Knowing History and Knowing Who We Are

The following is an abridged transcript of remarks delivered by historian David McCullough on February 15, 2005 in Phoenix, Arizona, at a Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar on the topic, "American History and America's Future."


Harry Truman once said the only new thing in the world is the history you don't know. Lord Bolingbroke, who was an 18th century political philosopher, said that history is philosophy taught with examples. An old friend, the late Daniel Boorstin, who was a very good historian and Librarian of Congress, said that trying to plan for the future without a sense of the past is like trying to plant cut flowers. We're raising a lot of cut flowers and trying to plant them... . >>>Read more >>> http://www.hillsdale.edu/imprimis/