Posted on 11/13/2007 1:06:08 PM PST by SmithL
Charleston, S.C. (AP) -- Fred Thompson has gotten a lot of mileage out of his movie and TV fame as he runs for the Republican presidential nomination. And on Tuesday, speaking at The Citadel military college, he made sure to mention one of his recent roles: president of the United States, in the movie "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee."
But that wasn't all good for someone campaigning in the South.
"Some people say I've got a little making up to do," he said. "The last role I played when I was in the movies — I played Ulysses S. Grant." That's the Northern Civil War general who went on to become president. But it could have been worse.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Thompson played a role as U.S. Grant. He also played a role as a lawyer on and off TV. Consider the source for this earth shattering news. Big yawn.
Robert Duval was born in San Diego and played Robert Lee. I suppose if he runs for office he'll have to apologize for playing a rebel.
In South Carolina, yes. Now if he campaigned down at LSU...
And Martin Sheen played Lee in “Ghettysburg”.
Tell the hillbillies to STFU ;)
Yeah, but Grant the Southerners respected because he was the only Northern general to consistently beat Robert E. Lee. In addition, Grant supported amnesty for Confederate leaders, tried to protect the civil rights of blacks in the South, among other things.
From Wikipedia, on his Reconstruction conduct:
“Grant presided over the last half of Reconstruction, watching as the Democrats (called Redeemers) took the control of every state away from his Republican coalition. When urgent telegrams from state leaders begged for help, Grant and his attorney general replied that “the whole public is tired of these annual autumnal outbreaks in the South,” saying that state militias should handle the problems, not the Army. He supported amnesty for Confederate leaders and protection for the civil rights of African-Americans. He favored a limited number of troops to be stationed in the South—sufficient numbers to protect rights of Southern blacks, suppress the violent tactics of the Ku Klux Klan, and prop up Republican governors, but not so many as to create resentment in the general population. In 1869 and 1871, Grant signed bills promoting voting rights and prosecuting Klan leaders. The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing voting rights, was ratified in 1870. Recent historians have emphasized Grant’s commitment to protecting Unionists and freedmen in the South until 1876. Grant’s commitment to black civil rights was demonstrated by his address to Congress in 1875 and by his attempt to use the annexation of Santo Domingo as leverage to force white supremacists to accept blacks as part of the Southern political polity.”
All in all, not someone that the South is likely to hate these days.
*Sherman* is the general everyone in the South hates because he burned down/destroyed/torched everything he and his forces came across.
I think Thompson might just be having a little fun with his acting career.
The fact of the matter is, there were a good many Confederate soldiers that came to admire and respect Grant during and after the war. Then there were prominant confederates, like George Pickett, who counted Grant as a friend and James Peter Longstreet who considered Grant as one of his closest personal friend's before and after the war.
“They think The South is still full of Dixie singing KKK types and THIS is gonna get people upset..............................”
They do, especially Hollywood. The folks in Washington think you need cootie injections to go to a NASCAR race down South.
He did the equivalent of bombing German factories in WWII. He destroyed the enemies capacity to support the war effort. Once that was done, it quickened the end of the war and probably saved lives in the long run.
Oh, the HUMANITY!!!
Oh, I didn’t say that Sherman wasn’t doing his job or that it wasn’t a military necessity to do what he did.
I’m just commenting that hating Sherman for burning down one’s ancestral home *is* still a pastime in the South.
War is hell.
You've got that right and we wonder way writers and newspaper editors fall for stories like this... perhaps they've read some FR threads to reinforce their stereotypes.
Nobody in the South cares who Fred Thompson portrayed. They care more about some weirdo in San Fransissy using the name of the Citadel in one of their newspapers. Blasphemy.
LOL.... Yea, especially in Georgia, Atlanta in particular. Although since they saw fit to inflict that crazy McKinney woman on us for so long, it might be due for another trip to the woodshed... ;)
Let’s see, Thompson played a Union General in a movie whereas Hillary plays a power-hungry sociopathic bitch in real life. Choices choices.
Meanwhile Martin Sheen played Lee and couldn’t get elected dog catcher in the South....
Actually, it was written in Charleston
Good Lord!!! The libs are desperate. Worse, they think Southerners are as shallow as they are.
LOL!! You can’t make this stuff up.
(I don’t much care for Grant either, but Thompson has my vote if he is the nominee.....so does any Republican for that matter.)
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