Read American History Revised Online

Authors: Jr. Seymour Morris

American History Revised (83 page)

Lack of Imperial Ambition …

Lord Clive from Robert Harvey,
A Few Bloody Noses
, p. 127; Benjamin Franklin from Gordon Wood,
The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin
, p. 169, and West Indies and Ireland “if it wished” from Paul Johnson,
A History of the American People
, p. 150; dozen senators and Polk from Herman D. Hover,
Fourteen Presidents before Washington
, p. 83; Marx and Engels, and Henry Adams, from Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.,
The Cycles of American History
, pp. 120, 150–51; Hamilton from Walter LaFeber,
The American Age
, p. 50; Jefferson from Thomas A. Bailey,
A Diplomatic History of the American People
, p. 165; Treaty of Paris from Fred Anderson and Andrew Clayton,
The Dominion of War
, p. 334; Champ Clark from Maxim Armbruster,
The Presidents of the United States
, p. 259.

Nonsupport at Home

American Revolution from Wallace Brown, “The Loyalists and the American Revolution,” in Nicholas Cords and Patrick Gerster,
Myth and the American Experience
, p. 107; Valley Forge from John Alden,
George Washington
, p. 76; War of 1812 from T. Harry Williams,
The History of American Wars
, pp. 99, 105, 221, 225; Gen. William Sherman from Michael J. Swagger, “Federal Conscription and the New York Draft Riots of 1863,”
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfu/381/23843
; World War II from Barbara Tuchman,
The March of Folly
, p. 31.

In the Steps of Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar and U.S. Civil War from Archer Jones, “Military Means, Political Ends,” in Gabor S. Boritt (ed.),
Why the Confederacy Lost
, pp. 46–47; American Revolution from Curtis P. Nettels,
The Emergence of a National Economy, 1775–1815
, pp. 8–13; Nine cartridges and Bunker Hill from Barbara W. Tuchman,
The First Salute
, p. 8; World War II production statistics from Kenneth C. Davis,
Don’t Know Much About History
, p. 297; Stalin from Louis L. Snyder,
The War: 1939–1945
, p. 325; Adm. King from Byron W. King, “Hubbert’s Defense Department,”
Whiskey & Gunpowder
investment newsletter, Oct. 12, 2006; Eisenhower’s four weapons from Robert Leckie,
The Wars of America
, vol. II, p. 785.

The Costs of War

War-cost importance from Margaret G. Myers,
A Financial History of the United States
, pp. 50, 170, 292, 360; George Washington from Don Cook,
The Long Fuse
, p. 334; American Revolution cost from Thomas K. McCraw,
The American Scholar
, Winter 1994, p. 42; War of 1812 cost from T. Harry Williams,
The History of American Wars
, p. 103; Gulf War cost from “Commitments for Gulf War,”
The Wall Street Journal
, June 9, 1992, p. A-12; cost of acquiring Indian territories from Robert V. Remini,
Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Democracy
, p. 314; Gadsden Purchase (Arizona and New Mexico) and Philippines cost from Richard J. Barnet,
The Rockets’ Red Glare
, pp. 108, 136; race to the moon cost from Harold Evans,
The American Century
, p. 555; Civil War pension liabilities from Richard Severo and Lewis Milford,
The Wages of War
, p. 172; American Revolution inflation from Stanley Lebergott,
The Americans: An Economic Record
, pp. 42, 49; Civil War inflation from Patricia Lee Holt,
George Washington Had No Middle Name
, p. 81; direct war costs and income taxes from Robert Higgs, “How War Mobilization Hurts the Economy,” in Donald N. McCloskey,
Second Thoughts
, pp. 34–35; Thomas Jefferson from John T. Morse Jr.,
American Statesmen
, pp. 82–83; James Madison from Doris A. Graber,
Public Opinion, the President, and Foreign Policy
, p. 196.

Our Greatest President …

Major L. Wilson,
The Presidency of Martin Van Buren
, pp. 147, 158, 161, 166–67; Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, “Martin Van Buren: The Greatest American President,”
The Independent Review
4, no. 2 (Fall 1999), p. 258–60.

Odds of Getting Killed

War death statistics from
http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/other/stats/warcost.htm
; concept of annual fatality ratio from Richard Severo and Lewis Milford,
The Wages of War
, p. 117; see Bruce D. Porter,
War and the Rise of the State
, pp. 249–54; Grant from Gore Vidal,
United States: Essays 1952–1992
,
pp. 712, 1010; Gettysburg long-range rifles from Louis Menand,
The Metaphysical Club
, p. 49; Civil War fatality ratio from Edward P. Crapol,
John Tyler
, p. 271.

