Just to show both sides of the story - I thought I'd post the following rebuttal editorial I found in this morning's paper (Pensacola News Journal) from a local assistant university history professor, as well.....

Charley's wrong

As a college professor who was born after the protests of the Vietnam era, I find that Charley Reese's article ("Expensive ignorance rearing its ugly head," Nov. 29) perpetuates the very problem that it denounces.

History departments are today no more filled with the "anti-war demonstrators and hippies" of the '60s than the local grocery. Indeed, the politics of tertiary educators -- like those on the primary and secondary level -- are liberal, conservative, and more often than not, somewhere in between these poles.

Reese's attempt to rewrite history is equally disturbing. But don't take my word for it. Take those of Alexander Stephens, the vice president of the Confederacy, whom Reese cites.

Anyone familiar with Stephens knows that he considered both the institution of slavery and white supremacy the "cornerstone" of the Confederacy.

Take the words of Abraham Lincoln. In his second inaugural address, Lincoln wrote of slavery, "All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war."

It is unfortunately true that young people lack the requisite knowledge of our nation's history. Yet it is hard to imagine how misguided partisan vitriol and the perpetuation of long-standing historical myths are part of the solution.

-- Matt Clavin

Assistant Professor of History

University of West Florida

Pensacola