by Jeffrey Bingham Mead, Board of Contributors
Greenwich Time, Greenwich, Connecticut
Friday, February 3, 1984
With the commitment of American military forces to trouble spots around the world, such as Grenada and Lebanon, it is truly remarkable that the importance of the War Powers Act of 1973 has been mentioned so little by the news media and that so few people seem to know what it is and what its effect is on the role America plays in the international arena.
This piece of legislation has been beyond a doubt highly influential in the formulation and implementation of US foreign-policy around the globe. As our international commitment to the world at large grows, our ability to protect our national interests and to defend the liberties of people when called to do so must be backed by public trust and confidence in the good judgment of the president as commander-in-chief to use military force if necessary.
The War Powers Act, a legacy of the political interplay between the executive and legislative branches of the federal government during the early 1970s, illustrates a flawed and politically self-serving effort by Congress to reassert its role in making foreign-policy and in deciding on the use of military force.
Under the terms of the War Powers Act the president is allowed to commit American armed forces to belligerent situations or where a situation is in danger of becoming hostile by a declaration of war, a specific statutory authorization, or a national emergency entailing an attack on the United States, its territories, or its armed forces. The president is urged to consult with the Congress before any engagement of U.S. forces to hostilities or impending hostilities and to consult Congress subsequently on a regular basis. The president is required to report in writing to the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president pro tempor of the Senate within 48 hours. Both are authorized to reconvene Congress if it is not in session to consider the situation confronted by the president.
The legislation further requires the cessation of a troop commitment within 60 days after submission of the president's initial report unless Congress declares war, sanctions the duration of a commitment, or is unable to reconvene due to armed aggression against United States.
There is an allowance for a 30-day extension if the president has ascertained and corroborated to Congress that unavoidable military requirements with regard to the safety of American forces the necessitates an extension to usher in a prompt disengagement the forces.
Finally, the War Powers Act allows Congress to direct the president to disengage troops if American forces are involved in hostilities without a declaration of war or specific congressional approval.
With the Vietnam War and the turmoil over the continued bombing of Cambodia past, Congress displayed an invitation to reassert for itself a role in the direction of U.S. foreign policy. However, more than any other reason, the passage of the War Powers Act was a reflection of President Nixon's political troubles in Washington as compounded by the Watergate scandal and the firing a Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox.
Under such conditions the pendulum of power swung away from the executive branch, and thus Congress was able to assert power at the expense of a temporarily weakened period for the American presidency. Long-term repercussions were clearly not taken into account with regard to future situations and for international commitments the United States might face.
Finally, the danger does indeed exist that an alteration of presidential power could deprive the commander-in-chief of the capacity to take the necessary exertion of power to deter aggressors or potential aggressors in a persuasive way.
One of the serious flaws in the War Powers Act concerned consultation. In every way imaginable, what Congress wants is impossible. Former President Gerald R. Ford, in a speech at the University of Kentucky, recalled that during the Danang evacuation Congress was in Easter recess and "not one of the key bypartisan leaders of Congress was in Washington."
Ford detailed that the congressional leaders were scattered as follows: "two were in Mexico, three were in Greece, one was in the Middle East, one was in Europe, and two were in the People's Republic of China. The rest we found in 12 widely scattered states of the union."
Furthermore, when Americans have been evacuated from Lebanon, Congress had adjourned for the day, and Ford once again pointed out the tremendous difficulties in contacting congressional leaders.
It is perfectly clear today "that critical world events, especially military operations, seldom wait for the Congress to meet," as Ford stated in the same speech.
With the rise in tensions around the world and threats to Americans abroad increasing, as well as the propagation of renewed terrorism, it is as if Congress had forgotten that few, if any, terrorist groups or outbreaks of hostilities occur according to the times Congress meets.
Lately, Congress has resorted to subtle threats to the president over Grenada and Lebanon to impose its powers under the legislation. In the case of Grenada, angry shouts arose from Congress with, for example, Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan, D – N.Y., outwardly insinuating that President Reagan was imposing democracy by the tip of a bayonet.
Two things happened that caused Congress to interestingly change its mind; namely, that are forces were successful and majority of their constituents as well as the public at large supported the president's actions. Such a double standard and lack of unity is dangerous.
I sincerely hope that Congress will have the courage to repeal the War Powers Act. The act is unconstitutional in that it undermines the president; its repeal would send a much-needed signal to our allies and adversaries abroad that America had renewed confidence its confidence and unity behind the president is commander-in-chief and was willing to entrust such awesome responsibilities where they belong.
