National embarrassment, national tragedy

April 17, 2007

Celebrate the hero, please.

He survived the Holocaust, arrested by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp to die — he survived, instead. He survived the Communists, refusing to bow to demands he join the Communist party in post-war Romania; though a good engineer, his career was short-circuited by his stand on principle. He finally escaped Romania in 1978, emigrated to Israel, and then took a sabbatical to teach engineering at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. And he stayed on.

Yesterday, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, Liviu Librescu used his own body to jam the doors into his classroom, yelled at his students to leave through the windows, and gave up his life to a depressed kid bent on murder. Prof. Librescu was 76 years old. He was the oldest victim, and a hero.

Survived the Nazis, survived the communists. Died to the excesses of the Second Amendment and a culture that seems to create enough disturbed people to make mass murder a serious problem, not a rare event. Librescu was already a hero. It’s embarrassing he had to rise to heroic actions to protect his students. It’s embarrassing to us that he died the victim of an act of senseless violence.

It’s a national embarrassment. Survived the Nazis. Survived the communists. Killed by an out-of-control student with a gun in the U.S.

It’s a national embarrassment. What are we going to do about it?

12 Comments | Current History, Freedom - Political, Heroes, History, Holocaust, Leadership, War, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Quote of the Moment: Kurt Vonnegut

April 12, 2007

Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time.

— Kurt Vonnegut, opening of chapter 2 of Slaughterhouse Five, the start of the Billy Pilgrim story.

Leave a Comment » | Books, Good Quotes, War, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

And so it goes: Kurt Vonnegut dead

April 12, 2007

Kurt Vonnegut, smiling

Kurt Vonnegut

How teachers should address World War II in high school history classes continues to vex me, and others, too, I suppose. First is the problem that we have more than six decades of history after the war to cover in history classes, a problem my teachers didn’t have, or ignored.

More difficult is the connecting of the war to later events. Tom Brokaw’s book, The Greatest Generation, argues a strong case that America is better because of the of work of the people who survived the war, especially the veterans. But often I’ve thought that a simple recounting of history cannot adequately cover the struggle with existence and its meaning that so changed the world after the war, especially for veterans who saw combat. Kids ask why we didn’t just negotiate with the communists to end the Cold War, and why the Marshall Plan could even exist. Why build tract homes, and get an education?

Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five provided some of the best answers to those questions, which is to say that the answers themselves lack clarity, and confuse. I wish students could read it just before we cover the Battle of the Bulge in a couple of classroom sessions, both to understand and empathize with the soldiers in the battle, and to understand how much that battle and the end of the war shaped events of the 1950s and Cold War.

Billy Pilgrim came unstuck in time, but was stuck forever with history, by history, remembering history in some cases even before it happened. Billy Pilgrim knew Santayana and Santayana’s ghost at the same time. Pilgrim, and Vonnegut, appeared to understand how hopeless life can be, but found reason to plod on anyway. There is hope at the bottom of Vonnegut’s work, or the hope that hope might be found just around the corner.

Vonnegut died yesterday.

The New York Times piece on Vonnegut informs and tells why people liked him personally. The Boston Globe’s article is shorter (I include it because the paper serves areas where he lived and worked). The Indianapolis Star story by Christopher Lloyd shines as a good example of home-town journalism, and may be the best one for use in high school classes. (My recollection is that all three links will die in a week, so go quickly!)

Note, November 24, 2012:  Interesting meditation on Vonnegut, on the anniversary of his birth, at the Automat; worth the read, you’ll see.

1 Comment | Cold War, History, Pedagogy, Teaching, Textbooks, War, World War II | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Tuskegee Airmen medal ceremony set for March 29

March 23, 2007

Tuskegee Airmen in Europe, Library of Congress photo

Congress voted to award the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor to the Tuskegee Airmen as a group. The ceremony is set for Washington, D.C., in the Capitol Rotunda, for March 29, 2007.

