Today, on a day presidents traditionally use to avoid politics and reinforce Americans’ shared values, Trump gave a speech dividing Americans into two groups: his supporters and “the radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters, and people who in many instances have absolutely no clue what they are doing.” Trying to get people to look away from the devastating toll of coronavirus on this country—our official death toll is approaching 130,000— Trump is staking out a position as the leader of a culture war.
Please, please, Prof. Richardson, get a team together to write new textbooks on US history for elementary, middle and high school students. Maybe it could be a project assisted by your MA/PhD students. After that, a US History 101 would be of the essence for all first year college students. I don’t know how many times, I have had to give US history lessons in my Human Rights classes. Your academic input would be such a blessing!
Looking forward! As I learn more about what has actually happened in our American history, I begin to realize we were completely miseducated as children, and that our children were similarly miseducated. It was deliberate, and little better than the same type of propaganda fed to children in totalitarian countries. It's long past time for us to educate our children with an honest history of this country that tells the unvarnished truth of what actually happened. It's far more interesting than the polished turds we were fed as kids, and it would help us understand the deep scars in the history of our nation as well as what we could do as adults to do make things better. Sure, folks can say, "My country, right or wrong," but there's a lot of wrong that we could actually start repairing and improving if we'd just own up to it.
I was so excited to see your comment above that I had to read it aloud to my family! We need to teach our REAL history in order to create good citizens which should be the ultimate goal of education in a democracy.
Indeed, it's time to reveal a more complete picture of our legacy, revealing covert and overt agendas... including such travesty as the Dawes Act of 1887. Are you hinting that you might be expanding and updating Howard Zinn's 1980 "A People's History of the United States"? - ...and, do you have an opinion of his work?
At the very least, you could have someone go on your YouTube Channel and re-write the descriptions on the History and Politics Chats, LABELING ALL OF THE QUESTIONS and showing the TIME STAMP for where to find answers in the videos. That way, teachers could easily find the material to share with their classes! (Former educator here.)
Many thanks once again, Heather, for this timely reminder of reality. ...And the wheel turns! To quote the dictum..."if we ignore...or are ignorant of...the lessons of history then we are destined to repeat them". It's time that the history of what REALLY happened...rather than the propaganda of subsequent generations...once again took its place at the top of the education agenda. Knowing where your country is coming from is absolutely essential in understanding where it is now and where it's going. It is one of the most important building blocks in the identity of the individual and of that of the nation.
You took the sad story of one man’s angry, divisive rant framed by a monument the history of which he did not understand, and slammed home the facts about its origins and symbolic import thereby collapsing the shaky ground out from under him.
Upon finishing this post, I was nearly breathless.
Thanks. This was a very hard one to write. Way too little space, and the argument about how Trump tied his own hatred to the founders seemed to me hard to nail down clearly.
As a side note, I don't see how "far-left fascism" is even a thing. Fascists are, by their very nature, far right and antithetical to the left. Far-left fascists don't exist in my pantheon of political persuasions. Might as well use the term "communist fascists," which also makes no sense, since those two political groups are inimically hostile.
Everything, and I mean everything he does is a distraction. We cannot discount that he is a con man. Con men aren't stupid. We also have to acknowledge he is a front man. We have to stop blaming every darn thing on his psychosis. He has lived the life of a master manipulator. This man is a pro. Yes, it is important to go after him. It's more important to go after those he is fronting for. Mitch McConnell. The only way to get to these people is to hit them where it hurts. Their pockets. To end the capitalist reign of power that we are currently under, we need to bring the whole system to a halt. We need a general strike. Every person, every single one of us "servants" needs to walk off the job. Enough is enough.
Agreed. Stephen Miller wrote them down, and then he read them aloud. Except for that difficult polysyllabic word, "totalitarianism," which Miller should have known better than to put into a speech for him to say.
I'm struck by the parallels between the history of the late 19th century/early 20th century and 100 years later. Except we don't have a Roosevelt to stop the oligarchic kleptocracy (which we innocuously call income disparity) and to save our National Parks and Public Lands from the exploitation of greedy capitalists. A friend familiar with reservation life says wait until Americans find out what it is like to live on a reservation. But with no Roosevelt, capitalism is barreling toward collapsing on itself as income disparity hollows out the middle class consumer which capitalism depends upon and artificial intelligence displaces workers altogether. We also do not have an Edward R. Murrow journalist to take down the Trumpian form of McCarthyism with the ominous link of the double down Roy Cohn and his influence on both these despots. Add the climate crisis on top of the collapse of capitalism while we fiddle away any time we have left to turn around all this. We have a recipe for utter disaster and possibly the end of the experiment of civilization as we've come to know it. As the Chinese curse says "May you live in interesting times."
I feel much like the above poster and have noticed the uncanny parallels as well. Thank you for your brief but inspiring reply to their post, Heather. It’s these small things that I have found incredibly important to keeping up both my spirits and my hope.
Yes, I am a pragmatic optimist. My hope is with the Black Lives Matter social justice movement. It does feel like the pressure from below is expanding and uniting so many of us with determination.
I'm reading HCR's book on the history of the Republican party (To Make Men Free) and am amazed at the near-predictable cyclical nature of politics. Each time we moderate and pull back from policies protecting property rights above all else there appears an overwhelming effort to resist that pullback and push it further toward the right and trample any collective benefit for society. The party appears to be driven solely by GREED. We need that push back now more than ever. The biggest question is whether a firm steady approach of a defensive front line on a goal-line stand or an abrupt shock of a 300# linebacker sacking a quarterback will work.
