Had a Lewinski lately?
 

It looks like Clinton's impeachment is finally making it into svchool textbooks. Too bad they are so easy on his bad behavior. Gee, I wonder why Clinton's perjury is not mentioned? Lying in court under oath is usually a big deal for other criminals. Talk about candy-coating bad behavior!....At least it has given Willie the recognition he deserves...there are Lewinski and Clinton brand condoms on sale in China now.

December 27, 2005

Clinton Impeachment Included in Textbooks
By BEN FELLER
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) -

The impeachment of former President Clinton is in a gray area of history, too long ago to be a current event, too recent to be judged in perspective.

Yet history is already judging Clinton in the place where millions of students get their information about him - textbooks.

Seven years after he was impeached in a scandal of sex, perjury and bitter politics, Clinton has become a fixture in major high school texts.

The impeachment is portrayed in the context of his two-term tenure, a milestone event, but not one that overshadows how Clinton handled the economy, crime and health care.

The most commonly used texts give straightforward recaps of Clinton's toughest days, with some flavor of how it affected the nation. Absent are any the lurid details of his relationship with Monica Lewinsky that spiced up daily news reports and late-night talk shows as the scandal and impeachment played out in 1998 and early 1999.

"It should not be in the book for titillating purposes or settling scores," said Alan Brinkley, the Columbia University provost who has written or contributed to several history text books. "It should be in the book because of its significance to our recent history."

Clinton was president from 1993 to 2001, the growing-up years of today's high school students. Even today's oldest high school students were only 10 or 11 during the height of the scandal, and today's middle schoolers were just approaching or entering first grade.

So, for students, the impeachment is literally a subject for the history books.

"This is very difficult for everybody, because it's so fresh," said Gilbert Sewall, director of the American Textbook Council, an independent research group that reviews history texts used in schools. "It's easier to nail down history like the transcontinental railroad. With Clinton, you're dealing with material that has by no means been settled."

The House impeached Clinton on charges of lying to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice to conceal his affair with Lewinsky, a White House intern. Although he was acquitted in a Senate trial, Clinton was branded as the second president impeached for conduct in office.

The topic is covered briefly in middle school texts. McGraw Hill's "The American Journey" offers a description that is representative of other accounts - balanced and methodical.

"Although there was general agreement that the president had lied, Congress was divided over whether his actions justified impeachment," the book says.

In McDougal Littell's "The Americans," a high school text, the topic merits two paragraphs. The same book gave more space to the impeachment of Andrew Johnson in 1868.

"The American Vision," a McGraw Hill high school book written by Brinkley and others, spends five paragraphs on Clinton's impeachment and one more on his uncertain legacy.

"Compression is a tremendous challenge," Brinkley said. "Five paragraphs on a topic is a lot for all but the most important issues."

Sometimes, the language gets blunt.

"A History of the United States," a Pearson Prentice Hall high school text, refers to the impeachment scandal as "a sorry mess" that diminished Clinton and his rivals.

Polls showed most Americans did not believe Clinton's "tortured explanations of his behavior," the book says, but also did not think his offenses warranted his removal.

By the time students get to college, the textbooks, as expected, offer more sophisticated detail of the impeachment and the way it all changed American public life.

Yet at all levels, the salacious details of the Lewinsky affair are nowhere to be found.

Middle school texts describe it as "a personal relationship between the president and a White House intern." In high school books, it is Clinton's "improper relationship with a young White House intern," or Clinton "denied having sexual relations" with an intern.

Students don't need the bawdy details to grasp the impeachment struggle, said Allan Lichtman, a presidential historian and professor at American University. But they do need textbooks that present the issue with as much depth as is practical, he said.

"The books not only influence the students, they influence the teachers," he said. "And given that many students don't go on to college - and even those who do may not revisit the material - the textbook may be their most significant impression."

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On the Net:

American Textbook Council: http://www.historytextbooks.org/

If you don't mind, I'll have another Lewinski please... I've already had enough Bush to last a lifetime :)...

yes :)

It looks like Clinton's impeachment is finally making it into svchool textbooks. Too bad they are so easy on his bad behavior. Gee, I wonder why Clinton's perjury is not mentioned? Lying in court under oath is usually a big deal for other criminals. Talk about candy-coating bad behavior!....At least it has given Willie the recognition he deserves...there are Lewinski and Clinton brand condoms on sale in China now.

***********

Yeah, so what???
There is a lot of stuff crammed into the history textbooks. How many pages do you want dedicated to the blow job? That will just take away from the rest of the book that deals with real history. You know the important stuff that kids should be learning about.

I suppose we could take out the 2 or 3 pages about 9/11 and replace it with the blow job story. Would that make you happy flint?

if not, tell us what you think should be taken out of the history books to make room for the blow job story.

Thanks!

P.S

The history books of the future will compare Bush to Woodrow Wilson.
And still only give him a paragraph or two.
That is my prediction.

P.S.S

IMO, Woodrow Wilson, freaking sucked.

Why don't you kids just go out back and get this settled?

At least the libs haven't gotten to the textbook publishers yet. The way the rest of the media paints Bill, you would think he's a national hero.

I'm not sure I'd want my kid using a textbook that tries to describe history using phrases like: "a sorry mess" or "tortured explanations of his behavior". When you have an event that is so recent, yet is old enough to be included, perhaps the authors should stick to a fairly dry recounting of the general facts.

A textbook that actually makes it out, has been reviewed and edited by several people. Some of them Liberal, some Republican, Some Independant, and on and on and on.........

At least the libs havent "gotten to" this or that yet, and on, and on, and on................................................ ........

I'm sure you would say something similar about CNN, the NY Times, Hollywood, etc........

..... What?

I'll take a Lewinski over dead U.S. soldiers anyday. :D

Agree completely, and prefer mine either closely cropped or shaved. If not then a Lewinski will do...

JoeA

How long did it take the truth about Vietnam to hit the history books? Clinton was impeached, it's part of history. It should be in the history books, along with everything else that was a part of the administration.

I remember very little truth being told about Vietnam when I was in high school. And that was in the early 80's. Not sure there was much written about Watergate in the history books as well come to think of it. Does the history books portray Reagan correctly?

Michael

So they did not mention Altoids at all? How are these kids going to learn if the important parts are left out?

History is nothing more than the lie that we all agree on.

Such books are another reason why no child of mine will ever attend a public school.

I went to prep school and the class where we learned the nuts and bolts on Vietnam was taught by a guy who had been there, done that. Still, he was very fair and unbiased.

My favorite college professor was a left-wing peacenik whom I had never ever suspected of being that way until I saw his name on the list of speakers at some anti-Gulf War rally. I asked him about it and sure enough, he was a lefty. Never came through in his lectures though.

Anyone who wants their kids to know what happened during recent administrations needs to have them read Bob Woodward's books on each one.

I am going to try to get a Lewinski this weekend.

Wish me luck would ya.;)

I think Flint's point was that there should be less coverage of the BJ and more coverage of the perjury, and the now infamous prime-time address to the nation where Clinton looked right into the camera and lied about his "sexual relations with that woman". I for one, think it's ironic that the hero of the Democratic party -- the party responsible for all the sexual harassment laws and policies that have turned the workplace into a PC hell -- was the one caught doing a college-age girl, less than half his age, in the oval office. Talk about the height of hypocracy! All you lefties would have been calling for a Republican politician's head on a plate if he even asked his intern out on a date.

Just PM Fint, he appears to be in the mood...