• PhilipTheBucket@quokk.auOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      30
      ·
      6 days ago

      So Abe Lincoln was going to put Simon Cameron in his cabinet. Cameron was kind of a piece of shit, and so Thaddeus Stevens when he heard this got alarmed. When questioned about if he was really saying that Cameron would steal, Thaddeus Stevens thought for a minute and said, well, “I don’t think he would steal a red-hot stove.”

      So the story got around because it is funny. Abe Lincoln in particular thought it was one of the funniest things he ever heard (also while he made Cameron Secretary of War) and told many people. So eventually of course it got back to Cameron. Cameron was pissed, and angrily demanded that Stevens take back the slur on his character.

      So Thaddeus Stevens after Cameron had yelled at him said, “Well, he is very mad, and he made me promise to retract. I will now do so. I believe I told you he would not steal a red-hot stove. I now take that back.”