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| Courtesy of The LCN. Ronald Reagan |
Mike Wallace’s “Ronald Reagan and
the Politics of History” discusses how Reagan, as well as others,
misinterpreted or used a “mythic” approach to history. Wallace suggests that Reagan “was able
to comfortably… make statements dramatically at variance with widely know facts
because they were nestled in a supportive context of myth.” (258) He also notes
that Reagan’s time working as an actor in Hollywood influenced his view on
history and reality. Americans
tend to forget the past or believe the past in dead and is not as important as
the future. Wallace believes that
the reason Reagan was able to confidently speak about things that were
historically untrue was a result of “Hollywood history” that would retell myths
as truths. Wallace spends a large
part of his essay giving examples of the historical myths or lies that Reagan
tells during his time as president.
His opinion of Reagan was clearly shown.
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| Courtesy of warbirdphotos.net. Enola Gay |
Wallace’s “The Battle of the Enola Gay” discusses the controversy of
an Enola Gay exhibit at the Smithsonian. In 1994, the Smithsonian planned to
develop an exhibit based on the Enola Gay
and soon after releasing the plans were quickly met with criticism and
outrage. Misrepresentation of the
exhibit was one of the greatest problems the curators faced. Political correctness played a large
part in the Enola Gay debate and a
war fought by various groups on which interpretation of the Enola Gay would be shown in the exhibit
or whether there should be an exhibit at all. In the end there was no Enola
Gay exhibit. Wallace spends
the last part of the essay discussing what museums would have to do to get
controversy exhibits developed and shown. He covers this controversy in depth and gives one and idea of what the major issues were surrounding the exhibit.
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| Courtesy of September 11 Digital Archive |
James T. Sparrow’s “On the Web: The
September 11 Digital Archive” discusses how history has moved to the Internet
in historical websites and the development of the September 11 Digital Archive
website. Sparrow lays out how the
website was created and the design behind it. What was really interesting about this website, was that
regular people could upload their own pictures and entries. Sparrow notes that the September 11
Digital Archive is “dependent on the needs of its visitors and on its ability
to foster a sense of community online.” (411) There is also the need to distinguish
credible historical websites from the amateur websites. Sparrow's essay was very informative and gives a clear overview of a way a historical website is designed.
I liked your blog Taylor. Reagan has always been a good scapegoat for anything. I'm not saying that he was a saint by any means, but since I have been taking history classes, I have never read or heard anything good about him. What professors always tell you is that you have to know about what was happening in the world and how people felt to understand the circumstances and the events. I remember the Reagan years by three things. 1) everybody had a job! 2) everybody had money in their pockets! and 3)you felt safe. For some reason, that is never discussed. Just saying?
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