Editor's Note: We find little to celebrate in the historical works, and less in the political contributions and editorials of Schlesinger. However, two of his causes we can admire. First, his strong anti-communism in an age when liberalism embraced communism without nary a pause. Second, his continued opposition to politically correct history and multiculturalism.
from the New York Times obit:
"However liberal, he was not a slave to what came to be called political correctness. He spiritedly defended the old-fashioned American melting pot against proponents of multiculturalism, the idea that ethnicities should retain separate identities and even celebrate them. He elicited tides of criticism by comparing Afrocentrism to the Ku Klux Klan."
“What the hell,” he answered when questioned by The Washington Post about his attack on multiculturalism. “You have to call them as you see them. This too shall pass.”
and from the Washington Post:
"Political correctness -- 'the attempt to teach history in the schools in order to please a variety of ethnic history groups.' The result, he argued, 'disunites the American past.'"
"Schlesinger also was a longtime contributor to The Wall Street Journal's op-ed page. The Journal's editorial page editor Robert Bartley told the Boston Globe in 1997 that while the liberal Schlesinger wrote from 'the other side of the great chasm of opinion we have,' he did so with 'grace and rare reasonableness.' And, Bartley added, 'I can't think of anyone I'd rather have had writing for us over the past 25 years.'"
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