General musings

I keep seeing advertisements for Norwich University’s on-line Master of Arts in Military History in all of the Civil War publications. Norwich is very much like VMI or the Citadel–it has a long and glorious history of training citizen-soldiers for the United States Army.

I am keenly aware that I do not have any academic background in history. I have not had a formal history class since the tenth grade, meaning that I am entirely self-taught. As I said, I am keenly aware of my lack of academic training in my chosen field of pursuit, and I often feel inadequate about it. I think it’s because I don’t much care for being described as an amateur historian.

I had a good long look at Norwich’s program tonight, as I’ve been curious about it. All but the last week of the program is done on line, though distance learning technology (which has really come a LONG way). The degree track is 36 credits, to be completed over 18-24 months, with a capstone project to be done at Norwich’s Vermont campus. I wasn’t particularly impressd with the course selections. They’re pretty much all survery courses with no opportunity to really hone in on a particular area of study or pursuit, and that surprised me. There are a lot of theoretical courses that simply don’t hold much interest for me.

It thus becomes a two-fold question: is it worth the investment of (a) time and (b) money? I already have three degrees. I don’t talk about it much, but I already do have a master’s degree, in international affairs, with a concentration in international security studies. I actually did a four-year dual degree program with law school. I therefore don’t feel a compelling need to get another degree just for the sake of getting another degree. It therefore has to be worth my while for me to really consider it. There’s also the fact that come June, it will be 20 years since I got my two advanced degrees, and it would really take a major adjustment to get me back into the swing of being a student again all these many years later.

I took a good look at the curriculum, the expense, and the time investment required and ultimately came to the conclusion that it’s just not worth pursuing for me. I have so little free time as it is that I can’t get too fired up about investing 15-20 hours per week of time that I really don’t have into a degree that ultimately has little utility for me and which won’t really do much to make money for me. In addition, the nature of my job is such that really busy times come in waves and are often impossible to predict. As set forth above, the curriculum really didn’t much excite me, and I can’t really justify the financial investment.

I have, therefore, come to the conclusion that this is not for me. It may very well be worth it for some, but for me, it’s just not. I am glad, though, that I indulged my curiosity and took the time to check it out. At least now I know what’s involved and have satisfied myself it’s not for me. And there is value in that.

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I hate El Nino. It means that, while the weather here is mild in the winter time, it’s a soggy mess.

In the past fifteen days, we’ve had 4.3 inches of rain here in Central Ohio. That on top of the second or third wettest fall on record, and the wettest December ever. There is river and small stream flooding all over the state as a consequence of all the rain and nowhere for the water to go. Needless to say, my back yard, which does not drain well under the best of conditions, is a bottomless sea of muck.

Aurora is a year old today, and she has all of the youthful exuberance of any puppy. She loves to run and play, and she particularly loves running in the back yard. The problem with that is that golden retriever puppy + thick mud = incredible mess. And, the ground is so saturated that every time that she goes out, she comes back a muddy mess, even when she just goes out, does her business and comes right back. Mix in Nero, who is two years old and equally exuberant, and it makes for a hell of a mess.

On Saturday, she had to have six baths. On Sunday, it was another six. We spent all day, both days, bathing dogs, doing loads of towels, and mopping floors. Needless to say, it was NO fun. I’m not sure my back has yet forgiven me, and Susan’s knee just loves it, as you can imagine.

Tonight, we are celebrating. It’s going to go down to 17 here tonight and stay cold for at least a week. That means that the mud bog will freeze solid, and hopefully stay that way for a few days. I never thought I would be so happy to see really cold weather in my life. 🙂

I hate El Nino. And I REALLY hate mud.

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A certain right-wing knuckle dragging Fascist decided to take a personal shot at me in the comments to this blog because he doesn’t like my politics. Disagree with me all you want and engage me in a dialogue, but don’t take personal shots at me because you think I’m wrong. That’s not acceptable, and I won’t have it. I told him that in an e-mail, and the response was to call me an anti-American leftist because I happen to disagree with this Administration’s policies pretty vigorously. When I responded to him, his latest was to say, “So, along with being anti-American you are a hypocrite.” Nice, huh? Classy, obviously well-thought out, and so eloquent to boot.

