McCullough calls national 'amnesia' threat to liberty

The Washington Times ^ | May 16, 2003 | George Archibald

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Thought police in American schools and rotten history textbooks are as great a threat to American freedoms as al Qaeda terrorists, Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential biographer David McCullough said yesterday.

"Something's eating away at the national memory, and a nation or a community or a society can suffer as much from the adverse effects of amnesia as can an individual," Mr. McCullough, who wrote the best-selling biography of the United States' second president, John Adams, told The Washington Times. "I mean, it's really bad."

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Great Author Gets It

[TheWillardHotel]

"When the nation's history is poorly taught in schools, ignored by the young, and rejected by qualified elders, awareness of the tradition consists only in wanting to destroy it."

--Jacques Barzun

[Charles Henrickson]

Thanks for posting this article. I've read McCullough's books on Truman and Adams; I've heard him on televison, of course; and I've had the privilege of hearing him in person give two excellent and inspiring lectures here in St. Louis. We benefit from his wisdom.