lives hell with name-calling in print andnon the movie screen? What should thenvets feel guilty about? That they tried tondefend a small nation, perhaps corruptnin its ancient ways, against the cruel, formidable,nperfidious tyranny of internationalncommunism? Mr. Marin’s pals innThe Nation made this defense impossible,nand now dislike the picture of vetsnswearing vengeance before the names ofntheir pals. The outcome of the war, to thenAmerican left’s pleasure, was the SovietnUnion’s emergence as an imperial powernwhose interests can be enforced in evennremote parts of the globe. The AmericannVietnam veteran attempted to thwartnthis scary historical circumstance. Somenpeople, who now say to him WelcomenHome, did everything they could tondamage his bloody efforts. In November,nin Washington, D.C., his subliminalnfeeling that, in spite of the hystericalnpublicity, he may have beennjust, right, and noble came to a strangenfruition. The Memorial’s polished blacknmarble mirrored a new sense of purposen—or perhaps one which has been rediscoverednand which The Nation’s “intellectuals”nwill have to swallow. DnCBS’s War on ReagannEach evening when Mr. Dan Rathernof CBS News intones that Reagan this ornReagan that, a zombielike grin, perfectednin decades of Hollywood horrornmovies, graces his lips. It indicates that,nno matter what the cost, bodies will bensnatched. The other day, a female CBSncorrespondent reporting on the President’sntrip to Brazil declared at the end,nwith that inimitable, grave, blondendumbness, something to the effect thatnMr. Reagan had sinfully skipped the visitnto Rio de Janeiro’s slums, where peoplenblame their plight on U. S. economic andnpolitical nefariousness. Depressing shotsnof the shantytown, brimming with poverty,nfollowed.nThe idea that Reagan, and America inngeneral, may be held responsible for thenmiseries of Latin American barrios is onen48inChronicles of Culturenof the most cherished constructs of thenliberal mind—dumb blonde or zombienstyle. It would be interesting to learnnwhether Mr. Rather and his femalenBeechers Revisitednby Milton RugoffnThe lead “review” in the Septembern1982 issue of Chronicles of Culture, writtennby Clyde Wilson, professor of historynat the University of South Carolina andnan editor of The Southern Partisan, isndevoted to my book The Beechers: AnnAmerican Family in the NineteenthnCentury. I put review in quotes because,naside from one reference to my book as an”thorough and intimate history of threengenerations [it actually covers two generations]n. . . of a brilliant, energetic andnforceful family,” Dr. Wilson’sessayisactuallyna drawn-out eulogy of GeneralnRobert E. Lee coupled with an attack onnthe Protestant tradition in the North andnits “reformist” tendencies. The attack isnbased on a description of the Beechernfamily that is simply a tissue of distortionsnand inaccuracies. Almost everynmajor point raised is based on a twistingnor stacking of the facts.nFor example, he declares that thenBeechers “proclaimed themselves thenchampions of freedom and morality…nwhile all the time keeping their hand innthe till and their eye on the mainnchance.” The father of the family,nLyman Beecher, a leading post-Puritannpreacher of the early 19th century, wasnpoor throughout his life, as were most ofnhis seven sons, who were all ministers. Ofnhis four daughters, one, Catherine, livednwith relatives while she worked to establishnschools for women, and another,nIsabella, was an active feminist, oftenncontributing her own funds to the cause.nAbout the two most celebrated ofnLyman’s children, Harriet Beecher Stowenand Henry Ward Beecher, Dr. Wilsonnnntroopers think the world would be improvednby the demise of Reagan and, fornthatmatter, the entire United States. Wenwouldn’ t bet on a negative answer. DnFoi I;MKS & i:( n.N(;i:s Inmakes the preposterous charge that bothn”became wealthy because of their antislaverynpositions.” The facts are that Mrs.nStowe received a pittance in royalties fornUncle Tom’s Cabin, wrote 30 othernbooks, only one dealing with slavery,nand, as I repeatedly pointed out in mynbiography, lived meagerly until she publishednUncle Tom’s Cabin in her forties,nand then but modesdy until her death.nAs for Henry Ward Beecher, he was anfamous preacher and earned money as anlecturer and author long before hisnbelated involvement in the antislaverynmovement.nAnother example: as a parallel betweennthe “psychological weirdness”narising from “liberal polidcs” in the 19thncentury and again in the 1960’s andn1970’s, Dr. Wilson cites spiritualism. Ofnthe 12 Beechers on whom I focus, fournshowed a mild interest in spiritualismnand only one pursued it seriously. Butnthe significant fact is that 19th-centurynspiritualism was a widespread belief thatnattracted people in all polidcal positionsnand many who were totally apolitical.nCuriously, as prime evidence of thenBeecher interest in spiritualism, thenreviewer cites the “visions” reported bynCalvin Stowe, Harriet’s husband. Asidenfrom not being a Beecher, Stowe was anbookish professor of Biblical literaturenwho had no significant political position.nMoreover, his “visions” began in hisnchildhood and were more like nightmaresnthan spiritualist apparitions.nIncidentally, Henry Ward Beecher, an”liberal” member of the family,nscorned spiritualism.nAs an example of what he calls “absenteenmoralism,” Dr. Wilson assertsn