NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 9, #9, 28 February 2003 by Bruce Craig <rbcraig@historycoalition.org> National Coalition for History (NCH) *****************

1. Humanities Advocacy Day 2003 2. A-76 Update -- Center for Military History Targeted - Immediate Action Required! 3. Update: Florida State Library and Archives 4. Legislation Introduced: Southern Campaign of the Revolution Heritage Study Act 5. Bits and Bytes: "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" Contestant Wins $1 million with History Question; Army Corps Shielded From Privatization; NCPH Annual Meeting; Posting of State Department Historical Advisory Board Minutes; White House Forum To Be Rescheduled 6. Articles of Interest: "Power and Weakness" by Robert Kagan "Policy Review" (June/July 2002).

1. REPORT: HUMANITIES ADVOCACY DAY 2003 On February 24-25, the National Humanities Alliance hosted its 4th annual advocacy event in Washington D.C. The purpose of the two-day meeting was to launch this year's grassroots support effort for the record funding proposal for the National Endowment for the Humanities. Some 33 national sponsors supported the event that attracted over 130 participants including representatives from colleges, universities, scholarly societies, museums, libraries, state humanities councils, and individual scholars.

The meeting began on February 24 with a legislative briefing by humanities advocates, government affairs professionals, representatives of the NEH, and congressional staff who discussed the mechanics of advocacy and the current status of NEH funding and programs. Participants were briefed on related bills of interest to humanities scholars, including the USA Patriot Act, the Institute for Museum and Library Services Reauthorization, the Department of Education "Teaching American History " grants initiative, implementation of the Presidential Records Act, and the Digital Promise program. Participants were also told about the current funding plight of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) and were urged to advocate a funding level of $10 million in meetings with members of Congress and their staff.

The briefing was followed by a reception at the Senate Hart office building where NEH Chairman Bruce Cole discussed his hopes for the "We the People" initiative which injects within the NEH budget $25 million in new funds for endowment programs. Civil War historian and American Historical Association President James M. McPherson discussed how the NEH had assisted him in his research and writing of books targeted to academic and popular audiences. Barbara Oberg, the general editor of the Papers of Thomas Jefferson shared her insights on how NEH supported documentary editions benefit scholarly research.

On February 25, humanities advocates visited more than 100 congressional office representing twenty-three states. In addition to sharing the results of NEH projects in home districts, participants urged Congressional representatives to support the President's budget request of $152 million for the NEH -- a 22% increase over the FY 2003 enacted appropriation level of $124.9 million.

Individuals who were not able to attend the humanities advocacy event in Washington D.C. may want to contact the offices of their Congressional Representatives and Senators in coming weeks. To assist in that effort, background materials, briefing sheets, and other links used by the participants during the national advocacy day event are posted at: <http://www.nhalliance.org/jd/sourcebook/>;.

2. A-76 UPDATE -- CENTER FOR MILITARY HISTORY TARGETED -- IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED! Some weeks ago, we reported on the A-76 effort to contract out archeological research within the National Park Service ("NPS and Interior Agency Professionals Subjected to A-76 Outsourcing Assessments;" NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 9 #4; 30 January 2003). Now we have information on a history office being targeted for outsourcing -- the Department of the Army's Center for Military History (CMH).

The Department of Army has 154,910 positions held by civilian employees and some 58,727 held by soldiers who hold what are considered "non-core" positions. Because these positions are all not considered "inherently governmental" they are eligible for public-private competition. According to an Army spokesperson, in theory, outsourcing "would free up military manpower for core functions and the global war on terrorism" and thereby use manpower as efficiently as possible "before making it necessary to request additional tax-payer resources."

In January 2003, impacted Army operations chiefs were asked to submit requests to be exempted from what is being called the "Third Wave" of privatization. In a sweeping decision issued 21 February, Dr. John Anderson of the Army's Manpower and Reserve Affairs denied the Center of Military History's request for an exemption from the contracting scheme. According to Anderson who has a doctorate in philosophy and law, "Military history is not a core competency, not required by statute nor inherently governmental, and there is no basis for military performance of the function. Therefore the function can be divested, transferred to another agency, or competed as a matter of managerial decision."

