(Photo By Flickr User Gage Skidmore)
A gift from broadcaster Glenn Beck’s foundation is mean to pay a debt the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum owes.
Beck’s Mercury One charity gave ALPLM $50,869, which museum Executive Director Alan Lowe says will go to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation. The private foundation owns the museum and is currently working to pay the $9.2 million of the $23 million it owed from buying the Taper Collection in 2007. That money has to be fully paid back to the bank holding the loan by October 2019.
“It has been a pleasure working with Glenn and Mercury One over the past few months to make this donation a reality. He has a real passion for history, and Mercury One’s mission includes building educational initiatives around first-source documents and leadership training,” Lowe said. “I hope others are inspired by this contribution and make their own donations to this important cause or to other programs at the presidential library and museum.”
Beck, founder of TheBlaze and conservative commentator, says he believes in what the museum foundation is doing.
“Abraham Lincoln’s mission didn’t end in the 1860s,” Beck said. “His words challenge us yet today, to do the hard things, and help free those in chains and heal the wounds. Slavery is still a blight on humanity all over the world including the United States. My listeners also believe in his mission and his goal of ‘healing the wounds’ of our nation ‘with malice toward none and charity for all.’ That line is, in fact, the mission statement I, coincidentally, gave to my Mercury One charity organization years ago. It is part of the fabric of who we are. Abraham Lincoln is just as relevant and important as he was in 1860, and we are honored to help preserve and amplify his voice.”
Beck says his organization started the “5 For Lincoln” fundraiser, through which he says thousands of his listeners are donating $5 a month to support the library. Contributions can be made at 54Lincoln.com or through ALPLM.org.
The foundation says it will have to sell items off to pay the debt if it can’t come up with the right money, meaning the public would no longer be able to see part of Lincoln’s history and private owners could take ownership of artifacts.
