Posted on 12/27/2005 12:46:33 PM PST by Valin
WASHINGTON (AP) - The impeachment of former President Bill Clinton is in a gray area of history, too long ago to be a current event, too recent to be judged in perspective. Yet history is already judging Clinton in the place where millions of students get their information about him - textbooks. Seven years after he was impeached in a scandal of sex, perjury and bitter politics, Clinton has become a fixture in major high school texts.
The impeachment is portrayed in the context of his two-term tenure, a milestone event, but not one that overshadows how Clinton handled the economy, crime and health care. The most commonly used texts give straightforward recaps of Clinton’s toughest days, with some flavor of how it affected the nation. Absent are any the lurid details of his relationship with Monica Lewinksy that spiced up daily news reports and late-night talk shows as the scandal and impeachment played out in 1998 and early 1999. "It should not be in the book for titillating purposes or settling scores," said Alan Brinkley, the Columbia University provost who has written or contributed to several history text books. "It should be in the book because of its significance to our recent history."
Clinton was president from 1993 to 2001, the growing-up years of today’s high school students. Even today’s oldest high school students were only 10 or 11 during the height of the scandal, and today’s middle schoolers were just approaching or entering first grade. So for students, the impeachment is literally a subject for the history books. "This is very difficult for everybody because it’s so fresh," said Gilbert Sewall, director of the American Textbook Council, an independent research group that reviews history texts used in schools.
The House impeached Clinton on charges of lying to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice to conceal his affair with Lewinsky, a White House intern. Although he was acquitted in a Senate trial, Clinton was branded as the second president impeached for conduct in office. The topic is briefly covered in middle school texts. McGraw Hill’s "The American Journey" offers a description that is representative of other accounts - balanced and methodical. "Although there was general agreement that the president had lied, Congress was divided over whether his actions justified impeachment," the book says. In McDougal Littell’s "The Americans," a high school text, the topic merits two paragraphs. The same book gave more space to the impeachment of Andrew Johnson in 1868.
Students don’t need the bawdy details to grasp the impeachment struggle, said Allan Lichtman, a presidential historian and professor at American University. But they do need textbooks that present the issue with as much depth as is practical, he said.
PU and other u's.
Yet teachers and professors already preach that GWB is a criminal.
Pre-College School books must be "G" rated NOT "G-string" rated.
He diddled away while terrorists struck time and time again.
And he did nothing but pass the problem to his successor.
He knew that he had neither the stomach for the fight nor the respect of the troops to persue the course.
Oh sure, he was the joint in time, he was so influential. Things were going along just fine, and then Boss Hogg had to come in and ruin everything. Of course, it all started with the hippy generation, but it culminated with him. He sigle handedly sentenced this country to a slow decline and death. Shows how much one evil man can do.
That said, there is no need for lurid details about the Clinton impeachment. It was a straightforward case of perjury and obstruction of justice. Why discuss the lurid details? I bet the people complaining about it are the very same ones who think the Clinton impeachment was about sex.
Unfortunately for our youth, the teachers in the public school, who largly remain ignorant of history (and many other subjects) will always portray BJBubba as the next best thing to a Saint.
The Nixon tapes were key evidence in proposed impeachment... what was the evidence mentioned in Clinton's impeachment in the textbooks?
Yes, that is true. Do you have evidence to the contrary?
On the other hand, the more they say that, the more Clinter's legacy boils down to a BJ. The more moonbats try to minimize Slick's scandals and shortcomings, the more they cement his piss-poor and laughable legacy. What a bunch of maroons ... hehehe.
Is President Reagan mentioned in any high school history books, as the fellow who knocked down the communist walls?
Fortunately my son (now 19 and attending FIT in Melbourne, FL), learned more history from his dad than from his teachers.
We made it a family specialty....pizza many times.......to discuss current events and learn from them.
Now I have a son who questions the media and his profs......and comes to his own conclusions.
An educated voter is a patriot.
What's so murky about what Bill Clinton was impeached for? Allow mw to give a try.
The president of the United States, in an attempt to fix a court case in which he was the defendant and an American citizen was the plaintiff with which he intended to deny Justice committed numerous crimes including, but not only the four articles of impeachment which were brought against him; Perjury, Witness Tampering, Obstruction of justice and Abuse of Power.
How'd I do? Not murky at all to me. Oh, as you see, Bill Clinton was not impeached for sex.
President Reagan's tax cuts are mentioned in textbooks as mostly favoring the wealthy. Reading this a testbook prompted my first "letter to the editor".
Translation: It was all about sex. :-)
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