Jeffrey Bingham Mead is a lifelong resident of Greenwich at a direct descendent of one of the founding families of the town. Is a member of the Greenwich time board of contributors.
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Monday, February 9, 2015
Celebrating the Fourth of July and the 350th Year of the Town (1990)
by Jeffrey Bingham Mead
Greenwich Time, Greenwich, Connecticut
July 4, 1990
Pride handed down the generations
Two people like me, whose roots run deep in New England's history, a town with the rich heritage like Greenwich has a special place in our hearts. The history of such places, born out of humble and primitive beginnings, stands out within the rich mosaic of America.
Even today, we recall the early settlers and those who followed them. From them we have inherited an ethic of passing from one generation to the next special pride about this town that many, including myself, still call home.
It is appropriate that Greenwich should pause to observe the 350th anniversary of its founding. The year so far has been the scene of many efforts to recall that special connection to the past. Towns, like individuals and families, need to search within and retain that heritage in order to enrich its sense of self and destiny, to see where we've been so that we may chart a course for the future.
The year 1990 provides Greenwich with a special opportunity to reflect on our identity. By doing so we further encourage a new, refreshing confidence and assertion a traditional values derived from our historic past. Such a process of self-definition is a continuous one, and this years' festivities serve only of small part of that process. For me, this years' observance of our history becomes more personalized.
My attachment to the Town of Greenwich is not derived from the creeping glitziness and status consciousness that sadly -and I believe wrongfully- characterizes the new popular mystique Greenwich currently flirts with. My sense of infinity to this community is derived from a generational appreciation of traditional community purpose and resolve geared toward working cooperatively for the common good.
Our forbears probably did not realize the significance of the mission they embarked on a building new life for themselves in this part of the world. Their journey, which we continue today, involves a strong work and spiritual ethic in facing the hardships of planting fresh roots in a growing society.
Our 350th Founders Day enables people like you and me to cross through the portals of time to the historical past of Greenwich. Such a tour encourages both native and newcomer to join us in a penetrating and revitalized interest in that special town heritage we hold true to our pride. That shared interest of preserving and perpetuating the conservation of our physical and traditional heritage can serve us well as common ground for creating a vision of the future so sadly lacking today.
It saddens me that the town I grew up in has changed so much in such a short time, that its pulse is no longer timed by the changing of the seasons but instead by materialism, status-seeking, social climbing and pretension. Eric Sloane said that he was "indeed grateful for the good things of the age, yet I feel there were certain things of the past which were good and unimprovable… It is both my lot and pleasure to look backward, to search the yesterdays for such carelessly discarded wealth."
Regaining the purity of those precious yesterdays is not an impossible task, for the desire to work for such ends is grounded in the freedom and individualism we cherish yet often take for granted.
It is my hope that Greenwich will settle back, pause and enjoy the sustenance of warm breezes that I believe still are worth stopping for. My hope is that many of you will join in creating the extended family of Greenwich derived from its heritage. Slow down and visit Putnam Cottage, Bush-Holley House, our parks and seashores. Walk around the streets and view the rich historical architecture and support measures to preserve them from the wrecking ball. Visit the old burying grounds, where those who worked the land and built the houses and fought the wars, sleep forever. Behold the highways and byways bordered by miles of stonewalls that snake across the Greenwich landscape.
This is our shared inheritance, and our 350th year offers us the opportunity to once again taste the flavors of our past, and pass it on to those who follow.
Happy birthday, Greenwich, and many more to come!
Jeffrey Bingham Mead is a direct descendent of one of the founding families of the town.
Greenwich Time, Greenwich, Connecticut
July 4, 1990
Pride handed down the generations
Two people like me, whose roots run deep in New England's history, a town with the rich heritage like Greenwich has a special place in our hearts. The history of such places, born out of humble and primitive beginnings, stands out within the rich mosaic of America.
Even today, we recall the early settlers and those who followed them. From them we have inherited an ethic of passing from one generation to the next special pride about this town that many, including myself, still call home.
It is appropriate that Greenwich should pause to observe the 350th anniversary of its founding. The year so far has been the scene of many efforts to recall that special connection to the past. Towns, like individuals and families, need to search within and retain that heritage in order to enrich its sense of self and destiny, to see where we've been so that we may chart a course for the future.
The year 1990 provides Greenwich with a special opportunity to reflect on our identity. By doing so we further encourage a new, refreshing confidence and assertion a traditional values derived from our historic past. Such a process of self-definition is a continuous one, and this years' festivities serve only of small part of that process. For me, this years' observance of our history becomes more personalized.
