.. OEPARTMf:N ... OF HISTORY AND SOCIAL ~CIENCE To: Billy Ray Cox From: Fred Jewell ~a{~~~e gt;_,.f:j'• ~nJt7J 72143 Re: Reflections on American Studies Trip Date; April 8, 1976 From my perspective, the f,merican Studies Bicentenni;1l Trip uas a complete success in ev'2.ry Hay, N<1turally, I 1-ms most nppreciative of the emphasis given to historical and political "attractions." Although these uere obviously the "natural" focus for a trip of this sort, I am sure t .. ere uen· many potentially \o7orth1Yhile progl'ams Hhich r.1ight have been scheduled that 110uld have reduced or eliminated the amount of time available for the historic, politicaL, and com– memorative attractions. I nm grnteful the tr~.p Has not "overscheduled" Hith foru,al programs to the extent of depriving us of these features. There are inevitably personal frustrations in any collective enterprise. liy frustration, a ,.,idely shared one I gather from numerous comments, pEaked out early in the trip. The Sunday He visited Jamesto1m ;md historic liilliarns– burg had to take the prize for frustration and futility--easily surpassing that of the previous day Hhen \ole got to Appomatox Court House just as the buildings were being closed, Had '"e not been imaginative enough to go to Jafilestmm that morning before \~ot'ship services, instead of in the afternoon, .ns originally pl.nnned, the disnster Hould have been of unspeakable magnitude, As it was, we \vere still so badly rushed at Jar.1estom1 that \·le Here able to see but a fraction of the original site, as distinct from thn Festival P2rk reconstruction a mile away. The r(~plica of the orisinal village \o/as quite impressive, but the im– pact on the students of seeing those replicas of those three ships 1;hich made that threr-Qonth voyage 1vas unsurpassed. The smallness of the ships in rela– tion to the dist:.nnce travelled was incomprehensible to all. If the .J<lmes tOHl1 visit ~ms rushed :mel abbrei;ia ted' the 1.!illin::lsburg visit ~·1as aborted, in cor.'p<lrison. Virtually all a2;reed t;1at lie just sic1ply needed more time there. The most eloquent testimony to our common plight 1-JelS the un– used portions of our 8-attraction tickets (the kind alwcst evel'yorre bou~tt) at the end of our sr.vy. I suppose that the strongest rcco;'1:-1endation I 11oulc! have regarding possible chances in the proposed itener;:1ry of anoth\!r trip uould be to mal<e more time for 1:illi.Jmsburg-Jonestm.rn. It misht be enough just to hit them on a d~y other than Sund<Jy, It is very difficult to rate the l!ashin[;ton portion of the trip. I thought every activity and program had sufficient merit to retain it on the r~enu. Ob– viously, some prograr.1s did not live up to e::pectations, h-.1t no::c \-:as a r--,tal \v<lste. !Wen the "tlis.:tppointing" ones served to stir:1ulnte a lot of student re– action and discussion. The progra~.1s \·lith the grentest suhst~ to them 1·/erc, in my op~n~on, those at the Ch<1nber of Co~~erce and the State Department, The former was a particu– larly pleas<Jnt surprise, and 1o1ho could have fziled to be ir:1pressed v1ith the ob– vious efficiency of th:1t Hhole op~eration from the·printt!d pror;r<1ms to the rigid adherence to the schedule? For the student Hho made any intellectual investment, those t1vo -progt'ams i}We thr !