Deborah, I think VP Biden is a very good man, has the experience to do the job and will be a great healer for the country. What I don't know is whether he has a vision about taking the country forward in such a critical time of crisis on multiple fronts any one alone would be difficult to handle. Of course a century ago they did have a world war, a pandemic and the monopolies ...and then the Great Depression and the rise of fascism and WWII to deal with ... more parallels. I think VP Biden's choice of his VP who would likely become the President in 2024 is critical and could emerge as the strong visionary hand to lead us through all this.
You and I are in synch, Cathy. I agree that he didn't have the vision and is seeming to be listening to the people closest to him who are advising him at this point. And, it is the other people who will be in his administration, starting with the VP pick, who will publicly take up the cause. Plus, after seeing his wonderful speech the other day, it is already clear he has a great team writing for him and preparing him. Fingers crossed.
I agree with you two. Biden is putting together a good team, and one of the things that is most impressive about him is that he does not always have to be the most important person in the room. That leaves room for new voices.
I do believe VP Biden will surround himself with excellent advisor. I've been having fun over the last year thinking especially as the Democratic debates took place about what the Cabinet of the next President would look like. Perhaps Senator Warren as Secretary of Commerce, Mayor Pete Buttigieg for Secretary of State, Governor Inslee as Secretary of the Interior and Climate, Governor William Weld (yes, a fine, honest, competent moderate Republican - I've voted for him three times already) as perhaps Attorney General, or perhaps Senator Harris as AG, Senator Duckworth as Secretary of Defense ... or VP, perhaps Andrew Yang as a new cabinet position - Secretary of Science and Technology. (And, no, I don't want to take all the Democratic Senators out of the Senate. We need a Senate that will support all the people and work with the next President all with openness and transparency.) The Cabinet needs to reflect the diversity, equity, and inclusiveness of our population in general. And, these are just a few of the most visible politicians; there are so many people from outside politics and the government that would be superb advisors and additions to a Biden Cabinet. I do appreciate that Biden is vetting the candidates for the Vice Presidential nominee quite rigorously. One big difference from a hundred years ago to today is that women didn't have the right to vote until August 26, 1920. Now we're talking about a woman as Vice President and likely to step into the Presidency in four years.
I just downloaded "To Make Men Free" on my Kindle. I just finished listening to "The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism" on Audible. It's unbelievable what happened to the Republican party
May I also suggest the bio of Edward R. Murrow, one of my heroes. "Murrow: His Life and Times" by A.M. Sperber". He pulled off an integrated dinner without incident in a major downtown hotel in Atlanta during the 1930s! And, of course, his famous take down of Senator McCarthy. So wish one of our present day journalists would step into his shoes right now.
This is the second time in a short time he uses a national monument to spread his repulsive message. It must make all patriotic Americans sick. It is amazing how he is able to attract attention to himself. We had a weekend party here in Norway 🇳🇴. Guess what subject came up again and again. No favourable comments of'course, but nevertheless attention is given to Trump and the upcoming election. We fear the worst.
I used to watch the news without failure...Now..I still listen to the news, but somewhat less. The minute I hear his voice or see his image I turn off the TV or switch the channel...because I know I will hear his continuing parade of lies...His lack of empathy and endless narcissism is astounding..
He's a malignant narcissist. Has to put down others to feel good about himself. One would feel sorry for him having such a miserable empty life if he wasn't hurting and even killing so many people.
They do! They love USA and the American people, and they feel sorry for you. Norway is among your best friends and allies. There are actually more Norwegian decendents living in America than Norwegians living in Norway.
Yes. The GOP freaked out when the Ds took power in 1893, worrying they would do the same. Arizona and New Mexico, both D territories, had far more people than all those new GOP states.
It's coming. If the Ds can take power in 2020, it is one of my dearest hopes they will add DC and Puerto Rico to give us 52 states and 4 more Democratic Senators.
You remind me of I.F.Stone. I've been waiting for you for a long, long time.
<<Trump is staking out a position as the leader of a culture war.>>
I believe he is also setting himself as an authoritarian and the U.S.A. to receive him as an authoritarian cut from the same cloth as Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey, Viktor Orbán of Hungary and Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela.
Mt. Rushmore is a particularly apt setting for Trump to deliver a self-serving, distorted and divisive speech. Consider the political and ideological leanings of the sculptor, John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum, himself:
In October of 2016, Matthew Shaer’s article, The Sordid History of Mount Rushmore appeared in
the Smithsonian Magazine, with the subhead, “The sculptor behind the American landmark had some unseemly ties to white supremacy groups.” Shaer’s article about Borglum may be accessed and read in full online. To quote one more portion of the Shaer’s article, “In letters he fretted about a “mongrel horde” overrunning the “Nordic” purity of the West, and once said, “I would not trust an Indian, off-hand, 9 out of 10, where I would not trust a white man 1 out of 10.” Above all, he was an opportunist. He aligned himself with the Ku Klux Klan, an organization reborn—it had faded after the Civil War—in a torch-light ceremony atop Stone Mountain in 1915.”
Wow! I will read that Smithsonian piece! So much disillusionment going on inside me these days, but better late than never to understand our history. Thank you.
You're welcome, Deborah, and I agree. I have a lot to learn. A 'radical revision' of history does seem in order, given that 'radical' means 'proceeding from the root'.
Mount Rushmore is a difficult topic for me on the theme of monuments. I have probably been there two dozen times over my 60 years. It never ceases to move me. Especially if I can get down to the lower level and sit among the pines and look up and enjoy the majesty of the whole setting. I am a South Dakota native who has lived in Washington, Michigan, Ohio, and now call Nebraska home. No other place moves my spirit in the same way.