My attachment to the Town of Greenwich is not derived from the creeping glitziness and status consciousness that sadly -and I believe wrongfully- characterizes the new popular mystique Greenwich currently flirts with. My sense of infinity to this community is derived from a generational appreciation of traditional community purpose and resolve geared toward working cooperatively for the common good.
Our forbears probably did not realize the significance of the mission they embarked on a building new life for themselves in this part of the world. Their journey, which we continue today, involves a strong work and spiritual ethic in facing the hardships of planting fresh roots in a growing society.
Our 350th Founders Day enables people like you and me to cross through the portals of time to the historical past of Greenwich. Such a tour encourages both native and newcomer to join us in a penetrating and revitalized interest in that special town heritage we hold true to our pride. That shared interest of preserving and perpetuating the conservation of our physical and traditional heritage can serve us well as common ground for creating a vision of the future so sadly lacking today.
It saddens me that the town I grew up in has changed so much in such a short time, that its pulse is no longer timed by the changing of the seasons but instead by materialism, status-seeking, social climbing and pretension. Eric Sloane said that he was "indeed grateful for the good things of the age, yet I feel there were certain things of the past which were good and unimprovable… It is both my lot and pleasure to look backward, to search the yesterdays for such carelessly discarded wealth."
Regaining the purity of those precious yesterdays is not an impossible task, for the desire to work for such ends is grounded in the freedom and individualism we cherish yet often take for granted.
It is my hope that Greenwich will settle back, pause and enjoy the sustenance of warm breezes that I believe still are worth stopping for. My hope is that many of you will join in creating the extended family of Greenwich derived from its heritage. Slow down and visit Putnam Cottage, Bush-Holley House, our parks and seashores. Walk around the streets and view the rich historical architecture and support measures to preserve them from the wrecking ball. Visit the old burying grounds, where those who worked the land and built the houses and fought the wars, sleep forever. Behold the highways and byways bordered by miles of stonewalls that snake across the Greenwich landscape.
This is our shared inheritance, and our 350th year offers us the opportunity to once again taste the flavors of our past, and pass it on to those who follow.
Happy birthday, Greenwich, and many more to come!
Jeffrey Bingham Mead is a direct descendent of one of the founding families of the town.
Saturday, February 7, 2015
History Must Be Relevant to Students (Published 1989)
by Jeffrey Bingham Mead
Greenwich Time, Greenwich, Connecticut
May 28, 1989
In January 1988 I began graduate work in secondary education. This was a number of years after I had followed family tradition and involved myself in the preservation of the heritage of both Greenwich and our fast-disappearing Yankee New England.
My interest and certification will be in history, which to those who know me is no surprise. I've been keenly interested in instilling in our students the need to study history and take part in historic preservation.
Many have been unfortunately turned off by history, but those who make it boring and sterile. Yet for those in our secondary schools, historic preservation is and should be encouraged as an integral part of the educational process.
In this community and others like it, we can find a number of relics worthy of study and preservation. The attic and Grandma's house can unfold a universe of historic resources such as diaries, old pictures, newspapers, antiquated gadgets and a rich array of memorabilia gathering dust.
Down the street and atop a nearby hill, an abandoned burying ground peers silently over the surrounding landscape, its gravestones fallen and vandalized, begging for some recognition, dignity and rescue from the overgrowth.
About a mile away is the headquarters of the local historical society, sitting on its stone foundations as it has for centuries. Within its walls a staff of volunteers painstakingly work to preserve the town's heritage, and wait patiently for visitors to come by. The surrounding streetscape is dotted with architectural treasures from various eras of our national historic heritage.
Meanwhile, at any of a number of high schools and junior highs in America, students read assigned homogenized texts about wars, rebellions, economic rises and falls. They are endlessly lectured, perhaps viewing a film once in a while, and, one presumes, catching up on their sleep. Our national and world heritage is light years away. As far as many students are concerned, none of this is relevant, and boredom sets in. No wonder.
While all this happens, Grandma sits alone at home, with a world of unique and irreplaceable reminiscences. No one is there to record this. All seems lost. The old burying ground remains neglected. The historical society and its fine resources go ignored, except by a few. The architecture of the streetscape goes unnoticed until a developer seeks to demolish its façade, erasing the past forever.
Like many concerned Americans, I was appalled when former Secretary of Education Bennett stated in "What Works: Research about Teaching and Learning 1986" that:
"Earlier generations of American students commonly learned the history of American institutions, politics and systems of government as well as some of the history of Greece, Rome, Europe and the rest of the world… Indications are that students now know and understand less about history… Requirements have also declined for writing essays, producing research-based papers, and reading original sources… reasoning skills as evaluating sources of information, drawing conclusions and constructing logical arguments… As a result, students know too little about the past… Two-thirds of students tested could not place the Civil War within the period 1850 – 1900; half could not identify Winston Churchill or Stalin.... The decline in the study of history may hinder students from gaining an historical perspective of contemporary life."
