ABRAHAM LINCOLN WITHOUT A BEARD?  HONESTLY, YES!

When asked to describe his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln, Joseph Woodard of Hazel Dell, Ill., needs merely recite the words off his business card – “Before Secession, Before the Presidency, Before the Beard.”
            Before the beard?  Yes, this rare presenter goes against the norm by presenting a Lincoln sans the trademark whiskers almost everyone associates with the 16^th president.
            According to Woodard, that’s just the point.
            “So many people ask me, “Abe, where’s your beard?’  I wonder how many of them realize that the real Mr. Lincoln went beardless until the last five years of his life.”
            The history books reveal that Lincoln, running for the presidency against Stephen A. Douglas, began growing his beard in 1860 at the age of 51.  Woodard feels he has a couple of years to go before he need let his facial hair grow.
            “I represent ‘A. Lincoln of Springfield, Illinois,’” Woodard said.  “Lincoln, the attorney; Lincoln, the state representative and senatorial candidate; and Lincoln, young husband and father.
            “In his Farewell Address delivered in Springfield on Feb. 11, 1861, Lincoln said, ‘Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and I have passed from a young to an old man.’  I portray the Lincoln in transition – from young to old – and I believe there is much to be told as such.”
            Woodard began his portrayal in 1990 as a volunteer at Lincoln Log Cabin State Historical Site (Lerna, Ill.), the final home of Thomas and Sarah Bush Lincoln – Abraham’s father and step-mother.  An employee there, noticing Woodard’s likeness to young Lincoln, suggested Woodard portray the 1845 circuit-riding attorney who would stop to visit his parents whenever the circuit brought him to Coles County. 
            Since then, Woodard has made numerous presentations before school and civic groups throughout the state.  He has appeared at the Old State Capitol in Springfield, at New Salem State Historic Site, the David Davis Mansion Historic Site in Bloomington and at the Vandalia Statehouse, to name just a few.
            His list of credits also includes appearances before the Illinois Bar Association, the National Booksellers Convention in Chicago – where Newt Gingrich actively sought to shake his hand – and at a debate re-enactment with Glenn Poshard, former Illinois gubernatorial candidate and the state’s representative to the U.S. House, as Stephen A. Douglas.
            In addition, Woodard was featured in “From Surveyor to President:  A. Lincoln in Logan County,” a videotape produced by Main Street Lincoln and made possible by Looking for Lincoln grants, and appeared in the role of Abraham Lincoln in “Stepping Back in Time,” a film used to introduce visitors to Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site, Lerna, Ill.
            He took first place in the Ottawa, Ill., Lincoln Look-Alike Contest (non-bearded category), and has also participated in the Hodgenville, Ky., Lincoln Days Look-Alike Contest for multiple years, finishing as high as second place.     
            Not a bad showing considering that in that contest, the beard is one of several criteria for winning!