Lincoln in the White House

The film begins with Lincoln (Frank McGlynn Sr.) delivering part of his First inauguration of Abraham Lincoln speech in Washington, D.C, on March 4, 1861. The next scene, six weeks later, is in the White House, where the president is talking with his wife Mary Todd Lincoln (Nana Bryant). Suddenly their young son Tad Lincoln (Dickie Moore) and Lincoln's assistant John Hay (John Harron) rush in to report that Confederate States of America forces had bombarded Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The president, saddened by the news, kneels with Tad to pray for the nation.