Numerous history courses in America for young people can be equated with institutional boredom. Those who cannot remember the sad episodes in our past are not only condemned to repeat it, but it is also probable of those mistakes may become imposed on the subconscience basis to present and future generations of students. How many of you can recall with nostalgia various boring textbooks, lectures and endless busywork?
The power that we as educators, history preservationists and society in general share is overwhelming when considering the famous quote by Haim Ginott:
"I have come to a conclusion. I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, a child humanized or de-humanized."
It doesn't have to be this way. By bringing about the marriage of secondary education and history presentation, the study of our heritage is enhanced, and its conservation soon becomes a worthwhile experience for students. This may, in fact, lead to a lifelong commitment to history and historic preservation.
By focusing on the community and the family, students of history are able to become personally involved. They study the history of themselves and others who live in the America of past and present. Through historic preservation and by studying history, students realize that the actions of individuals are not isolated from the mainstream of events, just as the events of history are not isolated from each other.
I think the most effective way to involve secondary level students in a better appreciation for the relevance of historic preservation and the study of history is to teach the idea that this fits into the mosaic of the community. In this context the community becomes a research laboratory, and students discover that they are surrounded by history. By using their resources and talents, through such activities as oral history research and recording, genealogy, archival work and collecting, burying ground restoration, house restoration and conservation, and more, students discover the unique and valuable contributions made by men and women as part of the larger culture from years past and how these individuals collectively influenced the history and development of their community, state and nation.
Numerous examples abound of the students involved in the act of preservation and study of history.
At Central Catholic High School in Norwalk, a course on historical research is offered. This course is a collaboration between the school and Lockwood-Mathhews Mansion which combines classwork pertaining to the history of Norwalk and architectural design. Both teachers and students realize that in such a setting a better understanding of the community is achieved, using Norwalk and the Lockwood Matthews Mansion as both a reference and a laboratory of preservation education. Activities have included tours, slideshows, at a project in refinishing wood.
Lockwood Matthews Mansion also conducts its own 'Invitation to Discovery' program, which involves lifestyles of the 19th century. Staffed and decided by volunteers, the program exposes students to such exercises as reading and vocabulary building, as well as the decorative arts and architecture. In the 'Search and Discovery Game' the students use color photographs to match pictures with rooms on the second floor of the mansion as well as the fine decorative details found throughout this magnificent South Norwalk mansion.
Burying grounds are the most fascinating, yet one of the most neglected sources of the darker side of local history. They contain important clues about the people who lived in town, their values and social patterns, and represent idea places for high school students to take on the role of historical detective. It is quite multidisciplinary, in that data collected at the sites can form the basis of discussion and study such issues as a religious rites, ethnic, social and cultural traditions, gravestone design, epitaph poetry, life expectancy patterns, town growth, economics and much more.
In a program I designed and implemented under the sponsorship of the Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich, students from area schools have taken of the restoration of numerous neglected burial sites. This entails organizing themselves and selecting a particular site for clean-up. Through this hands-on experience, students have come to realize, perhaps more than adults, that the cause of neglect and vandalism of these sites is ignorance of these historic places. They also come to understand that fiscal restraints in local government prevents the town from doing more to maintain these places. Thus students realize that they have an important role in safeguarding the past and assisting town government.
Genealogy, the study of family history, is a popular activity with young and old alike. The history of our nation is comprised of the individual histories of people and families. Genealogy shows the student how each of them and their families are an integral part of the community, encouraging students to feel pride as Americans and leading to respect for other people's ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Many historical societies and genealogical organizations hold seminars open to all interested and family research.
Many historical organizations sponsor various hands-on educational activities for junior high school and high school students. Sturbridge Village, Mass., sells educational tools for teachers through its Living History Resources catalog, as well as developing extensive educational programs suited for various curriculums. The Antiquarian and Landmarks Society of Connecticut offers an array of special programs for students of all ages, such as thematic tours of museum houses, craft activities and living history experiences of two of the properties under its control.
The virtue in the collaboration between educational institutions and historic preservation is that not only do students actively participate in collecting and preserving much of which might be lost, but it also serves as a rallying point for a variety of studies of local themes that collectively make up the kaleidoscopic nature of the great and humble aspect of America's past.
