Post by Logan on Apr 9, 2016 21:44:45 GMT -6
The name of Woodrow Wilson is still emblazoned on buildings, awards, and young minds at Princeton University, because the school's Trustees concluded that merely erasing a man's image cannot change the fact that he was a transformative figure who was revered throughout the world – a leader in and of his time, blemishes and all.
It is a tough needle to thread, but there was no other decision for the Trustees to make. You cannot change names on an institution whenever its honoree has flaws – otherwise we'd name everything after Mister Rogers – and historical icons must be judged by both their achievements and failings.
History is, after all, about reconciliation. Washington owned slaves. Jefferson was a statutory rapist. Oliver Wendell Holmes embraced eugenics. FDR imprisoned Japanese-Americans.
But to judge someone like Woodrow Wilson entirely by today's moral standards is historical myopia: He was also one of the most important figures of the 20th century, a president who passed the progressive income tax and the Federal Reserve Act, who signed legislation that presaged the New Deal, led us through a World War, and established how the U.S. would conduct international relations through the United Nations era.
Read more; www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/04/princeton_keeps_wilsons_name_now_it_must_keep_a_pr.html
It is a tough needle to thread, but there was no other decision for the Trustees to make. You cannot change names on an institution whenever its honoree has flaws – otherwise we'd name everything after Mister Rogers – and historical icons must be judged by both their achievements and failings.
History is, after all, about reconciliation. Washington owned slaves. Jefferson was a statutory rapist. Oliver Wendell Holmes embraced eugenics. FDR imprisoned Japanese-Americans.
But to judge someone like Woodrow Wilson entirely by today's moral standards is historical myopia: He was also one of the most important figures of the 20th century, a president who passed the progressive income tax and the Federal Reserve Act, who signed legislation that presaged the New Deal, led us through a World War, and established how the U.S. would conduct international relations through the United Nations era.
Read more; www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/04/princeton_keeps_wilsons_name_now_it_must_keep_a_pr.html