National and party icons

We discussed the cults of the Founding Fathers, Abraham Lincoln and now Theodore Roosevelt, who may be replacing Ronald Reagan as the Republican icon. For years there was an effort to build up Ronald Reagan as the modern Republican icon. The plan to establish the Reagan Library at Stanford aroused intense opposition because it was viewed as a Republican attempt to use the Stanford name, and the plan was abandoned. The library went to Simi Valley instead, and it has become a cult center. Part of the Reagan cult involved convincing the public that he was not just an actor, but a man of ideas. Two books were published to prove this: Reagan in his own hand and a sequel which was recently presented at the Reagan Library, with Mrs. Reagan present. It was a touching scene, but the eulogistic approach was not academic.

The Democrats naturally disliked the Reagan cult, and an attempt was made to debunk it. There was the incredible episode of the TV miniseries ridiculing him which was withdrawn as a result of protests and threats to withdraw advertising. In U.S. News and World Report (11/17/03) John Leo discusses the case with special reference to a remark attributed to Reagan. "I am the Antichrist", This fight coincided with the Senate 40.hour filibuster over the appointment of four judges, a proof of the bitterness of the unrelenting struggle between Republicans and Democrats. It is possible that the Republicans have decided that Teddy Roosevelt is a more appropriate for these times of war and would have a wider appeal.

This takes us to the problem of rival icons. The Democrats have Jefferson, the Republicans have Lincoln. We have seen how in Spain the conservatives have made an icon of Josˇ Antonio Primo de Rivera, the leftists of Garc’a Lorca. Such rivalries occur in many countries. When I was in Russia during the Soviet period, an educated woman said to me in a reverential tone "Lenin was a saint". The attempt to exalt Peter the Great, the canonization of the last Czarist family and the embellishment of Saint Petersburg seem to be part of an attempt to build up the cult of Peter the Great.

These cults can be very tricky. Sixty years ago I took a riverboat up the Magdalena River in Colombia. In the dining room I was seated next to a gentleman whose first remark was "Are you a partisan of Bolivar or of Santander?" What would you think if a chance acquaintance in a restaurant asked you "Are you a partisan of Jefferson or of Adams?" Baffled, I had to answer, so I said "Well, Santander". After that we engaged in a pleasant conversation. He was a Liberal, and Santander is the icon of his party, while Bolivar is the icon is the icon of those terrible Conservatives, whose violence intimidated people. I am glad I did not say "Bolivar".