As John Dewey pointed out long ago, "If an experience arouses curiosity, strengthens initiative and sets up desires and purposes that are sufficiently intense to carry a person over dead places in the future, continuity works in a different way. Every experience is a moving force. Its value can be judged only on the ground of what it moves toward and into..."
Many of those who are actively involved in the preservation of heritage know that many citizens are not as committed to historic preservation as they are to such important issues as environmental and wildlife conservation. Preserving our history has been solely tied to the restoration of a house as a museum, and usually within the exclusive realm of the well-to-do, leaving many would-be preservationists outside because of a lack of financial resources or a lack of shared concern with historians.
Thus the partnership of education and historic preservation is vital. It opens students to the multi-disciplinary aspects of our heritage by working cooperatively toward a constructive goal. I am amazed when visiting schools to find that so much of our educational system is still resistant to learning through experience, still casting aside what is not academic.
Virtually none of the years of social studies courses in our schools deals with the fears, emotions and achievements of the past, not to mention a students belief and self-worth, motivation and relations with our cultural history and community.
I think the Thomas Jefferson summed up the pertinence of history when he pointed out: "History, by apprising them of the past, will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of the times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views."
We have a choice; we can broaden our horizons, and not succumb to the modern-day phenomenon characterized as the "closing of the American mind."
Jeffrey Bingham Mead is a direct descendant of one of the founding families of the town. He is a free-lance writer and a member of the Greenwich Historical Society.
Greenwich Time, Greenwich, Connecticut
May 28, 1989
In January 1988 I began graduate work in secondary education. This was a number of years after I had followed family tradition and involved myself in the preservation of the heritage of both Greenwich and our fast-disappearing Yankee New England.
My interest and certification will be in history, which to those who know me is no surprise. I've been keenly interested in instilling in our students the need to study history and take part in historic preservation.
Many have been unfortunately turned off by history, but those who make it boring and sterile. Yet for those in our secondary schools, historic preservation is and should be encouraged as an integral part of the educational process.
In this community and others like it, we can find a number of relics worthy of study and preservation. The attic and Grandma's house can unfold a universe of historic resources such as diaries, old pictures, newspapers, antiquated gadgets and a rich array of memorabilia gathering dust.
Down the street and atop a nearby hill, an abandoned burying ground peers silently over the surrounding landscape, its gravestones fallen and vandalized, begging for some recognition, dignity and rescue from the overgrowth.
About a mile away is the headquarters of the local historical society, sitting on its stone foundations as it has for centuries. Within its walls a staff of volunteers painstakingly work to preserve the town's heritage, and wait patiently for visitors to come by. The surrounding streetscape is dotted with architectural treasures from various eras of our national historic heritage.
Meanwhile, at any of a number of high schools and junior highs in America, students read assigned homogenized texts about wars, rebellions, economic rises and falls. They are endlessly lectured, perhaps viewing a film once in a while, and, one presumes, catching up on their sleep. Our national and world heritage is light years away. As far as many students are concerned, none of this is relevant, and boredom sets in. No wonder.
While all this happens, Grandma sits alone at home, with a world of unique and irreplaceable reminiscences. No one is there to record this. All seems lost. The old burying ground remains neglected. The historical society and its fine resources go ignored, except by a few. The architecture of the streetscape goes unnoticed until a developer seeks to demolish its façade, erasing the past forever.
Like many concerned Americans, I was appalled when former Secretary of Education Bennett stated in "What Works: Research about Teaching and Learning 1986" that:
"Earlier generations of American students commonly learned the history of American institutions, politics and systems of government as well as some of the history of Greece, Rome, Europe and the rest of the world… Indications are that students now know and understand less about history… Requirements have also declined for writing essays, producing research-based papers, and reading original sources… reasoning skills as evaluating sources of information, drawing conclusions and constructing logical arguments… As a result, students know too little about the past… Two-thirds of students tested could not place the Civil War within the period 1850 – 1900; half could not identify Winston Churchill or Stalin.... The decline in the study of history may hinder students from gaining an historical perspective of contemporary life."
Numerous history courses in America for young people can be equated with institutional boredom. Those who cannot remember the sad episodes in our past are not only condemned to repeat it, but it is also probable of those mistakes may become imposed on the subconscience basis to present and future generations of students. How many of you can recall with nostalgia various boring textbooks, lectures and endless busywork?
The power that we as educators, history preservationists and society in general share is overwhelming when considering the famous quote by Haim Ginott:
"I have come to a conclusion. I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, a child humanized or de-humanized."
