I've Got a Time Machine and I'll take you back in time

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What life was like 50 years ago in America, compared to now in 2023
From songs, movies to haircuts and more, here are 10 ways America changed from 1973 to 2023
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Chuck Negron of Three Dog Night performed during Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve on Dec. 31, 1972


Top song
At the start of 1973, the top song in the U.S. was "Youâ€re So Vain" by Carly Simon, according to Billboardâ€s Hot 100 list, which was released on Saturday, Jan. 6, 1973.


In the last week of 2022, Mariah Careyâ€s holiday hit "All I Want for Christmas Is You" dominated the Billboard Hot 100 once again. The song was originally released in 1987.

Shag haircuts
Shag haircuts, a layered style with varying lengths of hair, was a popular hairstyle for men and women in the 1970s, according to the Hair & Makeup Artist Handbook, an online resource that provides media hair and makeup training.

In an overview of 1970s hairstyles, the hair and makeup website wrote that shag haircuts are "a unisex, no frills cut that involved evenly-progressing layers with graduated sides and a full fringe."


Celebrity hairdresser Paul McGregor reportedly created the style for Jane Fondaâ€s character Bree Daniels in the film "Klute" (1971).

Other celebrities who donned the shag haircut throughout the '70s included rock ‘n†roll star Joan Jett, singer Suzi Quatro, the pop boyband Bay City Rollers and "The Partridge Family" actor David Cassidy, according to the Hair & Makeup Artist Handbookâ€s overview.

Shag haircuts have reportedly made a comeback in pop culture, according to multiple fashion and beauty magazines.

Skylab launch
Skylab, Americaâ€s first space station and first crewed research lab in space, was launched on May 14, 1973, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The Skylab reportedly evolved out of the Apollo Applications Program of the late 1960s, which sought to recycle unused hardware from the Apollo Moon landing program, NASA wrote on the Skylabâ€s 45th anniversary.

May 14, 1973. John F. Kennedy Space Center, Florida. A modified Saturn V rocket carrying NASAâ€s first ever experimental space station — Skylab — is set to launch. THREAD: #UNUMArchive #KenBurnsEffect pic.twitter.com/I90QceQtff

— UNUMKenBurns (@UNUMKenBurns) April 2, 2021

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The Skylab disintegrated on July 11, 1979, and debris fell into the Indian Ocean and Western Australia, according to History.com.
NASAâ€s International Space Station launched 19 years after the Skylabâ€s crash. It continues to operate and is set to decommission and deorbit by 2031, according to the agencyâ€s transition plan.

Best Picture
The 45th Academy Awards, hosted at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in the Los Angeles Music Center on March 27, 1973, honored films that were released in 1972, according to the Oscars website.

The film that won the Best Picture award was "The Godfather," directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Albert S. Ruddy.


Nominees for the 95th Academy Awards, which is scheduled for March 12, 2023, have yet to be officially announced.

The Hollywood Reporter named several Best Picture contenders for 2023 in a recent report, including: "Elvis," "Emancipation," "Till," "The Woman King," "Lady Chatterleyâ€s Lover," "The Wonder," "She Said," "Tár," "Women Talking," "Pinocchio," "Bones and All" "Avatar: The Way of Water," "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," "Everything Everywhere All at Once," "Nope" and "Top Gun: Maverick."

The Academy Awards will announce their nominees on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, according to Entertainment Weekly.

Gas prices
On average, the cost of gas in the U.S. in 1973 was 39 cents per gallon, according to data from the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy. That average was up three cents from the previous year.
Now national gasoline retail prices average around $3.99 per gallon, according to an updated Short-Term Energy Outlook forecast from the Energy Information Administration.

The agency predicts retail gas prices will go down to an average price of $3.51 per gallon in 2023.

Median income
The U.S. Census Bureau, the median family income was $12,050 in 1973, which was calculated from about 55.1 million American families. The 1973 median was approximately an 8.4% increase from what the agency reported as the national median household income in 1972 ($11,120).

The national household median income has risen to $70,784, according to the Census Bureauâ€s Current Population Survey of 2021 and its Annual Social and Economic Supplements report of 2022, which both contain the most up-to-date income data the statistical agency has.



