“There were no political distortions. I was in high school in the 1960s.”
I used to believe that.
I do not anymore.
There are a range of hidden biases in all of history.
The biggest distortion is between the “public” version of history and the “secret” version known only to “insiders”.
This has been true going back to the Pharaohs.
I am going to give you a very specific example of “false history” that I know for an absolute fact.
My grandfather was in the construction business in CT from the 1920s and several decades after that.
He personally paid bribes to get state contracts to every major CT politician during that period.
He showed me the location where they met him to get their money and I got confirmation from the owner of the restaurant that my grandfather’s account was correct.
My grandfather was never caught.
None of the dozens of politicians were ever caught.
No media outlet ever got the story.
The biographies of all of the governors, senators, state legislators say nothing of this—usually claiming these were honest and high minded folks.
In this case it turns out that the “history” taught in schools is not the real “history”.
I imagine they were mostly traditional Republicans, which is to say, anti-slavery New Englanders who appear to be proto-Karens with some friendliness towards business who would be RINOS now.
History is certainly not that detailed. While history may account for the structures your grandfather built, it certainly doesn’t contain day-to-day construction or contract details. We know Thomas Jefferson’s contribution to our Nation, but we don’t know his brand of toilet paper.