Kenneth C. Davis's Blog, page 76
June 22, 2015
“Juneteenth Is for Everyone” (New York Times Opinion)
This article recounting the history of “Juneteenth” was published in the New York Times online edition n Friday June 19, 2015.
SOME two months after Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865, effectively ending the Civil War, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger steamed into the port of Galveston, Tex. With 1,800 Union soldiers, including a contingent of United States Colored Troops, Granger was there to establish martial law over the westernmost state in the defeated Confederacy.
On June 19, two days after his arrival and 150 years ago today, Granger stood on the balcony of a building in downtown Galveston and read General Order No. 3 to the assembled crowd below. “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free,” he pronounced.
That was the beginning of a celebration of emancipation that would come to be called “Juneteenth.” Read the complete article, “Juneteenth is for Everyone” here.
Don’t Know Much About the Civil War (Harper paperback, Random House Audio)
Don’t Know Much About® History: Anniversary Edition (Harper Perennial and Random House Audio)
The Hidden History of America At War-May 5, 2015 (Hachette Books/Random House Audio)
June 20, 2015
Who Said It? (6/21/2015)
President Harry S. Truman, “Statement on the Situation in Korea” (June 27, 1950)
President Harry S. Truman
(Photo: Truman Library)
IN KOREA the Government forces, which were armed to prevent border raids and to preserve internal security, were attacked by invading forces from North Korea. The Security Council of the United Nations called upon the invading troops to cease hostilities and to withdraw to the 38th parallel. This they have not done, but on the contrary have pressed the attack. The Security Council called upon all members of the United Nations to render every assistance to the United Nations in the execution of this resolution. In these circumstances I have ordered United States air and sea forces to give the Korean Government troops cover and support.
The attack upon Korea makes it plain beyond all doubt that communism has passed beyond the use of subversion to conquer independent nations and will now use armed invasion and war. It has defied the orders of the Security Council of the United Nations issued to preserve international peace and security.
Source and Complete Text:Harry S. Truman: “Statement by the President on the Situation in Korea,” June 27, 1950. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project.
June 15, 2015
THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF AMERICA AT WAR-Speaking Calendar
The Long Room at the historic Fraunces Tavern Museum
List of Upcoming Speaking Engagements:
June 18 Mount Vernon Public Library, Mount Vernon, NY 6:30 PM
THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF AMERICA AT WAR: Untold Tales from Yorktown to Fallujah (May 5-Hachette Books/Random House Audio)
June 14, 2015
Who Said It (6/14/2015)
General George Washington, “Letter to the President of the Continental Congress” (September 2, 1776)
The United States Army was born on June 14, 1775 when the Continental Congress called for companies of riflemen and adopted the militiamen in Cambridge, Massachusetts as the Continental Army, the first United States Army. This date is considered the birthday of the U.S. Army. George Washington was named to command the army on June 15, 1775.
A little more than a year later, Washington was deeply troubled by the troops because the militiamen were undisciplined and eager to leave as soon as their enlistments were up.
General George Washington, “Letter to the President of the Continental Congress” (September 2, 1776)
The Militia, instead of calling forth their utmost efforts to a brave and manly opposition, in order to repair our Losses, are dismayed, Intractable and Impatient to return. Great numbers of them have gone off, in some instances almost by whole Regiments, by half ones and by Companies at a Time. This circumstance of itself, Independent of others, when fronted by a well appointed Enemy, superior in number to our whole collected force, would be sufficiently disagreeable, but when their example has Infected another part of the Army, When their want of discipline and refusal, of almost every kind of restraint and Government, have produced a like conduct but too common to the whole, and an entire disregard of that order and Subordination necessary to the well doing of an Army, and which had been inculcated before, as well as the nature of our Military establishment would admit of, our Condition is still more Alarming, and with the deepest concern I am obliged to confess my want of confidence, in the generality of the Troops.
Source: Library of Congress
A few weeks later Washington would again write to John Hancock:
To place any dependance upon Militia, is, assuredly, resting upon a broken staff.
Read more about Washington, the militia and the creation of the U.S. Army in THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF AMERICA AT WAR.
The Hidden History of America At War (Hachette Books Random House Audio)
June 13, 2015
Flag Day and Mr. Madison’s War
(A repost of a video made a few years ago but always timely. Filmed, directed and edited by Colin Davis)
In June 1812, Congress declared war on Great Britain. It would be derided as “Mr. Madison’s War.”
It is also appropriate to note that today – June 14– is Flag Day, the day that the Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes as the nation’s flag in 1777.
These two landmarks come together because it was during the War of 1812 that America got the words that eventually became its national anthem –with music borrowed from an old English drinking song. Almost from the outset, the song has been butchered at baseball games and Super Bowls.
At war with England for the second time since 1776, the United States was ill-prepared for fighting and the British were preoccupied with a war with France. So it was a fitful few years of war.
But the conflict produced an iconic American moment in September 1814. Francis Scott Key was an attorney attempting to negotiate the return of a civilian prisoner held by the British who had just burned Washington DC and had set their sights on Baltimore. As the British attacked the city, Key watched the naval bombardment from a ship in Baltimore’s harbor. In the morning, he could see that the Stars and Stripes still flew over Fort McHenry. Inspired, he wrote the lyrics that we all know –well, at least some of you probably know some of them.