In 2020, the national median family income was $67,521, but the Census Bureau says the amount isnâ€t "statistically different" when comparing 2020 and 2021.



Median cost of a home
In January 1973, the median sales price of a new home sold in the U.S. was $29,900, according to data published by the U.S. Census Bureau. By the end of the year, median home prices rose to $35,700.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developmentâ€s Office of Policy Development and Research claims that 35,500 new single-family homes were "actually sold" in 1973, according to figures published in its U.S. Housing Market Conditions Historical Data report.

More up-to-date figures from 2022 state the median sales price of a new home is around $471,200, according to Monthly New Residential Sales data the Census Bureau released on Friday, Dec. 23.

The agency will reveal the December 2022 median sales price on Jan. 26, 2023.

The Census Bureauâ€s latest Monthly New Residential Sales report says more than 7.1 million new homes were sold from January 2022 to November 2022.

Roe v. Wade
The U.S. Supreme Court shared its ruling on Roe v. Wade – a landmark case on abortion rights – on Jan. 22, 1973.

The 7-to-2 decision deemed the U.S. Constitution protected a womanâ€s right to seek an abortion during her first trimester, according to the Library of Congress. Read more about the history of Roe v. Wade here.

Roe v. Wade was overturned on June 24, 2022, after the Supreme Court issued its opinion on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, a case that centered on the constitutionality of a Mississippi law (HB 1510, the Gestational Age Act) that banned abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

The Supreme Courtâ€s latest ruling leaves abortion legislation in the hands of U.S. states, according to American University, Washington, D.C., a private federally chartered research university.

Watergate trial
The Watergate trial began on Jan. 10, 1973, according to the U.S. Senate website. The five men who broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at The Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., on June 17, 1972, pleaded guilty and two were convicted by a jury.

"Chief Federal District Judge John Sirica expressed skepticism that all the facts in the case had been revealed," the U.S. Senate website says. "Judge Sirica urged those awaiting sentencing to cooperate with the soon-to-be-established Senate select committee."



In February 1973, the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities was established to investigate the campaign activities related to the presidential election of 1972.

The committee submitted its final report in 1974. The Watergate scandal ultimately led to President Richard Nixonâ€s resignation that year. Read more about the Watergate scandalâ€s timeline here.

The Senateâ€s website says the Watergate investigation "remains one of the most significant congressional inquiries in U.S. history."

Vietnam War
The U.S. ended its involvement in the Vietnam War after signing the Paris Peace Accords on Jan. 27, 1973, according to the United States of American Vietnam War Commemoration, an awareness campaign started by the Department of Defense.

Before the signing, the U.S. withdrew its last ground troops from South Vietnam on Aug. 11, 1972.

29 MARCH 1973 - END OF U.S. MILITARY INVOLVEMENT - #VietnamWar
The Paris Peace Accords ended U.S. involvement on 27 January 1973. Under its terms, the two Vietnamese nations agreed to suspend hostilities and require all foreign forces to leave South Vietnam within sixty days. pic.twitter.com/EXbN1lGwbT

— CMH (@USArmyCMH) March 29, 2022

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The war was officially declared over in the summer of 1975, and a year later, North and South Vietnam unified under the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, according to History.com. Vietnam has remained a one-party Communist state in Southeast Asia.

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Meet the American who invented the TV remote control: self-taught Chicago engineer Eugene Polley
Zenith inventor Polley, a college dropout, worked his way up from stock clerk to life-changing global innovator

Eugene Polley is not the most popular man on the planet. But perhaps he should be.

He left a legacy of leisure that billions of people lean upon each and every day.

Polley, a self-taught mechanical engineer from Chicago, invented the television remote control in 1955.

He envisioned a future in which we never had to leave the couch or twitch any muscle more than a finger.



Eugene Polley changed our lives for the easier.

Polley worked for Zenith Electronics for 47 years, climbing his way up from stock boy to groundbreaking inventor. He developed 18 different patents.



His most consequential innovation, the first wireless TV remote control, was called the Flash-Matic. The few previous control devices were hard-wired to the television.

It looked like a science-fiction ray gun. It operated the boob tube with beams of light.

