John Burgoyne Quotes
While we remember that we are contending against brothers and fellow subjects, we must also remember that we are contending in this crisis for the fate of the British Empire.
Burgoyne, John. Speech in the House of Commons, 27 Feb. 1775. The Parliamentary Register, vol. 1, J. Almon, 1775, p. 254.
When the Nazis took over the German government, Schrodinger, a world famous scientist, at one of his major scientific lectures, gave an analogy that was critical of Hitler and the Nazis. The crowd of scientists wildly applauded. The Nazi agents took note of the speech. In 1938 Hitler had solidified his hold on Germany, Schrodinger was threatened with loss of his academic position and possibly a concentration camp. Since the scientist was so world famous, the Nazis persuaded him to issue a public statement of loyalty of which this quotation was part. It was published in all the German newspapers and scientific journals. Later, in the midst of WWII, Schrodinger was fired anyway on the grounds of “political unreliability”. See {629746} for Schrodinger’s letter of apology to his colleague Albert Einstein for his weakness in issuing the original apology.
Many of the leading Republicans viciously attacked President Barack Obama’s character, ability, and motives during the Ukraine-Russia Crisis. The irony if the attacks on the President is that un general the Republicans agreed with the actual policies and statements of the President on his dealing with the crisis but they were vicious in describing his as “Weak”, “Feckless”, “Not to be feared or taken seriously”. They wanted the President to be even tougher than he was and yet they told the world and the Russian leaders that he was “weak and could be pushed around,” thus undermining the President’s credibility and his likely success in implementing the tactics they wanted.
After the Civil War and Reconstruction, the American nation was still bitterly divided intelelctually, socially, emotionally and poliotically. In an effort to bring more unity to America, most of the power stucture and the influentials of the nation began to avoid those issues that would divide North and South and try and promote a narrative that both sides might be able to live with. And this is what Zeitz describes in this quotation. America went through a period of Revisionist History that even in the 21st century was held by many people. It wasn't until the middle of the 20th century that the real history and narrative of the Civil War and Reconstrution emerged from the few academics who had all along criticized the fabricated narritive that did unify the country at the cost of historical accuracy and truth. Many scholars point out that the price that America paid for this unity was the Jim Crow era and a century of legalized racism. Much of the nation was built on the labor of Negro slaves and the victims of the slavery era, also bore the brunt of American unity and reconcilliation.
General John Burgoyne was a British army officer, dramatist and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1761 to 1792. He first saw action during the Seven Years' War when he participated in several battles, most notably during the Portugal Campaign of 1762.
