© 2012 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. History is a strange subject because it depends on perspective and each of us has a different perspective. Plus, history is dynamic in that it changes with changing perspectives and those changes happen right when you think something so fixed cannot change. Much of what we think is history is not.
Example: there is a widespread notion of the warm welcome American fighting men got when they came home from World War Two. In fact, most citizens today will say that the fighting men of WWII came home to thunderous applause and unconditional love. Our history books today proclaim it. They were the greatest generation.
However, this is an example of revisionist history. One of the most revered men in WWII was a sergeant who drew cartoons of the men at the front. Bill Mauldin created his “Willie and Joe” cartoons from the front lines and it captivated America as much as the writings of Ernie Pyle. Both told and showed a side of the fighting men that was funny and tragic at the same time.
Bill Mauldin was born in Mountain Park, New Mexico near Cloudcroft and enlisted in the Army in 1940. He had always liked to draw so he started drawing what he saw in his spare time as a soldier on the front lines. After a while his drawings got more and more compliments. Eventually he ended up on the staff of the military newspaper, Stars and Stripes.
In 1944 his cartoons were put in a book, Up Front, which won the 1945 Pulitzer Prize. Fast forward to the year 1947 when newly civilian cartoonist Bill Mauldin is back home and publishes his next book, Back Home. Among other things it tells about the way returning soldiers were treated by the folks back home. It was not, according to Mauldin, the way we now think of how those soldiers were treated. They were not treated well.
If you are interested in seeing the returning soldiers through the eyes of someone in 1947, get his book. The poor treatment of returning soldiers made Mauldin mad at an ungrateful nation. We have no sense of his and others outrage now. Again, our history books do not tell that story. Rather, we read about how well soldiers were treated. Who are you to believe, the history books now or Bill Mauldin’s book printed in 1947?
While I have an affinity for stories of the past, I recognize the bane of history, modern revision to make the story, “Politically Correct.” Sometimes as more data is available it is appropriate to rewrite history somewhat, but those instances are few and far between. More often history is changed when there is a change of perspective. History is conditional based upon the needs of that generation.
Look historically at former U. S. Presidents. No one is ready to be president; each person elected to the office of president must grow into the job. Some grow into the job better than others.
History, though, looks at the 43 men who have served as President of the United States in a number of ways. The least of which is what the president meant to that society, and the majority of the time it is what that president means to us now. Few people outside of historians even recognize the names of presidents who served long ago and did not leave direct connections to today.
Incidentally, by now some people reading this column have fired off an email to me pointing out that our current president is number 44. But he is still the 43rd man to hold the office. Grover Cleveland was both 22 and 24. There have only been 43 men who served as U. S. President. Does that matter? Not in the least.
What matters are those presidents who grew and those who could not grow into the office. And, we see historically those former presidents who fundamentally changed the office of president permanently. We now live with a presidency that is very different than what the first presidents experienced. For good or bad, some presidents were a change agent to the office of president. It’s good or bad depending on your perspective.
Dr. Michael Swickard is co-host of radio talk show News New Mexico 6 to 9 a.m. Monday - Friday on a number of New Mexico radio stations and through streaming. Email: michael@swickard.com