Was the land taken from the Lakota? Yes, of course, it was. Just like every other square inch of land was taken from some tribe. Reparations were paid to the Lakota in the 1980’s which they refuse to spend. The pot of money has grown over the years. It could be put to good use providing water and sanitation to reservation houses as well as improved healthcare. But they want the land back.
I must admit to having a less favorable view of the Lakota after reading Joe Starita’s. “I Am a Man": Chief Standing Bear's Journey for Justice. The Ponca played by the rules and got short shrift from our government. The Lakota fought back and were given the Ponca’s ancestral lands. It’s complicated.
I recall in the ‘80s that there was a proposal to depopulate the upper Great Plains and convert it to a nature reserve. The states are sparsely settled. The few million of us who live here could find somewhere else to live. How arrogant!
But what about my immigrant grandfather’s legacy? He came from Central Europe at the turn of the last century as a child. He walked behind a wagon to eastern South Dakota so his father could claim farm land. He had no part in the political aspirations of Washington, DC politicians. He built a successful farming and livestock operation and many of his relatives settled on the same Eastern South Dakota land most of which is technically part of the Yankton Reservation. My great aunt carried cottonwood saplings from the Missouri River bank so she could claim her own land.
My other grandfather whose ancestors date back to the Revolution came west after fighting in the Civil War. He was a tinsmith, musician , and owned a general store.
And then there is South Dakota as a state. With a population of 800K, they barely qualify as a large city. Yet they have produced George McGovern, Tom Daschle, and John Thune, all powerful Senators in their time. I also am old enough to remember when South Dakota voted Democrat.
South Dakota has no usury laws so groups like Citibank have offices there. South Dakota state government has many ways of pandering to rich people: no state income tax, no state inheritance tax, low license fees for motorhomes and boats, exclusive pheasant hunts and buffalo round-ups offering opportunities to rub shoulders with state policymakers, and a complex trust law environment that allows people to control their assets from the grave, long after they're gone.
One trust site boasts: “These laws have crafted some of the leading dynastic trust laws in the nation — if not the world. South Dakota’s dynastic trust benefits were ranked first in a recent survey of wealth professionals.
The state is ranked first for its trust decanting laws and other benefits such as protections of discretionary trusts from a divorcing spouse. South Dakota’s trust benefits outweigh any financial anxiety.”
A decade ago, South Dakotan trust companies held $57.3bn in assets. By the end of 2020, that total will have risen to $355.2bn. Both Rachel Maddow and The Guardian have reported on the fact that folks from all over move their money to South Dakota with no benefits to the state other than the jobs of the trust officers and lawyers.
The state has a strong agricultural base. It is the largest industry in the state, $21B. South Dakota routinely ranks among the top 10 states for the production of hay, sunflowers, rye, honey, soybeans, corn, wheat and cattle. Tourism is also a significant contributor, bringing in about $2 billion, annually.
I recall how appalling it was to watch the Taliban destroy the huge Buddha carved in the side of a mountain. Destroying Rushmore would be equally appalling for me. And we’d just have a blown up mountain side. Maybe work on the Crazy Horse monument could progress faster.
All that to say that the monument movement seems like a no brainer until it includes one you hold dear. Then it gets complicated.
Thank you for this. It is all, indeed, complicated. My guess is that honest conversations like this will help untangle a lot of it. And fwiw, I have always been a big fan of James Abourezk, as well. (And as a historian, I have to ask... do you have any of your ancestors' papers?)
I actually met Senator Abourezk when I was in high school at presidential classroom for young Americans. I thought it was interesting that he and Jim Abnor served South Dakota at the same time. Not exactly the ethnic minorities you would expect to represent South Dakota.
Actually I do have some thing you might find interesting. Grandfather Hobbs was also a book binder. somewhere I have a Civil War book. I can’t recall if it’s a diary or just his stories. I’m sorting through wads of paper since I’m home all the time if I find it I could I could pass a copy along.
I also think the monument movement (which is NOT a threat to Mt Rushmore) seems like a no brainer - and IF it targets a monument you hold dear, then perhaps the first thing to do is to try and understand whether the whole monument is truly something you want as part of your identity and whether you have been selective enough.
My grandparents used to say "go ahead and love that dog, but remember that it has fleas !". I feel the same way about monuments - they have extra baggage and it is all of a piece. I loved my dog but he would occasionally be banished from the house and get a flea bath.
As an aside, I've come to the conclusion that no-one can survive having a statue made of them - no-one.
I humbly suggest and invite you to visit the Oglala-Lakota College in Kyle, SD, on the Pine Ridge Reservation. You will find the people welcoming and generous, striving to preserve their language and traditions, raising up future educators to teach in the reservation schools, and developing their students’ intellect and skills needed to lift the community out of its crushing poverty.
I was told by one of the college’s professors on my second visit that ‘The first time you visit, you are considered a guest; the second, a friend; and, the third, family.’
In half as many visits as you have made to Mt Rushmore, you could gain another family you never dreamed you could have. 💗
I spent time on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations when I was a little girl in the 60’s. My father was an auditor and he would audit the schools. Our family attended a big pow wow on our way to the Hills one summer. Truly my issue with the Lakota is more historical then current. Gemma Lockhart was the governor of Girls State the year I attended. I believe that she was the first Lakota governor of Girls State.
That’s a wonderful memory, Jeene, and great experience, especially for a child. My daughter accompanied me on my visits to the college’s graduation ceremonies. She was 12 years old at the time of our first visit and was warmly embraced by the community’s children and made friends right away. At the end of our stay, she was given gifts which she still treasures today, and she just passed her 40th birthday!