}t'eatest return on the investr1ent--the some1·1h<1t esc– teric nature of the topics notl·lithst<Jncin:;. I think most ali agreed th<Jt the Pcnta~;on visii: •.:a:; the 10105t dis<lppointing, maybe because cxpect<1tions ucre lti;:;i1er. In more sober reflection on that pres– entation, h01vever, it is uifficult to see how it rni3h:: have been much different. The P~ntagon PP, people are obviously not going to stcd:e the military out on a limb, especially so soon after Ford's cabin"t and nctio••nl security <1pparatus reshuffling. But the Pentar:;on pro(_";rar:•, as He e:.:pcri,~nceci it, is probably the most "dispensable" ite:a on the agenda. I 1vould ranl: the AfL-CIO and F.B.I. programs on a p<1r and about mid-Hay betvreen the fi:rJt mentL .ted and the last mentioned programs on an "effectiveness" continuur.1, Aside from the difficulty of hear~ng much of ;he first labor spokesman 1 s presentation and 1-;ls preposter– ous cla~ms to labor s pol·lerlessness, I thoug:1t that presentation \.;as vlorth 1,;1ile. Th.e second speaker HilS a considerable improvement over dw first one in every respect--rr.ost in1portantly in his candor. i\t least, the 1\l'L-CIO program sp<1rked a lot of student reaction, both the.n and late1·, Frow. tlw.t standpoint, it \vas one of the more "memorable" progr<1r.1s, I think that tHo of the most memorahle highlighls of this portion of the trip our students uill recall in the future ~;ill be thG visit to the Chinese l~aison.office and the visit Hith lhc Arkansas congressional delegation. The v~sual ~mpact of the Chinc~c office 11.:1s <1l:nost overpr"·erir1g. It l-lo'l'> a most fascinating study of their subtle, "norr-politicc;l" approach to uinning good will. Th~ir disarming indirectness WJs quite a contrast to the heavv-handed frontal at tack of the Russian ls t Sec ret.-.ry. It spoke volumes about~ the con– trasting political styL~s of. the Communist rivals. Similco.rly, the informality of the setting of our meeting with "Dean" and the boys and the good-natured give-and-t.:1!'e of thai: contc>xt proviced a most enjoy– able, and even informative, experience. I thought it \·.'as one of the real high– lights of the Hoek. i3y contrast, I 1,•,1s not that favornbly h1presr.ed by Sen. Thurmond, His prcsent<1tion 1;as too lou:_; on cliches ~ncl homilies c.nd too short on substance for my t<Jste, Some stucll~nts, Here, ho1:ever, rno1:t imp;:essed Hith him. For sornc rc:Json, I am not sure \·1hy, I found Phi.l<:l(ll:lphin ;mti-cl_inwctic, 1·!aybe it: l·lilS the frustration of the t1:aff:i.c jc.:n \·i0 l'C'Xc c:mcht 1;1 from the air– port to the clo,mtoHi1 <1ren. Independcr,ce S'1uilrc ~·J!ls ir.1prcssL•c c:-wu""h, b1Jt I 1 t 1 . 'f . 1 1 1 0 .cej) Hen( c~: '.ng 1- ~t 1<1c re:1 ly been "'':>rth the c;ffo;:t, Of cottrsc, as long as \ole·'''ere go:•1g to Valley For;_;e any1o1ay, it H•:>uld have been ridicuJ.o•Js to skip :luladelplna, I nlso think V<!llcy fcr:;e \JouJ.d have been <1 gre;:Lt disappointment ~n the absence of l3ucky '-J c, lters. But he 1;as more l:hrm. 1-Jort:h tlw price :•£ ad– mi:;sion. If I had to 1:1Gke a hard chr>ice in the Lttu~·c, I hc;lie\'C I twulcl opt for an exl:ra dny at Jamestown/I<Tilliamsburg in lieu of the day in Philadelphia and Valley Forge, I hope this exercise in instnnt nostalgin has been at least some 1vhat .along the l~nes ?f l'ihat you 1-1anted in the uay of a r.eport. /\gain, my overall im– press~on \!J.th the trip is so overuhelmingly positive th<1t I probably have not been part~cul:uly disccrnin;:; or discri.min.:1tinr; in my evalu;ttic...;s, I Hould b~ :ost nappy to re~pond to nny <lire:t questions you may wish to put to me on any spect of the tr~p. In the meant1me, I remain graleft lly nnd sincerely yours.
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