Why we must keep the Lincoln history alive

[LincolnMan]

Exactly right Herb. It seems when a generation doesn't learn the past or learn from the past-terrible things can happen. Have we as a nation learned from Vietnam?

[L Verge]

I'm such a pessimist right now that I'm not sure we have learned much of anything from our past!

[LincolnMan]

I'm with you Laurie.

[Rogerm]

Some prominent people have not thought very highly of history. Didn't Henry Ford once call it "bunk?"

[Gene C]

Rogerm, if that's true, think of what MORE he could have accomplished is he had a different opinion?.

[L Verge]

And I bet old Henry had a little history of mass production giving him inspiration along the way. He sure made a pretty buck from bunk! I also think the inheritors of his Americana collection should give Lincoln's rocking chair back to Ford's Theatre!

[LincolnMan]

Was the before or after Henry Ford endorsed Adolf Hitler?

[Rogerm]

Didn't Henry Ford also restore Thomas Edison's labratory in New Jersey or somewhere? Maybe he had a greater respect for history than he was willing to let on in public.

[RJNorton]

Roger, I think you are right. CLICK HERE.

[LincolnMan]

Yes, Henry Ford did restore Edison's lab. it's located at Dearborn's Greenfield Village which is just outside the Henry Ford Museum. Altogether, the complex contains a multitude of historical artifacts . One needs more than a day to see it all.

[LincolnMan]

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Is anyone familiar with this DVD set? I just came across it online.

[Liz Rosenthal]

I was a high school student in the 70s and can honestly say that I didn't learn anything then, either. It just so happened that I was a (modern) history buff, so I at least made up for my formal lack of learning about American history part-way, by reading everything I could about FDR, World War Two and the old Hollywood. My fascination with that era may have had to do with the fact that my parents grew up during the Depression; my father was a soldier in WW2 and he and my mother could make their times three-dimensional for me.

Not to get too off-track, but I also had (and have) a special fascination for the gigantic phenomenon of eastern and southern European immigration to the U.S. that occurred from 1882 to 1924 and, in particular, for the forces that caused the massive influx of Jews from eastern Europe. My maternal and paternal grandparents had emigrated here in the early years of the last century from Jewish villages and towns that exist now only in the remains of a very few records, scattered physical structures and whatever memories the migrants were willing or able to share with their descendants.

But when it came to knowledge of the early to middle periods of American history, I was grossly deficient.

College made up for many of the holes in my high school education, as it should have done, but, until just the last few years, I shied away from the Civil War Era, and I don't know why. But I'm glad I "discovered" Lincoln when I did. (Of course, before this, I'd known many of the very superficial things that Americans are supposed to know about him, but that was all.) Learning about him and his rise to prominence naturally led to a broader overview of American history than I'd ever had. I couldn't help but become better educated about the early years of the Republic, the institution of slavery, how slavery became a huge political tipping point and led to the Civil War, and the obstacles that Lincoln faced in keeping an unwieldy North together. Finally, I became better acquainted with Reconstruction, and was able to successfully link that period, and all that had gone before, with the rise of "Jim Crow" and the eventual birth of the civil rights movement. I believe that I now have a much firmer grounding in the ebb and flow of American history - and how we got to where we are today - than I've ever had before, but none of this is thanks to our educational system.

But I can thank Abraham Lincoln for opening the door for me! (Isn't that just like Old Abe - influencing people and their thinking centuries after he lived!)

[LincolnMan]

What a wonderful testimony. Thank you for posting your "journey."

[LincolnMan]

Just wanted to share that in the August 2013 issue of Civil War Times there is an article entitled Abe-Mania by Megan Kate Nelson. Worth reading. The subtitle is: How we remember Lincoln says more about us than it does about him.
Look for the issue with General Lee on the cover!

[HerbS]

Liz-Great story!Very interesting and real!