Kenneth C. Davis's Blog, page 107

Don't Know Much About® "Common Sense"

Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.

–Thomas Paine, January 10, 1776

 

You know that saying about the pen being mightier than the sword? As the American Revolution haltingly began, an anonymous writer helped prove it true.

The battles at Lexington and Concord in 1775, the easy victory at Fort Ticonderoga in May 1775, and the devastating casualties inflicted on the British army by the rebels at Bunker (Breed's) Hill in June 1775 had all given hope to the patriot cause a full year before independence was declared.

But the final break—Independence—still seemed too extreme to some. It's important to remember that the vast majority of Americans at the time were first and second generation. Their family ties and their sense of culture and national identity were essentially English. Many Americans had friends and family in England. And the commercial ties between the two were obviously also powerful.

The forces pushing toward independence needed momentum, and they got it in several ways. The first factor was another round of heavy-handed British miscalculations. First the king issued a proclamation cutting off the colonies from trade. Then, unable to conscript sufficient troops, the British command decided to supplement its regulars with mercenaries, soldiers from the German principalities sold into King George's service by their princes. Most came from Hesse-Cassel, so the name Hessian became generic for all of these hired soldiers.

The Hessians accounted for as much as a third of the English forces fighting in the colonies. Their reputation as fierce fighters was linked to a frightening image—reinforced, no doubt, by the British command—as plundering rapists. (Ironically, many of them stayed on in America. Benjamin Franklin gave George Washington printed promises of free land to lure mercenaries away from English ranks.) When word of the coming of 12,000 Hessian troops reached America, it was a shock, and further narrowed chances for reconciliation. In response, a convention in Virginia instructed its delegates to Congress to declare the United Colonies free and independent.

The second factor was a literary one. On January 10, 1776, an anonymous pamphlet entitled Common Sense came off the presses of a patriot printer. Its author, Thomas Paine, had simply, eloquently, and admittedly with some melodramatic prose, stated the reasons for independence. He reduced the hereditary succession of kings to an absurdity, slashed down all arguments for reconciliation with England, argued the economic benefits of independence, and even presented a cost analysis for creating an American navy.

With the assistance of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine had  come to America from London and found work with a Philadelphia bookseller. In the colonies for only a few months, Paine wrote, at Franklin's suggestion, a brief history of the upheaval against England.

It is almost impossible to exaggerate the impact and importance of Common Sense. Paine's polemic was read by everyone in Congress, including General Washington, who commented on its effects on his men. Equally important, it was read by people everywhere. The pamphlet quickly sold 150,000 copies, going through numerous printings until it had reached half a million. (Approximating the American population at the time, including slaves, at 3 million, a current equivalent pamphlet would have to sell more than 35 million copies!) Paine donated the proceeds to Washington's army.

For the first time, mass public opinion had swung toward the cause of independence.

The Library of Congress offers these pages on Common Sense.

 

This post is adapted from Don't Know Much About History which discusses the Revolution and Thomas Paine's unhappy fate. In Paris during the French Revolution, Paine was imprisoned by revolutionary authorities. Upon his eventual release, he wrote an angry open letter to his old comrade George Washington, in which he skewered Washington for not having done enough to secure his release from the French prison. Paine later returned to America but when he died in 1809, no church in American would accept his body for burial as he was an atheist. The man who influenced history Paine was buried wit a handful of people in attendance at his farm in New Rochelle, New York. His remains were later removed to his native England for reburial but were later lost.

 

Don't Know Much About@ History (2011 Revised and Updated Edition)

More Christmas Myths: Why 12 Days?

I know Christmas is already a distant memory. So is Boxing Day. And there is the New Year to think about. But we are still in the midst of the Twelve Days of Christmas. In fact you have until January 5th! That's right, you have more time to celebrate.

So why Twelve days? Just a lucky accident of the calendar?

Of course, twelve is a significant number, in biblical terms. Twelve tribes of Israel. Twelve disciples. There are lots of other important twelves.

It all goes back to the solstice , which occurred on December 22 in 2011. On the "shortest day," the Sun "stands still" (the literal meaning of "solstice") at its lowest point in the northern sky and then begin its trek back towards the Northern world, bringing light and life with it as the days lengthen.

