The reporters present included Joseph Gilbert, from the Associated Press; Charles Hale, from the Boston Advertiser;Prochnow, p. 14. John R. Young (who later became the Librarian of Congress), from the Philadelphia Press; and reporters from the Cincinnati Commercial,Prochnow, p. 13. New York Tribune,Prochnow, p. 15. and The New York Times. Charles Hale "had notebook and pencil in hand, [and] took down the slow-spoken words of the President".Sandburg, Carl (1939). "Lincoln Speaks at Gettysburg". In: Abraham Lincoln: The War Years. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company. II, 452–457; cited by Prochnow, p. 14. "He took down what he declared was the exact language of Lincoln's address, and his declaration was as good as the oath of a court stenographer. His associates confirmed his testimony, which was received, as it deserved to be, at its face value."Barton, p. 81. One explanation is that Lincoln deviated from his prepared text and inserted the phrase when he spoke. Ronald C. White, visiting professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles and professor of American religious history emeritus at the San Francisco Theological Seminary, wrote in this context of Lincoln's insertion and usage of "under God":
