John F. Kennedy called America "the land we love" more than 40 years ago. He was reminding citizens of the lofty ideals on which our country stands. The Patriot's Handbook reminds us of hundreds of ways to remember those ideals.
The song is just one of hundreds of songs, poems, stories, speeches and historical documents found in A Patriot's Handbook, by Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg (http://www.hyperionbooks.com Hyperion Books, 663 pages, $27.95).
In the book's first section, the flag, Kennedy chose the song because of a statement by the late Jerry Garcia who suggested that America is "the spirit of being able to go out and have an adventure."
Uncle Sam, a jocular name for the United States that came into use during the War of 1812, is a frequent theme in Grateful Dead songs. Uncle Sam is also believed to be a caricature of Sam Wilson, an outspoken meat packer from Troy, New York.
{sidebar id=21}The song fits right in with an essay in the book by U.S. Sen. John McCain. McCain, a Navy fighter pilot during the Vietnam War, describes the sacrifice Mike Christian made to get a U.S. flag.
Christian and McCain were cell mates in the infamous Hanoi Hilton where McCain was a prisoner of war for nearly five years. He details how Christian spent months fashioning an American flag from scraps of red and white cloth. The men used the flag daily as a centerpiece when they recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
Eventually the guards found Christian's flag. He was severely beaten for that act.
When Christian was returned to his cell he began making another flag. McCain says Christian did not act out of defiance.
"He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was for us to be able to pledge our allegiance to our flag and country," McCain said.
Another passage includes a court decision, Barnette vs. the West Virginia Board of Education. It was brought by a group of Jehovah's Witnesses who feared their children would be forced to recite the Pledge of Allegiance during World War II. They said it would violate their religious principles.
The court ruled on Flag Day in 1943 in a controversial decision that the school children could not be forced to salute the flag or be forced to recite a patriotic pledge. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of GIs were defending freedom around the world.
The three selections provoke powerful images of Americans who were not always popular, took unpopular stances to preserve the right to dissent. Or in the case of Christian, the story of a man who risked another beating so he wouldn't deprive fellow prisoners of war of a powerful symbol during an unpopular war.
Independence Day is a time for both celebration and introspection about this land's vision, the rule of law, freedom, freedom of speech, the right to be let alone and individualism — values that made our nation free.
"Understanding and renewing our commitment to our fundamental civic values is a process of turning and returning to the words that defined challenges of the past, inspired by generations before us, and offer insight of our own," Schlossberg writes.
There are other selections describing actions that seemed unpopular at the time but are now considered hallmarks of American freedom.
- A speech by Sen. Margaret Chase Smith condemning Sen. Joe McCarthy's pursuit of communists. It took great courage for her to speak to the Senate during the red scare of the 1950s.
- Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham City Jail in 1963.
- Chief Logan's speech on accepting defeat to the Virginia Militia, an event that ended the colonial Indian wars.
And she quotes the inaugural speech of her father, John F. Kennedy, elected president in 1960 and assassinated in November 1963. He would have been 90 in May. It's not the only inaugural speech in the book. She cites Thomas Jefferson's speech, considered by many as a call to end political partisanship for the good of the republic.
Perhaps members of Congress should read both speeches again.
The handbook was on the New York Times Best Seller list for five weeks and has sold more than 500,000 copies.
At the same time her book was a best seller on the New York Times list, another book, An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963 by Robert Dallek was published. It reveals the extent of her father's medical problems.
The late president was no stranger to literature. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Profiles In Courage, another tome describing personal sacrifice of Americans.
John F. Kennedy was no stranger to sacrifice, either. He and his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, fought for equality and against desegregation.
A Patriot's Handbook describes beautiful events too:
- Francis Scott Key's Star Spangled Banner describing the bombs bursting in the air over Fort McHenry
- The Sioux Indian Songs of the Sacred Mysteries
- the Sunset by Jack Kerouac. See: {ln::479} Kerouac's life in Florida after the road trips
The book ends with the words to This Land Is Your Land by folk singer Woody Guthrie.
This land was made for you and me.
