The Sage of Main Street
Gold Member
You Do the Hokey WokeyNot just FDR, but Woodrew Wilson -- the first Southern President since the Civil War and a vicious racist to boot -- adored Robert E. Lee. On the Republican side, Dwight Eisenhower had a picture of Robert E. Lee on his office wall and publicly explained why he likewise admired the man as one of the greatest of all Americans. This adoration of the Confederate general has deep roots in American society.
It is important to understand its origin and its connection with the rise of Jim Crow, the growth of "Lost Cause" nostalgia and the profound national acceptance of white supremacy. From the highest reaches of academia to the lowest rungs of "white trash," and virtually all places between, equal rights and opportunities were denied African Americans openly and without shame until the Civil Rights Movement and MLK came on the scene. The bestowing of heroic status on Robert E. Lee played a part in all of this, as statues of him and many lesser and truly despicable Confederate leaders, along with Confederate Flags, "blossomed" throughout the Jim Crow "Old South," and even on U.S. military bases.
One place to read how all this occurred is in this 2011 article by the U.S. government-financed National Endowment for the Humanities: How Did Robert E. Lee Become an American Icon?
And Turn Yourself Around
That's What It's All About
By the command of jock punks who won't stand up for our National Anthem, now we must re-rank the Presidents according to their wokitude.