Kicker: Six degrees of separation from Abraham Lincoln

NICK EICHER, HOST: Sometimes presidents of the United States have more in common than just the presidency.

Consider: Back in 1864 as the civil war raged on, President Abraham Lincoln issued a pardon.

The man who needed the pardon was a civilian employee of the union army. Went by the name Moses Robinette.

Turns out Robinette was a bit of a scrapper. He’d gotten into it with a fellow army contractor named John Alexander.

Big guy. Alexander was much bigger and stronger than Robinette.

But Robinette didn’t back down, though he did resort to the use of a pocket knife to defend himself. Which was his main point: that he was just defending himself.

The army threw him into the brig anyway.

But three officers petitioned the president and Lincoln was convinced.

So back to the beginning, how does this connect presidents?

Maybe the name rings a bell. Moses Robinette is the great, great grandfather of Joseph Robinette Biden.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

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