The Wordy Shipmates

I found out last week that Sarah Vowell (aka, Incredible Girl) will be speaking at the Cleveland Public Library on Sunday, November 16 at 2:00 pm. She will be discussing her new book, The Wordy Shipmates. The book is a look back at the Puritans and the founding of Massachusetts. She discusses the first governor of Massachusetts, John Winthrop, and his sermon "A Model of Christian Charity." His image of a "shining city on a hill" (originating from the Sermon on the Mount from the book of Matthew) is considered the origin of the American ideal of Manifest Destiny – that Europeans/European Americans would occupy land from sea to shining sea, enlighten Native Americans to Christian ideals while removing them from their land. This same ideal, Vowell argues, was the same justification of our invasions of other countries – McKinley's decision to invade the Philippines, Kennedy's decision to send troops to Vietnam and George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq.

I have been listening to the audio version of the book, which includes actors reading the parts of key history figures. Her wry sense of humor and ability to tie moments in history to pop culture never ceases to entertain me.

You can read about it more here at the Plain Dealer.

Update: Sarah Vowell will be on 90.3 on Around Noon today.

Fireside Chats

Last night, after watching the debate and the talking heads pontificate for a while and feeling rather disillusioned, I switched over to Jon Stewart's The Daily Show to get some much needed perspective. I was happy to discover that one of my favorite authors, Sarah Vowell (aka, Violet, aka, Invisible Girl) was on promoting her new book The Wordy Shipmates. 

Alluding to the current financial crisis, Sarah remarked "seems like everything gets [closer] to hell every time I visit. The next time I'm here, we'll be talking on a pile of rubble." Sarah went on to say she didn't even have the heart to read the paper that morning. Instead, she went online and read some of FDR's Fireside Chats. That's how bad things are. She went back to the 1930s to find reassurance in 2008.

So I followed Sarah's example and googled Fireside chats. This was the first transcript I read. FDR had to declare a national bank holiday after a run on the banks in order to prevent a crash. FDR had been in office less than two months and was in the process of pushing forward on his New Deal legislation.

Sunday, March 12, 1933

"It needs no prophet to tell you that when the people find that they can get their money – that they can get it when they want it for legitimate purposes – the phantom of fear will soon be laid. People will again to have their money where it will be safely taken care of... I can assure you that it is safer to keep your money in a reopened bank than under the mattress.

"The success of our whole great national program depends, of course, upon the cooperation of the public – on its intelligent support and use of a reliable system.

"...I do not promise you that every bank will be reopened or that individual losses will not be suffered, but there will be no losses that possibly could be avoided; and there would have been more and greater losses had we continued to drift.

"After all there is an element in the readjustment of our financial system more important than currency, more important than gold, and that is the confidence of the people. Confidence and courage are essentials of success in carrying out our plan. You people must have faith; you must not be stampeded by rumors or guesses. Let us unite in banishing fear. We have provided the machinery to restore our financial system; it is up to you to support and make it work.

"It is your problem no less than it is mine. Together we cannot fail."

One wonders if we will ever see that level of leadership again. Hopefully, whoever wins in November, we will see that person rise to a higher level of statesman.

You can read the entire text, and access other Fireside Chats, here: http://www.mhric.org/fdr/fdr.html