Be careful what you click on: because they will feed you lots of items that are similar, thinking you would appreciate it (and maybe you would). “They”? Ah, I refer to the algorithm, which I guess I anthropomorphize. Anyway, I lead my Impromptus today with this subject. See what you think, of all: here.
In my column yesterday, I wrote,
For some years, many, many Americans believed that FDR had engineered the attack on Pearl Harbor, so as to get us into the war, at the bidding of international Jewry. I have met such people. I have known them personally. But very few people must hold that view today.
A reader writes,
Hi, Jay,
. . . I immediately thought of my dad. He believed the first part, about engineering us into the war, but he thought it was about getting the country out of the Depression, not about Jewry. He disliked FDR but did grant that he did a good job in managing the war.
In our family of 15 kids, Dad would not tolerate any kind of prejudice, especially against what he called “accidents of birth or religious beliefs.”
One quick story — I was probably twelve or so: A neighbor stopped by and wanted my dad to sign a petition to prohibit any blacks from buying the house on our street that was for sale. My dad’s response was, “Gerry, let me ask you one question: What did you do to get yourself to be born white?” The neighbor turned around and left.
Have a great day and keep those columns coming!
Also in response to my Impromptus yesterday, a reader writes,
My pastor has been with our congregation for about the last 15 years. Prior to that, he was a pastor in Greenville, Miss. He recalls that, whenever the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” was played, an elderly woman would get up and walk out, regardless of how far along the service was. She could not abide hearing that Yankee tune in her church.
I’m reminded of something from political lore. Young people may be amazed by this, but presidential candidates, as they stumped around the country, were often greeted by local bands. In 1976, Governor Jimmy Carter often heard “Marching through Georgia” — which made sense, to some, because he was from Georgia. And that was a song with “Georgia” in the title. Carter once said to his aides: “Don’t they realize that’s a Northern song?”
Yesterday, I spoke of Lincoln. A reader writes,
I was looking into his visit to New Haven in March of 1860. He made a powerful pro-labor argument that day, contrasting slavery’s evil with the virtues of hard work and the reasonable accumulation of capital.
About to speak of a certain labor strike, Lincoln says, “Now be it understood that I do not pretend to know all about the matter.” Would any presidential candidate today evince that kind of humility?
As you point out, one must be wary of lionizing any public figure, but Lincoln and Churchill alike acted in behalf of the moral imperative of freedom.
Many roads lead from freedom but without it one goes nowhere.
Some recent posts of mine prompted a reader to dilate on geography (I borrow “dilate,” in this context, from William F. Buckley Jr.):
Michigan is usually termed “Upper Midwest,” along with W and the other M.
I grew up in western Nebraska — far enough west that Denver, not Omaha, was the big city. I could bore one to death with distinctive Cornhusker pronunciations, e.g., that of “Norfolk” (guess).
Oh, I know that one: “Norfork.” Hometown of Johnny Carson.
Our reader continues,
Geographically, Nebraska is, as I recall from junior high, termed “Midwest,” but I never liked this designation. I preferred “West,” or, if necessary, “Great Plains.”
Denver, prior to the advent of the ski resorts and the interstate system, called itself the “Queen City of the Plains.” A longtime editor of the Omaha World-Herald called Nebraska and Iowa the “Midlands,” after the English region.
Etc. That’s a lovely word: “Midlands.”
Finally, “height” — I’ve been writing about this word recently. And my mail confirms: a whole lotta people pronounce the word “heighth” (to go with “length,” “width,” and so on). A classical American variant.
Consider this sentence, from Ephesians: “. . . may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height . . .” Dontcha just wanna say “heighth”?