The Past Is Not Simply The Past,

When I Do Research, I Have Done - 90 Percent Of My Time Is The Research, The Other Ten Percent Is The Writing. So I Don't Have To Face A Blank Piece Of Paper. I Can Look At This As A Quote That I Have From Somewhere.

(from John Hay's Diary) “the President Never Appeared To Better Advantage In The World,” Hay Proudly Noted In His Diary. “though He Knows How Immense Is The Danger To Himself From The Unreasoning Anger Of That Committee, He Never Cringed To Them For An Instant. He Stood Where He Thought He Was Right And Crushed Them With His Candid Logic.

The Only Protection As A Historian Is To Institute A Process Of Research And Writing That Minimizes The Possibility Of Error. And That I Have Tried To Do, Aided By Modern Technology, Which Enables Me, Having Long Since Moved Beyond Longhand, To Use A Computer For Both Organizing And Taking Notes.

Washington Was A Typical American. Napoleon Was A Typical Frenchman, But Lincoln Was A Humanitarian As Broad As The World. He Was Bigger Than His Country - Bigger Than All The Presidents Together. We Are Still Too Near To His Greatness,' (leo) Tolstoy (in 1908) Concluded, 'but After A Few Centuries More Our Posterity Will Find Him Considerably Bigger Than We Do. His Genius Is Still Too Strong And Powerful For The Common Understanding, Just As The Sun Is Too Hot When Its Light Beams Directly On Us.' (748)

I Keep Thinking That History Runs In Cycles, And That Some Day Certain Large Issues Will Come Before The Country Again. There Will Be Leaders That Inspire Young People. I Don't Think It Means That It's Over Forever, But I'm Getting Pretty Impatient. I'm Hoping It Comes Soon, So That My Young People Can Know That Experience That We Knew In The '60s, And That The World War Ii Generation Knew During The '40s.