Historian Matthew Pinsker’s new book, Boss Lincoln: The Partisan Life of Abraham Lincoln, portrays the 16th president as an ambitious and effective party leader who organized voters, courted donors, dug up dirt on opponents, and knew when to hide his hand. Pinsker follows Lincoln from his early Whig days in central Illinois through his surprisingly political courtship of Mary Todd, his single term in Congress, and his gradual move into the anti-slavery Republican Party, then to the fateful four-way election of 1860 and beyond. In our conversation we discuss the hand-compiled voter charts that made Lincoln something of a pollster and how he balanced the ultraist and fusionist strains in antebellum politics.

We also look at how Lincoln kept the Republican coalition together during the secession crisis, why the shift to a “Union” party branding during the Civil War was in fact a major strategic change, and how Lincoln worked to win reelection in 1864. Pinsker draws out Lincoln’s belief that the Union bound together majorities and minorities, an idea that resonates in new ways in the aftermath of the attempted January 6th insurrection. We close with a fascinating discussion of what a second Lincoln term might have looked like, and what Pinsker believes a principled partisan like Lincoln can teach us in a new period of heightened political dysfunction.

Music for this episode: “The Union,” by Louis Moreau Gottschalk, performed by Akiko Sasaki; “Reel Delisle,” by Joel Zifkin

For more on related subjects, check out these episodes of THINK BACK.

“How Slavery Ended” (with Tom Zoellner), Feb. 24, 2026

“Democracy vs. the Constitution” (with Stephen Skowronek), Dec. 4, 2025

“The Civil War’s Wrenching Final Year” (with Scott Ellsworth), Oct. 21, 2025

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