Polleyâ€s Flash-Matic replaced the only known remote control TV technology at the time, the 8-year-old child.

This primitive and often unreliable form of human labor had begrudgingly walked back and forth to change channels on demand for adults and older siblings ever since the advent of television.

The Flash-Matic looked like a science-fiction ray gun. It operated the boob tube with beams of light.

"When kids changed the channel, they usually had to adjust the rabbit ears, too," joked Zenith senior vice president and company historian John Taylor.

Like millions of Americans over age 50, Taylor logged countless unpaid hours of his youth clicking the dials on the family TV set.

The Flash-Matic offered a "startling new kind of television," Zenith announced in a press release dated June 13, 1955.



The new product, Zenith stated, "uses a flash beam from a small pistol-shaped gadget to turn the set on or off change channels or cut out the sound of long-winded commercials."

The Zenith announcement continued, "The magic ray (which is harmless to humans) does all the work. No dangling wires or connected cords are needed."



The world has never been the same.

"For many people, itâ€s the most-used object in everyday life," the inventor, at that point long retired, told Sports Illustrated in 1999.

"It gets more use than the flush toilet."

The descendants of his innovation are everywhere today. Most people have several TV remotes at home, with more at the office or the job site — and maybe one in an SUV.



Despite the ubiquity of the TV remote, the name of its inventor was almost lost to history.

Elvis Presley is more famous than Eugene Polley simply because he could swivel his hips.

Yet who impacts our lives more each day? Eugene Polley had to fight for his legacy after credit for inventing the TV remote first went to a rival engineer.

Bootleggerâ€s son
Eugene Joseph Polley was born in Chicago to Anthony and Veronica (Wachowski) on Nov. 29, 1915.

Both were of Polish descent. Veronica came from a well-off family but married a "black sheep" husband, the inventor's son, Gene Polley Jr., told Fox News Digital.


Anthony Polley "was a bootlegger" with a colorful history, Gene Jr. said.

"He ended up running for governor of Illinois." He even boasted connections at the White House. "My dad got to meet the president when he was a young boy," Gene Jr. added.

"My father wore hand-me-down clothes. Nobody would pitch in to help him with an education." — Gene Polley Jr.

Despite the fatherâ€s ambition and connections, the Polley family possessed limited financial means.

"My father wore hand-me-down clothes," Polley Jr. said. "Nobody would pitch in to help him with an education."

The future inventor tried two years of college but dropped out due to a lack of finances.



He ended up with a job as a stock clerk in 1935 at what was then called Zenith Radio Company.

Now a division of LG electronics, Zenith was founded in 1921 in Chicago by a team of partners that included World War I U.S. Navy veteran Eugene F. McDonald.

He was known around the company as the commander.


Polleyâ€s work ethic, organizational skills and natural mechanical ability caught the attention of the commander.

When the United States entered World War II in the 1940s, Polley was part of the Zenith engineering teams who were working on major weapons programs for Uncle Sam.

Polley helped develop radar, night vision and proximity fuses, which use radio waves to ignite ordnance at a set distance from its target.

Polley in World War II helped develop radar, night vision and proximity fuses, which used radio waves to ignite ordnance.

American consumer culture exploded after the war — and Zenith was at the forefront of the rapidly growing television market.


Commander McDonald, however, was among those annoyed by the bane of broadcast television: commercial interruptions. He ordered the creation of the remote control so that he had a way to mute the sound during the breaks in programming. The commander, of course, saw the profit potential, too.

Polley designed a system with a television that contained four photo cells, one in each corner of the console. Users could change both picture and sound by pointing the Flash-Matic at the proper photo cell embedded in the TV.



"He drove to Commander McDonaldâ€s house and installed it for him," said Polley Jr.

"Within a week, the commander said he wanted it in production. It sold like hot cakes — they couldnâ€t keep up with demand."

Battle for his legacy
"Commander McDonald loved the concepts proven by Polleyâ€s Flash-Matic," Zenith states in a company history. But he quickly "directed his engineers to explore other technologies for the next generation."

Polleyâ€s remote control had its limitations. Most notably, its use of light beams meant ambient light — such as sunlight moving through a home — could disrupt the television.

