New Substack post from me on the memory culture into which I (and large numbers of other Americans) was socialized in the late 20th century. Why did I learn nothing about the history of American fascism and the resistance to it? sethcotlar.substack.com/p/some-thoug...
Or, why did so many late 20th C. Americans feel like we had to give a pass to historical figures who committed their lives to undermining the foundational values we claimed the US stood for?
Wow. I’m close enough to the cemetery you mentioned to visit the graves of Robert Reed and Jerry Springer! And spit on that of Elizabeth Dilling.
After defeating the Confederates in the Civil War and the fascists in WWII, many in the US were eager to get past those conflicts with amnesty for those who remained deeply committed to the ideologies of the Confederacy and fascism.
A few yrs older than you, my image of Lindbergh was Jimmy Stewart, ironically a combat vet fighting fascism. Despite a History BA, I had no clue about our pre-WWII history of fascism. My view: we were entirely anti-NAZI, as portrayed in the comic books of my youth. Recent hist has been shocking
Marvelous article. Your mention of the Dukes of Hazzard reminded me that Boss Hogg's full name on that show was... Jefferson Davis Hogg. A name that meant nothing to me, a 9-year-old from NYC who just loved watching cars flying through the air, but it sure helped normalize that name for me.
Great post, absolutely resonates with my experience. The teaching of history needs to be a primary arena in the struggle to move us forward, we can't cede that territory. (BTW I hope my son, a junior at your wonderful school, gets a chance to take a class with you!)
I listened to RM's podcast Ultra not long after watching Ken Burns' The US and the Holocaust, an eye-opener. I'm born&raised in the Northeast, highly educated, the first I heard of the Tulsa massacre was watching The Watchmen on HBO (I'm sure there are lots of yt people my age who still don't know)
I did not know that about Hatfield. I was raised Boston Unitarian in the '60s and perhaps had a better education than some on cultural bias. But I didn't have a clue that indigenous people were still living in New England in the 20th century, until I moved to Oregon & acquired tribal friends.
This is a terrific piece, Seth--thank you for writing this. Sending it to my HS colleague who is teaching US History right now--a useful opportunity to correct this institutionalized national amnesia regarding home-grown fascist movements...
you forgot to mention that at least one (arguably two) of the airports in DC metro area is named after a nazi.
The comments people have left so far are really interesting (this is one of those rare cases in which you absolutely MUST read the comments!). The way we are taught to think about the past is ALWAYS political, there is no such thing as an "objective" or "neutral" way of writing about the past.