In a handwritten statement located in the archives of Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, Jung reflected on the personal meaning of Abraham Lincoln for him as a young child in Switzerland. We are grateful to the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum of Lincoln Memorial University for providing this document, and historian Michael Burlingame for calling attention to it.
Document courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum of Lincoln Memorial University. A transcription follows (any mistakes courtesy of Sean Fitzpatrick):
Abraham Lincoln has crossed my path, when I was a little boy in school. He was pointed out to the schoolchildren as the model of a citizen, who has devoted his life to the welfare of his country—very much in the same way as those great men – bene meriti de patria – of the Roman republic and the Greek polis. Thus Abraham Lincoln has remained since my early days one of the shining stars in the assembly of immortal heroes. Is there greater fame than to be removed to the timeless sphere of mythical existence?
C.G. Jung
Dec. 1938.
