* * * * * * * * * * * * The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History Thomas E. Woods Jr., Ph.D. mmmiB REGNERY .wi PUBLISHING, INC. An Eagle Publisbing Company· Washington, DC c Praise for The Politically Incorrect Guide to AMERICAN II ISTORY "Knowing our past is essential if we are to preserve our freedoms. Professor Woods's work heroically rescues real history from the politically correct memory hole. Every American should read this book." -The Honorable Ron Paul. M.D., U.S. House of Representatives "An important work that refutes the misinterpretations of American history that have misinformed generations about their country, its origins, purposes, successes and failures. Riveting, highly readable." -Paul Craig Roberts, former assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury "Solidly based in the best and most recent scholarship and written in an agreeable, flowing style, The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History is a gem. It will be treasured by history buffs and by anyone who suspects that high school and college textbooks might not have told the whole story." -Ralph Raico, professor of history, Buffalo State College "The history of America as taught in high school and college textbooks is often as distorted as the histories imposed on the hapless people of the former Soviet Union. Professor Woods's book should be required reading for college students. If it were, we might hope to recover something of the decentralized polity of the Founders." -Donald W. Livingston, professor of philosophy, Emory University "Not long ago American historians considered it their pleasure and duty to engage in lively and stimulating debate about the big issues of our history-the meaning of the Constitution, the causes of the Civil War, the good and bad of capitalism, the responsibility for World War I and the Cold War, and so on. But since the descent of the Iron Curtain of political correctness, what has come from the pens of our historians has frequently had more to do with theory than with evidence, with enforcing predetermined orthodoxy rather than with debate. In this book, Thomas Woods has taken on some of the big historical issues with a fresh and definitely non-PC approach. His take on American history is bold, brilliant. thought-provoking, and what is even better, entertaining. Woods has almost restored my hope for the future of historical discourse." -Clyde N. Wilson, professor of history, University of South Carolina CONTENTS Preface Chapter 1: xiii The Colonial Origins of American Liberty Suspicion + Dislike = Liberty; A formula for freedom Love thy neighbor? Colonial quarrels give birth to religious freedom PC Myth: The Puritans were racists No, the Puritans didn't steal Indian lands Self-government is non-negotiable Chapter 2: America's Conservative Revolution 11 Colonial tradition or British innovation? Fact: The American Revolution was not like the French Revolution Chapter 3: The Constitution 17 Constitution okay, say states, but we get to bolt just in case . . . First Amendment: Feds must leave states alone Second Amendment: It's okay to own a gun Ninth Amendment: Just because it's not in the Bill of Rights doesn't mean it's not a right Tenth Amendment: Whatever the states didn't let the Feds do was left to the states War Powers: Congress wimps out on its responsibility Chapter 4: American Government and the "Principles of '98" 31 Providing for the "general welfare": The roots of big government The Republicans versus the Federalists Chapter 5: The North-South Division You get Missouri, we get Maine More rhetorical blows 43 Contents Keep slavery out of the territories ! (to reserve them for whites) States fight over plantations in . . . Arizona? It's about slavery, but it's not about slavery The Kansas "bloodbath" The rise of the Republicans Fact: Local southern judge freed Dred Scott Lunatic on the loose: Murderer John Brown returns to the scene Chapter 6: The War Between the States 61 Was there an American civil war? The states had the right to secede Was the war fought to free slaves? Reality check: Lincoln's views on race Lincoln fought to "save the Union" . . . and consolidate its power Why did the soldiers fight? The soldiers speak. . . The rise of total war Chapter 7: Reconstruction 77 Lincoln, Johnson, and presidential Reconstruction The South's black codes The Fourteenth Amendment and states' rights The first impeachment of a president Chapter 8: How Big Business Made Americans Better Off 93 How government promoted waste and corruption in railroad construction How "fairness" crippled American farmers The "wicked" Rockefeller Andrew Carnegie and the American standard of living Herbert Dow: Forgotten American hero Antitrust idiocy: Should antitrust laws be repealed? Chapter 9: World War I Propaganda in wartime? It can't be! L viii 109 c Contents Starving civilians is against the law The Germans strike back The sinking of the Lusitania The Sussex pledge The Germans make one last push Why did Wilson favor war? The peace conference: The disaster Wilson pretended not to notice Opponents say we can't police the world! "Bizarre" and "wild-eyed": The Wilsonian program Setting the stage for World War II Chapter 1 0: The Misunderstood Twenties 133 Voting for the anti-Wilson The truth about the Twenties Chapter 11: The Great Depression and the New Deal 139 Hoover: A " do nothing" president? If only! FDR comes to town Let's help starving people by destroying food! FDR's anti-business zealotry delays recovery The consequences of labor legislation The disaster of "public works" Not so fast, Court tells FDR Did World War II lift America out of the Depression? The military draft reduces unemployment! Chapter 12: