1/I recently read "American Crucible: Race and Nation in the Twentieth Century", by Gary Gerstle. https://www.amazon.com/American-Crucible-Nation-Twentieth-Century/dp/0691173273 … Here is my review, in tweet-thread form.
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12/Gerstle obviously thinks, though he does not explicitly say, that Teddy Roosevelt's plan to forge a truly American race might have worked, if America had fully integrated the military during WW2. I am skeptical of this idea, but it's really interesting.
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13/More broadly, Gerstle's book shows that Americans have always used a mix of civic nationalism and racial nationalism to define their national identity, and that neither of these traditions has ever been able to vanquish the other.
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14/The big question, going forward, is: Will America continue to define American-ness partly in racial terms? And if so, who will be included, and who, if anyone, will be excluded? This is an incredibly crucial question for our nation, but no one knows the answer. (end)
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Truman's order desegregating the military was issued in 1948, over opposition, and it took years to complete it.
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Yes. But what American Crucible taught me, which I had never known, is that de facto desegregation actually began in the later years of WW2...it just didn't get far before the war ended.
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It is notable btw that T R is a hero to many websites etc that teach and preach "old fashioned masculinity". In UK awareness of the specific nature of his legacy doesn't go far beyond the bear.
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My father (from a very racist East Texas family) made his career in the Truman military (Navy during WW2, then Air Force to the mid 70s). He was very committed to racial integration, which I think caused conflicts with his civilian family.
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