Friday, June 11, 2004
To everything...turn...turn...turn...there is a season....turn..turn...turn...
...and a time to every purpose..under Heaven.
That song has been rattling around in my head today as I watch snippets of Reagan's funeral. Today (thankfully) is the final day of mourning. As I wrote right after Reagan's death we must be careful not to canonize Reagan but to see the whole of his legacy and his life. This week has been a time that most have gushed and glowed over the positives of Ronald Reagan. In the coming years history will most certainly offer us a much more balanced and whole view.
The New York Times has published several outstanding pieces this week on Reagan, his legacy and his life.
RW Apple has this on Reagan's legacy. He notes:
The "Reaganauts," as one of them said, have been out all week seeking to burnish their man's legacy on television and in print. But hagiography will not determine their leader's ultimate standing, and whether he is entitled to be called "great." Only what the historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. called "the cool eye of history" will do that, many years hence.
The NYT editorial staff also offers insight into attempts to paste Reagan's name and image on currency. They rightfully note the egregious slight to Alexander Hamilton, founding father and first Secretary of the Treasury.
And finally an editorial on what I think is the best way to honor Reagan: embryonic stem cell research.
The "Paper of Record" stepped up to the plate this week. Well done.
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That song has been rattling around in my head today as I watch snippets of Reagan's funeral. Today (thankfully) is the final day of mourning. As I wrote right after Reagan's death we must be careful not to canonize Reagan but to see the whole of his legacy and his life. This week has been a time that most have gushed and glowed over the positives of Ronald Reagan. In the coming years history will most certainly offer us a much more balanced and whole view.
The New York Times has published several outstanding pieces this week on Reagan, his legacy and his life.
RW Apple has this on Reagan's legacy. He notes:
The "Reaganauts," as one of them said, have been out all week seeking to burnish their man's legacy on television and in print. But hagiography will not determine their leader's ultimate standing, and whether he is entitled to be called "great." Only what the historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. called "the cool eye of history" will do that, many years hence.
The NYT editorial staff also offers insight into attempts to paste Reagan's name and image on currency. They rightfully note the egregious slight to Alexander Hamilton, founding father and first Secretary of the Treasury.
And finally an editorial on what I think is the best way to honor Reagan: embryonic stem cell research.
The "Paper of Record" stepped up to the plate this week. Well done.
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