But here’s what they didn’t tell you:
Yes, Washington, D.C. was burned by the British in 1814, including the President’s Mansion which would be rebuilt and later come to be called the “White House.” But Washington was torched in retaliation for the burning of York –now Toronto—in Canada earlier in the war.
Yes, Key wrote words. But the music comes from an old English drinking song. Good thing it wasn’t 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall. Here’s a link to the original lyrics of the drinking song To Anacreon in Heaven (via Poem of the Week).
The Star Spangled Banner did not become the national anthem until 1916 when President Wilson declared it by Executive Order. But that didn’t really count. In 1931, it became the National Anthem by Congressional resolution signed by President Herbert Hoover.,
Now here are two other key –no pun intended– events related to Flag Day, June 14:
•In 1943, the Supreme Court ruled that schoolchildren could not be compelled to salute the flag if it conflicted with their religious beliefs
•In 1954 on Flag Day, President Eisenhower signed the law that added the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.
Learn more about Fort McHenry, Key and the Flag that inspired the National Anthem from the National Park Service.
The images and music in this video are courtesy of the Smithsonian Museum of American History which has excellent resources on the flag that inspired Key.
This version of the anthem is on 19th century instruments:
http://americanhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/mp3/song.ssb.dsl.mp3
The history of the War of 1812, including a Timeline of major events, is explored in greater depth in the Anniversary edition of Don’t Know Much About History, now available in paperback.
Fort McHenry-Baltimore Harbor (Video frame by Colin Davis)
June 12, 2015
Signing and Speaking-June 13 & 14-Tidewater, Virginia
I’ll be in the heart of American history country this weekend for two events. Come out and celebrate Flag Day, the U.S. Army’s Birthday … and get ready for Father’s Day (June 21-Hint, Hint!!!)
Saturday June 13 William & Mary Bookstore (Barnes & Noble) in Williamsburg, VA 4-6 PM
Sunday June 14 Tidewater Community College Bookstore in Norfolk, VA. 2-3:30 PM
Please stop in and say hello if you are in the neighborhood!
The Hidden History of America At War (Hachette Books Random House Audio)
Don’t Know Much About the Lovings
The Loving Story Photo by Gray Villet (Source: HBO)
As we await a new set of rulings on marriage equality from the Supreme Court, I am reposting this essay from 2013.
As the nation awaits the Supreme Court’s ruling in two cases related to marriage equality, it is worth revisiting the facts in the case of Loving v Virginia –decided by the Supreme Court on June 12, 1967. The case involved the law in Virginia, and other states, which prohibited interracial marriage, or “miscegenation.”
Loving v. Virginia changed that. And America.
Richard Loving, a white man, married Mildred, a 18-year-old woman of African-American and Native American descent, in Washington, D.C. When they returned to their native Virginia, they were arrested in the middle of the night and the Lovings were forced to leave Virginia. A few years later, young Mildred asked Robert F. Kennedy, the new Attorney General, for help. He suggested the American Civil Liberties Union and she wrote to them. Two young lawyers decided to take the case. They brought suit which eventually found its way to the Supreme Court
The Court ruled that anti-miscegenation laws, such as those in Virginia, violated the “Due Process Clause” (“No person shall be … deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law….” ) and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (“nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law …”). In the unanimous majority opinion, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote:
“Marriage is one of the ‘basic civil rights of man,’ fundamental to our very existence and survival.”
The Loving case is clearly part of the arguments that were made before the Supreme Court in a pair of cases in March 2013. (Since those arguments same sex marriage has been approved in Delaware and Minnesota, making same sex marriage legal in 12 states and the District of Columbia.)
Change in American history is often slow. And it usually comes from the bottom up –not the top down. Whether it was abolition, civil rights, or even independence itself, when it comes to most of the great social upheavals of our past, the politicians and “leaders” have generally had to be dragged kicking and screaming in the direction of change. It may be glacially slow, but it will happen, in part because there is a generational change that will someday make the existing same sex marriage prohibitions on the books seem as antiquated –and despicable—as the now-unconstitutional bans on interracial marriage.
Before her death in 2008, Mildred Loving, the woman of African-American and Native American descent who brought the suit against Virginia, issued a statement on the 40th anniversary of the decision. She wrote:
“Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don’t think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the ‘wrong kind of person’ for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others. I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard’s and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about.”
I can’t say it any better than that.
The January/February 2012 issue of Humanities magazine featured the Lovings as did a recent HBO documentary, The Loving Story.
There is a more complete discussion of the history of the Lovings, their case and its connection to the same sex marriage debate in the new, revised edition of Don’t Know Much About History: Anniversary Edition.
Don’t Know Much About® History: Anniversary Edition (Harper Perennial and Random House Audio)
June 8, 2015
Who Said It (6/8/15)
View from the West Berlin side of graffiti art on the wall in 1986. The wall’s “death strip”, on the east side of the wall, here follows the curve of the Luisenstadt Canal (filled in 1932). Source : Wikipedia
“The wall cannot withstand freedom.”