But what about your grandfather's legacy? You say the movement to depopulate the upper Great Plains was an act of arrogance, yet it's no less arrogant than your great grandfather claiming land that was not rightfully his. Part of the issue is the fact that families moved onto land that was ripped away from entire populations of indigenous peoples and parcelled out to pioneers. For centuries, indigenous peoples have been shunted about the Americas, from Canada to the top of South America by white Europeans who believe they have the right to conquer and seize property simply because they are white and Christian. And look, my family too, on both sides, came to the colonies in the early days, settled on lands that did not belong to them and were, frankly, probably guilty of the many crimes associated with colonialism. And they, too, fought in the Revolutionary War. That fact I am very proud of. But I don't take pride in knowing that my ancestors were part of a movement to forcefully displace people from their lands. If we spend our lives saying, "But what about my grandfather, what about my aunt? And not once acknowledge the fact that the successful lives they built destroyed the lives of countless others, We Will Never Learn. Your grandfather's family came from Central Europe because they felt pushed out of their homeland and had to find some place to live where they did not feel compromised. Why was their right to live a healthy, prosperous life more important than the lives displaced by westward expansion? As for Mount Rushmore, it is part of the National Park system on land seized from the Lakota. As an adult in my 60s who, over the years, has learned how that monument came about I'm disinclined to hold it in reverence. It's just another example of white arrogance crafted by a white racist.
Thank you for the history. Though I have visited Mount Rushmore, there is much I didn't know, or have forgotten. The nearby Crazy Horse Memorial is also relevant to today's discussions of monuments and who gets to establish them, and who decides to take them down. I saw Crazy Horse in 1993 and am surprised that it has not progressed very much, as shown on the website, but it's still amazing. Numerous descendants of the original sculptor (white man from New England) are still working on it. Maybe it should always be a work in progress, like America.
Well, the CH monument is deeply problematic for its own reasons. CH himself insisted on never having an image made of himself because he thought it was sacrilege and that he and the land were one. So I cringe at that commandeering of his image. And then there is the fact that many observers-- including Lakotas-- are quite suspicious of how much money is disappearing into the project without much being accomplished. And, as I recall, the building is dominated by a single family.... Lots going on with this.
When the Lakota and their supporters invoke their sacred rights to the Black Hills, it usually isn’t noted that they weren’t there from time immemorial, at least not permanently; in the 18th century they pushed other tribes, notably the Cheyenne and the Crow, out of the Black Hills before making it their own and declaring it sacred to them. Not that this justifies what the US government later did or allowed to be done to the Lakota, but it’s worth remembering that in history not all victims are pure and innocent (peoples such as the Cherokee of the Trail of Tears come a lot closer.)
There is a more complicated idea behind this comment: to treat people equally, you must fully acknowledge their humanity, and that means their own ability to do bad as well as good. That seems to me key to understanding society... but it is a terribly hard line to take in the US, when history has become such a political football. Indeed, what you write here is accurate... and Trump supporters are using it to suggest the Lakotas have no rights. It's a terribly fine line to walk as a historian. (Just a comment. Not an argument.)
If you have never read The Heart of Everything That Is, about Red Cloud, I highly recommend it. It is a book that tells you there is so much you don’t know that you don’t know. Similarly, Killers of the Flower Moon. People do not need to be saints to deserve our respect or for us to honor our treaties.
Of course. And I have read The Heart of Everything That Is. Red Cloud, a truly great historical figure, was of course born long after the aggressive Lakota takeover of the Black Hills, and can hardly be blamed or held personally accountable for it.
This "taking" by the Lakota was glossed over in the narrative, but keep in mind that the white man pushed Native Americans farther west each year and forced the tribes in many instances to fight each other for land. Before the white man arrived, territories were settled for thousands of years.
This "taking" by the Lakota was glossed over in the narrative, but keep in mind that the white man pushed Native Americans farther west each year and forced the tribes in many instances to fight each other for land. Before the white man arrived, territories were settled for thousands of years.
First of all, thank you Heather for this walk through history.
When I read 45’s speech at Mt Rushmore on July 3, it struck such fear in my heart that I had tears running down my face. He rose to an entirely new level of hatred, and the only thing I could see was Hitler’s face. He is both figuratively and literally dividing and tearing this country apart, pitting neighbor against neighbor, and family members against each other. I am truly frightened.
Heather, Trump isn't crafting and scripting his propaganda and these abhorrrent "shows". Who is? Who are the producers? Miller? Who and what institutions are the cabal propping Trump up?
Miller was almost certainly behind that speech. But there is still a lot of Bannon here, too. And I think I see certain autocrats, as well as a general predisposition toward autocracy in Trump and his circle.
Please, please, Prof. Richardson, get a team together to write new textbooks on US history for elementary, middle and high school students. Maybe it could be a project assisted by your MA/PhD students. After that, a US History 101 would be of the essence for all first year college students. I don’t know how many times, I have had to give US history lessons in my Human Rights classes. Your academic input would be such a blessing!
Hold that thought for an announcement, with luck in the next three months.
Looking forward! As I learn more about what has actually happened in our American history, I begin to realize we were completely miseducated as children, and that our children were similarly miseducated. It was deliberate, and little better than the same type of propaganda fed to children in totalitarian countries. It's long past time for us to educate our children with an honest history of this country that tells the unvarnished truth of what actually happened. It's far more interesting than the polished turds we were fed as kids, and it would help us understand the deep scars in the history of our nation as well as what we could do as adults to do make things better. Sure, folks can say, "My country, right or wrong," but there's a lot of wrong that we could actually start repairing and improving if we'd just own up to it.