It doesn't have to be this way. By bringing about the marriage of secondary education and history presentation, the study of our heritage is enhanced, and its conservation soon becomes a worthwhile experience for students. This may, in fact, lead to a lifelong commitment to history and historic preservation.
By focusing on the community and the family, students of history are able to become personally involved. They study the history of themselves and others who live in the America of past and present. Through historic preservation and by studying history, students realize that the actions of individuals are not isolated from the mainstream of events, just as the events of history are not isolated from each other.
I think the most effective way to involve secondary level students in a better appreciation for the relevance of historic preservation and the study of history is to teach the idea that this fits into the mosaic of the community. In this context the community becomes a research laboratory, and students discover that they are surrounded by history. By using their resources and talents, through such activities as oral history research and recording, genealogy, archival work and collecting, burying ground restoration, house restoration and conservation, and more, students discover the unique and valuable contributions made by men and women as part of the larger culture from years past and how these individuals collectively influenced the history and development of their community, state and nation.
Numerous examples abound of the students involved in the act of preservation and study of history.
At Central Catholic High School in Norwalk, a course on historical research is offered. This course is a collaboration between the school and Lockwood-Mathhews Mansion which combines classwork pertaining to the history of Norwalk and architectural design. Both teachers and students realize that in such a setting a better understanding of the community is achieved, using Norwalk and the Lockwood Matthews Mansion as both a reference and a laboratory of preservation education. Activities have included tours, slideshows, at a project in refinishing wood.
 |
| Lockwood Matthews Mansion, Norwalk, Connecticut USA. |
Lockwood Matthews Mansion also conducts its own 'Invitation to Discovery' program, which involves lifestyles of the 19th century. Staffed and decided by volunteers, the program exposes students to such exercises as reading and vocabulary building, as well as the decorative arts and architecture. In the 'Search and Discovery Game' the students use color photographs to match pictures with rooms on the second floor of the mansion as well as the fine decorative details found throughout this magnificent South Norwalk mansion.
Burying grounds are the most fascinating, yet one of the most neglected sources of the darker side of local history. They contain important clues about the people who lived in town, their values and social patterns, and represent idea places for high school students to take on the role of historical detective. It is quite multidisciplinary, in that data collected at the sites can form the basis of discussion and study such issues as a religious rites, ethnic, social and cultural traditions, gravestone design, epitaph poetry, life expectancy patterns, town growth, economics and much more.
 |
| The front porch of the Bush Holley House, headquarters of the Greenwich Historical Society. |
In a program I designed and implemented under the sponsorship of the Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich, students from area schools have taken of the restoration of numerous neglected burial sites. This entails organizing themselves and selecting a particular site for clean-up. Through this hands-on experience, students have come to realize, perhaps more than adults, that the cause of neglect and vandalism of these sites is ignorance of these historic places. They also come to understand that fiscal restraints in local government prevents the town from doing more to maintain these places. Thus students realize that they have an important role in safeguarding the past and assisting town government.
Genealogy, the study of family history, is a popular activity with young and old alike. The history of our nation is comprised of the individual histories of people and families. Genealogy shows the student how each of them and their families are an integral part of the community, encouraging students to feel pride as Americans and leading to respect for other people's ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Many historical societies and genealogical organizations hold seminars open to all interested and family research.
Many historical organizations sponsor various hands-on educational activities for junior high school and high school students. Sturbridge Village, Mass., sells educational tools for teachers through its Living History Resources catalog, as well as developing extensive educational programs suited for various curriculums. The Antiquarian and Landmarks Society of Connecticut offers an array of special programs for students of all ages, such as thematic tours of museum houses, craft activities and living history experiences of two of the properties under its control.
The virtue in the collaboration between educational institutions and historic preservation is that not only do students actively participate in collecting and preserving much of which might be lost, but it also serves as a rallying point for a variety of studies of local themes that collectively make up the kaleidoscopic nature of the great and humble aspect of America's past.
As John Dewey pointed out long ago, "If an experience arouses curiosity, strengthens initiative and sets up desires and purposes that are sufficiently intense to carry a person over dead places in the future, continuity works in a different way. Every experience is a moving force. Its value can be judged only on the ground of what it moves toward and into..."
Many of those who are actively involved in the preservation of heritage know that many citizens are not as committed to historic preservation as they are to such important issues as environmental and wildlife conservation. Preserving our history has been solely tied to the restoration of a house as a museum, and usually within the exclusive realm of the well-to-do, leaving many would-be preservationists outside because of a lack of financial resources or a lack of shared concern with historians.
