"I was in a meeting some months ago of the New York Historical Society’s Board of Trustees -
August, wonderful group of people.
That’s about thirty-five very rich New Yorkers and two token historians, and I’m one of the token historians.
They have us there for window dressing, and other good and useful and noble purposes.
And during a discussion of a subject I won’t even go into, one of the very intelligent and very dedicated members of that board — and I’m not being ironic — said that,
He really wished American History could be about
“People of Goodwill.”
He wished American history wasn’t so full of conflict. In effect, he was asking,
“Why can’t we really just tell the stories about People of Goodwill?”
And I remember thinking,
“Oh dear, this poor man.”
Professor David Blight:
