Professor Buzzkill

We’re doing something entirely different this week. A whole week of shows dedicated to Julia Ward Howe and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” As many of you may know, Julia Ward Howe was the author of the poem that became the most famous song of the American Civil War era, and perhaps the most famous song in all of American history. You probably also know that Julia Ward Howe wrote the poem at the time when the American Republic faced its greatest peril. I don’t want to go so far as to say that “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” helped win the war and save the Republic, but, as we’ll see this week, it was inspirational then, and it has continued to be inspirational ever since.

As this election year has progressed, people wiser than me have been telling all of us (and showing all of us with mountains of undeniable evidence) that our Republic is in danger again. One of the presidential candidates not only says that he’ll be a dictator “on day one,” but all his boasts about what he’s going to do if he wins the election show us exactly how he’s going to become that dictator. We all know he’s an authoritarian (and admires other authoritarians in this world). We all know that he’d love to be a dictator (and that he worships dictators in other parts of this world). And individual authoritarianism, a dictatorship, and even a monarchy are antithetical to the principles of a republic. In fact, authority vested in one person is the exact opposite of a republic. 

This being a history show, I decided earlier this year that, when election day was near, I’d do a show about “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and its wonderful author, Julia Ward Howe (one of the most important people in American history, in my view). Of course, you know what happened. When I started looking into the Hymn and Julia Ward Howe herself, I realized that I needed at least two shows about her and about the song. But then I thought that you Buzzkillers would want to hear some of the versions of the song that were so important during the Civil War. And then, of course, I realized that, as one of our guests says in an episode later this week, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” is a song that marches on. It has marched forcefully through the decades since it was written, and its melody has been adapted innumerable times, especially during times of tension and crisis.

So I decided to have five shows this week, including this short, introductory one. Tomorrow’s show is an interview with Professor Elaine Showalter, the author of the acclaimed biography of Julia Ward Howe. On Wednesday we hear from two important American folksingers and listen to their renditions of versions of the song. We interview Professor John Stauffer on Thursday. His book, The Battle Hymn of the Republic: a Biography of a Song that Marches On, is the most important work on the subject. And on Friday I’ll wrap it all up with a show about the different versions of the song, and how the lyrics and sentiments expressed in it have been used in our own time.

Given what I just said about this year’s election and the threats to our Republic, I’d like to address the question of whether this show has become politically partisan. Some podcast reviews (although not very many) have complained recently about a supposed left-ward tilt in the show’s tone and argumentation. The people who say that might object to this week’s open and direct appeal to save our Republic. To them I say – tough. If it’s left-wing to point out that Trump’s rhetorical trajectory this year is exactly the same as Hitler’s was 1932, that it uses the same extremist tropes and totalitarian appeals, and that it’s horrifically dangerous, then I am left-wing. If it’s left-wing to desperately want our Republic to continue, then I am left-wing. And if it’s left-wing to show that our most treasured values are in peril, then I am left-wing.

If that bothers you, turn off the show. Unfollow us on your favorite podcast platform. And tell everyone what Professor Buzzkill is up to. If you agree with me that these next two weeks are some of the most important in our history, and that we must stop this extremism, then listen to tomorrow’s show. And Wednesday’s. And Thursday’s, and Friday’s. I think you’ll agree with me that this “Julia Ward Howe/Battle Hymn of the Republic” week is the best thing we’ve ever done.

Talk to you tomorrow.

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Buzzkill Bookshelf

John Stauffer and Benjamin Soskis, The Battle Hymn of the Republic: A Biography of the Song That Marches On

It was sung at Ronald Reagan’s funeral, and adopted with new lyrics by labor radicals. John Updike quoted it in the title of one of his novels, and George W. Bush had it performed at the memorial service in the National Cathedral for victims of September 11, 2001. Perhaps no other song has held such a profoundly significant–and contradictory–place in America’s history and cultural memory than the “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

In this sweeping study, John Stauffer and Benjamin Soskis show how this Civil War tune has become an anthem for cause after radically different cause. The song originated in antebellum revivalism, with the melody of the camp-meeting favorite, “Say Brothers, Will You Meet Us.” Union soldiers in the Civil War then turned it into “John Brown’s Body.” Julia Ward Howe, uncomfortable with Brown’s violence and militancy, wrote the words we know today. Using intense apocalyptic and millenarian imagery, she captured the popular enthusiasm of the time, the sense of a climactic battle between good and evil; yet she made no reference to a particular time or place, allowing it to be exported or adapted to new conflicts, including Reconstruction, sectional reconciliation, imperialism, progressive reform, labor radicalism, civil rights movements, and social conservatism. And yet the memory of the song’s original role in bloody and divisive Civil War scuttled an attempt to make it the national anthem. The Daughters of the Confederacy held a contest for new lyrics, but admitted that none of the entries measured up to the power of the original.

“The Battle Hymn” has long helped to express what we mean when we talk about sacrifice, about the importance of fighting–in battles both real and allegorical–for the values America represents. It conjures up and confirms some of our most profound conceptions of national identity and purpose. And yet, as Stauffer and Soskis note, the popularity of the song has not relieved it of the tensions present at its birth–tensions between unity and discord, and between the glories and the perils of righteous enthusiasm. If anything, those tensions became more profound. By following this thread through the tapestry of American history, The Battle Hymn of the Republic illuminates the fractures and contradictions that underlie the story of our nation.