Anderson even goes so far as to suggest that this function might be transferred to the Smithsonian Institution. Should this be adopted as the appropriate course of action, military history could be zeroed out entirely and the CMH as well as field military history detachments would not even have an opportunity to compete -- the function would be simply eliminated.

Sources inside the CMH report that the Army's history operation has 10 days to prepare a response to the decision (coming due 2 March) to "vet issues from a policy standpoint." Insiders see little hope that Anderson will reverse the recommendations of his hand-picked staff (the Non-Core Competency Working Group) on this issue. Ultimately, the decision memo will be passed to the Executive Oversight Committee of the Non-Core Competency Working Group for endorsement before being forwarded to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs -- Reginald Brown -- who is expected to weigh in with the Oversight Committee recommendation. Secretary of the Army Thomas White has delegated the ultimate authority for this decision to Brown.

NCH ACTION ITEM! Because of the near autonomous nature of the Army and because the military hierarchy is rarely responsive to public or media pressure, supporters of Army history programs have but only one alternative -- political pressure. Individuals and organizations wishing to express their views on this matter are urged to immediately contact members of Congress. Communicate not by letter but via e-mail or fax (for a listing of members of Congress office addresses via zip code, tap into: http://www.house.gov/writerep/ and <http://www.senate.gov/>;. We recommend the message be simple and clear -- the Center for Military History, indeed the entire Department of the Army military history program should be exempted from A-76 "outsourcing" consideration. After communicating with your Congressional representative ask for a written response from the member to your concerns.

Right now, of particular importance are communications with key members of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees (for the Senate membership listing tap into:<http://www.senate.gov/~armed_services/members.htm>; for the House listing, tap into: <http://www.house.gov/hasc/about/members.html>;. If you are a constituent of Senator John Warner (R-VA) who chairs the Senate Committee on Armed Services, or Carl Levin (D-MI) the Ranking member of this committee, or of committee members Edward Kennedy (D-MA), or Robert C Byrd (D-WV) please make contact today! On the House side, if you are a constituent of Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA) who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, or members Joel Hefley (R-CO), Tom Cole (R-OK), or John Spratt (D-SC) please contact them today. The future of federal government military history programs may well rest in your hands.

3. LEGISLATION INTRODUCED "Southern Campaign of the Revolution Heritage Study Act" -- On 4 February, Senator Ernest Hollings (D-SC) introduced a measure (S. 276) that authorizes a suitability/feasibility study designed to assess a multi-county area in South Carolina for possible National Heritage Area designation. The bill was referred to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for action.

4. UPDATE: FLORIDA STATE LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES Recently, we reported on the pending demise of the Florida State Library ("State Budget Shortfalls -- Bad Situations in New Jersey and Florida Demand Immediate Action!" in NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 9 #7; 13 February 2003). Now an update....

In order to save $3.8 million a year in salaries and costs of maintaining the collection of the Florida State Library, on February 25, Governor Jeb Bush's administration announced that the Florida State Library's circulating collection of some 670,000 items will be transferred to a private university – Nova Southeastern University located in Fort Lauderdale. In exchange for taking over responsibility for the collection that is valued at $10 million, the governor proposes that the state transfer $5 million over four years for the upkeep of the collection. Librarians are outraged. According to former State Librarian Bill Summers who represented the Florida Library Association in a recent press conference, "That's . . . $50 dollars a book. . . the state's paying them $50 dollars a book to give them books the state already owns."

According to Bush administration officials, the governor does not need legislative approval for the transfer though it will require approval for the appropriations. The governor's office justified the move in part by maintaining that by relocating the collection to a more densely populated area, it would see more use. However, as librarians noted, the collection is mostly specialized to the needs of state government officials and probably won't see much use by the general public.

Not only are Florida librarians raising concerns, but the St. Petersburg Times raised additional questions in a recent editorial when it observed that there are at least four public universities "as well-situated as the private school Bush intends to gift with a $10-million collection" and "were any of the state universities offered the collection on comparatively generous terms? Apparently not."

