The internet has a penchant for finding hotness in the most unexpected places. Most recently Netflix had to issue a statement to the viewers of their new Ted Bundy documentary who were openly lusting over the late convicted serial killer. This one is comparatively more respectable: Twitter is abuzz with people thirsting for Abraham Lincoln.
That is, a statue of Honest Abe, located in the Los Angeles courthouse. The sculpture is called “Young Lincoln,” and it sure is. The 16th president of the United States of America stands there like an Adonis, shirtless, his right thumb over the edge of his trousers, teasing a faint glimpse of his waistline, his abs literally rock hard.
https://twitter.com/MuseZack/status/1098278578158858240
The limestone sculpture isn’t new. According to The Living New Deal — a site dedicated to artwork created under the umbrella of FDR’s New Deal — “Young Lincoln” was completed in 1939 by James Hansen. It was commissioned by the Fine Arts section of the Department of Treasury, and it made its debut at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. It was installed in its current home in 1941, just waiting for the right person to make it go viral nearly eight decades later.
A hot Lincoln isn’t too out-there. He was ranked ninth on a BuzzFeed list of hottest U.S. presidents from 2016 (which has not been amended to include our current commander-in-chief, presumably between John Quincy Adams and Chester A. Arthur). In Steven Spielberg’s award-gobbling 2012 biopic Lincoln, he was played by the ever-dashing Daniel Day-Lewis. The beloved president was also essayed by no less than young, also hot Henry Fonda in the 1939 John Ford classic called (appropriately for these purposes) Young Mr. Lincoln.
Anyway, the “discovery” (technically a reminder) of a statue that’s as old as Gone with the Wind has caused quite the stir online.
Honest Abs
— Ned Pyle (@NerdPyle) February 20, 2019
The Gettysburg Undress
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) February 20, 2019
https://twitter.com/DavidRoyStewart/status/1098283716747644935
Carrying a book as a pretense that he's going to his friend's house to "study."
— Chrisna (@chrisna) February 20, 2019
https://twitter.com/PKtje/status/1098305292998246401
https://twitter.com/PKtje/status/1098313335735488512
https://twitter.com/DevinFlanigan/status/1098295198910537728
“Young Abe Lincoln” coming soon to the CW https://t.co/HFvTYpeHMi
— FilmFatale_NYC 🇭🇹 🇩🇴 🇺🇸 (@FilmFatale_NYC) February 21, 2019
replace every confederate monument with a statue of Hot Lincoln https://t.co/nhrn9OzOJW
— Kelsey D. Atherton (@AthertonKD) February 20, 2019
https://twitter.com/owillis/status/1098314231651409920
Most were jokes, but some dug deeper into history.
My friend Jennifer found an old Life magazine article about the commissioning of the sexy Lincoln statue, complete with a photo of the equally study and shirtless sculptor. https://t.co/9DdTrAdiOP
— Zack Stentz (@MuseZack) February 20, 2019
https://twitter.com/MCChewRocka/status/1098306005622972416
https://twitter.com/gbrockell/status/1098309919143546882
https://twitter.com/gbrockell/status/1098314502590869507
Some wondered how they’d never noticed it before when they should have.
How the hell did I not notice this as a young law clerk in Central District 1983-1985!!?? Must have been blind as a bat, incredibly dedicated or incredibly distracted. But that was a time when we had the Delorean trial, Larry Flynt and the NFL Antitrust case going on!
— Priscilla Maloney (@sodergrengirl) February 20, 2019
Others reminisced about other questionable public art.
Questionable court art is my favorite! Here’s a painting from Compton criminal courthouse pic.twitter.com/qsZnkMabXk
— sparticle (@IamSparticle) February 20, 2019
Or other, also hot stone Abes.
We have a hot Lincoln statue in Chicago too! pic.twitter.com/AlFORPjib8
— Jamie Bernstein @uajamie.bsky.social (@UAJamie) February 20, 2019
Now, if anyone can find a statue of Franklin Pierce, the nation’s 14th commander-in-chief, he was quite the scrumptious morsel, too.