, where he anchored the Lincoln-Douglas debate reenactment at Jonesboro, and appeared on the recent presidential special devoted to Ulysses S. Grant. The dean of American documentary editors, Professor Simon lives in Carbondale, IL.

This website participates in the Associates program of Amazon.com, a portion of your purchases from the link (which sends you to Amazon and keeps track of where you came from and what you buy) are donated to The Lincoln Forum, a non-profit 401(c)3 organization.