Kenneth C. Davis's Blog, page 32
November 10, 2020
Poppies and Pandemics: A Don’t Know Much About® Audiominute
During World War I, the poem “In Flanders Fields” inspired the use of the poppy as the symbol of loss and remembrance on Veterans Day and Memorial Day. Read these posts for more about Veterans Day and about the poem “In Flanders Fields.”
What symbol, what icon, should we use to mark the tragic losses in the Covid pandemic — losses more deadly than war?
https://dontknowmuch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Poppies-Recording-7.m4a
Don’t Know Much About® History: Anniversary Edition
The Hidden History of America At War (paperback)
11-11-11: Don’t Know Much About Veterans Day-The Forgotten Meaning
“The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.”
(This is a revised version of a post originally written for Veterans Day in 2011. The meaning still applies.)
Taken at 10:58 a.m., on Nov. 11, 1918, just before the Armistice went into effect; men of the 353rd Infantry, near a church, at Stenay, Meuse, wait for the end of hostilities. (SC034981)
On Veterans Day, a reminder of what the day once meant and what it should still mean.
That was the moment at which World War I –then called THE GREAT WAR– largely came to end in 1918, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
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 formal end of the war came with the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919.
Besides the war casualties, an estimated 100 million people died during the war of the Spanish flu, a worldwide pandemic that was completely linked to the war and had an impact on its outcome. That is the subject of my recent book, More Deadly Than War:The Hidden History of the Spanish Flu and the First World War.
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, unlike Memorial Day, which specifically honors those who died fighting in America’s wars.
We should remember and celebrate all 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 Library of Congress offers an extensive Veterans History Project.
Read more about World War I and all of America’s conflicts in Don’t Know Much About History and Don’t Know Much About the American Presidents.
I discuss the role of Americans in battle in more than 240 years of American history in THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF AMERICA AT WAR: Untold Tales from Yorktown to Fallujah (Hachette Books and Random House Audio).
MORE DEADLY THAN WAR: The Hidden History of the Spanish Flu and the First World War was published in May 2018.
November 9, 2020
The Anniversary of “Kristallnacht”-A Don’t Know Much About® Audio Minute
On November 9th and 10th in 1938, an outburst of anti-Semitic violence swept across Hitler’s Germany.
An audio lesson on “Kristallnacht.”
https://dontknowmuch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/New-Recording-5.m4a
Read more about Hitler’s Germany in Strongman: The Rise of Five Dictators and the Fall of Democracy
November 6, 2020
Just in: *Starred Review for Strongman from Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly has given Strongman a Starred Review:
This captivating history of five depraved “strongmen” offers a timely warning about the need to protect democracy. Davis (In the Shadow of Liberty) provides absorbing, clearly distilled biographies of Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Mao Zedong, Benito Mussolini, and Joseph Stalin, as well as profiles of their respective dictatorships and atrocities.
Publishers Weekly
Read the full Publishers Weekly Starred review here.
November 4, 2020
Dictators and Democracy: A Don’t Know Much About® Audio Minute
More than two thousand years ago, some Greek men gathered on a hill in Athens, raised their hands, and changed the world.
Listen to a quick history of “people power” and the threat posed to democracy by a Strongman.
https://dontknowmuch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/New-Recording-2.m4a
Read more in Strongman: The Rise of Five Dictators and the Fall of Democracy
November 1, 2020
Four Reasons Incumbents Didn’t Win Re-election: Don’t Know Much About® Audio Minutes
What keeps an incumbent president from winning a second-term?
This audioclip offers four reasons from history. For more details on this piece of presidential history, read this post.
https://dontknowmuch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/4Reasons-IncumbentsLose.m4a
STRONGMAN: The Rise of Five Dictators and the Fall of Democracy
“History’s warnings reverberate in this gripping read about five dictatorial strongmen. This complex yet accessible title examines the lives and deeds of Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Saddam Hussein….
A pitch-perfect balance of nuanced reflection and dire warning.”
