Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Forrest McDonald, Historian Who Punctured Liberal Notions, Dies at 89
The New York Times ^ | January 22, 2016 | Sam Roberts

Posted on 01/25/2016 8:41:38 AM PST by KC Burke

Forrest McDonald, a presidential and constitutional scholar who challenged liberal shibboleths about early American history and lionized the founding fathers as uniquely intellectual, died on Tuesday in Tuscaloosa, Ala. He was 89.

The cause was heart failure, his daughter Marcy McDonald said.

As a Pulitzer Prize finalist in history and a professor at the University of Alabama, Dr. McDonald declared himself an ideological conservative and an opponent of intrusive government. (“I’d move the winter capital to North Dakota and outlaw air-conditioning in the District of Columbia,” he once said.) But he refused to be pigeonholed either as a libertarian or, despite his Southern agrarian roots, as a Jeffersonian.

(Excerpt) Read more at mobile.nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: forrestmcdonald; history; mcdonald; obituaries; obituary
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-28 last
To: KC Burke

One of the great mistakes in my life was not going for a PhD under McDonald at Alabama when I had the chance.

He was probably an easier teacher than most in undergraduate courses because he organized the material so well.

He like to tell the story of our tough soldiers of WWII who had grown up during the Great Depression and had served overseas, survived and come home to raise families. And the typical statement of the time was “My kid is going to have it better than I had it.” And McDonald said, “They proceeded to raise a generation of spoiled brats the likes of which this nation had never seen.”


21 posted on 01/25/2016 1:39:33 PM PST by Monterrosa-24 ( ...even more American than a French bikini and a Russian AK-47)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Publius

I read this a couple of days ago. Thanks for the ping. Glad to see a thread on FR.


22 posted on 01/25/2016 1:46:23 PM PST by Loud Mime (Honor the Commandments because they're not suggestions; stop gambling on forgiveness.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: KC Burke
That biography on Hamilton made go and re-evaluate my past opinion of him. I went from the standard popular view (meaning mildly suspicious and hostile!) of Hamilton to one of an admirer.
23 posted on 01/25/2016 3:37:14 PM PST by Reily
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Monterrosa-24

Born in 27 he would have been about 15 when Pearl Harbor occurred and we joined the war. He would have watched that group of people ten years ahead like we all do.

We baby boomers did have the best of the last hundred years. We have certainly cost the nation a pretty penny but have paid a pretty penny in taxes.


24 posted on 01/25/2016 3:56:25 PM PST by KC Burke (Two Corinthians walk into a bar...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: IronJack; Publius; KC Burke; All
I humbly confess that he's one constitutional historian I haven't read. That will be remedied soon.

Me, too. Thanks for the post; ping; post; thread.

Condolences to family and friends of Forrest McDonald. R.I.P., sir.

love

25 posted on 01/25/2016 4:17:01 PM PST by PGalt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: KC Burke

Bump.


26 posted on 01/25/2016 4:17:05 PM PST by Sans-Culotte (''Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small''~ Theodore Dalrymple)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KC Burke

bkmk


27 posted on 01/27/2016 4:54:22 PM PST by Oratam
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LS

I read the Insull book, it was great. NOBODY that I know in Illinois knows who Insull is and what a debt they owe him.


28 posted on 02/18/2016 5:38:01 PM PST by TradicalRC (Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-28 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson