Monday, August 21, 2006
New 'Ordeal of the Union'
"As the ... struggle developed, nearly all groups involved in it steadily substituted emotion for reason. They used stereotypes for facts, and epithets in lieu of cool arguments; they forgot the emollient grace of humor and the wisdom of the long view. ...
"Passions had been so deeply aroused that large sections of the population could not view the situation calmly or discuss it realistically; fear fed hatred and hated fed fear. The unrealities of passion dominated the hour.
"Had some great leader appeared, he might have broken through this emotional fabric. ... (But) a nation which needed a president of penetrating vision, moral courage and practical grasp was given (an) incompetent chieftain (that) leaned to an extraordinary degree upon groups of aides. ... The country was governed by a Directory rather than by a President."
Not commentary from today's news.
Historian Allan Nevins, describing the shape of the country in the 1850s, in the years leading to the Civil War, in Ordeal of the Union: Fruits of Manifest Destiny, 1847-1852, (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1947), ix-x.
God help us avoid a similar ordeal.
--ER
"Passions had been so deeply aroused that large sections of the population could not view the situation calmly or discuss it realistically; fear fed hatred and hated fed fear. The unrealities of passion dominated the hour.
"Had some great leader appeared, he might have broken through this emotional fabric. ... (But) a nation which needed a president of penetrating vision, moral courage and practical grasp was given (an) incompetent chieftain (that) leaned to an extraordinary degree upon groups of aides. ... The country was governed by a Directory rather than by a President."
Not commentary from today's news.
Historian Allan Nevins, describing the shape of the country in the 1850s, in the years leading to the Civil War, in Ordeal of the Union: Fruits of Manifest Destiny, 1847-1852, (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1947), ix-x.
God help us avoid a similar ordeal.
--ER
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OK, now I'm going to have to go back and re-read Benard DeVoto's "The Year of Decision: 1846". As a Historian he picked that single year as a pivotal point when America made more decisions about her future direction than any other.
My personal opinion is that 1846 comes in a close second to 1945, but that is a book all by itself.
My personal opinion is that 1846 comes in a close second to 1945, but that is a book all by itself.
# posted by 
: 5:42 PM
: 5:42 PM
I tend to agree with DeVoto.
That book, BTW, made two cuts in my late office cleaning: It got to not only stay in my possession, it got to stay inside the house on a shelf.
That book, BTW, made two cuts in my late office cleaning: It got to not only stay in my possession, it got to stay inside the house on a shelf.
Ponder on 1945:
We discover and harness Atomic Energy the most important discovery since fire. That alone should be enough. But we also set the stage for our current world.
a.The USA was the most powerful military and economic power in the world.
b. We decided not to take over but help out instead.
c. America had the only ultimate weapon.
d. We decided to stack arms at the end of WWII and not roll over the USSR and end their Communist regime.
e. We decide not to follow the advice of General LeMay of the Stategic Air Command and bomb the hell out of the USSR in a pre-emptive strike.
f. We decided not to provide China with the help needed to stop the Maoist take over.
g. We reinstall DeGaul in France, and leave Stalin alive in Russia.
h. We start down the road to the UN
i. We decide to leave the European Colonial structure intact, and not dismantle it.
j. We begin to formulate the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction and thus set the stage for the Cold War.
k. We decide not to continue the German Rocket Program as a Space Travel Program but turned it back to its military goals and ICBMs to aid in our M.A.D. program.
l. We unilaterally dis-armed and dismantled our military machine.
m. In short we tried to retreat into the shell we inhabited before WW II.
Yep, I think 1945 outranks 1846.
We discover and harness Atomic Energy the most important discovery since fire. That alone should be enough. But we also set the stage for our current world.
a.The USA was the most powerful military and economic power in the world.
b. We decided not to take over but help out instead.
c. America had the only ultimate weapon.
d. We decided to stack arms at the end of WWII and not roll over the USSR and end their Communist regime.
e. We decide not to follow the advice of General LeMay of the Stategic Air Command and bomb the hell out of the USSR in a pre-emptive strike.
f. We decided not to provide China with the help needed to stop the Maoist take over.
g. We reinstall DeGaul in France, and leave Stalin alive in Russia.
h. We start down the road to the UN
i. We decide to leave the European Colonial structure intact, and not dismantle it.
j. We begin to formulate the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction and thus set the stage for the Cold War.
k. We decide not to continue the German Rocket Program as a Space Travel Program but turned it back to its military goals and ICBMs to aid in our M.A.D. program.
l. We unilaterally dis-armed and dismantled our military machine.
m. In short we tried to retreat into the shell we inhabited before WW II.
Yep, I think 1945 outranks 1846.
# posted by : 9:40 AM
: 9:40 AM
OK. I'd say that 1945 wass most important to the world.
But without the internal events and decisions of 1846, the United States probably would not have been in a position to do the things it did externally in 1945.
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But without the internal events and decisions of 1846, the United States probably would not have been in a position to do the things it did externally in 1945.
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