This is another great story of Americans, otherwise held down in their daily life, who rise to meet a monstrous challenge. They not only met the challenge but achieved a degree of triumph beyond what anyone had hoped. The story is a natural segue to the post World War II civil rights movement, and it fits nicely into studies of the war or studies of civil rights. News items around the time of the ceremony should update the history of the Tuskegee Airmen and provide good photos for classroom presentations.

“It’s sort of an open validation of the Tuskegee Airmen, that we fought stereotypes, overcame them and prevailed,” said Roscoe Brown, an 85-year-old Riverdale, N.Y., resident who graduated from the Tuskegee program in 1944. “This is the ultimate when your nation recognizes you.”

The gold medal, equivalent to the Presidential Medal of Freedom, is awarded to individuals or groups for singular acts of exceptional service and for lifetime achievement. The Tuskegee fliers will join a distinguished group of recipients that includes George Washington, Winston Churchill, Rosa Parks, the Wright brothers and former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., introduced identical bills in the House of Representatives and the Senate in 2005 to give the airmen the congressional medal. The Senate bill passed in October 2005 and the House followed in February 2006. President Bush signed the bill into law last April.

It is also a story of racism and bureaucratic bungling delaying appropriate recognition to heroes for 60 years.

Lee Archer, 87, of New Rochelle, is America’s first black flying ace.

“It shows the country is trying to right an old wrong,” Archer said. “I never thought we would get it, but we would have done it without any recognition … . My family is very excited. I am, too.”

Of the 994 black aviators who got their training at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama beginning in 1942, fewer than 385 are still alive. On March 4, Edgar L. Bolden, 85, who trained at Tuskegee and flew P-47s, died in Portland, Ore.

More information:

Tip of the old scrub brush to Resist Racism.

Leave a Comment » | Civil Rights, Current History, Curricula, Freedom - Political, Heroes, History, Leadership, Patriotism, War, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Nimitz party follow-up

February 25, 2007

So, how was the party in Fredricksburg?  Admiral Nimitz did not put in an appearance, from all accounts.

Can you imagine some of the possibilities for study in small groups at the National Museum of the Pacific War?

Among other things, the Nimitz Hotel has been renovated (founded by Adm. Nimitz’s grandfather).

What’s there?

The site has grown into a 34,000-square-foot site featuring indoor exhibit space. Located on six acres now, the center includes the George Bush Gallery, the Admiral Nimitz Museum, the Plaza of the Presidents, the Veterans’ Walk of Honor and Memorial Wall, the Japanese Garden of Peace, the Pacific Combat Zone and the Center for Pacific War Studies.

With the conclusion of this large renovation project that began in 2004, museum coordinators are turning their attentions to another big project. An additional 40,000-square-foot expansion is planned in the future, with ground-breaking set this spring.

I can’t find, but I hope that, the renovations include space for scholars to study, and especially for high school students to learn.  Austin-area high schools would be lining up to make overnight field trips — but for the restrictions put on teaching and learning by Texas’ testing system, the limiting list of Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), and the test, the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) .

Maybe teacher training.  Liberty Fund?  Bill of Rights Institute?  Are you guys watching this?

Leave a Comment » | Atomic Bomb, Famous Battles, History, Japanese American internment, Research, TAKS, TEKS, Texas, Travel, War, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Eugene, Oregon’s Japanese internment memorial

February 22, 2007

11th grade history courses should be finishing up with World War II about now. If the course covered the material planned, it included a discussion of the internment of Japanese-Americans in the U.S. during World War II. The discussion should have included questions about whether the internment was just, and whether the reparations paid and apology made later by the U.S. government adequately compensated the victim internees.

Eugene, Oregon, hosted a “civic control station” where Japanese-Americans were forced to register. Most were later sent to internment camps — from Oregon, many were sent to Tule Lake, California. Oregonians, especially those who were interned and their families, are working to honor the internees and pass on the stories of the events. They want to highlight the fact that many of the interned citizens served gallantly during the war.

A memorial is being built in Eugene, featuring a statue of a young Japanese American girl sitting atop her luggage on the way to internment, reaching for a butterfly.

