If I recall correctly, MLK day was not a holiday in Arkansas until the late 80's -early 90's when Bill Clinton as governor made it a holiday. He made it a holiday with one condition though....Robt. E. Lee's birthday would be celebrated as well, as a joint offcial state celebration. I may be wrong, but this is what I have been told.
This will be of Interest to you southerners or decedents there of.
The Politically Incorrect Guide to THE SOUTH (and Why it Will Rise Again)
By Clint Johnson
From the Cover:
• Why the South is more important to America’s founding than the North
• The first of the thirteen colonies to legalize slavery? (Hint it’s not in the South)
• The South is the center of American culture and history
• Why faith and family come first in the South
• Why limited government and low tax rates are a Southern tradition
http://www.amazon.com/Politically-Incorrect-Guide-South-Again/dp/1596985003
Moreover, let's say that Lee did put duty first and suppressed contrary inclinations. What was the result? The war was prolonged. More men died. And the destruction of the South was greater than it otherwise would have been.
Had Lee sat on his hands, some people have said, the war would have ended after two or three years with much less loss of life and property. What survives is Lee's personal moral example, rather than any benefit to Virginia. So in a strange way, the course described as selfless was worse for the community than for Lee as an individual.
That may have been what Henry Adams was getting at when he said, perhaps in response to his brother, Charles Francis Adams, who eulogized and idolized Lee, "It was all the worse that he was a good man, had a good character, and acted conscientiously. It's always the good men who do the most harm."
As a mother who has a hard time remembering my children's birthdays...forgive me on not remembering General Lee's. I do think he was a great man with exceptional military ability. Had the south had the industrial resources as did the north...the south could very well have won. It was best they didn't in the long run..we are a better, stronger nation because we stayed united.
Too bad this little fact about the Civil War has been mostly ignored. Everyone still thinks it was about slavery.
I think one of the great ironies of history is that the Lee family freed its slaves and the Grant family didn't.
Hmm, article complains about a birthday going unnoticed, eleven days after the birthday. Wouldn't it have been better to publish this, oh, I don't know, maybe January 18 (or earlier)? I guess The American Spectator will be announcing Mardi Gras sometime around February 28.
By the way, he was an upstanding man, who chose the wrong side. Heroism requires good decisions.
While I'm glad the south lost, I've got no problem at all in honoring General Lee. You have to call him a great man.
I think in Lee's day he was generally admired by most people in both the North and the South. IMO, that feeling continues today, with the exception of those influenced by political correctness.
Criticism towards Lee seems fairly even handed so far on this thread. For my part, I've always considered him a hero.
Robert E. Lee was the son of "Lighthorse" Harry Lee, hero of the American Revolution. Old Dad must have turned over in his grave when his son took up arms against what he so dearly fought for.
Did REL 'own' other people?
The American way of war.
Destroy THINGS rather than men. Destroy the supporting infrastucture for the Confederacy and the Confederate army dried up in provisions, material, transportation, etc.
Grant, tied to the Confederate army and never let go. No 'regrouping', no re-training, no retreat and reorganizing. Sheridan used the cavalry the same way we use our tanks today, swift powerful shock power. It was war of the future.
Lee was brilliant as a tactician. He proved his value and worth as an engineer in the Mexican War, where the world thought we would be defeated. Each man made a choice when the WBTS started, state or country. Those that chose state, would lose. The South had no heavy industry, foundries, shipping, communications and transport to support a moving army. That they did so well for so long with so little is a testiment to tenacity and spirit.
We just got a cat and I think we are going to name him General Lee..
Then I get on line, come here and there it is. Confirmation for me.
His name is General Lee.
free dixie,sw
Bobby Lee was loved by North and South alike. More Yankees respected him than they did nearly any of their own generals and leaders. Jeff Davis, on the other hand, was slime and not well trusted on either side of the Mason Dixon Line.