I was so excited to see your comment above that I had to read it aloud to my family! We need to teach our REAL history in order to create good citizens which should be the ultimate goal of education in a democracy.
Indeed, it's time to reveal a more complete picture of our legacy, revealing covert and overt agendas... including such travesty as the Dawes Act of 1887. Are you hinting that you might be expanding and updating Howard Zinn's 1980 "A People's History of the United States"? - ...and, do you have an opinion of his work?
At the very least, you could have someone go on your YouTube Channel and re-write the descriptions on the History and Politics Chats, LABELING ALL OF THE QUESTIONS and showing the TIME STAMP for where to find answers in the videos. That way, teachers could easily find the material to share with their classes! (Former educator here.)
Many thanks once again, Heather, for this timely reminder of reality. ...And the wheel turns! To quote the dictum..."if we ignore...or are ignorant of...the lessons of history then we are destined to repeat them". It's time that the history of what REALLY happened...rather than the propaganda of subsequent generations...once again took its place at the top of the education agenda. Knowing where your country is coming from is absolutely essential in understanding where it is now and where it's going. It is one of the most important building blocks in the identity of the individual and of that of the nation.
I actually think history is more powerful if you include the messiness of it. It's certainly far more real.
The truth of our incredibly messy history is also far more interesting, while the neat, polished, lies we were told were pretty boring.
One of your best efforts.
You took the sad story of one man’s angry, divisive rant framed by a monument the history of which he did not understand, and slammed home the facts about its origins and symbolic import thereby collapsing the shaky ground out from under him.
Upon finishing this post, I was nearly breathless.
Brava!
Thanks. This was a very hard one to write. Way too little space, and the argument about how Trump tied his own hatred to the founders seemed to me hard to nail down clearly.
As a side note, I don't see how "far-left fascism" is even a thing. Fascists are, by their very nature, far right and antithetical to the left. Far-left fascists don't exist in my pantheon of political persuasions. Might as well use the term "communist fascists," which also makes no sense, since those two political groups are inimically hostile.
He just uses them as buzzwords. There is zero chance he could define either.
Everything, and I mean everything he does is a distraction. We cannot discount that he is a con man. Con men aren't stupid. We also have to acknowledge he is a front man. We have to stop blaming every darn thing on his psychosis. He has lived the life of a master manipulator. This man is a pro. Yes, it is important to go after him. It's more important to go after those he is fronting for. Mitch McConnell. The only way to get to these people is to hit them where it hurts. Their pockets. To end the capitalist reign of power that we are currently under, we need to bring the whole system to a halt. We need a general strike. Every person, every single one of us "servants" needs to walk off the job. Enough is enough.
Agreed. Stephen Miller wrote them down, and then he read them aloud. Except for that difficult polysyllabic word, "totalitarianism," which Miller should have known better than to put into a speech for him to say.
Totally agree!
I thought the same thing—“i didn’t think fascists were far LEFT ...”
I'm struck by the parallels between the history of the late 19th century/early 20th century and 100 years later. Except we don't have a Roosevelt to stop the oligarchic kleptocracy (which we innocuously call income disparity) and to save our National Parks and Public Lands from the exploitation of greedy capitalists. A friend familiar with reservation life says wait until Americans find out what it is like to live on a reservation. But with no Roosevelt, capitalism is barreling toward collapsing on itself as income disparity hollows out the middle class consumer which capitalism depends upon and artificial intelligence displaces workers altogether. We also do not have an Edward R. Murrow journalist to take down the Trumpian form of McCarthyism with the ominous link of the double down Roy Cohn and his influence on both these despots. Add the climate crisis on top of the collapse of capitalism while we fiddle away any time we have left to turn around all this. We have a recipe for utter disaster and possibly the end of the experiment of civilization as we've come to know it. As the Chinese curse says "May you live in interesting times."
I have not yet given up. Roosevelt rose in part because of pressure from below. Just saying.... :)
I feel much like the above poster and have noticed the uncanny parallels as well. Thank you for your brief but inspiring reply to their post, Heather. It’s these small things that I have found incredibly important to keeping up both my spirits and my hope.
Yes, I am a pragmatic optimist. My hope is with the Black Lives Matter social justice movement. It does feel like the pressure from below is expanding and uniting so many of us with determination.
Yes Ma'am! I am right there with you!
Me neither!
I have not given up either.
I'm reading HCR's book on the history of the Republican party (To Make Men Free) and am amazed at the near-predictable cyclical nature of politics. Each time we moderate and pull back from policies protecting property rights above all else there appears an overwhelming effort to resist that pullback and push it further toward the right and trample any collective benefit for society. The party appears to be driven solely by GREED. We need that push back now more than ever. The biggest question is whether a firm steady approach of a defensive front line on a goal-line stand or an abrupt shock of a 300# linebacker sacking a quarterback will work.
Me, too. Amazing. And counters Cathy Leoroyd’s worry that “we don’t have anyone to ... “ will will if we all vote properly this November!
Deborah, I think VP Biden is a very good man, has the experience to do the job and will be a great healer for the country. What I don't know is whether he has a vision about taking the country forward in such a critical time of crisis on multiple fronts any one alone would be difficult to handle. Of course a century ago they did have a world war, a pandemic and the monopolies ...and then the Great Depression and the rise of fascism and WWII to deal with ... more parallels. I think VP Biden's choice of his VP who would likely become the President in 2024 is critical and could emerge as the strong visionary hand to lead us through all this.