In a new Starred Review, Shelf Awareness says:
“Kenneth C. Davis (Don’t Know Much About series) conveys his plentiful knowledge of dictators in this powerful, spine-tingling biographic work that covers five of the world’s most horrifying autocrats. Grounded in thorough research, Strongman expertly explores the fragility of democracy through the devastating reigns of Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong and Saddam Hussein.”
–Read the full review here
STRONGMAN: The Rise of Five Dictators and the Fall of Democracy, will be published on October 6, 2020.
Order the hardcover and e-book from Holt Books.
An audiobook is available from Penguin Random House.
This is the story of the rise to power of five of the most deadly dictators of the 20th century — Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Saddam Hussein.
A review in Booklist says, “Davis does not sugarcoat his material, inviting long thoughts with his assertion that this is a decidedly human story that points to real people as evidence that evil exists in this troubled world.”
In addition to telling how these men took unlimited power, brought one-party rule to their nations, and were responsible for the deaths of millions of people, the book offers a brief history of Democracy and discusses the present threat to democratic institutions around the world.
In a time when Democracy is under assault across the globe, it is more important than ever to understand how a Strongman takes power and how quickly democracy can vanish –even as millions cheer its death.
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR STRONGMAN
“I found myself engrossed in it from beginning to end. I could not help admiring Davis’s ability to explain complex ideas in readable prose that never once discounted the intelligence of young readers. It is very much a book for our time.”
—Sam Wineburg, Margaret Jacks Professor of Education & History, Stanford University, author of Why Learn History (When It’s Already on Your Phone).
“Strongman is a book that is both deeply researched and deeply felt, both an alarming warning and a galvanizing call to action, both daunting and necessary to read and discuss.”
—Cynthia Levinson, author of Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Framers, Their Fights, and the Flaws That Affect Us Today
“A wake-up call to democracies like ours: we are not immune to despots . . . Strongman demonstrates that democracy is not permanent, unless it is collectively upheld. This book shakes that immortality narrative.”
—Jessica Ellison, President of the Minnesota Council for the Social Studies; Teacher Education Specialist, Minnesota Historical Society
Rarely does a history book take such an unflinching look at our common future, where the very presence of democracy is less than certain; even rarer is a history book in which the author’s moral convictions incite young readers to civic engagement; rarest of all, a history book as urgent, as impassioned, and as timely as Kenneth C. Davis’ Strongman.
—Eugene Yelchin, author of the Newbery Honor book Breaking Stalin’s Nose.
Here is a sample of the audiobook version from Penguin Random House audio
NEWS of STRONGMAN – This book has been made a selection of the Junior Library Guild.
October 31, 2020
Four Reasons Why Incumbents Fail to Win a Second Term
What can the past tell us about 2020?
What keeps single-term Presidents from earning a second term?
Here are America’s twelve single-term Presidents. The list leaves out the eight men who died in office, and the five Presidents (see Note below) who only served out the term of a deceased –in one case, resigned— predecessor and were not reelected in their own right,
2d John Adams (Not reelected)
6th John Quincy Adams (Not reelected)
8th Martin Van Buren (Not reelected)
11th James Knox Polk (Pledged to serve a single term and did not seek a second term)
14th Franklin Pierce (Denied nomination)
15th James Buchanan (Did not seek a second term)
19th Rutherford B. Hayes (Pledged to serve a single term)
23rd Benjamin Harrison (Not reelected)
27th William Howard Taft (Not reelected)
31st Herbert Hoover (Not reelected)
39th Jimmy Carter (Not reelected)
41st George H.W. Bush (Not reelected)
Grover Cleveland deserves a footnote here. The 22nd President was elected in 1884 and then defeated in a controversial election, despite winning the popular vote in 1888. But he won again in 1892 and returned to the White House in 1893 as the 24th President.
Clearly, the first rule about being reelected President is to avoid having the name Adams. We can also set aside James Knox Polk, James Buchanan and Rutherford B. Hayes as exceptions; they served only a single term for differing reasons.
