LIKE Ian W Thomson (Letters, March 13), I too was surprised that Tony Blair has become the first British recipient of the award for leadership by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation. I note that the Foundation specified good things they judged Mr Blair has done. However, these do not compare with the achievements of the president.

Lincoln saved the United States, first by restoring its physical unity after 11 Southern states seceded from the Union in order to keep slavery, and second by preserving the democratic ideals on which the nation was founded. Also, he brought about the end of slavery in the US, first by taking the bold step of issuing the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, which declared free the slaves in rebel-held areas, and then by overseeing the abolition of slavery by the passage of the 13th amendment to the Constitution in 1865, surely the greatest reform in American history.

I recommend that all readers who cross the pond as tourists should make a point of visiting Washington to see the Lincoln Memorial, a most impressive edifice. Under the canopy they will see the sculpture of the huge seated image, and then should read his two greatest speeches, the Gettysburg Address (1863) and the Second Inaugural Address (1865), both concise and compelling, which are inscribed on stone tablets on the interior walls.

Christopher Reekie,

12 Orchard Drive, Edinburgh.