E.B. White on Democracy
With an Introduction by Jon Meacham and edited by Martha White
Harper/An imprint of Harper Collins (May 2019)
A patriot’s thoughts about freedom and justice whenever they are in greatest peril
Most peole associate E.B. White with his three children’s classics (Charlottee’s Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan) or with his essays published in The New Yorker. What we have in this volume is a collection of other writings during a period that extends from January 28, 1928, until July 5, 1976, during which he celebrates the meaning and affirms the value of freedom and justice when they were in great peril. The material was edited by his granddaughter, Martha White. In the brilliant introduction, Jon Meacham observes that the common denominators in White’s thinking about democracy “were a sense of fair play and love of liberty. He was for that which defended and expanded freedom, and he was against that which did not.”
For example, White was quite willing “to call the rest of the world on a rhetorical carpet if circumstances warranted it.” In 1940 when isolationism was at probably its greatest strength, when so many people preserved their neutrality (if not indifference) during the Fall of France and the the Battle of Britain, he had this response: “I just want to tell, before I get slowed down, that I am in love with freedom and that it is an affair of long standing and that it is a fine state to be in, and that I am deeply suspicious of people who are beginning to to adjust to fascism and dictators merely because they are succeeding in war.”
In or near the downtown area of most major cities, there is a farmer’s market at which merchants offer slices of fresh fruit as samples of their wares. In that spirit, I now offer a few brief excerpts from the book.
o From “Dissenting Supreme Court Justice” (1929): “All West Point graduates should read [Holmes’s] words, brighter than sword thrusts: ‘…if there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other it is the principle of free thought — not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought we hate.'” (Page 2):
o From “Instructions to a Delegate” (1946): “Do not try to save the world by loving thy neighbor; it will only make him nervous. Save the world by respecting thy neighbor’s rights under law and insisting that he respect yours (under the same law). In short save the world.” (61)
o From “Unity” (1960): “Democracy is harder to explain and harder to propound than Communism because it is subtler. Its devotees tend to take it for granted. There is every evidence, though, that we should not take it for granted, or assume that it is is well understood or generally approved.” (113)
For those in need of one, E.B. White offers a thoughtful as well as heartfelt reminder of why freedom and justice are so important to the health, happiness, and (yes) dignity of the human race.
Indeed, as he suggests in “Reverses of Fortune” (July 5, 1976), “Bang the bell! Touch off the fuse! Send up the rocket! On to the next hundred years of melancholy scenes, splendid deeds and urgent business!”