Did judges, legislators and presidential candidates play hooky during history class?
The late Sam Cooke sang, “Don't know much about history” in his classic “Wonderful World.” He was a great artist, so we'll give him a pass, but the rest of us need to learn more history. We need to ensure that political campaigns, judicial decisions, education and laws are based on fact, not myth.
When asked the causes of the Civil War, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley did not mention slavery. She's the former governor of South Carolina, which declared back in 1860 it was leaving the Union because of “an increasing hostility on the part of the nonslaveholding States to the institution of slavery.” Of the four states that spelled out why they were seceding, all proclaimed their support of slavery.
Florida legislators have another approach. They simply outlaw the teaching of facts they don't like. The Stop WOKE Act requires history to be taught in a way that students not “feel guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress” due to their race, color, sex or national origin. Anyone who can teach about slavery without conveying distress ought not be teaching at all.
Members of the Supreme Court apparently need a history lesson, too. In striking down affirmative action at a private university, Chief Justice John Roberts offered what he called “an originalist defense of the colorblind Constitution” based on the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. That amendment was passed by the Senate on June 8, 1866. Ten days later, the Senate reaffirmed a law establishing a Freedmen's Bureau to benefit newly emancipated African Americans. As Justice Sonia Sotomayor futilely pointed out to Justice Roberts, laws like that one were anything but colorblind and leave “no doubt that the Equal Protection Clause permits consideration of race to achieve its goal.”
Supreme Court justices have twisted the historical record time and again. Its 2008 decision that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to bear arms ignores precedent, too. As former Chief Justice Warren Burger, appointed by Richard Nixon, said: “The Framers clearly intended to secure the right to bear arms essentially for military purposes.” Justice Samuel Alito's decision striking down Roe v. Wade cites the opinion of a 17th century English judge regarding abortion but doesn't mention that Sir Matthew Hale also sentenced women to death for witchcraft. In a 1997 case, then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote, “We begin, as we do in all due process cases, by examining our Nation's history, legal traditions, and practices.” Wouldn't it be nice, then, to get the history right? It might do some good to have a few Supreme Court justices with Ph.D.s in history sitting on the bench along with the law school grads.
When it comes to American policy in the Middle East, too, historical understanding is at a low ebb. Yes, 700,000 Palestinian Arabs left or were expelled from Israel during and after Israel's 1948-49 War of Independence. But it's seldom mentioned that in the aftermath of the war, 900,000 Jews left or were expelled from Arab and other Muslim lands. The slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free” is often chanted at anti-Israel demonstrations. UC Berkeley professor Ron Hassner conducted a survey that showed almost half of those chanting could not identify the river and sea being referred to.
In a December 2021 interview on Newsmax, former presidential adviser Peter Navarro said, “With respect to the issue of Ukraine, I think a little history at least is useful.” He went on to assert, “Ukraine is not really a country.” I doubt that did much to discourage the Russian invasion two months later. Here is one historical fact: Ukraine became part of the Soviet Union only after losing the 1917-21 Soviet-Ukrainian War. And another: Over 90% of Ukrainian voters backed independence in 1991. Last month, Navarro was sentenced to four months in jail. Perhaps he could use the time to learn a little more East European history.
Now in the interests of full disclosure, I admit to studying history in college myself. But I also lament that we history majors are well on our way to becoming an extinct species. The percentage of history majors in American universities sunk by more than two-thirds between 1971 and 2018. You don't have to be a history major or a college graduate to know history. But you do need to know some to be a good citizen.
If we're going to rely on history to dictate policy, law and teaching, we need more people learning historical facts and fewer spouting what Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway called “alternative facts.” Here's a paraphrase of what another presidential adviser, Bernard Baruch, said way back in 1946: Everyone has the right to an opinion, but no one has a right to be wrong in their facts.
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