Yes, Communist Sympathizers Really Existed 157 "I have been over into the future-and it works! " The Soviet experiment: A model for America? Labor unions speak: The merits of the Soviet system Lighten up: It's all for "the good of the masses of the working people" ! How Stalin starved his own people The New York Times reporter who covered up Stalin's crimes ix Contents Stalin's show trials genuine, say bootlickers Yes , Soviet spies were a problem Joe McCarthy was a paranoid idiot, right? Chapter 13: The Approach of World War II 173 FDR tries to neutralize neutrality laws The imperial presidency takes shape: Did FDR break the law? The end of neutrality How FDR got Americans into war Did FDR make war with Japan inevitable? Chapter 14: World War II: Consequences and Aftermath 183 FDR and Uncle Joe-How friendly was FDR toward Stalin? American presidents send a million Russians back to Stalin An atrocity on American soil: Russians drugged and returned home Was the Marshall Plan a great success or another failed giveaway program? Truman disregards the Constitution Chapter 15: Civil Rights 195 Instead of law, sociology From race neutrality to race obsession Let's force those kids together-even if they have to be bused two hours a day! The Kansas City fiasco The Civil Rights Act of 1 964 Chapter 16: JFK and LBJ Who was the real John F. Kennedy? Lyndon Johnson: A legacy of failure How '60s liberalism discouraged all the right things and encouraged all the wrong ones Lack of jobs doesn't explain large welfare rolls The Great Society and the Vietnam tragedy x 213 Contents Chapter 17: The Decade of Greed? 231 How was Reagan different? Charitable giving during the "Decade of Greed" The truth about Michael Milken, the man the media loved to hate The myth of budget cuts The tax bite Chapter 18: Clinton 239 Clinton, a "centrist"? "Only unqualified applicants may apply" CNN foreign policy Balkan misadventures: How Clinton abused power, abetted Islamists, lied, and wasted billions of taxpayer dollars for nothing "The era of big government is over"-say what? Bibliography Index 247 257 xi ********* PREFACE ill Rogers once said that the problem in America isn't so much what people don't know; the problem is what people think they know that just ain't so. Nowhere is the great humorist's observation more apt than in the field of American history. The story of American history that most students have encountered for at least the past several decades amounts to a series of drearily predictable cliches: the Civil War was all about slavery, antitrust law saved us from wicked big business, Franklin Roosevelt got us out of the Depression, and so on. From the colonial settlements through the presidency of Bill Clinton, this book, in its brief compass, aims to set the record straight. A word on what this book is not. It is not, and is not intended to be, a complete overview of American history. Readers interested in studying a given issue in greater detail may wish to consult the selected bibliogra­ phy, which I have included both in order to acknowledge my intellectual debts as well as to provide a list of sources on which the reader looking for the truth about American history can safely rely. (Needless to say, I do not necessarily endorse every contention made in all the books listed there; if a book appears in the bibliography I simply mean to acknowl­ edge that I benefited from it in some way and that I believe others will, too. ) Some of the books listed are unfortunately out of print, virtually all xiii Preface of them are potentially available to the interested reader, thanks to elec­ tronic clearinghouses of used books like bookfinder.com. Instead of a systematic narrative, therefore, this book is intended to be an introduction to some of the more controversial aspects of American history, and is aimed in particular at those who find the standard narra­ tive or the typical textbook unpersuasive or ideologically biased. Some readers may find that an issue in which they have a particular interest is treated only in brief or perhaps not at all, but some kind of discrimina­ tion has been necessary for a project of this length. I am hopeful that read­ ers will find what I have written here to be interesting, challenging, and a refreshing alternative to the stale and predictable platitudes of main­ stream texts. I wish to thank the Foundation for Economic Education in Irvington­ on-Hudson, New York, for granting permission to use portions of arti­ cles I wrote for Ideas on Liberty (recently renamed The Freeman once again) ; they include "Why Wages Used to Be So Low, " "The Colonial Origins of American Liberty, " "The Economics of Infantilism, " "Race, Inequality and the Market, " and "Nullification: The Jeffersonian Brake on Government. " Over the course of writing the book I received useful suggestions from Thomas DiLorenzo, Ralph Raico, and Marcus Epstein, and I am espe­ cially indebted to Professor Clyde Wilson, editor of the Papers of John C. Calhoun and professor of history at the University of South Carolina, for vetting chapter five of the manuscript. Thanks are due also to the always helpful (and never complaining) Doreen Munna, Marilyn Ventiere, and Dolores Perillo of my college's interlibrary loan department. I also wish to thank my fine editors at Regnery-Rowena Itchon, with whom I worked most closely, and Paula Decker-for their hard work and helpful suggestions. Other debts are more personal. I am particularly grateful to Regnery's executive editor, Harry Crocker III, for approaching me with the idea for xiv Preface the project. Finally, I wish as always to thank Heather, my wife, to whom I am indebted more than words can express. Thomas E. Woods, Jr. Coram, New York October 2004 xv