John Wilkes Booth

Maybe this is not much of an issue, but I thought it worth mentioning. The Gettysburg National Military Park visitors center bookstore was-for awhile-selling bobblehead dolls of Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth. The Lincoln doll makes sense, but a doll of his assassin holding a pistol like the one he used to kill Lincoln seems to me in very bad taste. Of course, it may also show how people in a certain part of this country still view the Civil War and who the real villain was. After a week on the shelves it was removed. However, the doll still sells online for $ 20.

(Source: "Lincoln's Assassin's bobblehead off shelves" by the AP. In the Virginian Pilot on 3/16/12).

Presidential Elections

I was told after the 2000 presidential election that Al Gore couldn't even carry his own state; thus-it was implied-not deserving to win the presidency that year. I have since learned that Woodrow Wilson and Richard Nixon-both of whom won elections-also lost their home states. Nixon's was California but I am not sure what they consider Wilson's "home" state even thou he was governor of New Jersey prior to being elected. It also seems that Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney will also face this issue if either of them becomes the GOP nominee in 2012. Santorum and Romney are from Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, states that usually vote democratic.

(Source: New Orleans Times Picayune from March 4, 2012)

Vietnam and Japan

I read the following in a 2010 non-fiction work by H.W. Brands.

"A principal reason the Truman and Eisenhower admins worried about SE Asia-to the point of committing the US to the defense of Vietnam-was that access to SW Asia was considered essential to the economic revival of Japan".

Was this the basic underlining objective behind our war there? Is this the reason 60,000 US soldiers died there? For a former enemy's economic well-being?

(Source: American Dreams: The US Since 1945 by H. W. Brands. The Penguin Press/NY 2010. Brands of the U of Texas professor and author of six other American History books.)

Secession and Civil War

We have all read of the pro-southern actions in the north during the Civil War; they are in just about every US History text. The NYC draft riots and the murder of black residents in that city, and the fact that Lincoln needed an armed escort to get through Baltimore on his way to DC. But why have those same texts omitted any reference to pro-union actions taken in the states of the CSA? One example of those actions that texts could have noted was the effort by Winston County, Alabama to secede from the CSA. The hill people of Appalachia did not benefit from slavery and might not have wanted to defend it. On July 4, 1861 a group established the "Free State of Winston". Many men of this area resisted conscription into the armies of the CSA and hid out in the hills for the duration of the war. Eastern Tennessee (the poorest section of that state) and northwest Georgia were also part of a "plan" to form a new state-much like West Virginia formed from Virginia-called "Nickajack". The plan to form a new state failed for the lack of a strong leader and died by the end of 1861.

(Source" Lost States by Michael J. Trinklein. Quirk Books of Philadelphia. 2010)

Supreme Court Ruling 2012

In Hosanna-Tabor Church v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission decided this month the court ruled that religious groups are allowed to discriminate in hiring and firing of personnel. They ruled that the First Amendment's "establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" trumps the federal anti-discrimination laws. This newspaper believes the ruling is correct while saying that it may give fringe churches a chance to "spread bigotry and hatred". The ruling is believed to be the most important religion case in decades. More research is needed.

(Source: "Permission to Discriminate" editorial in The Virginian Pilot on 1/13/12)

Medical Marijuana Laws

This may not be a history oriented issue but it most likely will come up in a class discussion at some time, so I include it here. The issue is the legalization of marijuana use for medical purposes how that it is being received by the states. 17 states have medical marijuana laws on their books with California being the most "permissive" and New Jersey being the most "restrictive". However, in California, regardless of the state law, 185 communities have "banned pot dispensaries" from opening. Towns in Colorado and Maine have also banned dispensaries. A representative of the National League of Cities says that local governments are "within their rights to restrict or keep out pot businesses". In NJ have made pot legal for patients "with certain conditions" back in January of 2010 "but there is still no place where they can get it legally". Six groups in NJ have been given permits to grow and sell cannabis but so far only one site in Montclair has indicated it might open.

(Source: "Pot dispensaries face roadblocks" by Geoff Mulvihill of the AP. In The Record on 1/10/12).

Md