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 Ralph
Borror was in the military in GREECE when he
discovered that he hadn't gotten the education he thought he
had. "I saw the fabulous architecture and took in all the
history that my teachers didn't tell me about," he says.
"Seeing things like the Parthenon really brought history to
life. I decided then and there if I ever had a chance to
change the way people perceive history, I would do it.
Borror got his chance to change attitudes in
1988, when a friend employed by then-President RONALD REAGAN
asked him to attend a campaign rally dressed as ABRAHAM
LINCOLN. The bearded Borror, who had been constantly
compared to ABRAHAM LINCOLN, agreed and put a costume
together.
That day changed his life, he says. I just couldn't
believe the way the people treated me. The high school kids
and the President's secret service called me "Mr.
President." They were really affected by my being there. I
was hooked and I knew it."
After the event, Borror immediately ordered
a period suit, read more on Lincoln, and booked his first
appearance at a Civil War reenactment in Jackson, Michigan.
Almost seventeen years later, the man who says he's
"supercharged about history" makes about 120 appearances a
year at fairs, festivals, schools, and Civil War
reenactments. (Next Column ) |
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He maintains an Abraham Lincoln Web Page, and is a life
member of the Association of Lincoln Presenters, one of
under 200 men who make part of their living performing as
Lincoln.
Although he hasn't memorized the Gettysburg
Address--"Abe didn't" he quips-- he has mastered Lincoln's
mannerisms and the facts of his life. He regularly fields
calls and handles letters and e-mail inquires for
information about the president whose life he knows so well.
Borror, just a little shy of Lincoln's nearly 6'4" stature,
also takes questions from people who want to know what
Lincoln would think of current events. "They ask me what
Lincoln would think about Bill Clinton and the Gulf War for
example," He says. "And I answer them. I know enough about
his principles to answer their questions honestly."
When Borror isn't impersonating a president
elected in 1860, he's building Web Sites or maintaining
them for over 50 people or businesses, and driving a school bus in
Springfield Township, where a little bit of Lincoln slips
out now and then. He's introduced to the kindergartners as
Abraham Lincoln by school administrators. "I come up with
some bit of history to prove who I am," he says. "It's not
just a dry fact in a history book," he say's. It I can open
people's eyes, and make them look at history on their own,
then I've done something worthwhile."
Borror appears as LINCOLN every year at the Rutherford B.
Hayes and James Garfield Presidential Centers.
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