미국의 링컨 대통령은 가난한 집에서 태어나 어린 시절 어머니를 잃고 돈이 없어 공부를 제대로 하지 못하는 등 어려서부터 고통을 겪었다.

23살에 동업자와 의기투합해 장사를 시작했지만 장사가 잘 안 돼서 큰 빚만 졌다.

법의 허점을 이용해 빚을 떼먹을 수도 있었지만 조금씩 갚아나갔고 14년 뒤에야 빚을 청산했다. 24살 되던 해 앤 애틀러지라는 여성과 교제를 했는데 그녀는 링컨이 평생 사랑한 단 하나의 여인이었다.

그러나 그녀는 장티푸스에 걸려 사망했다. 링컨은 슬픔을 못 이겨 몇 번이나 자살을 시도했고, 그 후 평생동안 우울증에 시달렸다. 그러나 그 누구도 링컨이 미국 역사상 가장 위대한 대통령이었다는 사실을 부인하지 않는다.

‘브리태니커 백과사전’에서 역사 인물을 살펴보면 그들의 25%가 10세 이전에 부모 중 한 사람을 잃었고, 15세 이전부터 편부모 슬하에 자란 비율이 24.5%, 20세 이전부터는 45%라고 한다. 역대 영국 수상과 미국 대통령들의 경우 일반인보다 높은 비율로 어린 시절에 부모 중 한 쪽을 잃었다(인용: 완웨이강 著, '이공계의 뇌로산다').

편부모 가정은 보통 사람들에게는 커다란 시련이지만, 이런 시련에 쓰러지지 않는 사람들은 어쩔 수 없이 남보다 일찍 육체적, 신체적으로 자립하게 되어 강인해진다.

열세(劣勢)는 정신적으로도 유익하다. 제2차 세계대전 시기 독일군은 런던 대폭격을 실시했다. 영국 정부는 런던 시민들이 공황상태에 빠져 도시를 버리고 떠날까봐 전전긍긍했다.

그런데 폭격이 시작되고 엄청난 사람들이 목숨을 잃었는데도 불구하고, 사람들은 공황상태에 빠지기는커녕 오히려 담담하게 행동했다고 한다. 훗날 런던 사람들이 공습기간에 쓴 일기를 연구한 결과 당시 런던 사람들은 독일의 폭격을 좋아하기까지 했다고 한다. 독일군이 아무리 폭격을 퍼부어도 자신을 죽일 수 없다는 흥분상태가 보편적으로 퍼져 있었던 것이다.  

김필재 spooner1@hanmail.net

How many US Presidents grew up without their biological father - either never knowing him, or losing him by, say, age 13?

They are as follows:

George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
James Monroe
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Johnson
Rutherford B. Hayes
James Garfield
Grover Cleveland
Herbert Hoover
Gerald Ford
William Jefferson Clinton
Barack Obama

Upon suggestion by Martijn Sjoorda, the following is some interesting backstory and facts about each President listed above.

George Washington – GW grew up in a middle class household, his father was a plantation owner and died when GW was 11. His oldest brother became his surrogate father and role model.
 
Thomas Jefferson – TJ’s father was a planter who died when TJ was 13. At age 16, Jefferson entered the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, and first met the law professor George Wythe, who became his mentor and role model. 
 
James Monroe- Upon the death of his father, Monroe inherited his small plantation and slaves, officially joining the ruling class of the planter elite in what had become the slave society of Virginia. At sixteen years old, he began forming a close relationship with his maternal uncle, the influential Judge Joseph Jones who would become his role model.
 
Andrew Jackson - Jackson's father died in an accident in February 1767, at the age of 29, three weeks before Andrew was born. AJ was most influenced by the military, in which he enrolled at 13.
 
Andrew Johnson – Andrew’s father, Jacob Johnson was a poor man, as was his father William, but became town constable of Raleigh before marrying and starting a family. He died of an apparent heart attack while ringing the town bell, shortly after rescuing three drowning men when Andrew was three. AJ spent a big part of his young life as a runaway with his older brother.
 
Rutherford B. Hayes - Hayes's father, a Vermont storekeeper, took the family to Ohio in 1817 but died ten weeks before his son's birth. Sophia (RH’s mother) took charge of the family, bringing up Hayes and his sister, Fanny, the only two of her four children to survive to adulthood. She never remarried. Sophia's younger brother, Sardis Birchard, lived with the family for a time. Always close to Hayes, Sardis Birchard became a father figure to him, contributing to his early education.
 
James Garfield - His father, Abram Garfield, known locally as a wrestler, died when Garfield was 17 months old. Garfield's parents joined Disciples of Christ Church, which profoundly influenced their son. Garfield was able to receive rudimentary education at a village school in Orange, listening and discussing books read. Garfield knew he needed money to advance his learning. At age 16, he struck out on his own, drawn seaward by dreams of being a seaman.
Grover Cleveland - Cleveland was the fifth of nine children and his father was a pastor at their church. When he died, the church had a major influence on GC growing up.
 
Herbert Hoover - As a young child he was often referred to by his father as 'my little stick in the mud' when he repeatedly got trapped in the mud crossing the unpaved street.Herbert's family figured prominently in the town's public prayer life, due almost entirely to mother Hulda's role in the church.His father, noted by the local paper for his 'pleasant, sunshiny disposition', died in 1880 after working admirably to retire her husband's debts, retain their life insurance, and care for the children, his mother passed away in 1884, leaving Hoover an orphan at the age of nine. For a brief period of time he lived with his uncle. Hoover entered Stanford University in 1891, its inaugural year, after failing all the entrance exams (except mathematics) and then being tutored for the summer in Palo Alto.
 
Gerald Ford – Dorothy (mother) separated from King (father) just sixteen days after her son's birth. She took her son with her to the Oak Park, Illinois home of her sister Tannisse and brother-in-law, Clarence Haskins James. From there, she moved to the home of her parents, Levi Addison Gardner and Adele Augusta Ayer in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Dorothy and King divorced in December 1913 she gained full custody of her son. Ford's paternal grandfather Charles Henry King paid child support until shortly before his death in 1930.
 
William Jefferson Clinton - His father, William Jefferson Blythe, Jr., was a traveling salesman who died in an automobile accident three months before Bill was born. Clinton says he remembers his stepfather as a gambler and an alcoholic who regularly abused his mother and half-brother, Roger Clinton, Jr., to the point where he intervened multiple times with the threat of violence to protect them. Clinton stayed preoccupied with music most of his young adult life, and at age 16 decided he wanted to devote his life to public office.
 
Barack Obama – His well-educated father was absent most of his life, grew up with grandparents.