The Washington Post Retropolis, a history section that is regularly published on the paper, features. And the idea — at least in theory — is to deliver engaging history lessons in the print and online editions of the paper. But on April 6, the PostRetropolis was the focus of an entire page in the printed paper. This day’s issue vilified the United States by claiming that it had ended its commitment towards equality back in 1973.
No, really. James D. Robenalt claimed that the date that Roe v. Wade was ruled, Lyndon Johnson’s death, when Henry Kissinger flew from Paris to stop the Vietnam War was the day America officially fell into hatred.
The disintegration of that unity began well before Jan. 22, 1973, but no date more fully captures the end of the spirit of the ’60s and the start of a darker era of seemingly permanent political schism.
This passage is completely false.
On Jan. 22, as the sun set, the nation saw its transformation. Symbolically and in practice, the country’s commitment to ending racism and poverty died with Johnson in Texas, the state where Roe v. Wade had originated.
Despite all the progress we’ve made since, despite the leaps in equality, the election of the first African American president, America’s commitment to ending racism died on January 22, 1973?
This political screed pretending to be a history lesson shamefully connected the pro-life movement to racism: “The opinion in Roe, which now stands a good chance of being overruled by the current Supreme Court, This accelerated a split in politics that had been driven by racism. It all worked together.”
What is the secret to how pro-life activists can supercharge racism? Robenalt didn’t say.
There are a few errors in some sections of the article, which appeared online on January 22, 2022 as well as in print last Wednesday. Here, Robenalt described Nixon’s Supreme Court nominees as all “conservatives.”
Nixon didn’t care much about abortion but was mildly annoyed by Roe’s ruling that morning. Of the four conservative justices he had nominated to the Supreme Court in his remarkable first term, three — Burger, Harry Blackmun and Lewis Powell — joined the majority in permitting abortions. (William Rehnquist abstained.
Nixon is a great example of this. It was successful to appoint conservatives, it’s absurd to call Harry Blackmun one. In his March 5, 1999 obituary, even The Washington Post noted that Blackmun ended up being “the most liberal member of the bench.” Justice Lewis Powell was at best a moderate.
The following day, PostA journalist uses a scathing quote by Nixon to lie about Nixon’s civil rights record.
Nixon told Chuck Colson, his advisor, that abortion could be necessary at times. “Let’s suppose there is a Black and a White,” he offered. Nixon’s tapes revealed that Nixon was a casual racist. This infected his political thinking, and led to the political counterrevolution that he had started in 1973.. He believed that Blacks had the right to be taken, while Whites had been taken.
There’s no defending that comment by Nixon — or others on the White House recording devices. However, even liberals cannot deny that Nixon made the comment. Philadelphia InquirerThe civil rights achievements of Nixon were praised in 2016. Columnist Douglas Schoen concluded: “The record is crystal clear: Richard Nixon desegregated more schools in his first term than all other presidents combined.”
To see the full quote, click “expand”.
Richard Nixon’s image of a political villain and his appeal to the majority of Americans who are mostly middle-class, as well his famous Southern strategy, have all contributed to the widespread perception that Nixon has a poor record in racial issues. This is far from true. No matter the complexity of Nixon’s race politics, Nixon’s policies were far better than John F. Kennedy’s, who was slow to act on civil rights up until the very end.
…Liberals blame Nixon’s resistance to busing. However, they seem to have missed the incredible progress he had in desegregating American school, which was his main goal. After Nixon became President, desegregation in Southern schools had been slowing down. Nearly 70 percent of the black South children attended all-black schools in 1968. In 1974, only 8 percent of those who had attended all-black schools were left after Nixon’s departure. This record shows that Richard Nixon was able to desegregate more schools than all the other presidents.
CNN’s liberal documentary of March 6th 2016 admitted to the truth the fact about Nixon. Journalist Evan Thomas explained, “There’s a huge public misperception on civil rights. Many believe Nixon was an inhumane racist while Jack is a friend to the black man. Not true.”
It is the idea of Post’s Retropolis is a good one: Americans should be exposed to history and the relevance it has on today. In trying to squeeze so much from one day 1973, however, the newspaper omitted pro-lifers as well as Richard Nixon’s civil rights legacy and the United States.
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