In response, I will permit one of the five greatest American presidents–and a Republican, I might add–to speak for me. These are Theodore Roosevelt’s words, not mine:

The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.

And then, there’s this, by no less than Thomas Jefferson:

God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. … What country before ever existed a century and half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.

Letter to William Stevens Smith (November 13, 1787), quoted in Padover’s Jefferson On Democracy.

Where I sit, there’s really nothing more that needs to be said.

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I just watched Skippy’s lame-ass justification for his failed Iraq war and policy.

Let’s recap, shall we?

We’re going to send another 21,000 troops over there, thereby escalating the war in the hope of imposing our definition of democracy and settling a civil war through military means, propping up a puppet government that has no popular support along the way (never mind that with an all-volunteer army that’s already stretched too thin, we’re really jeopardizing our national security in order to pursue a failed policy)….

We’re going to spend zillions of dollars trying to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people by trying to give them jobs when this is about political power and revenge for years of abuse at the hands of the ruling majority…in other words, the hearts and minds can’t be won…..

Many of the generals continue to think that there is a military solution to a civil war that this country is not a party to….

The U. S. government continues to fail to realize that it is, in fact, a civil war, and not an “us versus them” threat to U. S. national security, and that if we fail in Iraq, the rest of the dominoes in the Muslim world will fall to the Communists….oops, I mean Islamic terrorists….

The president has just gambled his presidency on an ill-advised and ultimately doomed military fiasco in the mistaken belief that political and sectarian differences can be settled militarily and that the people will welcome democracy with open arms….

Oh, my God….I just realized that it’s 1965 all over again!!!!

And the outcome is destined to be just the same as it was then….just like in 1965, we’re going to feed lots of fresh meat into the meat grinder, all but wrecking the U. S. military and economy in the process, and for what?

Who says history doesn’t repeat itself?

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose–the more things change, the more they remain the same…..

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In 1981, while looking for something to read that I could take with me to the summer camp where I spent the summer as a counselor, I discovered a series of three paperback books called “The Brotherhood of War” by W. E. B. Griffin. Telling the story of the U. S. Army in the North African and European Theatres of World War II and some of the fighting in Korea, these novels were riveting, and I gobbled them up. Griffin is veteran of the Korean War, and has to be close to 80. His son co-authored one of his recent titles, and is apparently being groomed to carry the torch when the father’s time comes. Hopefully, the son will do a better job of it than Jeff Shaara has done with his father’s legacy.

Before long, I was completely hooked. Whenever a new Griffin novel was published, I bought it and read it, usually to the exclusion of anything else I happened to be reading. The books are extremely formulaic: strong character development, lots of manly men getting lots of manly sex and doing lots of manly things. The good guys always prevail. It’s like book crack. It’s addictive and I can’t put it down. Griffin–a pen name; his real name is William E. Butterworth, III (hence the W.E.B.)–has published close to 40 novels in six different series. Five of the six deal with military topics. The sixth deals with Philadelphia police detectives. I have read every single one of his books in the five series of military-related books.

While at Costco today, I noticed a brand-new Griffin title, and I had to buy it. It’s sitting in the kitchen calling my name. I guess it’s time to indulge one of my very favorite guilty pleasures…..

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I hope everyone enjoyed a safe and enjoyable New Year’s Eve last night. With Susan not yet a month post-surgical, we kept it pretty calm and pretty quiet.

2006 was quite a year, both for me and for this country. On the national front, the electorate spoke and did something about trying to put the brakes on the dictatorial presidency. Don Rumsfeld finally resigned. And hopefully, George W. Bush realized that things get pretty lonely out there on the fringes.

As for me, 2006 was an unprecedented year. I changed jobs, hopefully bettering my lot in life. I had three books published this year, all to critical acclaim. One of them fulfilled a twelve year labor of love that I can only hope did the boys of the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry justice. Another was the fulfillment of my own need to study and learn about an obscure battle about which little has been written. The third marks my successful and enjoyable collaboration with J. D. Petruzzi, the first what will, I’m sure, be many similar projects. We had a front-cover article published in Civil War Times and our book was the featured review in America’s Civil War. All things considered, it was a really remarkable year.