Below the fold I copy the editorial from the Eugene Register-Guard about the memorial — I’ve taken the liberty of copying the entire piece, as well as including a link (free subscription required). If the Register-Guard wishes I not promote their work this way, they know where to find me. It’s a good editorial on important issues, and it deserves broader circulation and preservation.

Read the rest of this entry »

10 Comments | Civil Rights, History, Japanese American internment, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Happy Birthday, Chester Nimitz!

February 18, 2007

Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN Oil on canvas, 46.5

Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN Oil on canvas, 46.5″ x 30″, by Adrian Lamb, 1960. via Wikipedia

“Chester William Nimitz was born on 24 February 1885, near a quaint hotel in Fredericksburg, Texas built by his grandfather, Charles Nimitz, a retired sea captain.” (Courtesy of the Naval Historical Center).

In honor of his birthday, the Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg reopens after a three-year renovation, on Sunday, February 25, 2007. The museum is formally known as the National Museum of the Pacific War.

The ceremony begins at 1:30, Sunday February 25 at the museum. Keynote speaker is retired General Michael Hagee, 33rd commandant of the Marine Corps. Others responsible for seeing the renovations to fruition will also be in attendance. You’re invited, too.

Nimitz was Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas, during World War II. When he accepted the surrender of Japan aboard the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay in 1945, he was the first to hold the newly-created rank of Fleet Admiral. Read the rest of this entry »

3 Comments | Atomic Bomb, History, History museums, Lesson plans, Student projects, TEKS, Texas, Travel, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Quote of the Day: FDR’s Four Freedoms

January 24, 2007

Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered the State of the Union speech for 1941 on January 6.  Eleven months and one day later, Japan attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii. I have been fascinated by Roosevelt’s clear statement of the freedoms he thought worth fighting for, especially considering that most Americans at that moment did not consider it desirable or probable that the U.S. would get involved in the war that raged across the Pacific and Atlantic.

FDR and Churchill, August 9, 1941, aboard U.S.S. Augusta

Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, August 9, 1941; aboard the U.S.S. Augusta, in the Atlantic. Library of Congress.

Here is an excerpt of the speech, the final few paragraphs:

I have called for personal sacrifice, and I am assured of the willingness of almost all Americans to respond to that call. A part of the sacrifice means the payment of more money in taxes. In my budget message I will recommend that a greater portion of this great defense program be paid for from taxation than we are paying for today. No person should try, or be allowed to get rich out of the program, and the principle of tax payments in accordance with ability to pay should be constantly before our eyes to guide our legislation.

If the Congress maintains these principles the voters, putting patriotism ahead of pocketbooks, will give you their applause. Read the rest of this entry »

11 Comments | 1941-1945, Accuracy, Famous quotes, Franklin Roosevelt, Free speech, Freedom - Economic, Freedom - Political, Good Quotes, History, Lesson plans, Presidents, Quotes, Religious Freedom, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Atomic war “Doomsday Clock” moved two minutes closer to midnight

January 18, 2007

Doomsday clock logo from Bulletin of Atomic ScientistsThe Doomsday Clock on the cover of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has been ticked ahead two minutes, to show five minutes to midnight — a reflection of how close the world is to destruction by nuclear war.

Except, this time it’s not just nuclear weapons exchanges that figure into the ticking of the Doomsday timepiece: Climatic change is also considered.

“Not since the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has the world faced such perilous choices,” she [executive director Kennette Benedict] said. “North Korea’s recent test of a nuclear weapon, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, a renewed emphasis on the military utility of nuclear weapons, the failure to adequately secure nuclear materials, and the continued presence of some 26,000 nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia, are symptomatic of a failure to solve the problems posed by some the most destructive technology on Earth.”

She said this time, nuclear annihilation is not the scientists’ only concern.

“The dangers posed by climate change are nearly as dire as those posed by nuclear weapons,” she added. “The effects may be less dramatic in the short term, than the destruction that could be wrought by nuclear explosions, but over the next three to four decades, climate change could cause irremediable harm to the habitats upon which human societies depend for survival.”

Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments | Atomic Bomb, Cold War, Harry Truman, Nuclear weapons, Peace, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Sources for Japanese internment history

December 14, 2006

A reader graciously pointed the way to a very good source of information about the Japanese internment, especially on video, in comments to my earlier post about the book on Dorothea Lange’s photos of internment events.

Shay Witt suggested we look to the Japanese American National Museum.  In addition to exhibits, the museum store offers several VHS and DVD products that should be good for classroom use.  Witt specifically mentioned the award-winning documentary “Something Strong Within.”  That film is now available on DVD, in a compilation disc.

Tests tend to show that students are unfamiliar with this history.  It is particularly salient today, with our nation once again at war and imprisoning people unaccused of any particular acts.

Leave a Comment » | Civil Rights, History, Japanese American internment, Lesson plans, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Holocaust denial conference in Tehran

December 12, 2006

Some subjects do not lend themselves well to parody.  Either the subject is itself so repulsive that parody is unsavory, or it is impossible to tell parody from reality because the reality is so bizarre.  As Mark Twain noted, fiction writing is more difficult because it must stick to possibilities, while non-fiction doesn’t.  As Dave Barry noted, “I can’t make this stuff up.”

Tehran, Iran, is hosting a Holocaust denial conference. 

“Revisionist fringe,” says the headline in the online Independent.   Analysis from The Jerusalem Post says it’s mainly the same old stuff, including the denials that the denial of the Holocaust is anti-Semitic.  Iranian students protested the stuff — so often it is the students who seriously read history, now, who see what is going on and what is wrong with it — but the story from the online Times of London also carries the photo of the fringe ultra-orthodox Jewish group who showed up at the conference just to voice their opposition to the creation of Israel.  A sub-headline in the Times  is “‘Nazis and racists’ gather in Tehran.”

One would be much more comfortable were there a floating picture of MAD Magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman coming across these stories on-line.  But it’s not humor, it’s not parody.  It’s really happening.

The ghost of Santayana rests uneasily today.

4 Comments | Bogus history, Holocaust, Holocaust denial, Voodoo history, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Pearl Harbor, 65 years ago today

December 7, 2006

1941 AP file photo, small boat rescues victims from U.S.S. West Virginia

Associated Press 1941 file photo of a small boat assisting in rescue of Pearl Harbor attack victims, near the U.S.S. West Virginia, as the ship burns.

Today is the 65th anniversary of Japan’s attack on the U.S.’s Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Our local newspaper, The Dallas Morning News, has a front-page story on survivors of the attack, who have met every five years in reunion at Pearl Harbor. Today will be their last official reunion. The 18-year-olds who suffered the attack, many on their first trips away from home, are in their 80s now. Age makes future reunions impractical.

From the article:

“We’re like the dodo bird. We’re almost extinct,” said Middlesworth, now an 83-year-old retiree from Upland, Calif., but then – on Dec. 7, 1941 – an 18-year-old Marine on the USS San Francisco.

Nearly 500 survivors from across the nation were expected to make the trip to Hawaii, bringing with them 1,300 family members, numerous wheelchairs and too many haunting memories.

Memories of a shocking, two-hour aerial raid that destroyed or heavily damaged 21 ships and 320 aircraft, that killed 2,390 people and wounded 1,178 others, that plunged the United States into World War II and set in motion the events that led to atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

“I suspect not many people have thought about this, but we’re witnessing history,” said Daniel Martinez, chief historian at the USS Arizona Memorial. “We are seeing the passing of a generation.”

Another article notes the work of retired history professor Ron Marcello from the University of North Texas, in Denton, in creating oral histories from more than 350 of the survivors. This is the sort of project that high school history students could do well, and from which they would learn, and from which the nation would benefit. If you have World War II veterans in your town, encourage the high school history classes to go interview the people. This opportunity will not be available forever.

There is much to be learned, Dr. Marcello said:

Dr. Marcello said that in doing the World War II history project, he learned several common themes among soldiers.

“When they get into battle, they don’t do it because of patriotism, love of country or any of that. It’s about survival, doing your job and not letting down your comrades,” he said. “I heard that over and over.”

