48 Liberal Lies about American History (That You Probably Learned in School) »

Larry Schweikart is a history professor at the University of Dayton.

Michael Allen is a professor of history and American studies at the University of Washington, Tacoma.

A historian debunks four-dozen PC myths about our nation's past.

Over the last forty years, history textbooks have become more and more politically correct and distorted about our country's past, argues professor Larry Schweikart. The result, he says, is that students graduate from high school and even college with twisted beliefs about economics, foreign policy, war, religion, race relations, and many other subjects.

As he did in his popular A Patriot's History of the United States, Professor Schweikart corrects liberal bias by rediscovering facts that were once widely known. He challenges distorted books by name and debunks forty-eight common myths. A sample:

• The founders wanted to create a “wall of separation” between church and state
• Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation only because he needed black soldiers
• Truman ordered the bombing of Hiroshima to intimidate the Soviets with “atomic diplomacy”
• Mikhail Gorbachev, not Ronald Reagan, was responsible for ending the Cold War America's past, though not perfect, is far more admirable than you were probably taught.

Publishers Weekly

Textbooks have long served as a main battlefield in the culture wars and the latest salvo comes from Schweikart, a history professor at the University of Dayton (A Patriot's History of the United States), who examines leading American history texts and other books that he sees as purveying "a distinctly slanted view of American history-one that portrays the United States as oppressive, imperialistic, and evil." Each "lie" is deliberated in a brief essay. A chapter on the notion that FDR knew in advance that the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor focuses largely on countering Robert Stinnett's Day of Deceit.The belief that Columbus was responsible for killing millions of Indians ("drivel") is, he says, based on faulty statistics. In examining the belief that Richard Nixon sent burglars into the Watergate office complex, the author accepts G. Gordon Liddy's account of events over John Dean's. Regarding the Rosenbergs, Schweikart cites Soviet documents proving they were indeed spies. Schweikart marshals an arsenal of statistics and scholarly studies, and while his own biases will limit his reach, he offers an object lesson in the need for scrupulous balance in the writing of history textbooks. (Sept. 4)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Lie #1: The First Presidents Intended for the United States to Be Isolationist 13

Lie #2: The Mexican and Spanish-American Wars Were Imperialist Efforts Drummed Up by "Corporate Interests" 19

Lie #3: FDR Knew in Advance About the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor 23

Lie #4: Harry Truman Ordered the Atomic Bombing of Japan to Intimidate the Soviets with "Atomic Diplomacy" 29

Lie #5: John F. Kennedy Was Killed by LBJ and a Secret Team to Prevent Him from Getting Us Out of Vietnam 35

Lie #6: Richard Nixon Expanded the Vietnam War 40

Lie #7: The "Peace Movement" Activists Were Not Dupes of the KGB 44

Lie #8: Ronald Reagan Knew "Star Wars" Wouldn't Work but Wanted to Provoke a War with the USSR 48

Lie #9: Mikhail Gorbachev, Not Ronald Reagan, Was Responsible for Ending the Cold War 53

Lie #10: September 11 Was Not the Work of Terrorists: It Was a Government Conspiracy 57

Lie #11: No Terrorists or Weapons of Mass Destruction Were Hiding in Iraq 61

Lie #12: The Founders Envisioned a "Wall of Separation" Between Church and State, Keeping Religious Influence Out of Government 69

Lie #13: Thomas Jefferson Favored "Small Government" and Was a Pacifist 75

Lie #14: Women Had No Rights in Early America 78

Lie #15: Restrictions on the Right to Vote Kept Voter Participation Low 83

Lie #16: Prohibition Was Unpopular from the Beginning and Failed in All Its Objectives 86

Lie #17: Sacco and Vanzetti Were Innocent and Wrongly Executed 90

Lie #18: Senator Joseph McCarthy Concocted the "Red Scare," and There Was Nothing to Fear from Communist Subversives 94

Lie #19: The Rosenbergs Were Not Spiesand Were Wrongfully Executed 99

Lie #20: Lee Harvey Oswald Shot JFK Because He Was a Deranged Marine, Not Because He Was a Communist 103

Lie #21: Columbus Was Responsible for Killing Millions of Indians 106

Lie #22: The Early Colonies Were Intolerant and Racist 109

Lie #23: Early America Was Home to Few Guns or Gun Owners 113

Lie #24: Abraham Lincoln Only Freed the Slaves to Beef Up His Troop Strength 119

Lie #25: The Scopes Trial Proved That Darwin Was Correct and Christians Were Backward 125

Lie #26: The 1950s Were Dull and Boring and Created a Generation of Conformists in the Workplace and Home 130

Lie #27: Richard Nixon Sent Burglars into the Watergate Office Complex 134

Lie #28: Neither Ronald Reagan's Election nor the "Contract with America" Proved the Triumph of Conservative Ideas 139

Lie #29: Bill Clinton Was Impeached over Sex 143

Lie #30: George W. Bush Was Selected, Not Elected, in 2000, and Votes Were Stolen on His Behalf 149

Lie #31: Muslim Terrorists Are Poor and Uneducated and Hate Us Because We Support Israel 156

Lie #32: The News Media Is Objective, Fair, and Balanced - and Always Has Been 160

Lie #33: Native Americans Were Great Environmentalists, While White Settlers Destroyed the Buffalo 166

Lie #34: The First Thanksgiving Took Place Because the Indians Saved the Puritans from Their Own Ineptitude 173

Lie #35: The "Robber Barons" Pillaged the Land and Destroyed the Environment 177

Lie #36: Federal Regulators Have Protected the Public's Health by Identifying Harmful Products 180

Lie #37: Global Warming Is a Fact, and It's a Man-made, American-Driven Problem 185

Lie #38: The Constitution Was the Creation of "Elites" Protecting Their Financial Interests 190

Lie #39: Northern Capitalist Greed - Not Slavery - Drove the Civil War 194

Lie #40: The Sherman Anti-Trust Act Protected the "Little Guy" and Reined in "Big Business"Abuses 197

Lie #41: The Transcontinental Railroads Never Would Have Been Built Without Government 202

Lie #42: The Robber Barons Were Only Assuaging Their Guilt with Their Philanthropy 207

Lie #43: The Income Tax Was Created to Make the Rich Pay Their Fair Share, and Tax Cuts Only Benefit Upper-Income Americans 211

Lie #44: Business Failures and Tax Cuts Combined to Cause the Great Depression 215

Lie #45: LBJ's Great Society Had a Positive Impact on the Poor 221

Lie #46: The Decline of American Autos and Steel Was Caused by Insufficient Government Support for the Industries 227

Lie #47: The Reagan Tax Cuts Caused Massive Deficits and the National Debt 233

Final Lie: History Textbooks Used in Schools Are Unbiased and Not Politically Correct 239

Notes 243

Index 289