Final Thoughts (Militarizing the National Mall)

Looking back on the course, it is clear how much I have grown in terms of how I think about U.S. history. I never realized how the desire to assert U.S. "manliness" and power has and continues to affect national policies and, in some cases, has even been the motivation of war. I also did not see how so very important rhetoric is to the American people--the use of language to express a certain kind of logic is used time and time again in the monuments we build, in the laws we write and even in the Constitution. Thus, one thing this class has shown me is the profound importance that lies in words. This can be seen especially when referring to the idea of the U.S. soldier. Dating back to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, the role of the citizen soldier was elevated to new heights as Lincoln made it our responsibility as citizens to remember the soldier for his sacrifice and place him at the center of the nation. 

As we continued throughout the course, we have seen how the use of the memory of the soldier has created a kind of militaristic nationalism in very strategic and key ways. How we memorialize the soldier provides insight into how we view the soldier today and how we, as U.S. citizens, view ourselves as a nation. Our obliged duty to the soldier continues to shape the way we see ourselves with respect to other nations and has definitely created a sense of pride among many Americans.

This concept of remembering the fallen soldier through architecture on the National Mall is extremely compelling because we have both literally and metaphorically placed the soldier in the center of the nation. We have established the National Mall as the universal war memorial site, which says to me how important power and masculinity are to our national identity. Just a thought. 

I have enjoyed the class and good luck to everyone with their exams!

-Kristen