Edition No. 6
In this Edition
Arts and Culture
Former President George W. Bush has taken to the art of painting. And he’s utilized these newfound skills to pay special tribute to our nation’s heroes and veterans.
Community and Family
Revisionist History, the podcast from author and journalist Malcolm Gladwell, examines the overlooked and the misunderstood. Grab your headphones and tune in.
Our American Values
Does history repeat itself? America’s first brutally-tough political campaign, the Election of 1800, presents political discourse and an uneasy transition of party powers.
Portraits of Courage:
A Commander In Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors
When President Bush left office in 2009, he was faced with the question many leaders before him faced, “Well, what now?” To fill his time and expand his hobbies, the former president turned to paint. Inspired to try new things, he hired an art teacher who helped him refine his skills and discover what he called his “inner Rembrandt.” Along the way, President Bush began telling the story of those often overlooked.
What emerged was Portraits of Courage: A Commander In Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors. Growing out of President Bush’s outreach and the ongoing work of the George W. Bush Institute’s Military Service Initiative, Portraits of Courage is a vibrant collection of oil paintings and stories honoring the sacrifices and courage of America’s military veterans. The gallery (which is currently on pause due to COVID-19) brings together sixty-six full-color portraits and a four-panel mural of members of the United States military who have served our nation with honor since 9/11 — all painted by President Bush and many whom he has come to know personally. And with Veterans Day 2020 upon us, no better time than the present to remember and honor the stories of those who served.
A book by the same name is available and has become a New York Times Best Seller. Each painting in the book is accompanied by the inspiring story of the veteran depicted. The hope is that these stories of courage and resilience will honor our men and women in uniform, highlight their family and caregivers who bear the burden of their sacrifice, and help Americans understand how we can support our veterans and empower them to succeed.
To learn more about Portraits of Courage and order a copy of the book, click here.
The War Memorial is a non-partisan organization.
Podcasts We Love
Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History
Curated by Jessi Kaminski, Manager of Communications and Programming at The War Memorial
This pandemic left me, like many of you, with an abundance of time on my hands. Time to ponder the world around me. Time to grow and learn. And most definitely time to cook, clean, and organize. But this overwhelming amount of time meant I was allowed to indulge in things I was always “too busy” for, like sitting down and listening to podcasts. I’ve come to love learning from podcasts and allowing this medium to challenge the way I see the world around me. A podcast feels like an intimate conversation with a friend; a deeper way to find stimulus and excitement in the ordinary. So as a newfound fan of podcasts, I was delighted to learn that an admired thought leader, Malcolm Gladwell, produced a show entitled Revisionist History.
Revisionist History is Malcolm Gladwell’s journey through the overlooked and the misunderstood. Every episode reexamines something from the past — an event, a person, an idea, even a song — and asks whether we got it right the first time. Because sometimes the past deserves a second chance. Gladwell examines the way the passage of time changes and enlightens our understanding of the world around us. A few standout episodes from the show’s five seasons include a redemption arc for news anchor Brian Williams, a McDonald’s French Fry debacle, and an analysis of our collective memory of the living and the dead.
This moment of pause in our history has given our collected society a gift. The ability to reexamine our past, challenge our beliefs, and alter our course. And with the end goal of creating a sustainable and brighter future, I am certainly willing to sit through a few 45-minute podcast episodes to make that happen!
To listen to all five seasons of Revisionist History, click here.
About Malcom Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell is the author of five New York Times bestsellers — The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, and David and Goliath. He is also the co-founder of Pushkin Industries, an audio content company that produces the podcasts Revisionist History, which reconsiders things both overlooked and misunderstood, and Broken Record, where he, Rick Rubin, and Bruce Headlam interview musicians across a wide range of genres. Gladwell has been included in the TIME 100 Most Influential People list and touted as one of Foreign Policy’s Top Global Thinkers.
Putting The Recent Election Into Context: Thomas Jefferson and Election of 1800
Curated by Michael Montgomery, Fundraising Counsel at The War Memorial
Just in case you haven’t had enough Presidential politics, we wanted to call your attention to a talk touching on America’s first brutally-tough political campaign – the Election of 1800. Frankly, If America could get through 1800, we can certainly can get through anything that the next two months may throw at us.
In a talk from the C-SPAN Series “The Presidency,” Andrew O’Shaughnessy talks about our first transition of power between political parties – the 1800 transfer from the Federalist administration of outgoing President John Adams to the Democratic-Republican administration of incoming President Thomas Jefferson. O’Shaughnessy argues that the election was one of the most toxic in U.S. history and that it relied heavily on smear campaigns against candidates John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Aaron Burr. Professor O’Shaughnessy is Vice President of Monticello, the Saunders Director of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation and Professor of History at the University of Virginia. This talk runs 66-minutes.
Veterans Day By The Numbers
As we approach Veterans Day 2020, the team at The War Memorial remains ever committed to our mission of being a patriotic, cultural, and community leader. This short film from HISTORY expands upon the facts and figures behind the many contributions of America's armed forces throughout the country’s history. This year, on November 11, we look forward to honoring the courage and sacrifice of the brave individuals responsible for keeping our nation free.
The Ten Duel Commandments
As mentioned in an earlier posting, Yale Class of 1954 History Professor Joanne Freeman is a leading expert on the life and work of Alexander Hamilton. Through her study of Hamilton, she has also become perhaps our pre-eminent expert on political violence in the early republic. Seen in the 2016 video below, Professor Freeman was a major source of inspiration for Lin-Manuel Miranda as he wrote “The Ten Duel Commandments” for his Broadway show Hamilton.
Inspired Thoughts is a collection of highly curated content that embraces the spirit and purpose of The War Memorial: arts and culture, community enrichment, leadership, and patriotism.
Derived from the notion that learning from others is the key to success, Inspired Thoughts is meant to shine a light on those making a difference in the world around them. This collection features artists, poets, writers, architects, and every thought leader in-between. Inspired Thoughts is the strongest reflection of what The War Memorial stands for, and what we aim to be.
The content featured on Inspired Thoughts is curated by War Memorial leadership — we also look forward to featuring special guest curators in the near future. If you are interested in providing content for Inspired Thoughts, please email our Community Engagement team at bhoste@warmemorial.org.