Thus the partnership of education and historic preservation is vital. It opens students to the multi-disciplinary aspects of our heritage by working cooperatively toward a constructive goal. I am amazed when visiting schools to find that so much of our educational system is still resistant to learning through experience, still casting aside what is not academic.
Virtually none of the years of social studies courses in our schools deals with the fears, emotions and achievements of the past, not to mention a students belief and self-worth, motivation and relations with our cultural history and community.
I think the Thomas Jefferson summed up the pertinence of history when he pointed out: "History, by apprising them of the past, will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of the times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views."
We have a choice; we can broaden our horizons, and not succumb to the modern-day phenomenon characterized as the "closing of the American mind."
Jeffrey Bingham Mead is a direct descendant of one of the founding families of the town. He is a free-lance writer and a member of the Greenwich Historical Society.
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Remember Our War Heroes on This Independence Day (1991)
by Jeffrey Bingham Mead
Greenwich Time, Greenwich, Connecticut
July 4, 1991
Soldiers of Operation Desert Storm: Welcome home!
A grateful nation commemorates the Declaration of Independence made by our founding fathers 215 years ago. At no time since the 1976 bicentennial has an Independence Day been so special. The blessings of freedom, liberty and democracy have been reaffirmed by your acts of courage in the face of tyranny and totalitarianism. For all of you, it is our task to do proper justice to your service to America as it navigates the rough waters of an uncharted New World Order.
Operation Desert Storm was dazzling and memorable. Free nations revere and venerate the distinguished military and political personalities of our American heroes, the all volunteer citizen soldiers of America's armed forces.
Common purpose became the cornerstone of unity, unleashing shared patriotic pride for many of us on the home front. We waved the American flag, tied yellow ribbons, wrote letters to help keep up your spirits and so much more. We shared in the wisdom of your mission and kept faith in our leaders. Through you we were reminded of the American ability to achieve excellence, graciousness and compassion in victory.
Among you were people from all walks of life, our neighbors, our relatives and friends, people from across the spectrum. Beneath that semblance of ordinariness you stood out as America's best. In the name of freedom and liberation you endured the burdens of heat and cold, the desert terrain, the dangers of combat and capture, hunger, thirst, fatigue, exhausting days and sleepless nights, and separation from loved ones and communities. We know the meaning of courage and endurance now more than ever before.
Like a millions everywhere, I watched television with a sense of awe and astonishment as the gripping drama of war unfolded in our living rooms. We discovered that something larger than life was at work. We were gripped by the reality that we on the homefront were spectators in a high-tech arena, witnessing history unfold before us. Time and distance became irrelevant as combat began. As our euphoria increased, so, too were our hearts set on fire by the enthusiasm of your devotion to carrying out the causes of emancipation and freedom in a distant part of the world.
Your task has been to blend the elements of moral stability, disciplined decorum and physical aptitude. To say that we are grateful for these things is an understatement. The path you have trod has promoted such positive qualities as self-reliance, growth, maturity and unity and teamwork.
Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, a week before the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861, wrote to his young daughter:
"War is a terrible thing, especially when as now we are fighting thousands of others… and they are defending their country, their homes and families against foreign invaders… remember how easy it is for people to become deceived and drawn in step-by-step, till war, death and distraction are upon them."
In time to come, many histories of Operation Desert Storm will be produced, and they will be found in history courses in classrooms everywhere. As a teacher and historian, I believe that you, and those who died in battle, are a testament to the virtues of democracy.
The record history is more than just a chronicles of battles and sacrifices. Your mission in the years to come must be to preserve this historic episode, not only for our sake but for your descendants as well. Do not let your legacy be the feasting ground of armchair analysts and members of the gin-and-tonic pundit pack.
My sincerest hope is that the history of Operation Desert Storm will be told as completely as possible by its participants. Through journals, diaries, letters, interviews and more, present and future generations will be offered a colorful array of insights.
As Herbert Beecher, historian of the First Light Battery Division of Connecticut Volunteers in the Civil War, wrote in 1901, your historical legacy involves the "story of the soldier in time of war, showing the dark as well as the light side of camp life, of hardships endured in the trenches and on the march, of the horrors of the battlefield... Comrades have recalled the adventures in which they were engaged, have narrated personal incidents and described the battles in which they participated, each one telling the story as he knew and saw from his point of view… It tells of the bond of sympathy that becomes close between comrades who pursue the same routine, go to rest and rise up at the call of the bugle… Only those who have experienced it can really know entirely the time of a soldier is occupied."
The history of Operation Desert Storm must be worthy of those who participated in it. The task of telling the story goes to you. Hindsights and retrospectives of the hardships, anxieties and destruct of the war is the greatest deterrent to such an event happening to America again.
