Tattletales for an Open Society

[Susan Ohanian <SOhan70241@AOL.COM>]

The back cover of the Jan 21st Nation has a quite wonderful Open Letter to
Dr. Lynn Cheney and Senator Joseph Lieberman, written by Martin J. Sherwin,
Professor English and American History at Tufts University. He has the good
sense to be witty. It appears as an advertisement, and, as he indicates, will
be continued online at the Nation site.

Here it is:

Tattletales for an Open Society
by Martin J. Sherwin



An Open Letter to Dr. Lynn Cheney and Senator Joseph Lieberman


Dear Dr. Cheney and Senator Lieberman:

On November 11, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), an
organization you co-founded in 1995, issued a report that listed the names of
academics along with 117 statements they made, in public forums or in
classes, that questioned aspects of the Administration's war on terrorism.
Concluding that "College and university faculty have been the weak link in
America's response to the attack," the report asked alumni to bring their
(presumed) displeasure about these views to the attention of university
administrations. While ACTA's report does not have the cachet of President
Nixon's "Enemies List," nor the intimidating force (yet?) of Senator Joseph
McCarthy's too-numerous-to-list lists, as an American historian I am
naturally interested in this project, and I have decided to offer your
organization my full cooperation.

Therefore, as an example to my colleagues, I am stepping forward to name a
name, my own--Martin J. Sherwin, the Walter S. Dickson Professor of English
and American History at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts--and to
tattle on myself. On December 3, 2001, I remarked to a class at Tufts
University studying World War II that there was an ominous resemblance
between the sense of panic in 1942 that produced Executive Order 9066,
permitting the internment of American citizens of Japanese ancestry, and the
post-9/11 atmosphere that supported the Justice Department's arrest of
hundreds of Muslims.

Later, on December 6, after hearing Attorney General John Ashcroft assert
before the Senate Judiciary Committee that civil-liberties critics "aid
terrorists...erode our national unity and diminish our resolve," I told my
class that Mr. Ashcroft had bolstered my resolve to diminish his effort to
remake our public discourse in the image of Pinochet's Chile--even if
senators who were equally shocked, were too cowed at that moment to challenge
such an un-American attitude. Surrendering the liberties that define the
unique character of our nation will not help us to win the war on terrorism,
I noted; on the contrary, it will only erode the constitutional foundation
upon which the political strength of our nation rests. The AG's defense of
military commissions (secret trials) in the United States in 2002--even to
try suspected terrorists--is an affront to those who fought and died to
protect our freedoms in World War II. I recommended that students read Robert
Sherrill's book, Military Justice Is to Justice As Military Music Is to
Music.

Finally, Dr. Cheney and Senator Lieberman, I implore you as the Founding
Mother and Father of ACTA to exert your influence to assure that in the next
report Martin J. Sherwin is correctly spelled. Having been too young to be of
interest to Senator Joseph McCarthy, and having been embarrassed by my
absence from President Nixon's "Enemies List," ACTA's list may be my last
opportunity to publicly document my deep love for my country. When my
grandchild asks, "What did you do during the 'War on Terrorism,' grandpa?" I
will say, "Harry, I spoke out in order to preserve for you and your friends
the best things about America. You can read what I said in the ACTA report
of..." (date as yet unspecified).

In closing, I call on my colleagues to put political bias aside and assist
the organization that Dr. Cheney and Senator Lieberman created; after all,
they are one of us: She is a PhD and he claims to be a liberal. You can now
tattle on yourself in great company. The Nation will post appropriate
critical remarks on a new section of its website: "Tattletales for an Open
Society" (TAOS). If you are genuinely uncertain whether a specific remark
actually crossed the threshold of acceptable criticism, err on the side of
caution: Submit the remark to The Nation's tattletale page and give ACTA a
chance to determine whether you should be published. Send your submissions to
tattletales@thenation.com.

MARTIN J. SHERWIN

P.S. Kai Bird and I are writing a biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, whose
secret security hearing in 1954 is instructive in these matters.

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