Fighting the Real Enemy

Julie L. Horan,
The Porcelain God
, pp. 169–71, 174–75; Hans Zinsser,
Rats, Lice and History
, pp. 153, 291; Mexican War statistics from Patricia Lee Holt,
George Washington Had No Middle Name
, p. 85; Spanish-American War statistic from J. Buschini, “The Spanish-American War,” Small Planet Communications, 2000, pp. 4–5; World War I statistic from Douglas Brinkley,
Wheels for the World
, pp. 250; drugs from Dennis Worthen,
Pharmacy in World War II
, pp. 86, 94–98.

Missing: The Ferocity of a Lion

Napoleon’s axiom about the lion and the sheep from Gene Smith,
Lee and Grant
, p. xiv; Faulkner quote from William Faulkner,
Go Down Moses
, pp. 288–89; number of soldiers and Grant statistic from Russell F. Weigley,
The American Way of War
, p. 130; Lord John Russell from Jay Monaghan,
Abraham Lincoln Deals with Foreign Affairs
, p. 42; Southern economy from Stanley Lebergott,
The Americans: An Economic Record
, p. 234, 239–43; only 25 percent of Southerners owning slaves from Thomas Sowell,
Ethnic America
, p. 190; Lee and desertions from Gary W. Gallagher and Alan T. Nolan, ed.,
The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History
, p. 25; squabbling among the Confederate states and Alexander Stephens from David J. Eicher,
Dixie Betrayed
, pp. 21, 121, 150–51.

The General Who Would Have Been Better …

3:1 and 5:1 offense/defense from Robert Leckie,
The Wars of America
, vol. II, p. 1153; rifle firepower quote from Louis Menand,
The Metaphysical Club
, p. 49; Liddell Hart from Thomas L. Connelly,
The Marble Man
, p. 208; Grant’s critical judgment of Lee from J. Russell Young,
Around the World with General Grant
, vol. 2, pp. 458–59, quoted in Gary W. Gallagher and Alan T. Nolan, eds.,
The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History
, p. 162; Lee’s mediocre career, Scott quote about “greatest mistake,” and “terrible war” from Connelly,
The Marble Man
, pp. 8–9, 194, 205; for description of the Gettysburg battle, see Michael Shaara,
The Killer Angels;
for analysis of how Lee could have won, see Bevin Alexander,
How the South Could Have Won the Civil War;
Lee on slavery from Elbert B. Smith,
Francis Preston Blair
, p. 283, and Alan T. Nolan,
Lee Considered
, pp. 23, 51; Theodore Roosevelt’s “the very greatest of all the great captains that the English-speaking peoples have brought forth” and Winston Churchill’s “one of the noblest Americans who ever lived” from “Legacy” in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Lee
, and Gallagher and Nolan,
Myth of the Lost Cause
, p. 48; Eisenhower from
http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/speeches/19540529
; Boy Scouts’ removal from
New York Times
, May 15, 2003, p. A-32.

Know Thine Enemy

Hiroyuki Agawa,
The Reluctant Admiral
, pp. 70–75, 82–86; Yamamoto and poker from
http://www.twoplustwo.com/farce/html
; Ronald H. Spector,
Eagle Against the Sun
, 1985, pp. 65, 78–79, 81, 90.

Generals for Hire

James Madison and the Portuguese navy from Patricia Lee Holt,
George Washington Had No Middle Name
, p. 48; Garibaldi from
Reader’s Digest Strange Stories
, p. 577; John Paul Jones from Samuel Eliot Morison,
John Paul Jones: A Sailor’s Biography
, pp. 362–63; Winfield Scott from Timothy D. Johnson,
Winfield Scott
, p. 209; Douglas MacArthur from Carol M. Petillo,
Douglas MacArthur
, p. 205, Ronald H. Spector,
Eagle Against the Sun
, p. 116, John Costello,
Days of Infamy
, p. 52, Marshall Schaller,
Douglas MacArthur
, p. 24, and Emily S. Rosenberg,
A Date Which Will Live
, p. 129.

Japanese Treatment of Prisoners

Victor Davis Hanson,
Carnage and Culture
, pp. 336–37, 346; Japanese and German POW death rate from John Dower,
Embracing Defeat
, p. 446; Richard B. Frank,
Downfall
, p. 161.

A Battle He Never Fought In

Timothy B. Benford,
World War II Flashback
, p. 3; Robert Leckie,
Delivered from Evil
, vol. II, pp. 672–73.

The Courage of the Common Soldier

Tim Giago, “Indian’s Compassion, Valor Put German on New Path,”
Albuquerque Journal
, Aug. 27, 2000, p. 1.