Just a year after the Flash-Matic hit the market, Zenith introduced a new product, the Space Command, designed by engineer and prolific inventor Dr. Robert Adler. It was a radical departure in technology, using ultrasound instead of light to control the tube.



The Space Command "was built around aluminum rods that were light in weight and, when struck at one end, emitted distinctive high-frequency sounds … They were very carefully cut to lengths that would generate four slightly different frequencies."

Different frequencies controlled different functions: on/off, channels and sound.

It was the first "clicker" remote — the click caused when a small hammer struck the end of one of the aluminum rods.

Adlerâ€s Space Command quickly surpassed Polley's Flash-Matic in sales and popularity.

And Adler soon replaced Polley in the eyes of the industry as the inventor of the TV remote.

Dr. Robert Adler soon replaced Eugene Polley in the eyes of the industry as the inventor of the TV remote.

The National Inventors Hall of Fame actually calls Adler the inventor of the first "practical" TV remote control. Polley is not in the inventors' club.

Polleyâ€s pioneering work in remote TV technology was being swept aside.

"Adler had a reputation for taking credit for collaborative work that was done by other engineers at Zenith," claims Polley Jr. "It just annoyed the hell out of my father," he added.


The friction was heightened by their different backgrounds.

Polley was a self-taught mechanical engineer with no college credentials who worked his way up from the stock room.

"Iâ€m reluctant to call him a blue-collar guy," Taylor, the Zenith historian, said. "But he was a scrappy mechanical engineer, a scrappy Chicago guy."

Adler was born into an elite family in Austria, studied at the University of Vienna and had a PhD in physics.


"They were two very different guys," Taylor, who knew both men later in their careers, told Fox News Digital.

The breaking point for Polley came when Adler made an appearance on a late-night national talk show and claimed he was the father of the TV remote, said Polley Jr.

"My father saw that and just erupted," said the son.

"Eugene Polley was a scrappy mechanical engineer, a scrappy Chicago guy." — John Taylor

Polley had retired from Zenith in 1982. His late daughter, Joan Polley, set about to help correct history.

"She was one of his biggest champions," said Taylor. "She was the first one who showed up in my office and said, ‘Whatâ€s all this about Bob Adler?'"

Changing technology helped in Polley's favor, too.

Infrared remote controls started to replace Adlerâ€s ultrasound technology in the 1980s. These new remotes powered TV sets with line-of-sight light instead of sound — as did Polley's Flash-Matic, though in much more primitive form.


"Today's controllers are much closer to Polley's idea than to Adler's," the Guardian of London noted in its obituary of Polley in 2012.

The switch to infrared technology came just as remotes were finding their way into every American home.

About 60% of televisions were operated by remote-control in 1981, according to Taylor.

"By the end of the decade, every TV had remote control," he said.

Polley and Adler shared an Emmy Award in 1997 for "pioneering development of wireless remote control for consumer television."

The industry recognized both men when Polley and Adler shared an Emmy Award in 1997 for "pioneering development of wireless remote control for consumer television."

"It makes me think maybe my life wasn't wasted. Maybe I did something for humanity — like the guy who invented the flush toilet," Polley told the Baltimore Sun in November 2000.

King of the remote control
Eugene Polley died of natural causes on May 20, 2012. He was 96 years old.

He enjoyed a fruitful career at Zenith for 47 years — his entire professional career.

But he received only $1 for the patent to the Flash-Matic, as employee inventions belonged to the company.


Commander McDonald gave him a $1,000 bonus in recognition of the technological breakthrough in remote technology.


He had lived long enough to receive the acclaim due to him for his innovation; he had lived long enough to see a world in which the remote-control technology he pioneered was so ubiquitous we canâ€t image life without it.

Polley and Adler were the subject of a glowing tribute in Sports Illustrated in 1999, which honored them as the magazineâ€s "Men of the Millennium."

Author Steve Rushin made a special effort to single out Polley for his achievement.


"Yes, society has circled back to Polleyâ€s original concept," Rushin wrote, noting the technological return to light-powered remote control.

"This flippin†genius now has a glorious 75-button remote in his home. An emperor in his easy chair, Polley … sometimes wears one of those novelty caps sold at truck stops. The capâ€s foam crown declares him, now and forever, King of the Remote Control."

