The True Story of the Battle of Bunker Hill (The Smithsonian)

[Igel]

2. A people's consciousness is often in the stories it tells itself.

It's like JFK. Mob connections. Approved wire-taps and much of Hoover's works. Probably addicted to painkillers, and retained the reins of power even as he was pretty much doped up on painkillers. Stepped out on his wife and breaking his marriage vows while hypocritically presenting the image of a happy family.

Cut taxes. Bailed on the Civil Rights Act. His weakness probably allowed the Soviets to think the Cuban siting of missiles would pass without problem, and once started be resolved in their favor. Got us into Vietnam. Started the space program which produced a lot of technological breakthroughs but which was, at its core, a jingoistic response to America's humiliation at the hands of the USSR.

Complete loser, embarrassment to his party by any objective standard.

Yet we tell ourselves otherwise and that's okay as we focus on Jackie's style sense and how nice a family they looked in photographs. Camelot, of course. We focus on what good he did. We have a nice myth. "Truthiness" is a modern word. Not a modern practice.

Personally, never thought about victory at "Bunker Hill" one way or another. What mattered was that it helped galvanize colonists and polarize society, one step on the road to organized revolution.