So while many of us call it the First Day of Winter, it is really the beginning of a "new year" and that's how the ancients saw it. As I've discussed in other posts on Christmas myths, the Solstice was crucial in many cultures and is the source of a great many holiday traditions celebrating light, hope, renewal — and the reason for the season's general merriment.

Again we have ancient pagan ritual to thank for this Christmas tradition. The Romans, who knew how to celebrate, eventually extended their weeklong solstice party –Saturnalia– into the new year, creating a 12-day period of merrymaking. The early Christians, being in Rome, did as the Romans did. In northern traditions, the Norse also celebrated their solstice festival, known as Yule, for twelve days.

One of the specific ways that Solstice celebrations from ancient times are still remembered is by the "Twelve Days of Christmas." Largely misunderstood, the Twelve Days of Christmas traditionally begin with Christmas Day and lead up to the Epiphany –January 6– which is also celebrated as "Three Kings Day." It is believed to be the day on which the Magi visited the Christ Child, or the day of Jesus's baptism in other traditions. To many Christians, Epiphany (some also call it "Little Christmas") is the more important and the appropriate date on which to exchange gifts –as the Magi did.

The ancient idea that the world was "turned upside down" until around the Solstice was the source of a Roman tradition of masters and slaves trading places. There was also a Celtic tradition of a period of chaos until the Solstice. This led to the Christian-era "Feast of Fools" presided over by the Lord of Misrule. This idea is immortalized in literature by Mr. Bill Shakespeare, who wrote a play called Twelfth Night. Set on "twelfth night," or January 5 (the night before Epiphany), it is filled with role reversals –of both class and gender–and general disorder and merriment led by Sir Toby Belch, one of Shakespeare's greatest comic characters.

The other cultural vestige of the twelve days is the Christmas carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas.

I have always found it a tedious carol. But a fairly modern "urban legend" making the Internet rounds is that the song was devised to teach a series of Catholic virtues and ideas –the catechism– to children, during England's long wars between Protestants and Catholics. Each of the days, this theory holds, represents a fundamental Church idea: the partridge in a pear tree is Jesus; "four colly birds" (not "calling birds") are the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; the five golden rings are the first five books of the Bible, or Torah, and so on. This notion is widely disputed by scholars and an in-depth dismissal can be found here:

http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/music/12days.asp

And the final part of this tradition says leave the decorations up until Twelfth Night.

Christmas Myths (5): "Oh Fir Tree, Oh Fir Tree"

Walking through midtown Manhattan yesterday, we tried to pass the great tree at Rockefeller Center –just to get a glimpse. As always, it was drawing a big crowd, the streets were packed and we gave up.

And as always,  this enormous and dazzling display of lights makes me pose an old question: There weren't any evergreen trees in Bethlehem. Why do people decorate Christmas trees in honor of the birth of Jesus?

Once again, we have the pagans to thank, as I've been describing in this series about Christmas and its mythic roots. In writing about the Roman Saturnalia in my post about December 25th, I mentioned Attis, an agricultural god worshiped in Rome, whose celebration date was December 25th and his symbol — a pine tree.

From pre-Christian times, evergreen boughs and other evergreen vegetation represented life in the midst of the dead of winter. While it was true in both ancient Greece and Rome where houses were decorated with evergreens as symbols of life, it was especially true in the Nordic and Germanic countries. The evergreen or fir tree was significant to the Norse, who burned a Yule log, and celebrated trees as sacred.

In medieval times, after Christianity arrived in the Norse and German world, that idea took hold in a German tradition called the miracle or Paradise Play, in which an evergreen was brought inside and represented the tree in the Garden of Eden and was decorated with apples— eventually hanging shiny red balls on the tree went together. The German Tannenbaum is really the source of the familiar Christmas tree. By the way "Tannenbaum" is translated as "Christmas tree" but its literal meaning is "fir tree."

As for the lights, legend has it that Protestant Reformer Martin Luther was in the woods on a winter evening and looked up to see the stars shining through the trees and was inspired to put lights in the Christmas tree. Of course, he used candles which is not a good idea.

So who brought the Christmas tree to America?

