PBS recently published the final quarter of 2002 report on their programming's "points of impact" -- how many people were touched by a show either while it was on the air or in the press and other kinds of outreach. Middlemarch Films' Benjamin Franklin was the no. 1 special -- over 10,600,000 viewers. The closest competitor was Skinwalkers, which had a multimillion dollar ad campaign. It finished 2,000,000 behind Ben. Doesn't this prove how many people out there are interested in the American Revolution? Of course, it also proves that Ron Blumer and his wife, Muffie Meyer, with her partner Ellen Hovde, know how to make a great historical film.
On the back page of The Weekly Standard, we recently found the front page of something called "Ye Newe York Times" for November 11, 1781. On the left hand side of the page was a headline; THREE WEEKS AFTER YORKTOWN, STILL NO CONSTITUTION READY. The subhead of the story, reported by R. Berke, read: "Hamilton, Fellow 'Neo-Federalists' Said To Be Eyeing Empire Across Continent." The story reported there were "troubling signs that American culture might not be compatible with democracy." Below was an Analysis written by R. W. Apple with the head: "Triumph Over British Empire Was Easy Part." A subhead declared: "Mayhem, Discontent Betray Hollow Victory." A second subhead maintained: "Desire to Return to British Sovereigntye Becoming Widespread." On the right was another story, headed: "War Viewed As Disastrous By Dismayed Citzenrie." A subhead predicted: "Reconstruction Costs Doom New Nation to Destitution, Obscuritie." In a box were headlines for a four page inside pull out section of other stories on the war. "Calvinists and Other Extremists Planning Theocracies," was one title. A second: "Harvard Tutor: Sanctions Against George III would have worked." A Third: "Clog Dancing Troupe Retracts Disparagement of Washington." The leader of the troupe said they regretted the "wood- toothed slave-owning stiff" slur. Who says you can't find laughs in our favorite subject?
Those who are involved in the historic preservation movement in New York are too well aware of its origins. In the 1960's, in an extreme example of corporate greed, government shortsightedness and public apathy, we lost Stanford White's Penn Station. We still miss it so much, that millions will be spent in an attempt to bring it at least partially back at the General Post Office across Eighth Avenue from its site at Madison Square Garden. From this disaster we gained our Landmarks Commission which now protects our most cherished buildings, bridges, and neighborhoods. Penn Station became the building New York City lost so that others might be saved.
Those who believe that such battles only take place in large cities with powerful real estate interests are sadly mistaken. The third battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia vividly illustrates this point. Being both the site of George Washington's hometown, and two Civil War battles (the second a part of the Chancellorsville campaign) the folks of Fredericksburg thought that their town would always be a beautiful historic site, neither subject to real estate demands nor requiring special protection.
This assumption vanished in 1970 when the city fathers approved the construction of the modern eight story Executive Plaza Building. It is the tallest building in the town, drastically affecting the southern view and dominating even the church spires. Three historic residences were torn down for this folly, and the people rose up, creating an Architectural Review Board and the Historic Fredericksburg Society.
Were they too little, too late? Thankfully, no. They prevented Mary Ball Washington's home from becoming the headquarters of the Fredericksburg Humane Society with outside kennels replacing the formal gardens, and Gen. Hugh Mercer's (killed at Princeton) Apothecary shop from becoming a beauty shop, or being torn down as a church annex. The store of Fielding Lewis (a local merchant who married George Washington's sister) was to become a library and parking garage. These three historic buildings (and many others) survive due to the three which were lost. New Yorkers know the feeling.
In March, 2003 four star Marine General Wallace M. Greene, Jr. died at 95. From the 1930's he served in China, London, and the South Pacific (WW II) and was commandant of the Corps from 1964 through 1967 in the Vietnam War. He was responsible for creating the concept of satellite positioning and terminal guidance systems, now commonplace in warfare. Gen. Greene was a direct descendent of Gen. Nathanael Greene of Revolutionary fame. As Poor Richard says, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."