December 3, 2024 • 34 mins
Professor Buzzkill finally gives you the “summation and inspiration” episode about The Battle Hymn of the Republic that he promised you! He traces the Battle Hymn from the post-Civil War years, the Teddy Roosevelt and the Progressive Era, the burgeoning union movement, the funerals of Churchill and RFK, schoolyard parodies and English football fan songs, and Whitney Houston’s beautiful rendition in 1991. Finally, he shows how Martin Luther King used it in his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech the night before he was shot. All this, Professor Buzzkill argues, reminds us that the _Republic_ part of The Battle Hymn of the Republic needs to be stressed if the country is going to be saved. Episode 573.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hello everyone. As Professor Buzzkill here, you probably wonder what
happened to me. It's been a month since we've done
a show, and you probably remember that I promised you
five shows during our Julia Ward Howe Battle Him of
the Republic week. The fifth show was going to be
me talking about the Battle hymn, and in many ways
it's endured into the twenty first century. I was going
(00:34):
to give you examples of how it's been used in
all sorts of ways, from political movements to childhood parodies
to crowd songs in English football stadiums. And I was
going to end the show with a rousing call to
go out and vote with the same kind of vigor
and passion that Julia Wardhowe urged Americans to quote die
(00:55):
to make ren free, in the way Christ had died
to make men holy. But a major test infection hit
me before the election, and I was down for the count.
No matter how hard I tried, every time I recorded something,
my voice sounded awful and I couldn't have inspired anyone
to do anything. And then, of course the election was held,
(01:17):
and we all know what happened. I don't know if
there's anyone in the United States, who is more shocked
than I was. And of course, the effect that the
elections result might have had on what shows I'm putting
out on this pokey podcast is nothing compared to the
bailful and quite possibly permanent effects it's going to have
on the United States. My first reaction to the election,
(01:39):
as you might imagine, was to scrap the idea of
a summation and inspiration show about the Battle Hymn, and
maybe even stop doing the podcast completely, given that my
heart might not be in it, knowing what awful things
might well happen in the next decade or so. Somewhat similarly,
Heather Cox Richardson did not respond to the election the
(02:00):
very next day. In her Letters from an American, like
the intelligent, level headed, and even tempered person we all
know her to be, she has written sensibly and sensitively
about what has happened and has now begun to talk
about what we as Americans should do. I want to
point you particularly to an interview she did with John
Stewart recently, and I've put the link to that in
(02:21):
the blog post for this episode. It was the best
explanation I've heard about what happened and what we should
do in the elections aftermath. Now, since she's the most
consequential intellectual in the United States right now, I decided
to follow her example and bring back the idea of
a summation and inspiration show using the Battle hym as
my framing device. This, then, is that show. I want
(02:45):
to go over some of the history of the Battle
Hymn that we didn't cover in the previous shows during
Julia Ward how Week, and I want to show its
central place in American history, as Professor Stafford told us
in his interview, and apart from what I try to
lighten things up by talking about the childhood parodies and
the soccer crowd versions, I'd really like to emphasize the
(03:06):
republic part of the Battle Hymn of the Republic and
how important a republic is for human freedom and for
human dignity, especially in comparison to an autocracy or some
sort of totalitarianism, the possibility of which the majority of
Americans seem to have been willing to accept when they
voted for Trump. So here goes. First of all, you
(03:28):
remember that Professor Stauffer talked about the Battle Hymn being
used as a quote progressive battle hymn. During Teddy Roosevelt's time,
Roosevelt and the progressive movement were trying to tear down
an oligarchy that was growing in the United States, an
oligarchy of big businessmen and bankers made uber rich by
the Second Industrial Revolution of the late nineteenth century, and
(03:50):
using that wealth to influence and eventually dominate politics, pushing
it in their own direction, and at the same time
pushing everyone else out of the realm of political discussion,
of voting, and of decision making. We didn't have time
to talk much about the actual lyrics of the many
songs that came out as progressive battle hymns, and I
(04:10):
couldn't find any actual recordings, but I've put a link
to a collection of them at the Teddy Roosevelt Center
at Dickinson State University on the blog post for this episode.
Scroll through them if you can, and you'll see the
wide range of issues that progressivism at that time tried
to address. Those progressive battle hymns were popular, but perhaps
(04:30):
more popular or more widely sung in groups, was the
famous version of the battle hymn written and sung by
workers during the first stages of protests for workers' rights.
