鈥淒oes Boston College require students to take history in order to graduate?鈥� David McCullough asked a capacity crowd at Robsham Theater in September.
鈥淵es!鈥� shouted out several in the audience.
鈥淏ravo,鈥� McCullough responded.
An easy ploy to butter up the Boston College audience? Not so. McCullough鈥檚 praise was genuine. It turns out, the University鈥檚 History Core makes it an outlier. 鈥淓ighty percent of colleges,鈥� McCullough continued, 鈥渘o longer require history.
鈥淏ig mistake.鈥�
America鈥檚 elder statesman of narrative history, McCullough was returning to Chestnut Hill as the 2017听Clough Colloquium听speaker a decade after he headlined the inaugural Clough Colloquium. Aimed at bringing to campus speakers who are leaders in their fields, the lecture series is part of the听Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics, which celebrated its 10th anniversary that evening听(see sidebar).
Through his epic books, such as听1776听补苍诲听The Great Bridge, as well as his voiceover duties on PBS鈥檚听The American Experience听and other productions, the Pittsburgh native has brought to life long-dead people and events, teaching millions of Americans that the past holds meaning for our present. That night at Robsham, he mounted a spirited defense of humanities education as a booster shot for our current epidemic of incivility.
鈥溾�楬istory,鈥欌�� McCullough quoted Margaret Phelps, 鈥溾�榗ultivates every faculty of the mind, enlarges sympathies鈥欌�攅nlarges sympathies, how important is that?鈥斺�榣iberalizes thought and feeling, furnishes and improves the highest standard of character.鈥欌��
Phelps was a high school teacher in Independence, Missouri, at the turn of the last century. She had no children, and her name might have slipped into obscurity鈥攅xcept that one of her outstanding students went on to become the 33rd president of the United States. 鈥淗arry Truman was one of the most remarkable presidents we ever had,鈥� said McCullough, who knows the topic well鈥攈e won one of his two Pulitzers for his biography of that president,听Truman.
Dismissed by many, then and since, as a hick haberdasher, Truman listened to Chopin and read Latin for fun. And though his formal education ended with high school, he carried Phelps鈥檚 lessons with him for life. 鈥溾�楾he only new thing in the world is the history you don鈥檛 know,鈥欌�� McCullough quoted the president. 鈥淚n other words, if you don鈥檛 know history, you don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 happening all around you.鈥�
Phelps was one of many teachers McCullough pulled out of history鈥檚 shadows and into a spotlight. That was the theme of his talk: the positive ripple effect of a good teacher. 鈥淭he people doing the work that will count the most in the long run,鈥� he said, 鈥渁re our teachers. It鈥檚 not simply that they鈥檙e not paid enough鈥攖hat鈥檚 obvious鈥攂ut they are not given enough credit for what they do.鈥�
Consider John Winthrop (a descendant of the more famous John Winthrop, first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony). A Harvard professor and pioneer of astronomy in the听eighteenth century, Winthrop taught his students to see the universe through a wider lens, literally. One of those pupils was John Adams, another future U.S. president鈥攁nd the subject of the book that earned McCullough his other Pulitzer. (He鈥檚 also won two National Book Awards and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among other honors.)
鈥淛ohn Adams was another remarkable president,鈥� said McCullough. 鈥淭he only one who never owned slaves on principle. And John Adams would always say that one of his greatest memories of all of Harvard was going out onto the roof of the old Harvard Hall and looking through Mr. Winthrop鈥檚 telescope at the satellites of Jupiter. . . . It gave him an infinitely larger look at life than if he had not had that inspiration.鈥�
Adams鈥檚 wife, Abigail, wonderfully articulated the message of McCullough鈥檚 lecture when she gave her son John Quincy Adams a dressing down after hearing that the lad (yet another future president) was strutting about Harvard Yard, a know-it-all.
鈥溾�業f you are conscious to yourself that you possess more knowledge upon some subjects than others of your standing,鈥欌�� McCullough read aloud from Abigail Adams鈥檚 letter, 鈥溾�榬eflect that you have had greater opportunities of seeing the world and obtaining a knowledge of mankind than any of your contemporaries, [and] that you have never wanted [for] a book.鈥欌�澨� Under the circumstances, she said, 鈥溾�榟ow unpardonable would it have been in you, to have turned out a blockhead.鈥欌�澨�
鈥淚f you ever get a little bit down about the state of the culture in our country, just remember: there are more public libraries than Starbucks.鈥�
Once the laughter died down at Robsham, McCullough continued, 鈥淲hen I read that, I thought, That could be said of all of us! Given what we鈥檝e been provided in the way of education. Not just those who鈥檝e gone to great universities but those with access to a public library.
鈥淎nd by the way, if you ever get a little bit down about the state of the culture in our country, just remember: there are more public libraries than Starbucks.鈥�
The thought of that indeed cheered the BC crowd, to judge from the extended applause that greeted McCullough鈥檚 fun fact.
The author鈥檚 main point was, 鈥淭here鈥檚 no such thing as a self-made man. . . . Little is accomplished alone.鈥� And McCullough didn鈥檛 exempt himself from that truism. He began his remarks by expressing regret that his wife, Rosalie, couldn鈥檛 be present that evening, and spoke at length about her integral role in his work. She reads every word of every draft to him aloud, and interjects when she thinks a sentence sounds wrong鈥攁dvice that he ignores at his peril, he said.
Later, during a Q&A, a first-year student asked McCullough what works of history inspired him as a young man. What books would he recommend to the newest generation of scholars?
鈥淔irst and foremost,鈥� McCullough began, before faltering, the title and author of a noted tome on the tip of his tongue. 鈥淎ghh. . . .
鈥淲here鈥檚 Rosalie?鈥�
听Patrick L. Kennedy, Morrissey College 鈥�99, is a writer in Boston.
Photography by John Gillooly.听
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