Mathew Brady: The Photographer Who Helped Make Lincoln President

The father of photojournalism risked all to capture portraits and images of the Civil War at the infancy of commercial photography.

(Left) Abraham Lincoln's popular photograph taken by Mathew Brady (Right) may have catapulted Lincoln to presidency and Brady to his status as premier photographer. Library of Congress. Public Domain

Abraham Lincoln credited the entrepreneurial photographer with helping him become president.

On Feb. 27, 1860, Abraham Lincoln sauntered into Mathew Brady’s New York studio for a photographic portrait. Lincoln was in town to give a speech at the Cooper Institute (today’s Cooper Union) highlighting his views of slavery, the most toxic political issue of the day. The intellectual power of Lincoln’s presentation would fuel the campaign that took him to the White House.