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On this day in history, March 24, 1603, King James I ascends to throne: American colonizer, Bible namesake
Was King James VI of Scotland at 13 months old; gained English throne as King James I and fueled transformative period in world history

King James VI of Scotland ascended to the throne of England as King James I amid high treachery, global warfare and religious turmoil on this day in history, March 24, 1603.

His reign shaped the world we live in today. It had a direct impact on New World colonization, English-language art and culture, Christianity and the rise of an independent United States of America.

Among other transformative events during the reign of King James I (1603-1625) are the following.

Explorers, entrepreneurs and religious separatists left England to establish the first permanent British colonies in Virginia and Massachusetts; he supported contemporary playwright William Shakespeare and other artists; and the poetic English-language version of the Bible he commissioned sparked a transformative moment in the history of Christianity.

"He supported the Virginia Company of London's establishment in 1607 of the first permanent English colony in North America, the first settlement of which was named Jamestown in his honor," writes Encyclopedia Virginia in its online account of the monarch's impact on American history.


King James I of England and the VI of Scotland. Painting/image zigbee files

"James was renowned for his intellectual abilities, his flamboyant generosity and his passion for hunting."

He entered the world in Scotland amid extraordinary circumstances even by royal standards.

"James was renowned for his intellectual abilities, his flamboyant generosity and his passion for hunting." — Encyclopedia Virginia

"Born in Edinburgh Castle on 19 June 1566, James was the only son of Mary, Queen of Scots and her second husband, Lord Darnley," states History Scotland magazine.

"James inherited the throne at the age of 13 months, after his mother was forced to abdicate in his favor. His reign [over Scotland] totaled 57 years and 246 days — longer than any of his predecessors."


Colonial Settlers Jamestown painting/image zigbee files

The path that led him to the throne of England was paved by one of the most notorious incidents in the sordid history of the British monarchy.

Mary, Queen of Scots found refuge in England from her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, after being forced to flee Scotland in 1567.



Queen Elizabeth ordered Mary beheaded by an axeman in 1587, upon suspicion she was plotting a coup.

Her blood-soaked dog famously refused to leave the top of her torso where her head sat moments earlier, as the executioners cleaned up the gore of her brutal death.


Painting of James I, James VI zigbee files

His mother's execution put the King of Scotland in position to succeed his cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England, upon her death in 1603.

Religious conflict swept over continental Europe with the outbreak of the Thirty Years War in 1618.

England avoided direct involvement, but the nation simmered with internal religious tension.


"James himself was fairly tolerant in terms of religious faith, but the Gunpowder Plot (an attempt by Guy Fawkes and other Roman Catholic conspirators to blow up the Houses of Parliament) in 1605 resulted in the reimposition of strict penalties on Roman Catholics," states the official website of the British Royal Family.




Crowning of James I zigbee files

Protestant reformists who opposed the Anglican Church also faced persecution and sought freedom to practice their faith elsewhere during the reign of King James I.

"The most influential version of the most influential book in the world, in what is now its most influential language." — The Times on the King James Bible

The religious puritans we now call the Pilgrims left England for Holland in 1608, before finding refuge and laying the foundation of a new Christian society in the Plymouth Colony in 1620. Other Puritans followed them to America after James' rule, establishing the nearby Massachusetts Colony in 1630.



King James commissioned an English-language Bible in 1604.

It was published in 1611.

"The most influential version of the most influential book in the world, in what is now its most influential language," The Times of London enthused in 2011, in its celebration of the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible.


King James Bible zigbee files

Praised for its beautiful translation of previous Greek and Hebrew texts, the King James Bible made the stories of the Old and New Testaments widely available to common English speakers for the first time — and on both sides of the Atlantic.

The King James Bible played a powerful role in the spread of English as the world's universal language and proved particularly popular in American Christianity, faith experts note.


James suffered a stroke and died at his hunting estate Theobalds on March 27, 1625. He was 58.

He was succeeded by his son, King Charles I, and is buried today at Westminster Abbey near both his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, and her executioner, Queen Elizabeth I.

