I don’t come from a military family. It’s true that my oldest brother was born in Stuttgart where my father was stationed in 1956. My father never really talked about his two years in the army and it doesn’t seem to have made a great impact on him. He got drafted at just the right time…between the Korean and Vietnam wars. One of my grandfathers was a doctor in the army. He was stationed in Topeka, Kansas during World War II. In fact, I’m lucky to be here, as his journal explains:
Another assignment that I was given was to become acquainted with flying personnel and go along with them on their training flights when not on duty at the Hospital. I had been up in a plane only once before in my lifetime. It was quite an experience to sit up in the nose of a B-17 or B-24 in the bombardier’s seat and look down as we flew over southern Kansas, Arkansas, and Louisiana by day and night.
One night I was set to go on a flight but I was late getting up to the line and the flight left without me. A little later we were alerted that there had been a crash not far away. We went out to pick up the pieces of the very plane on which I was to have flown. There were no survivors. We lost three heavy bombardment planes and their crews of 10 men that Fall. Then there was a shakeup in the command.
I owe my life to my grandfather’s slacking. My family isn’t really military material. We’re a bunch of academics. My other grandfather founded the first Art History program in Canada, at Hamilton College, and then taught at the University of Iowa and UCLA. Here’s a humorous tidbit that shows my egomania is not my fault.
[American Gothic painter, Grant] Wood came to Iowa City as a celebrity plum for the University of Iowa, but brought his huge ego with him. The next year – 1935 – Princeton-trained art historian Lester Longman was recruited to head the UI art department. Unfortunately, he also was accompanied by a huge ego, setting up a continuing clash between the men.
Longman emphasized historical and critical elements in the UI art curriculum, which Wood saw as coming at the expense of the creative side. Longman viewed Wood’s style as representing poster art which he thought shouldn’t dominate the UI program.
Artistic controversy raged about Wood projecting pictures onto a canvas and painting over them. Although critics said he was compensating for his own lack of skill at drawing, he required his students to try the method. Nearly 70 years later, some art historians now claim “the old masters” used the technique centuries earlier.
The battle royal between Longman and Wood even boiled into the state’s newspapers, including the rumor that a 1940-41 leave taken by Wood represented his firing.
Lester Longman had three sons. My father taught at the University of North Carolina for a year, but his main profession was on Madison Avenue. His two brothers, however, followed in their father’s footsteps. One taught theater at the University of Georgia, the other is still a rocket scientist at Columbia. My uncle on the other side of the family chaired the University of Buffalo’s Department of Medical Technology. So, we’re a bunch of eggheads. But I don’t dislike the military and I respect the hell out of people that serve in our armed forces. And as at home as I would feel at a dinner party with Joyce Carol Oates, Toni Morrison, and the co-chair of the Princeton English Department, I know that other people would feel at home in a VFW hall talking about their unique experiences.
Everyone has their own background, and I won’t apologize for mine. Senator-elect Jim Webb has a deep background in our military and I can understand how he was feeling when he recently had to restrain himself from punching our President.
At a private reception held at the White House with newly elected lawmakers shortly after the election, Bush asked Webb how his son, a Marine lance corporal serving in Iraq, was doing.
Webb responded that he really wanted to see his son brought back home, said a person who heard about the exchange from Webb.
“I didn’t ask you that, I asked how he’s doing,” Bush retorted, according to the source.
Webb confessed that he was so angered by this that he was tempted to slug the commander-in-chief, reported the source, but of course didn’t. It’s safe to say, however, that Bush and Webb won’t be taking any overseas trips together anytime soon.
I wasn’t a big supporter of Jim Webb, probably because I have a hard time relating to him. But I am really starting to like what I see from him. He may never be the kind of Senator that really represents my values and sensibilities. People like Paul Tsongas and Bill Bradley are better for that. But he represents another constituency’s values. He represents all those people who have loved one’s serving in our armed services. They have been mistreated and their trust has been abused. I think they have a solid advocate in Jim Webb. And I am glad that he is going to the Senate to represent them.