You and I are in synch, Cathy. I agree that he didn't have the vision and is seeming to be listening to the people closest to him who are advising him at this point. And, it is the other people who will be in his administration, starting with the VP pick, who will publicly take up the cause. Plus, after seeing his wonderful speech the other day, it is already clear he has a great team writing for him and preparing him. Fingers crossed.
I agree with you two. Biden is putting together a good team, and one of the things that is most impressive about him is that he does not always have to be the most important person in the room. That leaves room for new voices.
I do believe VP Biden will surround himself with excellent advisor. I've been having fun over the last year thinking especially as the Democratic debates took place about what the Cabinet of the next President would look like. Perhaps Senator Warren as Secretary of Commerce, Mayor Pete Buttigieg for Secretary of State, Governor Inslee as Secretary of the Interior and Climate, Governor William Weld (yes, a fine, honest, competent moderate Republican - I've voted for him three times already) as perhaps Attorney General, or perhaps Senator Harris as AG, Senator Duckworth as Secretary of Defense ... or VP, perhaps Andrew Yang as a new cabinet position - Secretary of Science and Technology. (And, no, I don't want to take all the Democratic Senators out of the Senate. We need a Senate that will support all the people and work with the next President all with openness and transparency.) The Cabinet needs to reflect the diversity, equity, and inclusiveness of our population in general. And, these are just a few of the most visible politicians; there are so many people from outside politics and the government that would be superb advisors and additions to a Biden Cabinet. I do appreciate that Biden is vetting the candidates for the Vice Presidential nominee quite rigorously. One big difference from a hundred years ago to today is that women didn't have the right to vote until August 26, 1920. Now we're talking about a woman as Vice President and likely to step into the Presidency in four years.
I just downloaded "To Make Men Free" on my Kindle. I just finished listening to "The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism" on Audible. It's unbelievable what happened to the Republican party
May I also suggest the bio of Edward R. Murrow, one of my heroes. "Murrow: His Life and Times" by A.M. Sperber". He pulled off an integrated dinner without incident in a major downtown hotel in Atlanta during the 1930s! And, of course, his famous take down of Senator McCarthy. So wish one of our present day journalists would step into his shoes right now.
Thanks for the recommendation! I am a big Murrow fan.
This is the second time in a short time he uses a national monument to spread his repulsive message. It must make all patriotic Americans sick. It is amazing how he is able to attract attention to himself. We had a weekend party here in Norway 🇳🇴. Guess what subject came up again and again. No favourable comments of'course, but nevertheless attention is given to Trump and the upcoming election. We fear the worst.
I can no longer watch him on TV or listen to his voice. I get physically sick to my stomach. I only read now.
I used to watch the news without failure...Now..I still listen to the news, but somewhat less. The minute I hear his voice or see his image I turn off the TV or switch the channel...because I know I will hear his continuing parade of lies...His lack of empathy and endless narcissism is astounding..
He's a malignant narcissist. Has to put down others to feel good about himself. One would feel sorry for him having such a miserable empty life if he wasn't hurting and even killing so many people.
Me too. Isn’t this interesting we all do the same thing?
Me, too. He disgusts me.
And also.
Me, too
Ditto
I never could listen to him, even before he began his campaign for president
.
He's wearing out my TV Mute button.
My mute button wore out and I'm now using the OFF totally button.
Make sure your friends know we are as disgusted at our end and do not support trump.
They do! They love USA and the American people, and they feel sorry for you. Norway is among your best friends and allies. There are actually more Norwegian decendents living in America than Norwegians living in Norway.
This gives perspective to all the Republican crying about DC statehood.
Yes. The GOP freaked out when the Ds took power in 1893, worrying they would do the same. Arizona and New Mexico, both D territories, had far more people than all those new GOP states.
It's coming. If the Ds can take power in 2020, it is one of my dearest hopes they will add DC and Puerto Rico to give us 52 states and 4 more Democratic Senators.
Oh, and at least two more justices to SCOTUS...unless they can somehow rid the court of Havabeer and Gorsuch. That would be a lot of fun to watch.
More history I was never taught. Thank you.
Referring to Mount Rushmore, a Lakota woman I was having dinner with asked, “would you carve your mother’s breast?”
You remind me of I.F.Stone. I've been waiting for you for a long, long time.
<<Trump is staking out a position as the leader of a culture war.>>
I believe he is also setting himself as an authoritarian and the U.S.A. to receive him as an authoritarian cut from the same cloth as Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey, Viktor Orbán of Hungary and Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela.
Mt. Rushmore is a particularly apt setting for Trump to deliver a self-serving, distorted and divisive speech. Consider the political and ideological leanings of the sculptor, John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum, himself:
In October of 2016, Matthew Shaer’s article, The Sordid History of Mount Rushmore appeared in
the Smithsonian Magazine, with the subhead, “The sculptor behind the American landmark had some unseemly ties to white supremacy groups.” Shaer’s article about Borglum may be accessed and read in full online. To quote one more portion of the Shaer’s article, “In letters he fretted about a “mongrel horde” overrunning the “Nordic” purity of the West, and once said, “I would not trust an Indian, off-hand, 9 out of 10, where I would not trust a white man 1 out of 10.” Above all, he was an opportunist. He aligned himself with the Ku Klux Klan, an organization reborn—it had faded after the Civil War—in a torch-light ceremony atop Stone Mountain in 1915.”
"unseemly." OK.
Wow! I will read that Smithsonian piece! So much disillusionment going on inside me these days, but better late than never to understand our history. Thank you.
