The emphasis shifted away from Lincoln the emancipator to an argument that blacks had freed themselves from slavery, or at least were responsible for pressuring the government to emancipate them.[374] Defenders of Lincoln, such as authors Dirck and Cashin, retorted that he was not as bad as most politicians of his day[375] and that he was a "moral visionary" who deftly advanced the abolitionist cause, as fast as politically possible.[376] Dirck stated that few Civil War scholars take Bennett seriously, pointing to his "narrow political agenda and faulty research".[377]
By the 1970s, Lincoln had become a hero to political conservatives[378]—apart from neo-Confederates such as Mel Bradford, who denounced his treatment of the white South—for his intense nationalism, his support for business, his insistence on stopping the spread of slavery, his acting on Lockean and Burkean principles on behalf of both liberty and tradition, and his devotion to the principles of the Founding Fathers.[379] Lincoln became a favorite of liberal intellectuals across the world.[380]
Barry Schwartz wrote in 2009 that Lincoln's image suffered "erosion, fading prestige, benign ridicule" in the late 20th century.