Patriotism

Back in 1975 or so, William Appleman Williams came to give a lecture at Reed College. I only knew that he was a well-known historian, and I wanted to hear him mostly because I hadn't heard many lectures by well-known historians. I didn't know much about his or his writing. I didn't know he was from the South.

When we was well into the talk, he criticized Abraham Lincoln for his war of aggression against the South. Williams didn't mount a lengthy attack, but it was clear that he wasn't mispeaking, that his remarks weren't open to misunderstanding. I had never heard such a thing before.

Naturally in my schooling, Abraham Lincoln was next to God and Jesus in the hierarchy of good people. I hadn't thought that anyone, least of all a thoughtful, well-known historian, could think that Abraham Lincoln was a bad guy. But sectional bitterness persisted, a century after Reconstruction.

I wanted to recall Williams' talk because it's related to current discussions of patriotism. I don't think Williams was unpatriotic to criticize Lincoln's war policy. And it's not unpatriotic to criticize Bush's war policy. When Cheney attacks the war's critics as unpatriotic, he makes a huge error. Patriotism is not what's at issue here.