Lincoln, Robert Todd, 1843–1926, American lawyer and public official, b. Springfield, Ill., son of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln. He served on General Grant's staff and after the Civil War studied law. An able corporation lawyer, he chiefly served railroad interests and was (1897–1911) president of the Pullman Company. Of retiring disposition, he never ran for office but was secretary of war (1881–85) and minister to Great Britain (1889–93). Much of the last two decades of his life were spent at Hildene, his estate near Manchester, Vt.
Lincoln denied access to those papers of his father that he owned to all except the authorized biographers, John G. Nicolay and John Hay, and left them to the Library of Congress on the condition that they be sealed until 21 years after his death. In 1947 the papers were made public.
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