Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin

(107,111 posts)
Wed Jun 17, 2020, 09:37 PM Jun 2020

Renaming military bases is not erasing history. It's erasing propaganda.

Fort Grant, named for the greatest American military strategist and general — a man who, uniquely, took the surrenders of three separate conquered armies, at Fort Donelson, Vicksburg and Appomattox Court House — did not survive long into the 1900s. No fort today is named for him.

Fort Sherman, named for Ulysses S. Grant’s partner in war and successor as head of the U.S. Army, was abandoned shortly after the Spanish-American War.

-snip-

Of soldiers and sailors loyal to the nation during the Civil War, only two are honored in the names of prominent military bases. Fort Meade in Maryland, home to the National Security Agency and other cyberwarfare forces, commemorates George Meade — whose successful defense at Gettysburg left Lee 0-for-2 on Union soil. Fort Dix in New Jersey, now wrapped into Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, recalls John A. Dix, a political general considered too elderly for combat. Fort McPherson, outside Atlanta, bore the name of a Union hero who served under Sherman. It was closed in 2011.

By contrast, 10 active-duty facilities memorialize Confederate leaders of widely differing competence, from the tragic figures of Lee and his sacrificial lamb George Pickett, to bumbling Braxton Bragg and incompetent Leonidas Polk. A bipartisan move in Congress to rename these bases is opposed by two Senate whippersnappers vying for future Republican presidential nominations, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Hawley denounced the project as “attempting to erase that part of our history,” but that’s a weak defense and deserves no credence.

-snip-

Time, like a great army, marches on.

Furthermore, what would be erased by renaming the bases is precisely the opposite of history. The honors paid to these 10 men were part of a remarkably successful propaganda campaign, a deliberate and concerted attack on history waged across generations.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/renaming-military-bases-is-not-erasing-history-its-erasing-propaganda/2020/06/16/884a81a0-aff6-11ea-8758-bfd1d045525a_story.html

6 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Renaming military bases is not erasing history. It's erasing propaganda. (Original Post) Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Jun 2020 OP
The erasing history argument is so stupid Proud liberal 80 Jun 2020 #1
I think the WA has to do GP6971 Jun 2020 #2
Could have stopped with the title, AFAIAC. nt eppur_se_muova Jun 2020 #3
I'm for renaming Fort Bragg Fort Grant. NNadir Jun 2020 #4
Grant was absolutely brilliant. Aristus Jun 2020 #5
He was also, despite much invective, an outstanding President. NNadir Jun 2020 #6

Proud liberal 80

(4,167 posts)
1. The erasing history argument is so stupid
Wed Jun 17, 2020, 09:41 PM
Jun 2020

Where is Fort Hitler and Fort King George....we still know about WWII and the Revolutionary War don’t we?

And like the author mentioned, if we want to remember history and the Civil War by naming bases and having statues it should be of people who fought on the American side.

GP6971

(31,017 posts)
2. I think the WA has to do
Wed Jun 17, 2020, 11:18 PM
Jun 2020

better research. There are/were at least 14 Army installations named for Union Generals. Still active are;

Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. Home of the Artillery
Ft. Campbell, KY. Home of the 101st Airmobile
Ft Myer, VA. Now Joint Base Myer Henderson Barracks. Home of the 3rd IN BDE...the Old Guard.
Ft Meade, MD. Already mentioned.
Ft Shafter, HI. HQ US Army Pacific.
Tripler Army Medical Center, HI
Ft. Dix, NJ now JB McGuire/Dix/Lakehurst already mentioned.

Deactivated or in Reserve Stattus;

Ft Devens, MA
Ft. Lawton, WA
Ft. McClellnan, GA
Ft. McPherson, GA
Gt. Ord CA
Ft Sheriden, IL
Ft Gillam, GA

It should be noted that the Confederate Generals Bragg, Benning, Polk & P G T Beauregard were the worst rated confederated
Generals and are current names of active duty army posts

NNadir

(33,368 posts)
4. I'm for renaming Fort Bragg Fort Grant.
Thu Jun 18, 2020, 11:14 AM
Jun 2020

Grant kicked the shit out of Bragg at Chattanooga, having assumed command after Bragg had surrounded the Union Army.

Bragg was a cantankerous incompetent old fool who retained his position only because he kissed up to the so called "President" of the Traitor States, Jefferson Davis.

For me, Grant, long maligned unjustly, is the second greatest American of the 19th century, after his mentor Lincoln.

He was regarded, around the world, as the greatest American General of all time.

I have read a history - I can't recall which one - which noted that the American Generals in World War II who attended West Point, learned military strategy from old professors who had been junior officers in Grant's army. Grant, himself, had learned as a junior officer serving under Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott in the Mexican War, a war in which Grant served even though he regarded it as unjust.

Aristus

(66,096 posts)
5. Grant was absolutely brilliant.
Thu Jun 18, 2020, 03:42 PM
Jun 2020

He out-generaled Lee, and not just because, as the myth would have it, he had more men and was better supplied. Grant was a gifted fighting general, a true field commander. Lee got his reputation by being better than the incompetent generals who preceded Grant.

Once Lee and Grant met, it was all over for the South.

NNadir

(33,368 posts)
6. He was also, despite much invective, an outstanding President.
Thu Jun 18, 2020, 03:56 PM
Jun 2020

Historians are only now understanding that he, and he alone, laid the foundation for African American inclusion in American life by quiet investment of his prestige.

His establishment of an international law of arbitration, and suppression of the Ku Klux Klan are other highlights.

When he died the entire country mourned, building, by subscription, what is still the largest tomb in the United States. His contemporaries knew what he did, even if historians, many driven by hostility to 14th and 15th amendment, maligned him.

The focus on scandals in his cabinet over look the fact that he appointed the greatest Secretary of State of the times, other than perhaps, Seward, in Hamilton Fish.

I regard Grant as the second most important President of the 19th century, inasmuch as he was unwilling to undo the victory in the Civil War by surrendering politically to the South. Regrettably subsequent Presidents were not so committed.

Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Editorials & Other Articles»Renaming military bases i...