The first Christmas trees in America were used in the early 1800's by German settlers in Pennsylvania. Although the German soldiers, or Hessians, who were in Trenton, New Jersey back during the Revolution may have been sleeping around their Tannenbaum when George Washington crossed the Delaware to attack them on Christmas morning. King George III of England was German and had Christmas trees in England but it was not a widely popular Christmas tradition in America until the mid-19th century, as the great influx of immigrants to America began to bring the many Christmas traditions that had been suppressed by the Puritans of Massachusetts.

So whether you call it a Christmas tree or a "holiday tree," when you admire that great big evergreen, it's just one more way we all bring out our inner Viking!

And about that Rockefeller Center tree– The first of these now iconic trees was set up by construction workers who were building Rockefeller Center during the Great Depression. Then, as now and as it was for the Norse, it was a symbol of hope!

Don't Know Much About the Bible

Don't Know Much About@ History (2011 Revised and Updated Edition)

The 12 Myths of Christmas- "Reason for the Season"

The 2011 Winter Solstice came today. So tis a perfect day to talk about the real "reason for the season."

And here's the real first Christmas question: Why all the fuss over December 25?

For starters, the Gospels never mention a precise date or even a season for the birth of Jesus. How then did we settle on December 25?

If a bright light just went off in your head, you're getting warm. It's all about the Sun.

In ancient times, a popular Roman festival celebrated Saturnalia, a Thanksgiving-like holiday marking the winter solstice and honoring Saturn, the god of agriculture. The Saturnalia began on December 17th and while it only lasted two days at first, it was eventually extended into a weeklong period that lost its agricultural significance and simply became a time of general merriment. Even slaves were given temporary freedom to do as they pleased, while the Romans feasted, visited one another, lit candles and gave gifts. Later it was changed to honor the official Roman Sun god known as Sol Invictus ("Unconquered Sun") and the solstice fell on December 25.

Two other important pagan gods popular in ancient Rome were also celebrated around this date. The Roman were big on adopting the gods of the people they conquered. Mithra, a Persian god of light who was first popular among Roman soldiers, acquired a large cult in ancient Rome. The birth of Attis, another agricultural god from Asia Minor, was also celebrated on December 25. Attis dies but is brought back to life by his lover, a goddess whose temple later became the site of an important basilica honoring the Virgin Mary. By the way, the symbol of Attis was a pine tree.

Candles. Gift giving. Pine trees. Dying gods brought back to life. Hmmm. Sound familiar?

All the similarities between Saturnalia and these other Roman holidays and the celebration of Christmas are no coincidence. In the fourth century, Pope Julius 1 assigned December 25 as the day to celebrate the Mass of Christ's birth –Christ's mass. This was a clever marketing ploy that conveniently sidestepped the problem of eliminating an already popular holiday while converting the population. Most of our Christmas traditions reflect the merger of pagan rituals, beliefs, and traditions with Christianity. The early church fathers knew that they couldn't convert people without allowing them to keep some of their ancient festivals and rituals so they would allow them if they could be connected to Christianity. (Catholic authorities disagree and say that December date was arrived at by adding nine months to March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation, the day of Jesus' miraculous conception. But where did that date come from?)

The importance of the winter solstice, then, is crucial to understanding not only the date of Christmas but many of the other "myths" of this season.

While we are talking about dates, the precise year of the birth of Jesus is also a mystery. The dating system we use is based on a system devised by a monk around 1500 years ago and is seriously flawed. The historical King Herod who ordered the massacre of the innocents died in 4 BC (or BCE, Before the Common Era). The "census" ordered by Emperor Augustine is not recorded in Roman history, but a local census did take place in the Roman province of Judea in 6 AD (or CE, the Common Era). Is that all perfectly clear now?

You can read more about the mythic roots of Christmas and the gospel accounts of Jesus in Don't Know Much About Mythology and Don't Know Much About the Bible.

The 12 Myths of Christmas (1)

Were there really Three Kings? Which pagan festival was a time for gift-giving and candle lighting? Why is mistletoe hung at Christmas?

I'll try not to be the Grinch here. But the truth is that almost everything we cherish about Christmas traditions –lights, trees, gifts, jolly old men– has some interesting background –much of it from a time long before there was a Christmas. In fact, advent is really a time to bring out your inner pagan. In the next few weeks, I will be posting some blogs about the "mythic" roots of many of the most cherished Christmas traditions.

