Is There a Historian in the House?

Donald Trump and patriotic education

Yesterday, Donald Trump issued yet another Executive Order about two topics in education which keep Trump supporters up at night: gender identity and American heritage. There is a lot to discuss about both, but I can only take the history topic in this post. One other piece of business before I go on. I could have critiqued this executive order on theological grounds. There is blatant idolatry here. American school children should not be forced to pay tribute to a false, inflated idea of a nation on earth.

The order is entitled “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” which is a sure sign that it aims to commence indoctrination as soon as possible. The main goal of the order is to revive what the order calls “Patriotic Education” which is another way of euthanizing American history. The indoctrination order tells us what is proper:

“Patriotic education” means a presentation of the history of America grounded in:
(i) an accurate, honest, unifying, inspiring, and ennobling characterization of America’s founding and foundational principles;
(ii) a clear examination of how the United States has admirably grown closer to its noble principles throughout its history;
(iii) the concept that commitment to America’s aspirations is beneficial and justified; and
(iv) the concept that celebration of America’s greatness and history is proper.

To accomplish this, Trump has revived his 1776 Commission (a response to the 1619 Project) and wants to make the Semiquincentennial celebration (250th anniversary of independence in 2026) a rip-roaring patriotic educational bonanza. Can you imagine all the Trump merch with Trump250 on it?

National parks, universities, and federal agencies are supposed to be infused with the history that supports patriotic education. However, it really isn’t possible. One cannot tell the truth and do what Trump’s order requires. Just read the definition.

Patriotic education is what historians call hagiography, or biography which idealizes its subject. It is biased from the start and designed to serve a political purpose. There is no way schools can teach history accurately and follow this directive. A white, Protestant, male history will make the cut, but if the whole truth about American history is told, schools will jeopardize whatever funding is at risk.

Is There a Historian in the House?

We need historians, history teachers, history writers, and history readers who will just tell it like it was (see my last post for another application of that advice). I know history is more than just finding the facts and reporting them, but accuracy in reporting the record is a part of the job. If ever we need people to keep people in power honest, it is now. Donald Trump cannot be trusted to tell the truth about today (yesterday he said he stopped the U.S. from sending $50-million to Gaza to buy condoms which the Palestinians were going to use to make bombs), let alone American history. We need historians who are not bending what they find to some government endorsed view of what it should be.

What stories are not going to get told if this order is followed? How about the Trail of Tears? The Japanese internment camps? What will we hear about race-based chattel slavery? Will we only hear the one acceptable Martin Luther King, Jr. quote about character? Will America’s school children ever hear any other King quotes? Donald Trump thinks Robert E. Lee was a great guy. Will teaching about Lee’s “virtues” now be “unifying” and “ennobling?”

Now more than ever, we need to hear and read historians such as Jemar Tisby (The Color of Compromise and The Spirit of Justice), Paul Ortiz (An African American and Latinx History of the United States), Peter Charles Hoffer (Past Imperfect), Ned Blackhawk (The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History), Rosemarie Zagarri (Revolutionary Backlash: Women and Politics in the Early American Republic), Robert Chao Romero and Jeff M. Liou (Christianity and Critical Race Theory) and so many more.* (Leave others in the comments)

One of the reasons I have taken up history writing and fact-checking is because I feel so strongly about separation of church and state and the potential loss of our civil liberties if we do not have an accurate grasp of our foundations as a country.

I know from talking to my historian colleagues and friends that they are feeling the weight of the moment. Many of them know they must speak up. The only patriotic education is that which is truthful.

*I hate to make lists because some excellent books are left out. I didn’t do a lot of research to make this list but wanted to provide some books which provide a perspective other than white, male, and Protestant. If you have other books which you recommend, please leave them in the comments.