There is bourgeoning movement fanning out across the American landscape. School Boards, librarians, impassioned parents, and a cacophony of conservative politicians are leading a contemporary book burning, or at least, banning, craze. Much of this fanatical action is done in the name of the anti-CRT movement.
Early on, the promoters, while maneuvering to gain a foothold, alleged that the effort was intended to protect young impressionable elementary schoolers from topics too advanced for their tender years. Like many insidious gambits, once the notion was translated into policy and legislation, the scope magically and instantly expanded to all ages, in all schools, up to and including public colleges.
Many of the zealous advocates for this anachronistic practice would be more than mildly surprised to learn that as early as 1953, a Republican icon totally disavowed “book burning” (banning). At the Dartmouth College commencement address that year, June 14, 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower decried censorship. In the first year of his presidency, Eisenhower noted in his ten-minute speech, American History is steeped in a conundrum, vacillating between the democratic ideal of free speech and its antediluvian polar opposite, censorship. He noted that this conflict has surfaced again and again over the course of time.
The President advised that we look at America. He courageously called out our simple and small-minded tendency to resist admitting self-evident truths.
“Look at your country. Here is a country of which we are proud, as you are proud of Dartmouth and all about you, and the families to which you belong. But this country is a long way from perfection—a long way. We have the disgrace of racial discrimination, or we have prejudice against people because of their religion. We have crime on the docks. We have not the courage to uproot these things, although we know they are wrong. And we with our standards, the standards given us at places like Dartmouth, we know they are wrong. And pert of being able to look at one’s country with honest eyes, is not siding with “Book burners.”
Reflecting on Eisenhower’s remarks must certainly cause contemporary proponents of America the exceptional to wince. Seven decades ago, in addressing the academy, an institution many of today’s conservatives look upon with disdain, the Republican President of the United States called upon soon-to-be graduates to reject the tenets what we know today as anti-CRT.
More specifically, he said, “Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you are going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book, as long as the document does not offend our own idea of decency. That should be the only censorship.”
Nearly eight years later, in his final address, Ike warned against the Military Industrial Complex. These two philosophical capstones say about as clearly as can be stated that the core values of the GOP have changed dramatically. I’ll leave the discussion of the arms race for another post. Today, the emphasis is and shall remain, “Book Banning Is Passé: A Republican President Said So…Seventy Years Ago!”
I’m done; holla back!
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A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/eisenhower-dont-join-book-burners/
http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/2023/06/book-banning-is-passe-republican.html
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