Hamilton Fish III was my grandfather. I was present when he and Alice Desmond began their discussions about founding a community library in Garrison as their shared legacy. I worked with them and many others to help achieve their vision and I served on the library board for decades. I am disappointed by the prospect of changing the library’s name in reaction to an incomplete and sensationalistic story of his life (“Desmond-Fish Library Posts Survey,” Oct. 6).
My grandfather was a tough man. He fought for what he thought was right and devoted much of his life to serving our country.
His political career was influenced by his early experiences as an officer in the 369th Infantry Regiment of mostly African American soldiers known as the Harlem Hellfighters. The 369th spent 191 days in front-line trenches, more than any other American unit. They also suffered the most casualties of any American unit and were the first Allied Forces soldiers to cross the Rhine into Germany. Obviously, serving in such a unit could create an indelible memory of the horrors of war. It’s not surprising that my grandfather subsequently fought to avoid another world war.
He also maintained an almost paranoid fear of Communism. In my view, this belief may have caused him to underestimate other serious dangers in the world. He felt surrounded by enemies and individuals who didn’t subscribe to his views. He knew that Franklin Roosevelt was trying to undermine him, but I doubt he suspected the British Secret Service of plotting against him.
It’s indisputable that my grandfather was responsible for many admirable accomplishments. In 1988, for his 100th birthday, he received a letter from Moshe Arad, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., praising his unflagging support of Israel. Some people discount these accomplishments and argue that he showed lapses of judgment. But he was an elected leader navigating a world in crisis when there were no easy answers and enemies appeared everywhere. Could one of us have done better? We’ll never know.
It’s easy to be judgmental, particularly when that person can’t defend him or herself. Maybe it’s just a sign of our times that we seek to judge rather than to understand.
It’s striking to me that Arad, the official envoy of the State of Israel, spoke so glowingly of my grandfather as a champion of Israel. He made these statements even though various accusations against my grandfather were well known and more than 30 years closer in time than today. I respectfully request that anyone who chooses to condemn my grandfather ask themselves why they are more qualified to judge a man’s legacy.
My grandfather was not a perfect man. But he wasn’t a bad man. I am proud to be his grandson.
Russell Pyne, Atherton, California
I applaud Russell Pyne’s eloquent and persuasive letter providing context and biographical insight about the career and opinions of his late grandfather, Hamilton Fish III.
Within the extended Fish family and within the larger Garrison community of my childhood 70 years ago, what MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow reported in her podcast, Ultra, was the oldest of old news. I understand why she did her usual effective (if somewhat slanted) work with this archaeology, documenting a period of past national dissension that prefigures today’s riven country and the rise of authoritarianism at home and abroad, and Trump’s cry of “America First!” It must have been a surprise to listeners how largely isolationist the U.S. population was in the late 1930s.
As the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, it was not inappropriate for Hamilton Fish to take whatever position he felt was in the nation’s best interest at the time. Nevertheless, as an elected representative of a largely rural and conservative district, he could be expected to reflect in his speeches and votes the convictions of his constituents. Sometimes this is a tricky needle to thread; but there can be little doubt that in the 1930s the electorate in his congressional district was overwhelmingly isolationist.
The ill-considered optics of one or two public appearances and his inattention to the management of his office surely be-came for him a source of regret, but to infer from this that he was antisemitic and in thrall to Nazi racism is entirely wrong. In the years that I saw a good deal of him in private situations beginning in the 1960s (I served on the Desmond-Fish Library board for its first 25 years), I never heard the slightest word suggestive of such thinking. The film Men of Bronze, a documentary, including interviews, about the Harlem Hellfighters of World War I, illuminates the mutual feelings of respect and admiration between Fish and Black veterans. He was too serious a political campaigner to ever discount or deprecate the opinion of a voter, whatever his or her race, ethnicity or political inclination.
The divisions within the nation in those days were evident in the Fish family, as well. By the time the European war began in 1939, Fish’s four sisters (two of whom, Helena Forster and my grandmother, Rosalind Cutler, were Garrison residents) and my mother had entirely broken with him over his vehement opposition to FDR’s gradualist policies leading to preparedness and aid to Britain.
And, of course, he made the inevitable about-face when the war came that he had not wanted. Following his death at 102, I remember at his funeral, at the West Point Cadet Chapel, hearing a recording of a portion of his speech before a Joint Session of Congress immediately following FDR’s address asking for a declaration of war. Fish was thunderously seconding the motion.
As Russell Pyne suggests, fairness, understanding and perspective are needed in assessing the actions of a public servant 85 years in the past.
Well stated, Wint. It disturbs me greatly that so much of today’s so-called journalism fails to put things in historical context. Or, more important-ly, doesn’t want to — just make a stir to gain viewers or readership. The Fish family served the country with distinction and honor for decades and their contributions to their hometown of Garrison were immeasurable.
Garrison was my home for 30 years, where I raised my three sons. The library was a blessing and a gift to the community. People seem to forget that Alice Desmond was the one with the real money who endowed it. This re-naming, to be so-called “politically correct,” in today’s seeming culture, is a pig-in-a-poke.
It is misguided to tear down statues, change names and try to rewrite history in terms of modern culture unless there is an overwhelming need. It would be better to educate people by adding more information to plaques, biographies and history books. For example, don’t erase Thomas Jefferson’s many contributions but add that he had children from a slave relationship. Benjamin Franklin was amazing but a womanizer who didn’t always treat his wife and daughter well.
Educate, don’t erase. A hundred years from now, we will be judged by new thinking. Erasing history is the quickest way to forget the lessons we should have learned. Should we tear down all the churches because they used to murder “witches” and non-Christians? Should we tear down the schools because they used to inflict corporal punishment, punish those with learning disabilities and promote racism?
This discussion pertains to trending cancel culture. Cancel culture is perpetually in danger of appearing hypocritical. It’s a lazy and pedestrian way to vent one’s ‘convictions’ according to the latest fashion. I wonder how many Ford and GM owners realize that Henry Ford was an virulent Nazi sympathizer and advocate whom Hitler admired, who opened his own anti-Semitic newspaper (The Dearborn Independent). In 1938, he was awarded a German Eagle. Now may I ask, how many anti-Fish readers own a Ford or GM? If your actions should match the seeming power of your convictions, you wouldn’t own a GM or Ford.