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It would seem from these comments that Mr. Hoffman thinks Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and others of their sort should be reduced to cameos and the whole story should be told from the bottom up. This would be politically correct and keep Mr. Hoffman happy. He also claimed that his comments on race, class and gender ended up on the cutting room floor and were not used because someone said he was a communist.

In a restrained reply, Ron Blumer assured Mr. Hoffman that the communist comment was sheer myth and explained that for every hour of a film interview with an historian, about one minute reached the screen. Ron argued persuasively that the general public does not know the traditional story and it was essential to tell it to them, while trying to do justice to the social history side of the Revolution.

Three distinguished historians, Carol Berkin of Baruch College, Richard Bernstein of New York Law School, and Pauline Maier of MIT, took issue with Mr. Hoffman's criticism. They cited an article in the William and Mary Quarterly six years ago, confirming that many Americans did not know the most elementary facts about the Revolution. They insisted that Liberty! emphasized women, blacks and the ordinary soldier far more than any previous treatment of the subject on television. They noted how many women historians were used as commentators. They stated rather strongly that Mr. Hoffman's ``elitism'' was out of sync with the Institute's historic association with Colonial Williamsburg, which attempts to reach ``ordinary'' Americans.

I am pretty sure I can add the Round Table's backing to these convincing replies.

Liberty! Wins Peabody

Our first stop was the Allis-Bushnell house in Madison. That house is named for a distant cousin, Cornelius Scranton Bushnell, who built the Civil War ironclad, SS Monitor. It has an interesting museum.

Our next stop was Bushnell's birthplace in Westbrook. The house is identified by a small wooden plaque on the front. We could not go inside because it is privately owned.

After lunch, we crossed the Connecticut River to Old Lyme and walked to a deserted beach on Griswold Point. From there we could see where a small piece of land called Poverty Island used to be. It was here that David Bushnell and his brother Ezra tested the Turtle, before taking it to New York harbor to attack Admiral Richard Howe's flagship, HMS Eagle.

We hope other Round Tablers will take similar trips and report on them. It is a great way to get close to the spirit of 1776.

Notes From the Landmark Maven

Fortunately there was never a problem about bringing these men home. Benjamin Franklin and his fellow negotiators in Paris made sure New York City was once again within the United States. The Americans of the era of the gruesome discovery asked the greatest architect of the day, Stanford White, to design a monument. He created the largest free standing Doric column in the world, 145 feet tall. At its top was a bronze brazier with an eternal flame.

White placed this majestic monument in Fort Green Park. A staircase of 100 steps ascended to the base of the monument. In 1908, President William Howard Taft dedicated it as the ``Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument.'' For a while, the brazier glowed ``like a light through the night from above.'' It would be nice to report it still does, but it ran out of fuel decades ago. Maybe the Round Table should lead a crusade to reignite this torch of freedom.

The Treasurer's Tidbits

Bartholdi, We Are Here! Did the French sculptor of the Statue of Liberty execute any other works here? Certainement. Six years before ``Liberty Enlightening the World'' was unveiled in New York Harbor in 1883, Bartholdi's oversize bronze depicting the Marquis de Lafayette on a ship's prow, pledging heart and sword to the American revolutionaries, was erected in Union Square. Like the Lady Liberty, it was given by the French government.

The Treasurer's Trivia Quiz

1. The letter to General Gage that triggered the march to Concord was written by Lord Dartmouth.
2. Captain John Pulling Jr. hung the two lanterns in Old North Church.
3. In Lexington, Paul Revere warned Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who were staying at the home of Rev. Jonas Clarke.
4. At Lexington, it was Captain John Parker against British Major John Pitcairn. At Concord Bridge it was American Major John Buttrick against Captain Walter Laurie.
5. The tune played by the Americans was ``The White Cockade.''

The first three persons who submit the correct answers to Jim at the June 2nd meeting will be treated to a free before dinner spirit (from the treasurer's private funds, of course).

Amazingly few feature movies have been made about the American Revolution. Using the following clues, name these films.

1. The Walt Disney produced film about Paul Revere's apprentice at Lexington and Concord.
2. This movie starred Henry Fonda outrunning the Iroquois through the New York frontier.
3. Cary Grant starred as a family man in the Old Dominion.
4. Laurence Olivier portrayed Gen. John Burgoyne in this adaptation of a George Bernard Shaw play.
5. Bette Davis as Catherine the Great? Yes, and Robert Stack in the title role.
6. D.W. Griffith directed this silent epic in 1924.
7. Starring George Montgomery, this film told the story of Major Andre.
8. This film was censored by the Nixon administration. (They were not cool, cool, conservative men!)
9. Nick Nolte sipping wine on the Seine.
10. Al Pacino starred in this 1985 flick. The critics were not kind.

It is available for $25.00 from the George S. MacManus Company, 1317 Irving Street, Philadelphia PA 19107.

Remembering Jim Simons

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