Author: Zachary Gold

Zachary Gold (1918–53) was an American screenwriter and short story writer. Born in Brooklyn and educated at the University of Wisconsin, he wrote a considerable number of notable short stories, variously published in the Saturday Evening Post, Collier’s, and Reader’s Digest. His stories include “I Got a Name,” “Spring Over Brooklyn,” “Top of the Mountain,” and “The Answer.” With playwright Clifford Odets, he wrote the screenplay for the 1946 Joan Crawford-vehicle Humoresque. He died in Los Angeles, California.

The Answer

Zachary Gold

This story, originally published by Collier’s in 1945, imagines the events leading to Abraham Lincoln’s delivery of the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863 through the viewpoint of a (fictional) black servant to David Wills, Lincoln’s host in Gettysburg.