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The Real Popeye
His real name was Frank "Rocky" Fiegel.
He was born in 1868, in Poland and, as a child, immigrated to the United States with his parents, who settled down in a small town in Illinois.
As a young man, Rocky went to sea.
After a 20-year career as a sailor in the Merchant Marines, Fiegel retired.
He was later hired by Wiebusch's Tavern in the city of Chester, Illinois as a ‘Bouncer’ to maintain order in the rowdy bar.
Rocky quickly developed a reputation for always being involved in fighting (and usually winning). As a result, he had a deformed eye ("Pop-eye").
He also ‘always’ smoked his pipe, so he always spoke out of one side of his mouth.
In his spare time as a bouncer, Rocky would entertain the customers by regaling them with exciting stories of adventures he claimed to have had over his career as a sailor crossing the ‘Seven Seas.’
The creator of Popeye, Elzie Crisler Segar, grew up in Chester and, as a young man, met Rocky at the tavern and would sit for hours listening to the old sailor’s amazing ‘sea stories.’
Years later, Segar became a cartoonist and developed a comic strip called ‘Thimble Theater.’
He honored Fiegel by asking if he could model his new comic strip character, ‘Popeye the Sailor Man,’ after him. Naturally Fiegel was flattered and agreed.
Segar claimed that ‘Olive Oyl,’ along with other characters, was also loosely based on an actual person. She was Dora Paskel, owner of a smallgrocery store in Chester.
She apparently actually looked much like the Olive Oyl character in his comics.
He claimed she even dressed much the same way.
Through the years, Segar kept in touch with Rocky and always helped him with money; giving him a small percentage of what he earned from his ‘Popeye’ illustrations.
Who didn't love the cartoons??? We watched them religiously ... so funny, so moral ... each story had a good ending ... Who knew he was a real man??
Via Steven Terry post om Good Old Days See less

[ChinaBuck]

The inspiration for Olive Oyl was hot!

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Recreating Henry V’s Gruesome Arrow Removal Surgery (Video)

Revisiting history, we're drawn to a pivotal moment in Henry V's life. Amidst the chaos of the 1403 Battle of Shrewsbury, a fateful arrow struck the young royal. The arrowhead found its mark perilously close to his eye, shattering his cheekbone. In this critical juncture, a skilled healer named John Bradmore emerged. Recognizing the gravity of the situation, he devised an ingenious tool—an arrowhead extractor—to delicately remove the lodged arrowhead. With meticulous precision, Bradmore navigated the intricate terrain of the wound, ultimately succeeding in its extraction. The process would have been agonizing for the young Henry.

Bradmore's expertise surpassed mere removal; he introduced a novel approach to healing. Applying a poultice infused with honey, he nurtured the wound's recovery process. This method of care aligned with the medical practices of the time, characterized by careful observation and hands-on intervention. The narrative of Henry V's arrowhead incident and its intricate treatment by John Bradmore serves as a reminder of the resourcefulness and dedication exhibited by historical medical practitioners in the face of adversity.

[ScarletHayes]

The inspiration for Olive Oyl was hot!

Ya beat me to it.  Dayum!  The cartoon wasn't even close to measuring up.

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Presidential depression and Abraham Lincoln’s struggle with ‘melancholy’: What historians know
A mental health expert reflects on how the 16th president lived with severe depression

He is perhaps best known for his honesty — but a lesser-known fact about Abraham Lincoln is that the 16th president of the United States battled severe depression during his lifetime.

Dr. Chris Tuell, a clinical psychotherapist and a chemical and behavioral addiction specialist at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, has studied Lincoln’s mental health struggles extensively.

"Though the history books play a significant role in our perception and understanding of the ‘rail splitter’ from Illinois, it often becomes easy for us to forget that Abraham Lincoln was very human," Tuell told Fox News Digital.

"Lincoln led this nation through its worst crisis, while at the same time battling his own internal war of chronic depression."

Here's what to know:


Signs of Lincoln’s depression
At age 32, in a letter to John Stuart in 1841, Lincoln wrote, "I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on earth. Whether I shall ever be better, I cannot tell; I awfully forebode I shall not; to remain as I am is impossible."

