What higher obligation does a President have than to explain his intentions to the people and persuade them that the direction he wishes to go is right?
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.The use of history as therapy means the corruption of history as history.
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.For most Americans the Constitution had become a hazy document, cited like the Bible on ceremonial occasions but forgotten in the daily transactions of life.
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.Santayana's aphorism must be reversed: too often it is those who can remember the past who are condemned to repeat it.
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.Science and Technology revolutionize our lives, but memory, tradition and myth frame our response. Expelled from individual consciousness by the rush of change, history finds its revenge by stamping the collective unconscious with habits, values, expectations, dreams. The dialectic between past and future will continue to form our lives.
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.