1. What does Santa Claus have to do with Saint Nicholas?

December 6 is the feast of Saint Nicholas. It makes a perfect day to consider one of the first of the "myths" of Christmas. Where does Santa Claus comes from? And what does he have to do with a 4th-century Christian miracle worker from Turkey?

In Christian tradition and legend, Saint Nicholas was an early hero of the church, the archbishop of Myra in what is now Turkey. Legend has it that he once threw gold coins through the window of three poor girls so they would have dowries and get married. Without dowries, their father feared that they would be forced into prostitution. This was just one of many legendary acts of charity attributed to Nicholas, which included putting coins in childrens shoes. Since his feast day — the date of his death on the church calendar– falls in early December, his generosity was eventually connected to the Christmas season, Advent and the idea of the "three kings," or wise men, who brought gifts to the baby Jesus.

So how did this rather thin, ascetic Turkish bishop –the way he is traditionally depicted in sacred art—morph into a large, bearded man with a red suit and a large sled full of toys pulled by eight flying reindeer?

Many of the Santa Claus traditions can be traced back to the Norse god Odin. The Norse celebrated the winter solstice with a long festival. In their legend, Odin brought the sun god back to the world on the solstice. He rode across the night sky on a horse named named Stepnir –an eight-legged horse. Norse children would put out hay and straw for the horse in their shoes. In the Christian era, the legend of Odin became a Father Christmas figure and was merged with the religious legend of Saint Nicholas. The eight-legged horse became eight tiny reindeer.

The Dutch brought Saint Nicholas to America as SinterKlaas and the name was later anglicized as Santa Claus. In Europe, children still put out their shoes on different nights, but here, the tradition was changed to stockings hung by the chimney with care.

Whether he is called Father Christmas, Pere Noel or Saint Nick, or Odin, for that matter, there is something more important to know:

"Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."

Read the text of newsman Frank P. Church's letter to a small girl in New York that inspired that famous line here (via the Newseum):

http://www.newseum.org/yesvirginia/

And follow this blog over the next few weeks for more about Christmas past. And you can read more about Christmas and its mythic roots in Don't Know Much About Mythology

Touch of Frost: A Videoblog

When winter comes to New England, it is easy to bring to mind the name of Robert Frost. There is no more iconic winter New England poem that the one that begins,

Whose woods these are, I think I know.

And one of my favorite spots in Vermont is the Frost gravesite in the cemetery of the First Church in Old Bennington -just down the street from the Bennington Monument.

Apples, birches, hayfields and stone walls; simple features like these make up the landscape of four-time Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Frost's poetry. Known as a poet of New England, Frost (1874-1963) spent much of his life working and wandering the woods and farmland of Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire. As a young man, he dropped out of Dartmouth and then Harvard, then drifted from job to job: teacher, newspaper editor, cobbler. His poetry career took off during a three-year trip to England with his wife Elinor where Ezra Pound aided the young poet. Frost's language is plain and straightforward, his lines inspired by the laconic speech of his Yankee neighbors.

But while poems like "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" are accessible enough to make Frost a grammar-school favorite, his poetry is contemplative and sometimes dark—concerned with themes like growing old and facing death. Robert Frost –New England's poet of snowy woods, stone wall and apple trees.

I hope this "touch of Frost" will inspire you to read some of his work.

Here's a link to Robert Frost's page at Poets.org

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/192

It includes an account of Frost and JFK

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20540

The first poet invited to speak at a Presidential inaugural, Frost told the new President:

"Be more Irish than Harvard. Poetry and power is the formula for another Augustan Age. Don't be afraid of power."

 

Hear Robert Frost for yourself at Poets Out Loud:

http://robertfrostoutloud.com

This link is to Middlebury College's online Frost exhibit

http://midddigital.middlebury.edu/local_files/robert_frost/index.html

This is the website of Frost House and Museum in Franconia, N.H. http://www.frostplace.org/html/museum.html

Robert Frost died on January 29, 1963. He had written his own epitaph, "I had a lover's quarrel with the world," etched on his headstone in a church cemetery in Bennington, VT.

Here is the NYTimes obituary published after his death.

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0129.html#article

This material is adapted from Don't Know Much About Literature written in collaboration with Jenny Davis.

DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT ELECTING THE U.S. PRESIDENT? A Classroom Skype Invitation (ALL SESSIONS BOOKED)

SORRY!

THIS SERIES OF SKYPE SESSIONS HAS BEEN FULLY BOOKED. PLEASE WATCH FOR ANNOUNCEMENTS OF FUTURE SKYPE PROGRAMS HERE ON THE WEBSITE, OR YOU CAN FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER OR FACEBOOK. THANKS!

 

BEAM ME IN TO DISCUSS THE AMERICAN ELECTION PROCESS

The Presidential Campaign of 2012 is underway.  Americans will go to the polls on Tuesday November 6, 2012.

The marathon of caucuses, primaries, conventions and delegate counts will soon begin in earnest and preoccupy the nation for most of the year.

That makes 2012 a good time to get a handle on America's crazy quilt of election history and rules. Beginning in January 2012, I will visit classrooms via Skype to discuss America's election history and the 2012 campaign.

In a session lasting approximately 30 minutes, I would like to use Skype to "Beam in" to your classrooms to engage your students on the basics of the Presidency and the American election process.  I will speak briefly, then take questions from students in a wide-ranging conversation about a system that doesn't always seem to make sense.

Here are some of the topics I have in mind–

-Why a President? When they were inventing the American system of government back in 1787, how did those men decide what the office of the President should be?

-Who elected George Washington and what's different today?  How has the process of electing the President changed since George Washington won the office first back in 1789?

-Is the Electoral College a Party School? The Constitution doesn't specifically mention the "Electoral College." What is it? Do I need good SAT scores to get in? Most important, why do we still have it?

-Do we need a President? Are the problems of the country too big for one Chief Executive to handle? Maybe we should split the job up. Benjamin Franklin thought we should have three men to do the job. Was he right?

If you would like to organize a free Skype session, please go to the website Contact page and send me an email request. Please be sure to include the name and location of your school, how many students are in your class, and the grade level. The schedule and dates of the sessions will be set at a mutually convenient time. (Please note: A limited number of Skype visits will be scheduled based on my availability.)

I would also encourage you to consider turning this into a "FAMILY EVENT" by inviting parents and other family members into the classroom to make this an exciting discussion about the role of voting and citizenship in our democracy.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Very best,

Kenneth C. Davis

Don't Know Much About@ History: Anniversary Edition

 

DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT ELECTING THE U.S. PRESIDENT? A Classroom Skype Invitation

BEAM ME IN TO DISCUSS THE AMERICAN ELECTION PROCESS

The Presidential Campaign of 2012 is underway.  Americans will go to the polls on Tuesday November 6, 2012.

The marathon of caucuses, primaries, conventions and delegate counts will soon begin in earnest and preoccupy the nation for most of the year.

That makes 2012 a good time to get a handle on America's crazy quilt of election history and rules. Beginning in January 2012, I will visit classrooms via Skype to discuss America's election history and the 2012 campaign.

In a session lasting approximately 30 minutes, I would like to use Skype to "Beam in" to your classrooms to engage your students on the basics of the Presidency and the American election process.  I will speak briefly, then take questions from students in a wide-ranging conversation about a system that doesn't always seem to make sense.

Here are some of the topics I have in mind–

-Why a President? When they were inventing the American system of government back in 1787, how did those men decide what the office of the President should be?

-Who elected George Washington and what's different today?  How has the process of electing the President changed since George Washington won the office first back in 1789?

-Is the Electoral College a Party School? The Constitution doesn't specifically mention the "Electoral College." What is it? Do I need good SAT scores to get in? Most important, why do we still have it?

-Do we need a President? Are the problems of the country too big for one Chief Executive to handle? Maybe we should split the job up. Benjamin Franklin thought we should have three men to do the job. Was he right?

If you would like to organize a free Skype session, please go to the website Contact page and send me an email request. Please be sure to include the name and location of your school, how many students are in your class, and the grade level. The schedule and dates of the sessions will be set at a mutually convenient time. (Please note: A limited number of Skype visits will be scheduled based on my availability.)