Ronald Reagan, “Speech at Brandenburg Gate” (June 12, 1987)
As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner, “This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality.” Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.
This speech is perhaps best known for the phrase:
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
Video of the “Berlin Wall Speech”
Source: The American Presidency Project (americanpresidency.org), established in 1999 as a collaboration between John T. Woolley & Gerhard Peters at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Read more about the Fall of Berlin in 1945, the Marshall Plan and the Cold War in The Hidden History of America At War
The Hidden History of America At War (Hachette Books Random House Audio)
May 26, 2015
Don’t Know Much About® Dorothea Lange
Daughter of Migrant Tennessee Coal Miner Living in American River Camp near Sacramento, California
(1936) by Dorothea Lange Credit: Gift of the Farm Security AdministrationMoMA Number:313.1938 Source: Museum of Modern Art
Dorothea Lange was born on May 26, 1895, in Hoboken,NJ.
Best known for her photographs of Depression-era America, she also recorded the the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
Photo by Dorothea Lange of Japanese-American grocery store on the day after Pearl Harbor Source: Library of Congress
Following the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan, there was a wave of fear and hysteria aimed at Japanese and people of Japanese descent living in America, including American citizens, mostly on the West Coast. In February 1942. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 which declared certain areas to be “exclusion zones” from which the military could remove anyone for security reasons. It provided the legal groundwork for the eventual relocation of approximately 120,000 people to a variety of detention centers around the country, the largest forced relocation in American history. Nearly two-thirds of them were American citizens. (Smaller numbers of Americans of German and Italian descent were also detained.)
Photo Source: National Archives
The attitude of many Americans at the time was expressed in a Los Angeles Times editorial of the period:
“A viper is nonetheless a viper wherever the egg is hatched… So, a Japanese American born of Japanese parents, nurtured upon Japanese traditions, living in a transplanted Japanese atmosphere… notwithstanding his nominal brand of accidental citizenship almost inevitably and with the rarest exceptions grows up to be a Japanese, and not an American…” (Source: Impounded, p. 53)
The exclusion order was rescinded in 1945 and internees were allowed to leave, although many had lost their homes, businesses and property during their confinement. However, the last camp did not close until 1946.
In 1980, Congress established the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians to investigate the internment and, in 1988, President Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which provided for a reparation of $20,000 to surviving detainees.
One of those detainees was Albert Kurihara who told the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians in 1981:
“I hope this country will never forget what happened, and do what it can to make sure that future generations will never forget.” (from Impounded, Norton)
Photographer Dorothea Lange also photographed the internment camps and her censored images were published in 2006 in the book Impounded: Dorothea Lange and the Censored Images of Japanese American Internment (WW Norton, 2006).
The National Parks Service offers a Teaching With Historic Places lesson plan based on the camps some of which are now part of the National Parks System including Minidoka in Idaho and the Manzanar camp in California.
The Library of Congress offers an extensive collection of Lange photographs.
Who Said It? (May 26, 2015)
This picture, The Trail of Tears, was painted by Robert Lindneux in 1942. It commemorates the suffering of the Cherokee people under forced removal. If any depictions of the “Trail of Tears” were created at the time of the march, they have not survived.
Image Credit: The Granger Collection, New York (Source PBS Online)
Andrew Jackson “Second Annual Message to Congress” (December 16, 1830)
Andrew Jackson (1825) by Thomas Sully (Source: US Senate)
The benevolent policy of the Government, steadily pursued for nearly 30 years, in relation to the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements is approaching to a happy consummation….
Toward the aborigines of the country no one can indulge a more friendly feeling than myself, or would go further in attempting to reclaim them from their wandering habits and make them a happy, prosperous people. I have endeavored to impress upon them my own solemn convictions of the duties and powers of the General Government in relation to the State authorities. For the justice of the laws passed by the States within the scope of their reserved powers they are not responsible to this Government. As individuals we may entertain and express our opinions of their acts, but as a Government we have as little right to control them as we have to prescribe laws for other nations….
The present policy of the Government is but a continuation of the same progressive change by a milder process. The tribes which occupied the countries now constituting the Eastern States were annihilated or have melted away to make room for the whites. The waves of population and civilization are rolling to the westward, and we now propose to acquire the countries occupied by the red men of the South and West by a fair exchange, and, at the expense of the United States, to send them to a land where their existence may be prolonged and perhaps made perpetual.
Doubtless it will be painful to leave the graves of their fathers; but what do they more than our ancestors did or than our children are now doing? ….
Complete Text and Source: Andrew Jackson: “Second Annual Message,” December 6, 1830. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project.
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830. It gave the president authority to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders.
“A few tribes went peacefully, but many resisted the relocation policy. During the fall and winter of 1838 and 1839, the Cherokees were forcibly moved west by the United States government. Approximately 4,000 Cherokees died on this forced march, which became known as the ‘Trail of Tears.'”
Source: Library of Congress, Indian Removal Act “Primary Documents in American History”