Our Only Militarist President

Einstein quote from
www.brainyhistory.com/events/july_16_1941_100014.html
; 1950s military build-up statistics from John Lukacs,
Outgrowing Democracy
, p. 64; Truman restraint from Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.,
The Cycles of American History
, p. 398; Strategic Air Command from Ronald Schaffer,
Wings of Judgment
, p. 207; Eisenhower bellicosity from Schlesinger, pp. 400, 402, 404 and Robert S. McNamara,
In Retrospect
, p. 173; Khrushchev quote from James Bamford,
Body of Secrets
, p. 51; Wilson use of the military from Carol Wilcox Melton,
Between War and Peace
, p. 211.

The Beginning of World War IV

Andrew J. Bacevich,
The New American Militarism
, pp. 4, 179–81.

Forgotten Victims of War

Dalton Trumbo, “1990 Addendum to Introduction,”
Johnny Got His Gun;
Iraq fatalities and wounded statistics from Martin Sieff, “Insurgents Target Iraqis Over U.S. Troops,” UPI, Feb. 3, 2006,
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Insurgents_Target_Iraqis_Over_
US_Troops.html
, and Eric Reinagel, “Wounds of War: Overcoming the Psychological Scars of War” and “Advances Help Amputees Cope,”
Meadville
(Pennyslvania)
Tribune
, Oct. 20 and 25, 2006,
http://www.meadvilletribune.com
.

SIX
: In Pursuit of Riches

FDR and Sears Roebuck catalog from David M. Potter,
People of Plenty
, p. 80; John Marshall from Peter Messer,
Stories of Independence
, p. 168; Tocqueville from Lewis Lapham, “Holy Dread,”
Lapham’s Quarterly
, Spring 2008, p. 16; Abraham Lincoln from
Wall Street Journal
, April 17, 2008; William Seward from Charles Flood,
1864
, p. 96; Marc Bloch,
The Historian’s Craft
, p. 66; Washington from John Steele Gordon,
An Empire of Wealth
, p. 68; Jefferson from Lewis H. Kimmel,
Federal Budget and Fiscal Policy, 1789–1958
, p. 14; Coney Island from Lena Lencek and Gideon Bosker,
The Beach
, p. 168, and Ric Burns and James Sanders,
New York: An Illustrated History
, p. 260.

A Bigger Job …

Halsted L. Ritter,
Washington as a Businessman
, pp. 68–84, illustration p. 112.

Better than Yum-Yum

Pat Choate,
Hot Property.
pp. 27, 37, 57, 65, 67; Abraham Lincoln, “Lecture on Discoveries and Inventions,” Abraham Lincoln Online: Speeches and Writings,
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/discoveries
.htm
, last two paragraphs; five marble buildings from Dorothy Meserve Kunhardt and Philip B. Kunhardt Jr.,
Twenty Days
, p. 113; Coca-Cola from Tom Bethell,
The Noblest Triumph
, pp. 261–62.

The Surest Path …

Andro Linklater,
Measuring America
, pp. 163, 173, 193; George Washington secrecy and land acquisitions, and Thomas Paine from A. M. Sakolski,
The Great American Land Bubble
, pp. 7–12; George Washington and Henry George from John C. Weaver,
The Great Land Rush and the Making of the Modern World, 1650–1900
, pp. 88, 96, 338; European visitor quote from James H. Cassidy,
Demography in Early America
, pp. 154–55; population reproduction rate from Sam Bass Warner Jr.,
The Urban Wilderness
, p. 16; Robert P. Swierenga, “Land Speculation and Its Impact on American Economic Growth and Welfare,”
Western Historical Quarterly
(Utah State University) vol. 8, no. 3 (July 1977), 283–85; see Daniel M. Friedenberg,
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Land.

Massive Debt Financing …

“burst in a tornado” from A. M. Sakolski,
The Great American Land Bubble
, p. 192; Jefferson’s constitutional difficulties from John Kukla,
A Wilderness So Immense
, pp. 301–5; New Orleans closing ceremony from Wayne T. DeCesar and Susan Page, “Jefferson Buys Louisiana Territory, and the Nation Moves Westward,”
Prologue
magazine (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration), Spring 2003, vol. 35, no. 1; $400 billion from Samuel H. Williamson, “Five Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.S. Dollar Amount, 1790–2005,”
www.measuringworth.com
; historian quote about London banking firm from Pierce Mullen, “The Bottom Line,” page 3 of 5,
http://www.lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp
? ArticleID=316; House of Baring and Federalist objections from Thomas Fleming,
The Louisiana Purchase
, pp. 127, 130; Marie Antoinette and Josephine from Dana Thomas,
Deluxe
, p. 22.

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