The Unofficial British Ambassador of the United States,,,,

“Ever since Alistair Cooke left Masterpiece Theater, Mr. Sheffield doesn’t sleep as soundly”, Fran Fine, The Nanny

Memories of The Great and The Good

By Alistair Cooke

The late Alistair Cooke was an old reassuring friend.  Alistair Cooke was a British journalist, television commentator and host as well as author who spent his career explaining Americans to his home country.  He also explained Americans to their fellow countrymen. Of course, I have never met Mr. Cooke personally before he passed away in 2004 at the age of 95.  When I was young boy and I would visit my grandparents’ home on a weekly basis.  When I finished my ice cream, my chicken soup, drink my V-8 and polish off a cookie or two, I would leave my dad to talk with his parents and go down the hall.  I would go through the dining room and the living room to the back bedroom and take out my grandfather’s copy of Alistair Cooke’s America.  The grandfatherly looking man on the cover was reassuring as I leafed through this august book.  The artwork and photographs in the book were inspiring and fueled my curiosity on history.

Even before I could read, the photographs in the book came alive—a portrait of Christopher Columbus, John Winthrop, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Daniel Boone, Andrew Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Charles Lindberg and FDR.  The book was a gift to my grandfather by my parents and resides today on my bookshelf.  The book was the first spark in a huge love for history and Mr. Cooke was there. 

The Great and the Good is a compilation of vignettes of people Alistair Cooke met throughout his career. The vignettes were written over his long career, most as obituaries although some were very prescient.  The list includes leaders, authors, musicians, journalists and sports greats.  Most are written simply with a positive good nature and not a gotcha attitude of attempting to pull the person and their reputation down.  The people featured in the book are an interesting collection—George Bernhard Shaw, John Nance Garner, Frank Lloyd Wright, Franklin Roosevelt, General Marshall, Dean Acheson, Dwight Eisenhower, Duke Ellington, Gary Cooper, and Bobby Jones to name a few. 

The book tells some interesting anecdotes.  Cooke sat on a language committee at the BBC with George Bernard Shaw.  He interviewed General Eisenhower at his home in Gettysburg.  He quite accidently watched FDR exiting a car when Cooke was the only member of the press present to see his paralysis.   One of the great vignettes was regarding an interview with Governor Ronald Reagan.  Written in 1967, the article foretold the future:

A man who can administer California with imagination and good order is one who, unlike anyone else, except perhaps a mayor of New York City, would hold powerful credential to preside of the United States.

This was 13 years before Ronald Reagan would be elected President and become a beloved American icon  But even in 1967, Reagan’s prowess as a politician was becoming legend.

In his essay regarding Barry Goldwalter, a very good man, Alistair Cooke was prescient on future demagogues.  Barry Goldwater was against the government forcibly ending segregation he insisted everyone should want to end segregation.  Cooke wrote:

Goldwater abhorred segregation had long ago integrated the Arizona National Guard and many years before brought blacks into running of his family department store.  But Goldwater felt, and said, “It’s not the government part to make men moral.  Integration should be left to the states. “ If they don’t do it, he implied, they ought to be ashamed of themselves.  It was too idealistic for most people, who knew that tleft to themselves many states would have stayed segregated forever.

Goldwater would go on as a Senator to show his support for abortion rights and for gay rights.  However, he would always be thought of as against civil rights.  “He has no strain of demagoguery in him.  He detests racial discrimination, but the ingrate South listens and sees the Negro foiled.  He thinks of Jefferson, and his audience looks on Ceasar.” 

Alistair Cooke showed us what the Great and Good look like in our history.  His essay on Barry Goldwater alone should be read by all.  Senator Barry Goldwater, the good man, showed the way for bad men to follow, a legacy on race we live with to this day.  I urge all my 1000 Bookies to obtain a copy of Memories of the Great and The Good. 

Keep Reading My Friends!!!