Re-evaluating American History

Since the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis

police on May 25, 2020, various protests have been held

throughout the United States. Many of the demonstrations were

led by the Black Lives Matter Movement, many others arose

spontaneously. Most of the demonstrations were peaceful ,some

were violent but all were protesting something that should never

have happened. These events have aroused a necessary review of

American history and at the same time has led to destruction

and removal of a number of public monuments, particularly of

leaders of the Confederacy, who, of course were in rebellion

against the United States during the Civil War.

Statues of Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson and

other Confederate leaders have been removed and various

historians have stated that these monuments belong in museums

rather than in places of honor in public squares. However, a

review of American history finds that there are real scoundrels

who continue to be honored when such honor may not be due to

them. On Feb. 11, 2017, the Yale Daily News announced that the

name of Calhoun College, one of Yale’s residential colleges was

being changed to Grace Murray Hopper College. John C. Calhoun

of South Carolina served as Vice President of the United States as

well as Secretary of State and Secretary of War and U.S. Senator

from South Carolina. More importantly, perhaps is that Calhoun

was the author of the South Carolina Exposition and Protest.

This document opposed the tariff of 1828 and promoted

Calhoun’s doctrine of nullification which stated that states could

nullify federal laws with which they disagreed.

Also under question today is the names of many federal

institutions such as military bases which are named after

Confederate personalities. Fort Bragg , Fort Benning, Fort

Gordon, Fort Hood and Camp Beauregard among others. Truly, it

is strange that military bases are named after people who tried

to overthrow the government of the United States.

It has been fashionable in recent decades to name buildings,

streets and other public institutions after politicians of the

nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The former Federal post

office and courthouse in Jackson Mississippi was named after

the late Senator James Eastland who hardly could be someone

who believed in equal justice under the law. Many of the

associates of these people are still alive and still in power.

Nevertheless, honesty and deeper analysis of American history

brings some of these honorees into question. Richard B. Russell,

long a U.S. senator from Georgia was a white supremacist and

segregationist and a master legislative tactician. He used the

filibuster for years blocking civil rights legislation. He is honored

today by having the Senate Office Building named after him.

Senator Pat McCarran of Nevada was a well known bigot, racist,

anti-Semite and xenophobe. Yet millions of tourists who arrive

every year in Las Vegas arrive at McCarran Airport. There is

sentiment in Nevada to rename the airport as honoring

McCarran at best can be called an error.

Of recent note is the decision of Princeton University’s intention

to rename its School of Public and International Affairs by

dropping Woodrow Wilson’s name from that institution. Wilson

was President of Princeton, Governor of New Jersey and

President of the United States. The Wilson name was dropped

because of Wilson’s “racist thinking”.

Two personalities have escaped serious re-evaluation. One of

them is Earl Warren who served as Chief Justice of the United

States, led the “Warren Court” for many years and wrote the

decisive Brown v. Board of Education unanimous decision

outlawing school segregation and declaring once and for all that

separate could not be equal. Prior to his nomination to the

Supreme Court, he was Governor of California and during World

War II he championed the removal of Japanese Americans from

the west coast to camps further inland. The Supreme Court , in

Korematsu v. United States, upheld the legality of the removal of

these American citizens . However, the Courts were denied

important information which would have caused them to render

a different decision. In 2011, that infamous decision was

overturned. Warren’s attitude can only be described as racist.

That brings us to the most important figure who needs to be reevaluated.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the only person ever

elected to the presidency four times. Author of the “New Deal”

and elected to the Presidency at the height of the Great

Depression, Roosevelt served his first two terms not without

controversy but with the passage of much legislation which even

today is recognized as saving capitalism during its greatest

crisis. It is however FDR’s policy in other areas which must be

questioned. During Roosevelt’s presidency, little was done for

African Americans in the fields of employment and housing and

the U.S. military remained segregated. Lynchings continued in

the south and the administration did next to nothing and did not

support anti lynching legislation. Japanese Americans, as

mentioned above were forcibly relocated from their home in the

Pacific Coast to “camps” by Presidential order. It is noteworthy

that German Americans and Italian Americans suffered no such

treatment. Finally, the Roosevelt administration’s attitude

towards Jews fleeing Nazi extermination received little more

than sympathy. From the St. Louis to bombing Auschwitz, the

Roosevelt administration was out to lunch. Perhaps the most

egregious act by FDR was his behavior at the Casablanca

conference. North Africa had been liberated from axis control

but was still under Vichy collaborationist rule. Months after its

liberation, North African Jews remained in concentration camps

and FDR say he could understand the Vichy attitude towards

Jews. Thus, FDR’s greatness included great sins of omission and

commission. Perhaps Harry Truman summed up FDR’s

personality better than anyone else. He said of Roosevelt “inside

he was totally cold. He didn’t give a damn for you or me or

anyone else in the entire world as far as I could tell. But he was a

great president”.

Indeed, many of the historical figures now being re-evaluated

were great figures at their time. However, that is not enough. We

must evaluate all aspects of the historical figures actions in their

totality. History can be interpreted in an infinite number of ways.

But most people know what is right and what is wrong. The reevaluation

of these personalities is just beginning.

Garry S. Sklar

Las Vegas, Nevada

August 5, 2020