Chinteresting piece. Will add my thoughts shortly.
Is the truth on the ole general closer to the "kindly Lee" narrative or this article?Too long to poast
Ken Burns basically wrote a love letter to him in video formBut since I wasn't asked - fuck off.
I forgot I wrote that
Heinrich Himmler betrayed Hitler and tried to save lives by approaching the Catholic Church to broker a peace deal and end the war which if successful would have saved hundreds of thousands of lives. In November 1944 he ordered the extermination of Jews to cease which his subordinates ignored.I might be mistaken but I don't believe anyone nominated Himmler for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Heinrich Himmler betrayed Hitler and tried to save lives by approaching the Catholic Church to broker a peace deal and end the war which if successful would have saved hundreds of thousands of lives. In November 1944 he ordered the extermination of Jews to cease which his subordinates ignored.I might be mistaken but I don't believe anyone nominated Himmler for the Nobel Peace Prize. Might have been the SS Death Castle he built.
I forgot I wrote that I thought that Private Browning letter, along with the comic of Sark dancing on the bar at the Dutchess, was one of your best non-Duck Fighter Illustrated works.And yes, the Kens Burns series, while I wouldn't say is love letter, definitely paints Lee as a bit of tragic hero (then again, you could tell in his interviews Shelby Foote had a full on man-crush on the general )...which he was in a way. He had fought for the United States Army for many years, and until his state left the Union, was deeply devoted to it. I'm not saying he made the right decision, but when I try to put myself in his shoes, I can't imagine how difficult it must've been to chose between your home state and the country you had served for so long. Then again, there were Southerners who opted to stay loyal (Sam Houston being the most high profile one I can think of - and like Lee he was a slave holder). @YellowSnow thank you for bringing up how Nebraska-classy Lee was when he surrendered. That's where I think the "kindly Lee" reputation is earned. Right or wrong, he was probably the voice most Confederates would listen to ('cause let's face it, it wasn't Jefferson Davis), so he definitely could've dragged out the war if he had wished.
If Lee wanted to be remembered as an American hero, he should have taken command of the Army of the Potomac and ended the war quickly. Without Lee, the South would have been crushed in an instant. It was largely the incompetence of Union leadership and Lee's early gains that prolonged the war. Plenty of other Virginians stayed loyal to the Union, so the notion that everyone in those days was only loyal to their home state is bullshit.Instead, Lee chose to fight to protect the original sin of this country's founding, and now his house is a cemetery. Rommel was a great military leader too, and not REALLY a Nazi by most accounts. But fuck him too. Losers don't write history. Not even classy ones.Of course, a quick war likely leads to a quick reconciliation, and likely no end to slavery. Lincoln himself admitted that preserving the Union was paramount. So maybe a really bloody, shitty Civil War 150 years ago saved us all a bunch of trouble these days. Thanks Lee, for your service.
If Lee wanted to be remembered as an American hero, he should have taken command of the Army of the Potomac and ended the war quickly. Without Lee, the South would have been crushed in an instant. It was largely the incompetence of Union leadership and Lee's early gains that prolonged the war. Plenty of other Virginians stayed loyal to the Union, so the notion that everyone in those days was only loyal to their home state is bullshit.Instead, Lee chose to fight to protect the original sin of this country's founding, and now his house is a cemetery. Rommel was a great military leader too, and not REALLY a Nazi by most accounts. But fuck him too. Losers don't write history. Not even classy ones.Of course, a quick war likely leads to a quick reconciliation, and likely no end to slavery. Lincoln himself admitted that preserving the Union was paramount. So maybe a really bloody, shitty Civil War 150 years ago saved us all a bunch of trouble these days. Thanks Lee, for your service. Speaking of Nazis, Werner Von Braun has his name on every third building here.Basically if you're not into high treason or genocide you aren't getting anything named after you in Alabama. This is the one area of the state viewed as progressive as well.
If Lee wanted to be remembered as an American hero, he should have taken command of the Army of the Potomac and ended the war quickly. Without Lee, the South would have been crushed in an instant. It was largely the incompetence of Union leadership and Lee's early gains that prolonged the war. Plenty of other Virginians stayed loyal to the Union, so the notion that everyone in those days was only loyal to their home state is bullshit.Instead, Lee chose to fight to protect the original sin of this country's founding, and now his house is a cemetery. Rommel was a great military leader too, and not REALLY a Nazi by most accounts. But fuck him too. Losers don't write history. Not even classy ones.Of course, a quick war likely leads to a quick reconciliation, and likely no end to slavery. Lincoln himself admitted that preserving the Union was paramount. So maybe a really bloody, shitty Civil War 150 years ago saved us all a bunch of trouble these days. Thanks Lee, for your service. Speaking of Nazis, Werner Von Braun has his name on every third building here.Basically if you're not into high treason or genocide you aren't getting anything named after you in Alabama. This is the one area of the state viewed as progressive as well. Von Braun is a weird case. Like Rommel, the rumor is he wasn't a REAL Nazi. Allegedly he dressed up and played along, but didn't believe in any of it. He just loved his country and was damn good at what he did. And maybe wasn't given a choice by the scary people in charge. He was a rocket nerd, not a general.But then he created the V-2 rocket "vengeance weapon" using slave labor. Survivors claimed they witnessed him personally oversee executions of suspected saboteurs in the factory. BUT...then he helped us win the space race against Ivan.The rocket/space stuff is the only thing we know is true. The other allegations didn't stick. Though you have to wonder if his value to our rocket program didn't earn him a clean slate from the US government.
