WP: In Article, Roberts's Pen Appeared to Dip South

[kskiska]

When John G. Roberts prepared to ghostwrite an article for President Ronald Reagan a little over two decades ago, he took a Civil War reenactment detour.

The article, which was to appear in the scholarly National Forum journal, was called "The Presidency: Roles and Responsibilities." Roberts was writing by hand a section on how the congressional appropriations process had evolved.

A fastidious editor of other people's copy as well as his own, Roberts began with the words "Until about the time of the Civil War." Then, the Indiana native scratched out the words "Civil War" and replaced them with "War Between the States."

The handwritten document is one of tens of thousands of pages of Roberts files released over the past several weeks from his 1982-1986 tenure as an associate counsel to the president.

While it is true that the Civil War is also known as the War Between the States, the Encyclopedia Americana notes that the term is used mainly by southerners. Sam McSeveney, a history professor emeritus at Vanderbilt University who specialized in the Civil War, said that Roberts's choice of words was significant.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/25/AR2005082501655.html

[bballny]

1. I'm surprised

he didn't call it the war of Northern Aggression. Indian is basically a southern state.

[liberalpragmatist]

3. Sort of so, sort of not

I've lived in Indiana for quite some time. Southern Indiana is very much like Kentucky. The rest of the state, however, is conservative, but not deep-south Conservative. It's more like Midwestern Conservative. Indianapolis is like Cincinatti and outside Indianapolis, the state is like Southern Illinois, rural Michigan, or Eastern Wisconsin. Less Baptist-infused. The Conservatives here are conservative, but not nearly so as in their Southern counterparts (again, I emphasize *IN GENERAL* - we do have our fair share of wackos, i.e. Rep. Hostettler). You don't have the Baptist dimension present in a lot of Southern states. Instead, the population is largely Lutheran and Catholic.

All told, Indiana's actually more of a REPUBLICAN state than a Conservative one. Conservative yes, but in general not madly so, it's more that families have been in the state for generations and have always been Republicans, since the Civil War on.

On the other hand, you have the fact that the modern Klan was reborn in Indiana and at one point essentially controlled Indiana government. So it's a mixed and complicated picture.

[wli]

4. I've lived in Indiana...

and I can tell you right now I would never voluntarily set foot in that fascist Hellhole again, not even for a layover at the airport.

[Straight Shooter]

2. I hear the term "Civil War buff" a lot

Have never heard the phrase "War Between the States buff"

Roberts is peculiar, much too peculiar.

[DeepModem Mom]

5. The more I read about him, the less impressed I am --

Not only is he doctrinaire, but I think his vaunted smarts are more smart-ass.

[DeepModem Mom]

6. kick

[Mizmoon]

7. I have a book from 1910 that calls it "The Great Race War"

It's a school history text. It was written only 40-50 years after the event. I think it's pretty accurate.