I would also encourage you to consider turning this into a "FAMILY EVENT" by inviting parents and other family members into the classroom to make this an exciting discussion about the role of voting and citizenship in our democracy.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Very best,

Kenneth C. Davis

Don't Know Much About@ History: Anniversary Edition

 

Thanksgiving Pop Quiz- A Videoblog

With Thanksgiving around the corner, cutouts of Pilgrims in black clothes and clunky shoes are sprouting all over the place. You may know that the Pilgrims sailed aboard the Mayflower and arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. But did you know their first Thanksgiving celebration lasted three whole days? What else do you know about these early settlers of America? Don't be a turkey. Try this True-False quiz.

True or False? (Answers below)

1. Pilgrims always wore stiff black clothes and shoes with silver buckles.

2. The Pilgrims came to America in search of religious freedom.

3. Everyone on the Mayflower was a Pilgrim.

4. The Pilgrims were saved from starvation by a native American friend named Squanto.

5. The Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving in America.

Read more about the Mayflower and its passengers with your children in Don't Know Much About the Pilgrims.

And read about America's real "first Pilgrims" in America's Hidden History

Tthe site of Plimouth Plantation is definitely worth a visit.

 

Don't Know Much About@ History (2011 Revised and Updated Edition)

Answers

1. False. Pilgrims wore blue, green, purple and brownish clothing for everyday. Those who had good black clothes saved them for the Sabbath. No Pilgrims had buckles– artists made that up later!

2. True. The Pilgrims were a group of radical Puritans who had broken away from the Church of England. After 11 years of "exile" in Holland, they decided to come to America.

3. False. Only about half of the 102 people on the Mayflower were what William Bradford later called "Pilgrims." The others, called "Strangers" just wanted to come to the New World.

4. True. Squanto, or Tisquantum, helped teach the Pilgrims to hunt, farm and fish. He learned English after being taken as a slave aboard an English ship.

5. False. The Indians had been having similar harvest feasts for years. So did the English settlers in Virginia and Spanish settlers in the southwest before the Pilgrims even got to America. And the Mayflower Pilgrims weren't even America's "first Pilgrims." That honor goes to French Huguenots who settled in Florida more than 50 years before the Mayflower sailed.

11-11-11: Don't Know Much About Veterans Day–The Forgotten Meaning

On this year's Veteran's Day, marked on 11-11-11, a reminder of what the day once meant and what it should still mean.

 

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

That was the moment at which World War I largely came to end in 1918. One of the most tragically senseless and destructive periods in all history came to a close in Western Europe with the Armistice –or end of hostilities between Germany and the Allied nations — that began at that moment. Some 20 million people had died in the fighting that raged for more than four years since August 1914. The complete end of the war came with the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919.

The date of November 11th became a national holiday of remembrance in many of the victorious allied nations –a day to commemorate the loss of so many lives in the war. And in the United States, President Wilson proclaimed the first Armistice Day on November 11, 1919. A few years later, in 1926, Congress passed a resolution calling on the President to observe each November 11th as a day of remembrance:

Whereas the 11th of November 1918, marked the cessation of the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war in human annals and the resumption by the people of the United States of peaceful relations with other nations, which we hope may never again be severed, and

Whereas it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations; and

Whereas the legislatures of twenty-seven of our States have already declared November 11 to be a legal holiday: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), that the President of the United States is requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples.

Of course, the hopes that "the war to end all wars" would bring peace were short-lived. By 1939, Europe was again at war and what was once called "the Great War" would become World War I.  With the end of World War II, there was a movement in America to rename Armistice Day and create a holiday that recognized the veterans of all of America's conflicts. President Eisenhower signed that law in 1954. (In 1971, Veterans Day began to be marked as a Monday holiday on the third Monday in November,  but in 1978, the holiday was returned to the traditional November 11th date).

Today, Veterans Day honors the duty, sacrifice and service of America's nearly 25 million veterans of all wars. We should remember and celebrate those men and women. But lost in that worthy goal is the forgotten meaning of this day in history –the meaning which Congress gave to Armistice Day in 1926:

to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations …

inviting the people of the United States to observe the day … with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples.

The Veterans Administration website offers more resources on teaching about Veterans Day.

You can read more about World War I history as well as all of America's conflicts in Don't Know Much About History

Don't Know Much About@ History (2011 Revised and Updated Edition)