What did Abraham Lincoln say that may have led to General MacArthur's quote? [closed]

Question

I encountered this quote that I would have liked to use,

"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts." — Abraham Lincoln ¹

However, when I searched for its context, I found this,

• I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts[...].

• Misattributed to Lincoln by several authors since about 2000. Source of quote: General Douglas MacArthur is quoted as saying, "Like Abraham Lincoln, I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts" (John Gunther, The Riddle of MacArthur, New York: Harper, 1950, p. 61). By the 1970s, the phrase is quoted in several places without the words "Like Abraham Lincoln," and attributed directly to Lincoln. [...]

I would prefer a quote by Lincoln. To that end, I used the search "abraham lincoln" "truth" "people" "facts" without success due, in part, to the frequent misattributions that appear in the search.

MacArthur must have had some inspiration from something Lincoln said rather than just an overall impression.

What did Abraham Lincoln say that may have led to General MacArthur's quote?

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From the article Lincoln Never Said That in For the People,

Reverend Edward N. Kirk offers the closest match when he claimed that Lincoln told him, "I have faith in the people. They will not consent to disunion. The danger is, they are misled. Let them know the truth, and the county (sic) is safe" (Fehrenbacher, p. 278). Kirk recalled Lincoln saying this to him in July, 1864, and recounted these words to the Boston Journal, reprinted in the Liberator, May 19, 1865.

Quote Investigator® in Let them Know the Truth, and the Country Is Safe, covers Edward Kirk's recollection of Lincoln's words and subsequent changes and publications.

Due to the fascination with Lincoln, more so than some other presidents, MacArthur may have encountered Kirk's statement and paraphrased it.

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¹ I first saw the quote in FIFTH PRESENTMENT OF THE TWENTY-FIRST STATEWIDE GRAND JURY, but the quote appears often on "Quotes" sites.

Answer 1

It seems quite possible this was just MacArthur's analysis of Lincoln's words and behavior.

I'm particularly thinking of the decision to actually hold the 1864 Presidential Election as normal, even though the country was still in the middle of the Civil War, and the result (for most of the campaign season) very much in doubt.

According to the Miller Center for the study of the presidency, the election was noteworthy for occurring at all, an unprecedented democratic exercise in the midst of a civil war

This was indeed a fundamental faith in the democratic judgement of the American People (in the non-seceding states anyway) that had never been shown before.¹

This being said, there's certainly no dearth of material in the writings of Lincoln supporting his faith in the people of the United States in times of crisis.

Here's from a letter to Oliver P. Morton in early 1861:

While I do not expect, upon this occasion, or on any occasion, till after I get to Washington, to attempt any lengthy speech, I will only say that to the salvation of this Union there needs but one single thing — the hearts of a people like yours. When the people rise in masses in behalf of the Union and the liberties of their country, truly may it be said, "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." In all the trying positions in which I shall be placed, and doubtless I shall be placed in many trying ones, my reliance will be placed upon you and the people of the United States — and I wish you to remember now and forever, that it is your business, and not mine; that if the union of these States, and the liberties of this people, shall be lost, it is but little to any one man of fifty-two years of age, but a great deal to the thirty millions of people who inhabit these United States, and to their posterity in all coming time. It is your business to rise up and preserve the Union and liberty, for yourselves, and not for me. I desire they shall be constitutionally preserved. I, as already intimated, am but an accidental instrument, temporary, and to serve but for a limited time, but I appeal to you again to constantly bear in mind that with you, and not with politicians, not with Presidents, not with office-seekers, but with you, is the question, Shall the Union and shall the liberties of this country be preserved to the latest generation?

And then there's his 1864 post-election speech on this exact subject of holding an election during a Civil War:

It has long been a grave question whether any government, not too strong for the liberties of its people, can be strong enough to maintain its existence in great emergencies. On this point the present rebellion brought our government to a severe test, and a presidential election occurring in regular course during the rebellion, added not a little to the strain. ... But the election, along with its incidental and undesirable strife, has done good, too. It has demonstrated that a people's government can sustain a national election in the midst of a great civil war. Until now, it has not been known to the world that this was a possibility. It shows, also, how sound and strong we still are. It shows that even among the candidates of the same party, he who is most devoted to the Union and most opposed to treason can receive most of the people's votes

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^{1 - Perhaps laying it on a bit too thick here. The Roman Republic held elections for Consul (the two top executive leadership positions) every year during the decade long 2nd Punic War, most of which is also best viewed as an Italian civil war (+ Carthage). However, the electorate at that time was largely just residents of Rome.}