4/18/2023

Last week’s curation at RealClear’s American Civics portal starts with Elliott Drago’s look at the rise and success of Ulysses S. Grant, the unlikely Civil War general and president. “No one would have believed in 1860 that the quiet man who failed so often would be President by 1868,” Drago writes. As he notes, “Prior to rising in the ranks of the US army, Grant experienced many failed ventures in the business world as a handyman, a farmer, and an entrepreneur.” According to non-other than Abraham Lincoln, the key to Grant’s success lay in his persistence under pressure: “I can’t spare this man – he fights.” As president, Drago writes that Grant “was considered the first ‘civil rights president’…signing the first civil rights legislation into law, including the Enforcement Acts and the Civil Rights Act of 1875.” And Drago also mentions Grant’s failures, including several scandals during his administration. Overall, in Drago’s telling, “Grant achieved his greatest successes both by presiding over those moments in which Americans rediscovered their founding principles and by fighting for those moments in which Americans became Americans once again.”

Brenda M. Hafera continues her exploration of what American history museums and historic sites are teaching visitors about the American story. She argues that though Colonial Williamsburg “has much to offer, and many of its tours are informative and even-handed,” what “is lost is a cohesive story of Colonial Williamsburg, of what makes it unique and its place in American history.” She says that visitors should be aware that some tour guides lean toward being activists who want to focus only on America’s shortcomings and faults. Also, Colonial Williamsburg is part of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), a “coalition of 35,000 museums and museum professionals” that features a “plethora” of DEIA (diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility) material. Ultimately, she contends that Colonial Williamsburg is at a crossroads. It can either follow “Montpelier, whose leadership now has no interest in honoring a ‘dead white president and a dead white president’s Constitution’” or it can look to Mount Vernon, “which is committed to historical standards and commemorating Washington’s and America’s story fairly, honestly, and modestly.”