Shane Maddock on America's Peace Heroes

Shane Maddock, author of <a title="Nuclear Apartheid" href="http://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/book_detail?title_id=1709" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/book_detail?title_id=1709']);"><em>Nuclear Apartheid: the Quest for American Atomic Supremacy from World War II to the Present</em></a>, now blogs over at Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. In his first post, Maddock makes a case for recognizing America’s peace activists and heroes, rather than celebrating warriors. An excerpt:</p> <blockquote><p>Politicians repeatedly refer to the United States as a “peace-loving nation,” but evidence to the contrary abounds. Americans celebrate and embrace warriors and largely express apathy or disdain for those that work for peace. The phrase war hero is commonplace, but we rarely speak of peace heroes. The nation’s very birth came out of a violent overthrow of British authority and wars against other nations occurred with some frequency thereafter: The Quasi War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the War of 1898, the Philippine American War, numerous interventions in Latin America, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, the Balkan Wars, the Iraq War, and the War in Afghanistan. All directly involved American military operations and one could easily list numerous other occasions when Washington sponsored and aided the military operations of others. At home, violence also reigned: Native American wars, sectional conflict over slavery culminating in the Civil War, labor violence, anti-immigrant vigilantes, racial violence during Reconstruction, and a waves of lynchings that persisted into the twentieth century.</p> <p>One might still argue that all of this violence has only made the nation more appreciative of peace, but again our culture and our actions suggest otherwise. War monuments dot the American landscape from town greens and parks to National Malls, including statues of individual war heroes alongside memorials to all military personnel who served in a conflict. In the broader culture, television, films, and novels define a hero as someone who takes decisive action to confront a threat or a problem, often necessitating violence. Americans want action heroes, not pacifistic dreamers.</p> <p>Historians often do show a greater appreciation for those that work for peace, but they are not immune from the cultural patterns. Scholars tend to give greater accolades to leaders who lead countries to victory in wars rather than those that successfully avoid them.</p></blockquote> <p>Read <a href="http://www.shafr.org/2010/10/20/where-are-americas-peace-heroes/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.shafr.org/2010/10/20/where-are-americas-peace-heroes/']);">Maddock’s full post over at SHAFR’s blog</a>.</p> <div class="linkwithin_hook" id="http://uncpressblog.com/2010/10/21/americas-peace-heroes/"></div><script>  </script> <script src="http://www.linkwithin.com/widget.js"></script> <a href="http://www.linkwithin.com/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.linkwithin.com/']);"><img src="http://www.linkwithin.com/pixel.png" alt="Related Posts with Thumbnails" style="border: 0" /></a> </div> <footer class="entry-meta"> <span class="cat-links"> Filed under <a href="http://uncpressblog.com/category/history/americanhist/" title="View all posts in American History" rel="category tag">American History</a>, <a href="http://uncpressblog.com/category/guest-bloggers/author-blog-entry/" title="View all posts in Author blog entry" rel="category tag">Author blog entry</a>, <a href="http://uncpressblog.com/category/civil-rights/" title="View all posts in Civil Rights" rel="category tag">Civil Rights</a>, <a href="http://uncpressblog.com/category/guest-bloggers/" title="View all posts in Guest Bloggers" rel="category tag">Guest Bloggers</a>, <a href="http://uncpressblog.com/category/history/" title="View all posts in History" rel="category tag">History</a>, <a href="http://uncpressblog.com/category/history/military/" title="View all posts in Military History" rel="category tag">Military History</a>, <a href="http://uncpressblog.com/category/military-studies/" title="View all posts in Military Studies" rel="category tag">Military Studies</a>, <a href="http://uncpressblog.com/category/unc-press-authors/" title="View all posts in UNC Press Authors" rel="category tag">UNC Press Authors</a> </span> <span class="sep"> | </span> <span class="tag-links"> Tagged <a href="http://uncpressblog.com/tag/activists/" rel="tag">activists</a>, <a href="http://uncpressblog.com/tag/shane-maddock/" rel="tag">shane maddock</a>, <a href="http://uncpressblog.com/tag/war/" rel="tag">War</a> </span> <span class="sep"> | </span> <span class="comments-link"><a href="http://uncpressblog.com/2010/10/21/americas-peace-heroes/#respond" title="Comment on Shane Maddock on America’s Peace Heroes">Comment</a></span> <span class="sep"> | </span> <span class="permalink"><a href="http://uncpressblog.com/2010/10/21/americas-peace-heroes/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Shane Maddock on America’s Peace Heroes">Permalink</a></span> </footer> </article> <div id="comments" class="comments-area"> <div id="respond"> <h3 id="reply-title">Leave a Reply <small><a rel="nofollow" id="cancel-comment-reply-link" href="/2010/10/21/americas-peace-heroes/#respond" style="display:none;">Cancel reply</a></small></h3> <div id="commentform"> <iframe src="http://jetpack.wordpress.com/jetpack-comment/?blogid=3774283&postid=5181&comment_registration=0&require_name_email=1&stc_enabled=1&stb_enabled=1&show_avatars=0&avatar_default=identicon&greeting=Leave+a+Reply&color_scheme=light&lang=en-US&jetpack_version=2.2.5&sig=c4edf4ef98630d034c52bea04cd8e40d3563e8c1#parent=http%3A%2F%2Funcpressblog.com%2F2010%2F10%2F21%2Famericas-peace-heroes%2F" allowtransparency="false" style="width:100%; height: 430px;border:0px;" frameBorder="0" scrolling="no" name="jetpack_remote_comment" id="jetpack_remote_comment">