“To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations.”
A few years later, in 1923, just before his death, a frail Wilson would chastise Americans in an Armistice Day radio address for turning toward isolationism and not joining the League of Nations, a sentiment still relevant today as Trump disrupts the post-World War II economic and diplomatic order.
The president most associated with that post-World War II order, Dwight Eisenhower, is also the one who proclaimed that Armistice Day should become Veterans Day.
“Let us solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly, on the seas, in the air, and on foreign shores, to preserve our heritage of freedom, and let us reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain,” Eisenhower wrote.
He may be better remembered for a farewell speech warning of a military-industrial complex, which also echoes across history now that Trump, unlike Eisenhower, wants to parade military hardware through the nation’s capital.
“We have the greatest missiles in the world,” Trump told NBC News. “We have the greatest submarines in the world. We have the greatest army tanks in the world. We have the greatest weapons in the world. And we’re going to celebrate it.”
The post Trump wants to upend American holidays appeared first on CNN.