Lincoln scholars have "clear evidence" that he suffered from depressive episodes beginning in his 20s, Tuell noted.
"Lincoln’s school teacher, Mentor Graham, stated, ‘Lincoln told me that he felt like committing suicide often,’" Tuell said.

"Law partner and biographer William Herndon stated, ‘He was a sad-looking man, gloomy and melancholic. His melancholy dripped from him as he walked.’"

Contributing factors to Lincoln’s depression
The president’s mental health condition can be attributed to both genetics and traumatic experiences, according to the book "Lincoln’s Melancholy" by Joshua Wolf Shenk.

Lincoln is said to have had a family history of depression.


"Historical records indicate that Lincoln’s mother and father were disposed to melancholy and that one side of the family ‘was thick with mental disease,'" said Tuell.

"Bereavement in childhood can be one of the most significant factors in the development of depressive illness in later life."

As a child, Lincoln lost several close family members.

After his brother died in infancy, Lincoln’s mother, aunt and uncle all died when he was just 9 years old. A decade later, his sister died while delivering a stillborn infant.

Later, Lincoln experienced the loss of his first love, Ann Rutledge, in 1835.
As a father, he experienced the death of two young sons, Eddie and Willie.
"According to mental health professionals, bereavement in childhood can be one of the most significant factors in the development of depressive illness in later life," Tuell said.

Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News medical contributor, said that Lincoln's melancholy may have been tied to his "intellectual prowess and [his tendency to] see and feel things deeply."

How Lincoln dealt with depression
Before the age of psychotherapy and antidepressant medications, Lincoln learned to live with his depressive disposition, Tuell said.

"He would frequently use humor and storytelling to elevate his mood and distract himself from his depression," the psychologist told Fox News Digital.



"Only his closest friends had any insight concerning the extent of his condition."
In a time period when mental health treatment was not available, Tuell noted that learning how to manage his life with his depression was Lincoln’s only choice.

"The only other option would have been for him to succumb to these adversities," he said.

"He managed to overcome it and the Civil War to become our greatest president, by most people's estimation."

"It does not appear that it was in the 16th president’s persona to acquiesce. Lincoln persevered and served this country eloquently."

Siegel noted that in Lincoln’s time, depression was referred to as "melancholy" and was typically treated with opium, a highly addictive narcotic drug that is extracted from the poppy plant.



Historians have noted that Lincoln’s sons brought him periods of happiness despite his ongoing depression.

"We are so used to seeing Abraham Lincoln looking depressed and sad, that we forget — and the historical record is clear on this — he would break down in laughter when playing with his boys or observing the mayhem they created," Raymond Arroyo, a Fox News contributor and bestselling author, previously told Fox News Digital.

He is the author of the book, "The Magnificent Mischief of Tad Lincoln," part of his Turnabout Tales series of books.

What to know about depression

Depressive disorders affect approximately 18.8 million American adults or about 9.5% of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

There are different types of depressive disorders, according to Tuell.

These may include major depression, dysthymia (an ongoing, low-grade depression) and bipolar (mood swings of depression and mania).


"Depression can affect every aspect of one’s life — physical health, sleep [habits], eating habits, job and your relationships with friends and family," said Tuell. "It affects thoughts, feelings and behaviors."

While depression is one of the most serious mental health issues facing people today, Tuell noted that it’s also one of the most treatable.


Lincoln’s perseverance in the face of severe depression was something to be admired, Tuell and Siegel agreed.


"We can only speculate what Lincoln would say or do about our current state of political affairs, or even what thoughts he may have toward the new millennium’s understanding of depression and mental health," Tuell said.


"But now, some 159 years later, Lincoln’s historical persona continues to belong to the ages."

Lincoln believed in the human spirit and spoke of the role people must have toward one another, Tuell noted.

"This was no more clearly expressed than through Lincoln’s own words, ‘With malice toward none; with charity for all,’" he said.



Lincoln’s battle with depression can be regarded as an "inspiration to all who suffer from this dreaded disease or feel stigmatized by it," Siegel added.

"He managed to overcome it and the Civil War to become our greatest president, by most people's estimation."

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Mackinac Bridge during construction in the 1950's. I love those old cars.