But there are a few common themes here:
•Tough act to follow: Several of the Presidents who failed in a bid for a second term were following an extremely popular President: John Adams (after Washington), Martin Van Buren (Andrew Jackson), William Howard Taft (Theodore Roosevelt), and George H.W. Bush (Ronald Reagan).
Each of these men had to contend with the expectations —and perhaps the “fatigue factor”— of following in the footsteps of four of the most popular Presidents in history. Taft’s case is also unusual –he had to run against his popular predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt, and finished third, with Woodrow Wilson winning the 1912 election.
•Not the People’s Choice: John Quincy Adams won the 1824 election based on the vote in the House of Representatives. His opponent, Andrew Jackson, the popular vote winner, called it the “corrupt bargain” and won four years later.
Although Hayes had pledged not run again, he also became President in 1876, when a special Commission awarded him some disputed electoral votes, denying the popular vote winner, Samuel Tilden. Harrison also won a disputed election in 1888 in which election fraud wass credited with giving Harrison the electors from Indiana.
•Ineffective: Pierce and Buchanan, who both were contending with a nation heading almost inexorably towards Civil War, are often ranked among the worst American Presidents; neither was renominated by their party. Most of the other one-termers score fairly low in presidential rankings. Jimmy Carter was given poor marks for his handling of the Iran hostage crisis. But his loss may have more to do with the next key theme.
•It’s the economy stupid: Many elections are won and lost on pocketbook issues. Opponents called Van Buren “Martin Van Ruin” as the nation endured a long economic downturn. Herbert Hoover presided over the Crash of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression. Jimmy Carter, saddled with unemployment, inflation, and high interest rates (remember 12%?), and George H.W. Bush were also hurt by severe recessions on their watch.
During his first term, Ronald Reagan was saddled with a deep recession and a high unemployment rate (10.8% in November 1982). Reagan suffered a sharp setback in the midterm elections of 1982. But over the next two years, the economy began to turn and Reagan went on to a landslide victory to secure his second term in 1984.
The history of Presidential reelection fortunes? Maybe it is all about the “benjamins” in the end.
What happens in 2020?
•The incumbent is following a popular president
•He was not elected by popular vote
•He has failed on handling a pandemic
•The economy is in serious trouble
We’ll see if history’s lessons apply.
*Among the Presidents who took office on the death (or resignation) of the President, there are five who did not win a term of their own and they also receive generally low historical ratings:
10th John Tyler (Denied nomination)
13th Millard Fillmore (Denied nomination)
17th Andrew Johnson (Denied nomination)
21st Chester A. Arthur (Denied nomination)
38th Gerald Ford (Lost bid for second term)
October 30, 2020
“Would you like one term or two?”
(This post is revised from one that appeared in February 2011.)
What can the past tell us about 2020?
Two thousand, nine-hundred and twenty-two days. What would you do with that much time?
That’s what a President who is re-elected and fully serves both terms in office gets. But the facts of history, as John Adams said, are “stubborn.” More than a few presidents, including John Adams, desired a second term but were not returned to office.
What keeps single-term Presidents from earning those added 1,461 days in office?
Leaving out the eight men who died in office, and the five Presidents who only served out the term of a deceased –or in one case, resigned— predecessor and were not reelected in their own right, here are America’s twelve single-term Presidents (See the White House for quick bios of each):
2d John Adams (Not reelected)
6th John Quincy Adams (Not reelected)
8th Martin Van Buren (Not reelected)
11th James Knox Polk (Pledged to serve a single term and did not seek a second term)
14th Franklin Pierce (Denied nomination)
15th James Buchanan (Did not seek a second term)
19th Rutherford B. Hayes (Pledged to serve a single term)
23rd Benjamin Harrison (Not reelected)
27th William Howard Taft (Not reelected)
31st Herbert Hoover (Not reelected)
39th Jimmy Carter (Not reelected)
41st George H.W. Bush (Not reelected)
(Grover Cleveland deserves an asterisk here. The 22nd President was elected in 1884 and then defeated in a controversial election, despite winning the popular vote in 1888. But he won again in 1892 and returned to the White House in 1893 as the 24th President.)
