I hated college history. Textbooks were mostly about dead white men, with the exception of Abigail Adams. The lecture was boring. I had no idea how it related to my young life and future plans.
Historian David McCullough, who died this week at the age of 89, changed my attitude towards history and its contemporary relevance. While some tried to destroy history by renaming highways and removing slaveholder statues, McCullough made history.
He liked to say of what he wrote, "If it is not forgotten, it is not gone."
Whether it is his book "1776" or not, Amazon explains: Without their success, all hopes for independence would have been dashed, and the lofty ideals of the Declaration would have been mere words on paper." 's personal favorite, 'The Wright Brothers' is an American story about two brothers who owned a bicycle shop. Successfully flew an airplane for the first time. They had no aid from the U.S. government and were funded by France until Washington saw it working and belatedly boarded. Some things never change.
McCullough didn't just remember history. In a way, he revived history and our interest in it.
George H.W. President Bush is history He invited his family to the White House for a series of talks about the President of the United States. I attended a conference where McCullough spoke. His subject was Andrew Jackson. McCullough described the "open house" that followed Jackson's inauguration on March 4, 1829, attended by 20,000 people. The event got so rowdy that Jackson climbed out the window to escape the mob.
McCullough made the audience laugh like a comedian. In his book, he says as if, "This is important to you and your country. Learn from it." It makes you feel like you are there.
Other historians, such as Stephen Ambrose, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and Douglas Brinkley (some contemporary deserve credit for rewriting history in legible and compelling ways) , shares the credit for making history relevant again, but for me McCullough tops the list, having won two Pulitzer Prizes.
As George Santayana famously said, "He who cannot remember the past is doomed to repeat it." Times change, but human nature never changes. David McCullough has shown why the lessons of history remain important. Especially for those who are determined not to repeat the mistakes of history and learn from its successes.
Fortunately, his work is so good that it will and should be read for generations to come.
Cal Thomas' latest book isAmerica's Expiration Date: The Fall of Empires and Superpowers and the Future of the United States.
