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Comment by A_D_E_P_T | Hacker News Reader

Though not mentioned in the paper, Lincoln was famously aware of this technique.

> "Whenever Abraham Lincoln felt the urge to tell someone off, he would compose what he called a “hot letter.” He’d pile all of his anger into a note, “put it aside until his emotions cooled down,” Doris Kearns Goodwin once explained on NPR, “and then write [on the rear side of the sheet of paper]: ‘Never sent. Never signed.’ ” Which meant that Gen. George G. Meade, for one, would never hear from his commander in chief that Lincoln blamed him for letting Robert E. Lee escape after Gettysburg."

From: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/opinion/sunday/the-lost-a...

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According to the paper setting the letter aside did not subdue anger in the participants. The anger subsided in those who threw it away or shredded it.

...did not subdue anger in the participants _as much as throwing it away did_.

Just writing it down and filing it also seemed to help, just not as much.

Abe wrote ‘Never sent. Never signed’ which might’ve helped.

I guess you have to know when to sign & send and when not to. Because if you never voice an opinion people will just walk all over you.

It sounds like he retained the paper rather than disposing it.

when you're a public figure notes like this are a CYA

Maybe not in 1860s culture?

I don't know, this is just speculation. Mainly because the cost of producing a duplicate letter (for ones actually sent, not this case) was sufficiently high that I assume there wasn't a culture that could make use of such duplicates.

I don't think this is a reasonable interpretation of an unsent later. The point of creating documents for the purposes of CYA requires them to be publicly recorded otherwise there will be accusations that the document was created after the fact.

There's really no reason to believe this was a motivation for Lincoln to write a letter, particularly because there is no clear reason for him to be concerned for CYA. The only people Lincoln would be accountable would be the voters, and I don't see producing a letter blaming Meade for letting Lee escape to be something that would pass muster. I mean, what's the argument here? "I was angry at Meade at the time, and here's the letter proving that I was angry"?

So it seems reasonable to conclude that this is an example of anger management, and not a political back up plan.

C is for Clean

retention is the problem.

disposal is the solution.

paper is the tool.

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