In the years to come there will be picnics and reunions at homes and parks across the nation, when you as older men and women get together to reminisce about the old days, sharing fond memories of acts of valor and bravery.
So here's to you this Independence Day 1991! Thank you on behalf of all Americans and friends around the world for your service and sacrifice.
Jeffrey Bingham Mead is a direct descendant of one of the founding families of the town.
Greenwich Time, Greenwich, Connecticut
July 4, 1991
Soldiers of Operation Desert Storm: Welcome home!
A grateful nation commemorates the Declaration of Independence made by our founding fathers 215 years ago. At no time since the 1976 bicentennial has an Independence Day been so special. The blessings of freedom, liberty and democracy have been reaffirmed by your acts of courage in the face of tyranny and totalitarianism. For all of you, it is our task to do proper justice to your service to America as it navigates the rough waters of an uncharted New World Order.
Operation Desert Storm was dazzling and memorable. Free nations revere and venerate the distinguished military and political personalities of our American heroes, the all volunteer citizen soldiers of America's armed forces.
Common purpose became the cornerstone of unity, unleashing shared patriotic pride for many of us on the home front. We waved the American flag, tied yellow ribbons, wrote letters to help keep up your spirits and so much more. We shared in the wisdom of your mission and kept faith in our leaders. Through you we were reminded of the American ability to achieve excellence, graciousness and compassion in victory.
Among you were people from all walks of life, our neighbors, our relatives and friends, people from across the spectrum. Beneath that semblance of ordinariness you stood out as America's best. In the name of freedom and liberation you endured the burdens of heat and cold, the desert terrain, the dangers of combat and capture, hunger, thirst, fatigue, exhausting days and sleepless nights, and separation from loved ones and communities. We know the meaning of courage and endurance now more than ever before.
Like a millions everywhere, I watched television with a sense of awe and astonishment as the gripping drama of war unfolded in our living rooms. We discovered that something larger than life was at work. We were gripped by the reality that we on the homefront were spectators in a high-tech arena, witnessing history unfold before us. Time and distance became irrelevant as combat began. As our euphoria increased, so, too were our hearts set on fire by the enthusiasm of your devotion to carrying out the causes of emancipation and freedom in a distant part of the world.
Your task has been to blend the elements of moral stability, disciplined decorum and physical aptitude. To say that we are grateful for these things is an understatement. The path you have trod has promoted such positive qualities as self-reliance, growth, maturity and unity and teamwork.
Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, a week before the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861, wrote to his young daughter:
"War is a terrible thing, especially when as now we are fighting thousands of others… and they are defending their country, their homes and families against foreign invaders… remember how easy it is for people to become deceived and drawn in step-by-step, till war, death and distraction are upon them."
In time to come, many histories of Operation Desert Storm will be produced, and they will be found in history courses in classrooms everywhere. As a teacher and historian, I believe that you, and those who died in battle, are a testament to the virtues of democracy.
The record history is more than just a chronicles of battles and sacrifices. Your mission in the years to come must be to preserve this historic episode, not only for our sake but for your descendants as well. Do not let your legacy be the feasting ground of armchair analysts and members of the gin-and-tonic pundit pack.
My sincerest hope is that the history of Operation Desert Storm will be told as completely as possible by its participants. Through journals, diaries, letters, interviews and more, present and future generations will be offered a colorful array of insights.
As Herbert Beecher, historian of the First Light Battery Division of Connecticut Volunteers in the Civil War, wrote in 1901, your historical legacy involves the "story of the soldier in time of war, showing the dark as well as the light side of camp life, of hardships endured in the trenches and on the march, of the horrors of the battlefield... Comrades have recalled the adventures in which they were engaged, have narrated personal incidents and described the battles in which they participated, each one telling the story as he knew and saw from his point of view… It tells of the bond of sympathy that becomes close between comrades who pursue the same routine, go to rest and rise up at the call of the bugle… Only those who have experienced it can really know entirely the time of a soldier is occupied."
The history of Operation Desert Storm must be worthy of those who participated in it. The task of telling the story goes to you. Hindsights and retrospectives of the hardships, anxieties and destruct of the war is the greatest deterrent to such an event happening to America again.
In the years to come there will be picnics and reunions at homes and parks across the nation, when you as older men and women get together to reminisce about the old days, sharing fond memories of acts of valor and bravery.
So here's to you this Independence Day 1991! Thank you on behalf of all Americans and friends around the world for your service and sacrifice.
Jeffrey Bingham Mead is a direct descendant of one of the founding families of the town.
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