You're welcome, Deborah, and I agree. I have a lot to learn. A 'radical revision' of history does seem in order, given that 'radical' means 'proceeding from the root'.
Mount Rushmore is a difficult topic for me on the theme of monuments. I have probably been there two dozen times over my 60 years. It never ceases to move me. Especially if I can get down to the lower level and sit among the pines and look up and enjoy the majesty of the whole setting. I am a South Dakota native who has lived in Washington, Michigan, Ohio, and now call Nebraska home. No other place moves my spirit in the same way.
Was the land taken from the Lakota? Yes, of course, it was. Just like every other square inch of land was taken from some tribe. Reparations were paid to the Lakota in the 1980’s which they refuse to spend. The pot of money has grown over the years. It could be put to good use providing water and sanitation to reservation houses as well as improved healthcare. But they want the land back.
I must admit to having a less favorable view of the Lakota after reading Joe Starita’s. “I Am a Man": Chief Standing Bear's Journey for Justice. The Ponca played by the rules and got short shrift from our government. The Lakota fought back and were given the Ponca’s ancestral lands. It’s complicated.
I recall in the ‘80s that there was a proposal to depopulate the upper Great Plains and convert it to a nature reserve. The states are sparsely settled. The few million of us who live here could find somewhere else to live. How arrogant!
But what about my immigrant grandfather’s legacy? He came from Central Europe at the turn of the last century as a child. He walked behind a wagon to eastern South Dakota so his father could claim farm land. He had no part in the political aspirations of Washington, DC politicians. He built a successful farming and livestock operation and many of his relatives settled on the same Eastern South Dakota land most of which is technically part of the Yankton Reservation. My great aunt carried cottonwood saplings from the Missouri River bank so she could claim her own land.
My other grandfather whose ancestors date back to the Revolution came west after fighting in the Civil War. He was a tinsmith, musician , and owned a general store.
And then there is South Dakota as a state. With a population of 800K, they barely qualify as a large city. Yet they have produced George McGovern, Tom Daschle, and John Thune, all powerful Senators in their time. I also am old enough to remember when South Dakota voted Democrat.
South Dakota has no usury laws so groups like Citibank have offices there. South Dakota state government has many ways of pandering to rich people: no state income tax, no state inheritance tax, low license fees for motorhomes and boats, exclusive pheasant hunts and buffalo round-ups offering opportunities to rub shoulders with state policymakers, and a complex trust law environment that allows people to control their assets from the grave, long after they're gone.
One trust site boasts: “These laws have crafted some of the leading dynastic trust laws in the nation — if not the world. South Dakota’s dynastic trust benefits were ranked first in a recent survey of wealth professionals.
The state is ranked first for its trust decanting laws and other benefits such as protections of discretionary trusts from a divorcing spouse. South Dakota’s trust benefits outweigh any financial anxiety.”
A decade ago, South Dakotan trust companies held $57.3bn in assets. By the end of 2020, that total will have risen to $355.2bn. Both Rachel Maddow and The Guardian have reported on the fact that folks from all over move their money to South Dakota with no benefits to the state other than the jobs of the trust officers and lawyers.
The state has a strong agricultural base. It is the largest industry in the state, $21B. South Dakota routinely ranks among the top 10 states for the production of hay, sunflowers, rye, honey, soybeans, corn, wheat and cattle. Tourism is also a significant contributor, bringing in about $2 billion, annually.
I recall how appalling it was to watch the Taliban destroy the huge Buddha carved in the side of a mountain. Destroying Rushmore would be equally appalling for me. And we’d just have a blown up mountain side. Maybe work on the Crazy Horse monument could progress faster.
All that to say that the monument movement seems like a no brainer until it includes one you hold dear. Then it gets complicated.
Thank you for this. It is all, indeed, complicated. My guess is that honest conversations like this will help untangle a lot of it. And fwiw, I have always been a big fan of James Abourezk, as well. (And as a historian, I have to ask... do you have any of your ancestors' papers?)
I actually met Senator Abourezk when I was in high school at presidential classroom for young Americans. I thought it was interesting that he and Jim Abnor served South Dakota at the same time. Not exactly the ethnic minorities you would expect to represent South Dakota.
Actually I do have some thing you might find interesting. Grandfather Hobbs was also a book binder. somewhere I have a Civil War book. I can’t recall if it’s a diary or just his stories. I’m sorting through wads of paper since I’m home all the time if I find it I could I could pass a copy along.
I also think the monument movement (which is NOT a threat to Mt Rushmore) seems like a no brainer - and IF it targets a monument you hold dear, then perhaps the first thing to do is to try and understand whether the whole monument is truly something you want as part of your identity and whether you have been selective enough.
My grandparents used to say "go ahead and love that dog, but remember that it has fleas !". I feel the same way about monuments - they have extra baggage and it is all of a piece. I loved my dog but he would occasionally be banished from the house and get a flea bath.
As an aside, I've come to the conclusion that no-one can survive having a statue made of them - no-one.
Yeah, and that's why I keep saying you have to distinguish the person from the values the statue commemorates.
I humbly suggest and invite you to visit the Oglala-Lakota College in Kyle, SD, on the Pine Ridge Reservation. You will find the people welcoming and generous, striving to preserve their language and traditions, raising up future educators to teach in the reservation schools, and developing their students’ intellect and skills needed to lift the community out of its crushing poverty.
I was told by one of the college’s professors on my second visit that ‘The first time you visit, you are considered a guest; the second, a friend; and, the third, family.’