Clearly, the first rule about being reelected President is to avoid having the name Adams. We can also set aside James Knox Polk and Rutherford B. Hayes as exceptions; both had pledged to serve only a single term. But apart from the name Adams and the Polk-Hayes oddities, there are a few common themes here:
•Tough act to follow: Several of the Presidents who failed in a bid for a second term were following an extremely popular President. John Adams (after Washington), Martin Van Buren (Andrew Jackson), William Howard Taft (Theodore Roosevelt), and George H.W. Bush (Ronald Reagan). Certainly each of these men had to contend with the expectations —and perhaps the “fatigue factor”— of following in the footsteps of four of the most popular Presidents in history. Taft’s case is also unusual –he had to run against his popular predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt, and finished third, with Woodrow Wilson winning the 1912 election.
•Not the People’s Choice: John Quincy Adams won the 1824 election based on the vote in the House of Representatives. (His opponent, Andrew Jackson, the popular vote winner, called it the “corrupt bargain” and won four years later.) Although Hayes had pledged not run, he also became President in 1876, when a special Commission awarded him some disputed electoral votes, denying the popular vote winner, Samuel Tilden. Harrison also won a disputed election in 1888 against the aforementioned Cleveland in which election fraud is credited with giving Harrison the electors from Indiana.
•Ineffective (polite way of saying bad): Pierce and Buchanan, who both were contending with a nation heading almost inexorably towards Civil War, are often ranked among the worst American Presidents; neither was renominated by their party. Most of the other one-termers score fairly low in presidential rankings. Jimmy Carter was given poor marks for his Presidency, for the Iran hostage crisis. But his loss may have more to do with the next key theme.
•It’s the economy stupid: Many elections are won and lost on pocketbook issues. Opponents called Van Buren “Martin Van Ruin” as the nation endured a long economic downturn. Herbert Hoover presided over the Crash of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression. Jimmy Carter, saddled with unemployment, inflation, and high interest rates (remember 12%?), and George H.W. Bush were also hurt by severe recessions on their watch.
Among the Presidents who took office on the death (or resignation) of the President, there are five who did not win a term of their own and they also receive generally low historical ratings:
10th John Tyler (Denied nomination)
13th Millard Fillmore (Denied nomination)
17th Andrew Johnson (Denied nomination)
21st Chester A. Arthur (Denied nomination)
38th Gerald Ford (Lost bid for second term)
During his first term, Ronald Reagan was saddled with a deep recession and a high unemployment rate (10.8% in November 1982). Reagan suffered a sharp setback in the midterm elections of 1982. But over the next two years, the economy began to turn and Reagan went on to a landslide victory to secure his second term in 1984.
The history of Presidential reelection fortunes? Maybe It’s all about the “benjamins” after all.
Who Said It? (10/30/2020)
“Facts are stubborn things…whatever may be our wishes and inclinations or the dictums of our passions…”
Future president John Adams in December 1770
John Adams portrait by Gilbert Stuart
Adams said that as he was defending the “bad guys” –the British soldiers who shot at some Boston townies in what became heralded as the Boston Massacre.
—Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence: nor is the law less stable than the fact; if an assault was made to endanger their lives, the law is clear, they had a right to kill in their own defence; if it was not so severe as to endanger their lives, yet if they were assaulted at all, struck and abused by blows of any sort, by snow-balls, oyster-shells, cinders, clubs, or sticks of any kind; this was a provocation, for which the law reduces the offence of killing, down to manslaughter, in consideration of those passions in our nature, which cannot be eradicated. To your candour and justice I submit the prisoners and their cause.
-Adams Argument for the Defense: December 3-4, 1770 National Archives
John Adams as born on October 30, 1735 in Braintree, Mass.