NCH ACTION ITEM!: The disposition of the Florida Library collections to a private university apparently is still not a done deal and the transfer cannot take place prior to 1 July 2003. For Florida residents, alumni of Nova University, and others who care about the future of the Florida State Library, there is still time to register protests with state legislators.

Florida residents -- Please write or e-mail your local legislators and the governor TODAY to let them know that you consider the continuing operation of the Florida State library is a priority and that you do not want to see the collection privatized. You can find your local legislator online at: http://www.flsenate.gov or http://www.leg.state.fl.us/. You can e-mail Governor Bush at: fl_governor@eog.state.fl.us or contact his office by phone at (850) 488-4441; for snail mail, write: Governor Jeb Bush, PL 05, The Capitol, 4005 S. Monroe Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399.

5. BITS AND BYTES Item #1 -- "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" Contestant Wins $1 Million with History Question: When we saw this in the Los Angeles Times we couldn't help but share it with readers. Kevin Smith, a retired truck-driver with a Saint Nick length silver beard was recently crowned the first $1 million winner of the "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" television show. In order to win the prize money, Smith correctly answered 15 multiple-choice questions. Some he answered by making lucky guesses but he instantly seemed to know the answer to the last $1 million question that focused on an obscure bit of American history trivia: "U.S. Icon Uncle Sam was based on Samuel Wilson, who worked during the War of 1812 as an (a) meat inspector; (b) mail deliverer; (c) historian; (d) weapons mechanic." Smith instantly knew the answer - (a) meat inspector. Way to go Kevin!

Item #2 – Army Corps Shielded From Privatization: While archeology and history offices are being subjected to A-76 outsourcing competitions, the Washington Post (10 February 2003) reports that Senate supporters of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers buried language in the recently enacted 3,000-page omnibus appropriation bill (H.J. Res. 2) prohibiting any attempt to privatize of restructure the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This special exemption for the Corps is cited as evidence of the continued dominance of pork barrel politics among Congressional leadership. For more see: <http://www.peer.org/press/315.html>;.

Item #3 -- NCPH Annual Meeting: The National Council on Public History has posted its 2003 annual meeting program and registration information. The conference addresses the theme "Beyond Boundaries: Diversity, Identity, and Public History." It will take place in Houston, Texas, 24-27 April 2003. For more information, tap into http://www.ncph.org and click on "Annual Meetings."

Item #4 -- Posting of State Department Historical Advisory Board Minutes: The minutes of the December 2002 meeting of the State Department Historical Advisory Committee meeting were approved for release this week. Thanks to the posting by the Federation of American Scientists, the minutes, which provide some interesting gossip and some odd tidbits of information regarding declassification of historical records, may be found at: <http://www.fas.org/sgp/advisory/state/hac1202.html>;.

Item #5 -- White House Forum To Be Rescheduled: In spite of several columns and Op-Eds that have appeared in newspapers across the nation stating that the "We the People: A White House Forum on American History, Civics, and Service" that was scheduled for 17 February 2003 took place, in fact, the event was cancelled owing to the snow storm that plastered the northeast over the President's Day holiday. White House sources report though that the Forum, along with the delivery of the "Heros of History" lecture (to be presented by historian Robert Remini), will both be rescheduled for later in the spring -- perhaps in mid-April.

6. ARTICLES OF INTEREST This week we draw your attention to an essay by Robert Kagan and his new book based on a controversial essay. Back in the summer of 2002, Kagan, a State Department veteran, wrote a controversial essay entitled, "Power and Weakness" that appeared in Policy Review (June/July 2002). Kagan argued that Europeans and American no longer share a common view of the world. Ever since its publication the Washington D.C. foreign-policy establishment has been abuzz – the essay has been compared in importance to George F. Kennan "X" article that appeared in a July 1947 issue of Foreign Affairs. Now Kagan has written a book based on that seminal essay entitled, "Of "Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order" (Knopf, 103 pp; $18). For the essay, tap into:<http://www.policyreview.org/JUN02/Kagan.html;.

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