History and Memory
“Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past.”
George Orwell, 1984 (published 1949)
“History is to the nation as memory is to the individual. As a person deprived of memory becomes disorientated and lost, not knowing where they have been or where they are going, so a nation denied a conception of the past will be disabled in dealing with its present and its future.”
Arthur Schlesinger, The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society (published 1989)
In his Substack PastPresentFuture, Dan Gardner writes about history, legal affairs, and technology. His educational background (a law degree and a Master’s in history) and his political experience as a government advisor to several Canadian agencies provide him with a unique perspective on the topics he writes about.
Today (Saturday, April 19, 2025), he published an essay called The War on History which encapsulates several threads I’ve been thinking about. When I began to read his essay, my first thought was to take some of his core ideas and develop my own essay. But as I read further, I realized that he had already done what I wanted to do. So I decided to simply share his essay with you. I encourage you to read it in its entirety. The man has important things to say.
One thought he presented early in his essay, in his discussion of Trump’s war on the Smithsonian Institution, goes like this:
Each visitor to a Smithsonian museum is another synapse formed in collective memory. Damage the Smithsonian, damage the synapses, and, bit by bit, damage collective memory.
As gaps and distortions increasingly appear in America memory, so America will, like a person afflicted with Alzheimer’s, become increasingly disorientated and lost.
Like dementia, this won’t be fatal immediately. It won’t even be dangerous at first. But in time, it could become as damaging as the worst of Trump’s other actions.
That is why Donald Trump’s war on history matters.
Thank you for this post and recommendation. I’m reading more history simply to make sure my children and grands understand how horribly destructive Trump, et al, are to our nation. Smart people have written so much, but if one doesn’t read or is so psychologically warped that one can’t allow any other but one’s own thoughts and wants to emerge, then we, as a nation, are lost. What is the line that Republicans will not allow to be crossed? Sending a Congress person to El Salvador? Dismissing the Supremes from the bench? Breaking the US economy? He is such a dangerous fool.
Karen, thank you for this essay and for all you are doing to keep your readers in the know. Sometimes I just can’t respond because the reality of what you, and others have written, renders me without an adequate response. Regardless, please know I frequently forward your essays to family and friends, including this one.
Keep writing! 🙏😎