This past week I attended a lecture by the Pulitzer Prize winning historian David McCullough over at MTSU. Overall David McCullough both enlightened and entertained. He began his speech with an amusing anecdote about being asked "Besides John Adams and Harry Truman, how many other presidents have you interviewed?" He also noted that the most striking impression of his only encounter with President Truman in person was the fact that Truman was in color. The speech was entitled "Qualities of Leadership" and drew heavily upon the author's most recent works John Adams and 1776. During the lecture, McCullough stressed the importance of having a proper sense of history - that our founding fathers had a deep appreciation for classical history and a profound sense of duty to future generations. He also chided our culture for its nostalgic pining for a time when life was more simple. The "Good ol' Days" never happened! September 11 was perhaps the worst single day in our history, but it didn't fundamentally change everything. Furthermore, life in 1776 was not a picnic. For those present in the early days of our nation, the great American experiment was not guaranteed to succeed. McCullough reminded us that the actors in history did not know how their story would end, just as we do not know what the future holds for us today. He pointed out that throughout history, unexpected events often changed the course of history (for example, George Washington's miraculous retreat from Brooklyn made possible by favorable wind conditions that prevented the British from sailing upriver). McCullough also stressed the importance of teachers in our society and encouraged us to make history a priority in the education of our children.