It was a year in which not a lot of really good Civil War books were published, but a fair amount of really mediocre stuff was. I can only hope that’s a temporary situation and not a permanent one. The volume of good new works on the Civil War seems to be decreasing, and that this changes dramatically in 2007. If not, our beloved field of pursuit and interest is in trouble.

2007 will not lead to the publication of anywhere close to the volume of material that was published in 2006. I will have an article in the next issue of North & South, which was actually written about six years ago, and which has been awaiting publication ever since, as well as an article by J. D. and me in the next issue of Gettysburg Magazine. Hopefully, I will finish up Dahlgren and move on, but don’t expect another burst of books from me in 2007, because it won’t happen.

I have only made one resolution this year: not to make a resolution. Other than that, I’m just going to take things as they come.

Again, Susan joins me in wishing all of you a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2007.

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Susan joins me in wishing each of you a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2007. Let’s hope that it’s a better year than 2006.

2007 brings us one year closer to being rid of Skippy Bush, and hopefully, the troops will be coming home in 2007. They never had any business being in Iraq, and it’s time to bring them home.

Eric

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John F. Kennedy was president of the United States when I was born in March 1961.  I was 2 1/2 when JFK was assassinated, and I have no memories of him at all, other than a very vague recollection of seeing his body being carried on a horse-drawn caisson on his way to his final resting place at Arlington National Cemetery.  I was 7 when Lyndon Johnson left office.  I have some memories of LBJ, most notably his big ears and Texas drawl.  Most of those memories are associated with the space program; like most kids who grew up in the 1960’s, I was fascinated by the space program.

I have lots of memories of Nixon.  I remember the telephone call to the Apollo 11 astronauts.  I particularly remember the trip to China and the meetings with Chou en-Lai and Mao Tse Tung.  I remember the trip to Moscow and the meeting with Brezhnev.  And I remember Watergate. 

I was 13 years old on the night of August 9, 1974.  I had been following the development of the Watergate scandal with as much interest as a 13-year-old could muster, but I was always keenly aware of the importance of history.  I knew that something important–something unprecedented–was going to happen that warm summer night, and I remember sitting on the living room floor with my battery-operated cassette tape recorder, tape recording Richard M. Nixon’s resignation speech.  The next day–my father’s 54th birthday–I watched his farewell speech to his staff, and then watched him climb aboard Marine 1 to fly away. 

I then watched as Vice President Ford swore the oath of office and became the 38th President of the United States.  And I heard him declare, “Our long national nightmare is over.”  I was fifteen, not quite sixteen, when Jerry Ford left the White House 893 days after swearing that oath. 

Gerald R. Ford was a decent, honest man who stood at the threshold of history that day, the star player in the country’s greatest constitutional crisis since the Civil War.  He had never sought the office he took, and he was keenly aware of the fact that he had not been elected to it.  After the secrecy and corruption of the Nixon Administration, he was a breath of fresh air.  When he left office, he had restored faith in the presidency and in our constitution. 

Many believe he lost his re-election bid due to the controversial pardon he gave Richard Nixon.  But history has proven that Jerry Ford was right: the prosecution of the ex-president would have prevented the wounds from healing and would have perpetuated the harm done by Nixon.  What Ford did–and he understood that it would be controversial–was an act of conscience and an act of courage, and he was right.  In 1997, he was awarded a Profiles in Courage Award for his act, a recognition of how right he was.

My antipathy for Skippy Bush is well-known and need not be repeated here.  I normally wouldn’t agree with him even if he said today was Tuesday.  However, today, he got it right, and I wholeheartedly agree with him.  Ford, said Bush, was a “man of complete integrity who led our country with common sense and kind instincts” and helped restore faith in the presidency after the Watergate scandal.

