Emerging from obscurity to become the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln led a nation through civil war before meeting a dramatic death. Defined by his instrumental role in abolishing slavery and his eloquent advocacy of democracy, a question lingers: could this towering figure in history have had Marfan syndrome? At 6 feet 4 inches tall, with a slender frame and long limbs, Lincoln has long prompted speculation about a possible diagnosis, one that can never be confirmed retrospectively.

Born in a log cabin in Kentucky in 1809, Abraham Lincoln had little formal education, educating himself through borrowed books. After working in a variety of jobs, he entered local politics in Illinois and earned the nickname “Honest Abe”. Physically, he was exceptionally tall for his era, with "long pendulous arms", "hands of extraordinary dimensions... far exceeded by his feet" and a loose-jointed gait. Hardened by farm work and physical labour, he was also an exceptional wrestler.

Abraham Lincoln qualified as a lawyer in 1836 and established his practice in Springfield, Illinois. After serving in the Illinois state legislature and a term in Congress, he joined the newly formed Republican Party in 1856 and became its presidential candidate in 1860.

Lincoln’s opposition to the expansion of slavery provoked a crisis. Fearing his presidency threatened slavery, seven southern states seceded to form the Confederacy, with four more joining later. Lincoln was determined to preserve the Union, and fighting began in April 1861.

Although Lincoln initially defined the war as a struggle to save the Union, his Emancipation Proclamation of January 1863 declared enslaved people in areas still under Confederate control to be free. This marked an important turning point, establishing the abolition of slavery as a central purpose of the Union’s cause. Lincoln also took unprecedented wartime powers and, in 1864, appointed Ulysses S. Grant as overall commander of the Union armies.

On 19 November 1863, Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg Address at the dedication of a cemetery for those killed in the battle earlier that year. Re-elected in 1864, he adopted a conciliatory tone towards the South in his second inaugural address, looking towards reconciliation as the war drew to a close.

On 9 April 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered, effectively ending the war after more than four years of fighting and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. Less than a week later, on 14 April, Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, a supporter of the Confederacy, while attending a performance at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. He died the following morning, on 15 April 1865, becoming the first US president to be assassinated.


Could Abraham Lincoln have had Marfan syndrome?

The possibility that Abraham Lincoln had Marfan syndrome was first raised in 1962 by an Ohio physician, who noted that Lincoln’s mother was also exceptionally tall and slender. In 1964, a California doctor treated a young patient with Marfan syndrome whose ancestry could be traced back to Lincoln, adding to the speculation. Since then, the theory has remained debated. Although Lincoln displayed some physical characteristics associated with Marfan syndrome, he appeared to lack other features, including a heart murmur and vision problems. In 2009, Dr John Sotos of the University of North Carolina proposed that Lincoln may instead have had a related but distinct genetic disorder associated with an increased risk of cancer.

Will we ever know for sure?

Attempts to investigate Lincoln’s DNA have proved inconclusive. Testing of bloodstains on a dress worn by an actress at the theatre on the night of his assassination offered some support for the MEN 2B theory, but no definitive diagnosis has been possible. Future genetic testing may provide further insights.

To read more, follow this link to Time Magazine: https://time.com/5135506/abraham-lincoln-marfan-syndrome/