Stephen Smith’s Reviews > The American Spirit: Who We Are and What We Stand For > Status Update

Foreign intervention is not a favored policy in America, and has led to all kinds of disasters, especially since this speech. Perhaps it reveals an overconfidence in the wake of the Cold War. Another revealing thing is that the author looks to Mandela, not any 20th century American statesman, as exemplary of heroic political action. But the end of the speech is a salutary call for civic virtue and sacrifice.

Humans, especially those in a body politic, need to feel a part of something larger. What will that be for us? Americans are not generally given to idealism and don't have a history of uniform political doctrines. We are a practical people; we try things and try to understand why they don't work. What's odd is that McCullough then agrees with Wilson that America has responsibilities to the rest of the world.

The address to Union college highlights an American vision that values openness, reflected in the architecture and layout, as well as a non-sectarian spirit with practical additions to the curriculum (engineering). Given in 1994, it also highlights an uncertainty about the identity and the future of America after the Cold War. Truman had confidence in the triumph of free men over tyranny, but what happens next?

The Jeffersonian spirit of the country is an important strand of the American heritage. Jefferson wasn't trying to produce new principles, but to restate them in a fresh way, which is something characteristically American. What was distinct was the strong principle of self-government, a transcendent ideal of our nation that we have desired for others to share in as well.

The American way of life depends on its cities, but we are also an "outdoor-loving people" who are "nostalgic about small towns".

But the strength of America, the highest concentration of capital and human capital, is in the cities. There are our greatest troubles too.

The second address to the University of Pittsburgh argues for the synergy of American cities and their universities to confront the great problems of the day. Especially the study of history, for you cannot hope to solve a problem effectively unless you know its history.

A city, like a country, is a "great composite". Not just a marketplace or just a place where we enjoy culture, but it is all of those and more.

Congress provided
* the Homestead Act
* ended slavery
* ended child labor
* built the railroads
* built the Panama Canal
* the Interstate Highway System
* paid for Lewis and Clark
* paid for our travels to the moon
* Lend-Lease
* Marshall Plan
* Social Security
* TVA
* GI Bill
* Voting Rights Act
* Library of Congress

"Here, as they say—here as perhaps we cannot say too often—the people rule."

"Congress, for all its faults, has not been the unbroken parade of clowns and thieves and posturing windbags so often portrayed... what should be spoken of more often, and more widely understood, are the great victories that have been won here, the decisions of courage and vision achieved, the men and women of high purpose and integrity, and yes, at times genius, who have served here."