Another theme among soldiers is the progression of their fear.

“When they first got into combat, their first thought is ‘It’s not going to happen to me.’ The next thought is ‘It might happen to me,’ and the last thought is ‘I’m living on borrowed time. I hope this is over soon,’ ” Dr. Marcello said.

Dr. Marcello said the collection started in the early 1960s. He took charge of it in 1968. Since Dr. Marcello has retired, Todd Moye has taken over as the director.

Other sources:

While this is not one of the usual dates listed by Congress, you may fly your U.S. flag today.

7 Comments | Current History, History, Lesson plans, War, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Carnival of History #43

November 15, 2006

History Carnival 43 is up at Axis of Evel Knievel.  Well, over there they call it “History Carnival XLIII,” but there’s not much Roman history involved.

Without pointing to too many posts, let me just urge you to go take a look.  The Carnival lists many good posts, listing history and talking about history.  You’ll do well to see for yourself.

I also want to thank D at the Axis of Evel Knievel for the link to the post on this blog about the newly released collection of Dorothea Lange’s photos of the Japanese internment in the U.S. during World War II.  The book, and the issue, deserve a wide audience.  Especially among Texas high school kids, whose tests show they need to know more about the Japanese internment, and World War II in general.  Especially, they need to know more before they march off to war, or march off to court to defend systems that allow our government to summarily imprison people who are otherwise peaceful.

Leave a Comment » | History, Japanese American internment, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Lange photos of Japanese internment show a different light

November 7, 2006

Unpublished photos of the internment of U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry during World War II were found in the National Archives.

Japanese Americans line up at Tanforan Assembly Center

Dorothea Lange took the photos, but they were forgotten in the archives — they did not show the view that the government wanted to be shown, some speculate, and so were not widely disseminated.

The pictures are being published for the first time, in Impounded:  Dorothea Lange and the Censored Images of Japanese American Internment (W. W. Norton).

The New York Times carried some of the photos and a story about the book.

Lange, who died in 1965, showed families who had abandoned their homes and property. Because they couldn’t bring their belongings with them, they were often forced to sell them to speculators at reduced prices. In harrowing images that uncomfortably echo the Nazi round-ups of Jews in Europe, Lange’s photographs document long, weaving lines of well-dressed people, numbered tags around their necks, patiently waiting to be processed and sent to unknown destinations.

“There is no way to really know how much they lost,” Mr. Okihiro said in an interview, but he cited a 1983 study commissioned by a Congressional committee estimating that, adjusted for inflation and interest, internees had lost $2.5 billion to $6.2 billion in property and entitlements. Mr. Okihiro writes that one man, Ichiro Shimoda, was so distraught he tried to commit suicide by biting off his own tongue. When that failed, he tried to asphyxiate himself. Finally he climbed a camp fence, and a guard shot him to death.

Another man, Kokubo Takara, died after being forced to stand in line in the rain as a disciplinary measure at Sand Island in Hawaii. At assembly points in Hawaii, Mr. Okihiro writes, some detainees were forced to strip naked and had their body cavities searched.

Upon arrival at the assembly centers — including the Tanforan Assembly Center in San Bruno, Calif., a former racetrack — the internees passed through two lines of soldiers with bayonets trained on them. Lange was not allowed to photograph the soldiers, but she did manage some stark images of the horse stalls where the families lived, pictures that are included in the book.

18 Comments | Bill of Rights, Civil Rights, History, Japanese American internment, Patriotism, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Flags of Our Fathers — movie released October 20

October 16, 2006

Clint Eastwood’s movie based on James Brady’s book about his father and World War II, Flags of Our Fathers, will be released on October 20. This blog’s post on photographer Joe Rosenthal’s death a few weeks ago has been one of the most sought after, searched-for and read posts.

This movie release provides excellent opportunities for history teachers. Will we be able to take full advantage?

Here’s the website for the movie.

1 Comment | Flag etiquette, History, History video sources, Lesson plans, Patriotism, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

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