Self Proclaimed Yellow Dog Democrat Ken Burns Denies Political Bias in His Documentaries

NewsBusters ^ | September 13, 2014 | P.J. Gladnick

[PJ-Comix]

Tomorrow evening begins the first of Ken Burns' 14 hour documentary on PBS, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History. The good news about this documentary is that we can be sure it will be free of any political advocacy since Burns has no bias and.....

Huh? Am I kidding? Of course I am. The fact is despite Burns' laughable denials, he is a bitterly partisan Democrat to the extent that he gave a speech  in 1998 in which he declared himself to be a "Yellow Dog Democrat." The speech was also chock full of scathing attacks upon Republicans which makes his later denial that he is only a Democrat because he inherited that political party from his family even more hilarious. And now a documentary in his own words about his politics, Ken Burns: Why I Am a Yellow Dog Democrat:

[Stepan12]

My family changed from Leftism. Reading Ayn Rand, plus the biased “New York Times’s” accounts of the so-called antiwar demonstrators changed me and my brother’s mind about so-called scientific socialism.

[Kirkwood]

So when are you coming out with your documentary?

[El Cid]

If you provide arguments, she would talk about how tricky the Republicans are.

Well, I'd have to agree with her. Many (probably most) Republican politicians will claim they are conservative and for smaller Government, yet when elected they vote as Democrats. And, of course, most of the Republican establishment loathe conservatives and the TEA Party movement.

[miss marmelstein]

I guess it does happen. It just doesn’t seem to ever happen in families that have a media profile.

[wrench]

“Burns? Flaming liberal...”

No kidding!

[Disambiguator]

The Best Ken Burns documentary ever (that he didn't make)

[Missouri gal]

Is this “Intimate history” going to reveal Roosevelt's betrayal of giving half of Europe into Communist slavery? What about Eleanor's sexual deviancy? They were almost more Clinton/Obama than the Clintons and Obamas. The whole world suffered from their pathetic deviancy.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

The problem with that series was that it ignored the genocidal holocaust created by the Democrat party and made pretend that it was a war between farmers and evil government types (read Republicans) when that was not the case at all. It was a war between those hellbent on seeing the destruction of the US and those hellbent on freedom for all

[Hugin]

Save your breath. The neo-Confederates here are adamant that the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery, and anyone who disputes their historical revisionism is ignorant, stupid, dishonest, or all three. Kind of like how Obama and Kerry are convinced ISIS has nothing to do with Islam.

[PeaRidge]

The first time I lasted about ten minutes. I dabbled in reruns but quit after he twisted practically everything.

[PeaRidge]

I recently finished my book on it.

[PeaRidge]

Here is what Burns and his source books did not tell you:
1. The slave trade was a New England and European enterprise,
2. At the time Lincoln ordered a Federal Naval force to invade Charleston in April of 1861,all three branches of the Federal government had endorsed slavery.
3. After secession, the federal government lost over 80 per cent of its revenue.
4. The City of New York was in discussion to secede from the Union.

[boop]

I liked the Baseball documentary until they hit the 1960s "decade on fire" IIRC.

Instead of focusing on oh I don't know, the GREAT baseball players and the great teams, it was all about racism, and then there was a lot of racism, and in case you didn't know about it, racism.

Roger Maris.

Now back to racism...

[PeaRidge]

What ever you think, war broke out because of the Union invasion of Virginia. War was initiated by Lincoln on April 16-17 with his declaration of blockade of the South.
So,did the Union invade to stop slavery? Not even Burns makes that assertion.

[Lizavetta]

I met him once a few years ago. He has dead eyes.

[Hugin]

On April 8, Lincoln notified Gov. Francis Pickens of South Carolina that he would attempt to resupply the fort. The Confederate commander at Charleston, Gen.P.G.T. Beauregard, was ordered by the Confederate government to demand the evacuation of the fort and if refused, to force its evacuation. On April 11, General Beauregard delivered the ultimatum to Anderson, who replied, "Gentlemen, if you do not batter the fort to pieces about us, we shall be starved out in a few days." On direction of the Confederate government in Montgomery, Beauregard notified Anderson that if he would state the time of his evacuation, the Southern forces would hold their fire. Anderson replied that he would evacuate by noon on April 15 unless he received other instructions or additional supplies from his government. (The supply ships were expected before that time.) Told that his answer was unacceptable and that Beauregard would open fire in one hour, Anderson shook the hands of the messengers and said in parting, "If we do not meet again in this world, I hope we may meet in the better one." At 4:30 A.M. on April 12, 1861, 43 Confederate guns in a ring around Fort Sumter began the bombardment that initiated the bloodiest war in American history.

http://www.us-civilwar.com/sumter.htm

The above happened before you claim Lincoln "initiated" the war.

As anyone who looks at the facts knows, the official purpose of the war initially was to "restore the union". But clearly secession happened because of the dispute over slavery. Lincoln wasn't even inaugurated until March 5, 1861, and secession was already well under way. The original 7 states had already seceded. You only need to read the speeches of the secessionists to confirm that slavery was the underlying issue.

As for the fact that the Emancipation Proclamation didn't happen for another two years, that was strictly political. Lincoln was a smart enough politician to know that until he won a victory issuing it would seem like the desperation of a losing side. The Battle of Antietam was enough of a victory to allow him to do so. But that doesn't mean that slavery wasn't the root issue behind both secession and the war.

[Hugin]

2. At the time Lincoln ordered a Federal Naval force to invade Charleston in April of 1861,

Lincoln ordered the Navy to resupply an existing US military installation. That is not an "invasion".

[PeaRidge]

Lincoln ordered warships to Charleston with orders to attack if resisted. One gunboat fired on shipping entering the harbor. The others gathered to invade. At 4:30 am the people of Charleston resisted the invasion.

[mware]

Agreed, hands down The Civil War was the best documentary I ever watched.

[Mike Darancette]

Further reading did uncover the above facts. The importation of slaves had ended by the time the Civil War began so the question of who began the slave trade was moot.