In half as many visits as you have made to Mt Rushmore, you could gain another family you never dreamed you could have. 💗
I spent time on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations when I was a little girl in the 60’s. My father was an auditor and he would audit the schools. Our family attended a big pow wow on our way to the Hills one summer. Truly my issue with the Lakota is more historical then current. Gemma Lockhart was the governor of Girls State the year I attended. I believe that she was the first Lakota governor of Girls State.
I no longer live close enough to visit
That’s a wonderful memory, Jeene, and great experience, especially for a child. My daughter accompanied me on my visits to the college’s graduation ceremonies. She was 12 years old at the time of our first visit and was warmly embraced by the community’s children and made friends right away. At the end of our stay, she was given gifts which she still treasures today, and she just passed her 40th birthday!
But what about your grandfather's legacy? You say the movement to depopulate the upper Great Plains was an act of arrogance, yet it's no less arrogant than your great grandfather claiming land that was not rightfully his. Part of the issue is the fact that families moved onto land that was ripped away from entire populations of indigenous peoples and parcelled out to pioneers. For centuries, indigenous peoples have been shunted about the Americas, from Canada to the top of South America by white Europeans who believe they have the right to conquer and seize property simply because they are white and Christian. And look, my family too, on both sides, came to the colonies in the early days, settled on lands that did not belong to them and were, frankly, probably guilty of the many crimes associated with colonialism. And they, too, fought in the Revolutionary War. That fact I am very proud of. But I don't take pride in knowing that my ancestors were part of a movement to forcefully displace people from their lands. If we spend our lives saying, "But what about my grandfather, what about my aunt? And not once acknowledge the fact that the successful lives they built destroyed the lives of countless others, We Will Never Learn. Your grandfather's family came from Central Europe because they felt pushed out of their homeland and had to find some place to live where they did not feel compromised. Why was their right to live a healthy, prosperous life more important than the lives displaced by westward expansion? As for Mount Rushmore, it is part of the National Park system on land seized from the Lakota. As an adult in my 60s who, over the years, has learned how that monument came about I'm disinclined to hold it in reverence. It's just another example of white arrogance crafted by a white racist.
Tip of South America, not top. Damn autocorrect.
I state the seizure of property in the present tense because it is still happening today throughout the Americas.
Thank you for the history. Though I have visited Mount Rushmore, there is much I didn't know, or have forgotten. The nearby Crazy Horse Memorial is also relevant to today's discussions of monuments and who gets to establish them, and who decides to take them down. I saw Crazy Horse in 1993 and am surprised that it has not progressed very much, as shown on the website, but it's still amazing. Numerous descendants of the original sculptor (white man from New England) are still working on it. Maybe it should always be a work in progress, like America.
Well, the CH monument is deeply problematic for its own reasons. CH himself insisted on never having an image made of himself because he thought it was sacrilege and that he and the land were one. So I cringe at that commandeering of his image. And then there is the fact that many observers-- including Lakotas-- are quite suspicious of how much money is disappearing into the project without much being accomplished. And, as I recall, the building is dominated by a single family.... Lots going on with this.
When the Lakota and their supporters invoke their sacred rights to the Black Hills, it usually isn’t noted that they weren’t there from time immemorial, at least not permanently; in the 18th century they pushed other tribes, notably the Cheyenne and the Crow, out of the Black Hills before making it their own and declaring it sacred to them. Not that this justifies what the US government later did or allowed to be done to the Lakota, but it’s worth remembering that in history not all victims are pure and innocent (peoples such as the Cherokee of the Trail of Tears come a lot closer.)
There is a more complicated idea behind this comment: to treat people equally, you must fully acknowledge their humanity, and that means their own ability to do bad as well as good. That seems to me key to understanding society... but it is a terribly hard line to take in the US, when history has become such a political football. Indeed, what you write here is accurate... and Trump supporters are using it to suggest the Lakotas have no rights. It's a terribly fine line to walk as a historian. (Just a comment. Not an argument.)
If you have never read The Heart of Everything That Is, about Red Cloud, I highly recommend it. It is a book that tells you there is so much you don’t know that you don’t know. Similarly, Killers of the Flower Moon. People do not need to be saints to deserve our respect or for us to honor our treaties.
Of course. And I have read The Heart of Everything That Is. Red Cloud, a truly great historical figure, was of course born long after the aggressive Lakota takeover of the Black Hills, and can hardly be blamed or held personally accountable for it.
And I’ve read Flower Moon. What white male arrogance!
This "taking" by the Lakota was glossed over in the narrative, but keep in mind that the white man pushed Native Americans farther west each year and forced the tribes in many instances to fight each other for land. Before the white man arrived, territories were settled for thousands of years.
Of Course the Cherokees also apparently pushed the Shawnee out of their lands and into the Northwest territory of OH and IN.....
This "taking" by the Lakota was glossed over in the narrative, but keep in mind that the white man pushed Native Americans farther west each year and forced the tribes in many instances to fight each other for land. Before the white man arrived, territories were settled for thousands of years.
First of all, thank you Heather for this walk through history.
When I read 45’s speech at Mt Rushmore on July 3, it struck such fear in my heart that I had tears running down my face. He rose to an entirely new level of hatred, and the only thing I could see was Hitler’s face. He is both figuratively and literally dividing and tearing this country apart, pitting neighbor against neighbor, and family members against each other. I am truly frightened.
Heather, Trump isn't crafting and scripting his propaganda and these abhorrrent "shows". Who is? Who are the producers? Miller? Who and what institutions are the cabal propping Trump up?
Miller was almost certainly behind that speech. But there is still a lot of Bannon here, too. And I think I see certain autocrats, as well as a general predisposition toward autocracy in Trump and his circle.