Hudson Institute

• SOURCE: NY Daily News
  7-26-13
  

  Gabriel Schoenfeld: Mitch Daniels is on Solid Ground about Howard Zinn

  Gabriel Schoenfeld is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.It seems that the ghost of Howard Zinn needs to be exorcised yet again. The most recent siting of the late historian’s visage came earlier this month at Indiana’s Purdue University. Zinn’s magnum opus, “A People’s History of the United States,” was discussed in some emails written by Indiana’s former governor, Mitch Daniels, now president of Purdue, which recently came to light thanks to the state’s freedom of information act.“A truly execrable, anti-factual piece of disinformation that misstates American history on every page” is what Daniels said of the book in a 2010 email to one of his staffers. “Can someone assure me that it is not in use anywhere in Indiana? If it is, how do we get rid of it before any more young people are force-fed a totally false version of our history?”Daniels is being pilloried for this by some on the left and in the media as an opponent of academic freedom. “Mitch Daniels looked to censor opponents” was the headline of an Associated Press story on July 16. “Astonishing and shocking,” said Cary Nelson, a professor of English at the University of Illinois, as quoted by the AP.

• SOURCE: WSJ
  7-26-13
  

  Ron Radosh: Ho Chi Minh Gets White House Praise

  Ron Radosh is an adjunct fellow of the Hudson Institute and a columnist for PJ Media. President Obama on Thursday received Vietnam's president, Truong Tan Sang, at the White House. The Vietnam War that once caused bitter division among the American people is long over. There is a strong case for continuing the reconciliation between the U.S. and Vietnam, and for cooperating, as Mr. Obama said, on trade, military-to-military dealings, disaster relief and other matters.But continuing to repair relations with Vietnam shouldn't extend to the U.S. president reviving a favorite line of attack by Vietnam War protesters from half a century ago: that North Vietnamese communist leader Ho Chi Minh was inspired by America's Founders in his wars to take over the country. Yet in the White House news release after Thursday's meeting, Mr. Obama is quoted saying that "we discussed the fact that Ho Chi Minh was actually inspired by the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and the words of Thomas Jefferson."One can imagine the wily Ho Chi Minh laughing from his grave. Once upon a time, antiwar activists in America called him "the George Washington of Vietnam." Now the U.S. president is taking a similar line....