Aldous Huxley famously said, “That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.” In times of war and domestic turmoil, leaders are judged, often harshly, on how they reacted under stress, and looking back sometimes provides a window on current events.
A spate of holiday releases covering history from the founding of the American political system to the Korean War to a failed presidency relates, directly or obliquely, to today’s political climate.
Pulitzer Prize winners David Halberstam and Joseph J. Ellis and others take a broader look at the effects of decisions, some made 200 years ago, that continue to echo in contemporary life.
The more things change, etc. For example, in “The Coldest Winter,” Halberstam’s unblinking analysis of the Korean War and blunders committed there by military leaders, he notes that America still uses military means for its political ends (see Iraq).
Here’s a sampling:
“The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War,” by David Halberstam, $35. The late David Halberstam’s last gift to the world should make the Korean War “forgotten” no more. “The Coldest Winter,” completed shortly before his death in an automobile accident in April, reflects the futility of modern wars — the parallels among Korea, Vietnam and Iraq are unmistakable — and the courage of those fighting those wars on the ground.
Halberstam does his usual precise job of telling in grand ways how miserable it was for the soldiers (See “The Best and the Brightest”), but he also links the fighting to the political turmoil (MacArthur vs. Truman) and the ineptitude of military leaders who vastly underrated the strength and abilities of Chinese troops pouring across the border into North Korea.
The stalemate after the deaths of 33,000 U.S. troops, echoes through world politics today, where American leaders exercise military means for political ends.
“Write It When I’m Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations With Gerald R. Ford,” by Thomas M. DeFrank, $25.95, and “Richard M. Nixon: A Life in Full,” by Conrad Black, $40. Two views of two very different men and their time in the Oval Office. Thomas DeFrank calls on 32 years of covering the White House and his friendship with Gerald Ford to paint a picture of a decent Middle American thrust into the limelight of one of the worst periods in the country’s history.
Surprisingly, despite many off- the-cuff, stinging remarks about Nixon — made to DeFrank with the promise that they wouldn’t be made public until after Ford’s death — Ford saves his greatest enmity for John Dean, who helped bring Nixon down. In Ford’s view, he was “a self-seeking, ambitious smarty.”
In “Richard M. Nixon,” Black takes a whopping 1,059 pages to cover Nixon from birth to death. It is smartly written, backed up with copious footnotes and research but is probably more than the average reader wants to know about the only president to resign the office.
In Black’s view, it was those around him who led to Nixon’s downfall. He doesn’t come right out and say he thinks Nixon got a raw deal, but he comes pretty close, praising him for his abilities in foreign affairs and lauding his “exqusite dignity” on the day he quit and made his farewell with that theatrical double-V sign from the steps of the helicopter.
“American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic,” by Joseph J. Ellis, $26.95. It was American ideals, not the larger-than-life Founding Fathers, that made the Revolution a success, argues Ellis, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his “Founding Brothers.” He maintains that Adams, Jefferson, Washington, et al were neither supermen nor demi-gods, only mortals with all the pluses and minuses of all of us.
In a breezy, readable fashion, Ellis points out the Founding Fathers’ blunders, including the failure to deal with the issues of slavery, women’s suffrage and treatment of American Indians. Public issues are interesting but the backbiting and animosity among those who shaped the country are equally as fascinating, and human.
“America 1908,” by John Rasenberger, $27. “Pivotal moments” in history are plentiful, but Rasenberger argues that 1908 was the year the world changed for America. The mood in the country was “bigger, better, faster”; the future so bright we had to wear shades.
The Wright brothers launched the era of flight with their first public demonstration of their small craft; the automobile took over our lives with the introduction of the Model T Ford; America flexed its military muscle with a world tour by the Great White Fleet, and thousand flocked to see electric light illuminate New York City on New Year’s Eve. In fact, reasons Rasenberger, life 100 years ago wasn’t that different from today.
“Breaking News,” by reporters of The Associated Press, $35. Since the Civil War, The Associated Press has been the eyes and ears for news junkies. It’s estimated a billion people a day rely on the AP for news coverage. “Breaking News” is a fast-paced look, with photographs, at what it takes to cover the world.
Dick Kreck is a former longtime staff writer at The Denver Post.