I doubt that Gerald Ford will be remembered as a great president.  As Brian Dirck correctly notes, he deserves better than to be lumped in with the Chester A. Arthurs and Martin Van Burens of history.  We’ve had much worse presidents than Jerry Ford, not the least of whom is the present occupant of the White House.  At the end of the day, Gerald Ford was an honest, open, humble public servant who restored the nation’s faith in its government at a moment of unparalleled constitutional crisis.  He was a loving husband, father, and grandfather, and while he may not have been a great president, he was, in the end, a great man.  And that’s not such a bad legacy to leave behind.

Rest in peace, Mr. President.  You’ve earned it, and the love and respect of your fellow countrymen.

 

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To all of my regular readers, Susan and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a delightful Festivus to all. I hope Santa was good to all of you, and that your stockings were filled with lots of good books and no lumps of coal. 🙂

Time to go set up the aluminum pole, followed by airing of grievances, and finally, by the feats of strength…..

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Over the course of the last couple of years, I’ve been focusing my pleasure reading (what little of it there is, that is) on the colonial period and on the Revolutionary War. Having grown up in the shadow of Independence Hall, and as a political science major, I find the events leading to the founding of this Republic of ours to be irresistable. As a lawyer, the debate over the best constitutional form of government for this country intrigues me. Consequently, I made a conscious decision to learn more about the details of these events.

For months now, I’ve been working my way through Ron Chernow’s monumental and magnificent 700 page biography of Alexander Hamilton. It’s a very well written and readable book; it’s entirely my fault that it’s taken me months to get through it. I’ve one chapter to go and then it’s finally finished.

I had a basic knowledge of Hamilton’s life and some idea of his contributions to the country, largely as a result of the combination of a major in political science and my law school studies, where The Federalist Papers are required reading. However, I had no idea just how important this man really was to the development of this country.

Although his birth in the British Virgin Islands excluded him from running for president, you would be hard-pressed to find someone who played a more important role in the early days of this republic than Hamilton. It’s pretty clear that Hamilton was the first among equals in George Washington’s headquarters during the Revolution and also during Washington’s presidency. Hamilton wrote most of Washington’s speeches.

More importantly, it was Hamilton’s brilliance and incredible foresight that led to the formation of the government we have today. As the author of most of The Federalist Papers, Hamilton laid out the roadmap for our form of government. His writings also weighed heavily in the deliberations of the Constitutional Convention, and his vision for a strong central government ultimately won out. Had the Jeffersonian view prevailed, this country never could have achieved greatness. Indeed, it likely would have split into two and probably never would have grown.

The other area where Hamilton showed incredible vision was in foreseeing the modern American market economy and in putting into place the infrastructure necessary to implement it. Hamilton foresaw the stock markets and the money markets that drive the great engine of American economics.

Most interestingly, Hamilton plainly saw that the issue of slavery would have to be settled by arms or else it would tear the Union asunder. He made this prediction about 1800, long before sectional tensions really flared. I found that remarkable.

Hamilton was not without faults. He was petty and could never let anything go. He had a tendency to say too much and to be indiscreet, and his refusal to back down ultimately cost him his life. His inability to get along with people like John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe ultimately cost him his political career. His view of government and Jefferson’s view of government were so diametrically opposed that it was impossible for them to get along, and they became bitter, if not mortal, enemies. Their conflict was as fundamental as the conflict over whose view of government’s role would ultimately prevail, and the proof is in the pudding: Hamilton’s vision of government remains the standard to this day.

At the same time, he was a man of immense–almost inconceivable–restless intellect with a true gift for words. In a day when everything had to be written by hand, I challenge anyone to find someone more intensely prolific than was Hamilton.

After reading this book, I come to the conclusion that, among the great men that founded this country, three stand head and shoulders above the rest: Hamilton, Jefferson, and Washington. Washington was first among his countrymen for the role he played, but it’s clear that the driving intellects that led to the creation of this republican form of government were Jefferson and Hamilton. That Hamilton’s views ultimately prevailed only further demonstrate what a visionary and what a brilliant–albeit ultimately flawed–and unique individual he was.

We are fortunate to have had him, even if he did die far too young at the hand of the scoundrel, Aaron Burr.

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