I walked past a big-screen television in the skyway today that was tuned to Fox News. Fox was doing some sort of slide show depicting soldiers in uniform, which is probably to be expected given that today is Veterans Day. But Veterans Day did not begin as a generically-themed federal holiday designed to honor military service. It began as Armistice Day, marking the end of the Great War (World War One). At the time, the scope of death and destruction left in that conflict’s wake shocked the conscience and many believed that it was, to quote a historical cliché, the war to end all wars. Of course, we know now that the end of World War One set the table for the feast of horrors that was World War Two. The holiday certainly encompasses the desire to honor veterans, but it was also originally intended to serve as a day to reflect on the terrible costs of war. The original Congressional Act declaring November 11 an official holiday stated that this is “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day’.”
Americans tend to be an ahistorical people, which is surprising given our pronounced traditionalist streak. We tend to assume that the way things are now is how they have always been. But I think it’s important to remember that this holiday has roots that, for some, might be inconvenient to acknowledge.