That became so obviously needed as the Second Industrial Revolution
created an economy based on very large factories with very
large labor forces that could more or less be forced
(04:52):
to work very long hours for very little pay. There
were no worker protections, and so the modern industrial unionization
movement started. And one of the things that movement needed
so desperately in the beginning was to tell people that
the only solution was workers gathering together and pressing for change.
That was, in essence saying that the industrial economy couldn't
(05:14):
work like an autocracy of Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and
a handful of others. And that's exactly you see what
a republic does, or is supposed to do. Create an
organizational system for political governing and even economic management that's
based on everyone being equal before the law and everyone's
voice being taken into account, whether on the factory floor
(05:35):
or on the floor of Congress. Using the battle hymn
tune also known as the John Brown's Body Tomb, Solidarity
Forever was written in nineteen fifteen by Ralph Chaplin, a
union worker an organizer who had helped striking coal miners
in West Virginia a few years earlier. Solidarity Forever swept
through the union world and almost immediately became sung commonly
(05:56):
by striking workers or those wanting to form a union.
Game so common for working groups to sing it that
it eventually became an important song in the growth of
the folk song movement that started in the nineteen thirties
during the depression and lasted well into the nineteen sixties
and early nineteen seventies. And here's Pete Seeger performing it
in the nineteen sixties. He more or less performed it
(06:17):
throughout his career well into the seventies, and he certainly
started singing it back in the thirties. I'll play one
chorus and the new verse that Seeker added for the
age of atomic weapons and atomic.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
War, Salatity forever sala.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
On the Union batsung.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
When the Union's inspiration threw the worker's blood children. There
can be a power greater anywhere beneath the sun. Yet
what course on earth is weaker than the feeble strength
of one? But the Union makes.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
A strong sarity forever sarity for.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Slatality, For the Union makes a strong.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
In our hands is placed a power greater than their
hearted gold, greater than the might of atoms magnified a
thousand hole. We can bring to birth a new world
from the ashes of the old. Or the Union makes
a strong.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Sitality.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
It's in the nineteen seventies. Women's movements, particularly women's industrial movements,
added feminist lyrics to Solidarity Forever. I couldn't find a
good audio version for this, but a key verse says,
we're the women of the Union, and we sure know
how to fight. We'll fight for women's issues and will
(08:26):
fight for women's rights. A women's work is never done
from morning until night. Women make the union strong. The
union movement in the United States never became solidified, however,
even when trying to fight for the best interests of workers.
After all, the Teamsters union, one of the biggest in
the United States, didn't endorse a candidate for the twenty
twenty four election, which was extremely surprising, even though the
(08:49):
biggest American union, the afl CIO, has expressed deep disappointment
and even fear of the upcoming Trump administration. So the
solidarity part of Solidarity Forever remains frankly an aspiration. Let
me return to the nineteen sixties. The battle Hymn of
the Republic was played at two very important funerals in
the nineteen sixties. I was surprised, however, to find that
(09:12):
it was not played at President Kennedy's funeral in nineteen
sixty three, and yet across the pond, some British people
were surprised that it was played at Churchill's funeral in
nineteen sixty five, but those in Britain who were in
the know weren't surprised. After all, Churchill's mother was American.
He was always extremely interested in the United States, and
(09:32):
of course he considered the United States an equal partner,
not only on the Allied side in World War Two,
but also as a partner in a potential future Anglo
American alliance during and after the Cold War. More relevant
for our purposes, the American Civil War section of Churchill's
famous History of the English Speaking Peoples referred to the
(09:52):
importance of the Battle Hymn in helping make the public
perception of that war turned from just saving the Union
to a war for the abolition of slavery in the
United States. Now. Churchill, as he was fading in health,
told his family and those who would be planning his
funeral that he wanted to battle him and the Republic
prominent in the order of the funeral service, and those
(10:16):
who attended his funeral were well aware of Churchill's admiration
of America, and so they understood why they were being
asked to sing it at his funeral service. Now, the
only recording of the Battle Hymn at Churchill's funeral is
not of the greatest audio quality, but I thought you
should hear a clip. And as many of you know,
(11:29):
the other famous time the Battle Hymn was sung at
a funeral was for Robert Kennedy in nineteen sixty eight.
Robert Kennedy was shot on June fifth, nineteen sixty eight,
while campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president in that
year's election. He died the next day, and the country
was deeply shocked at the second Kennedy assassination in five years.
(11:51):
His funeral was held at Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan
on June eighth, and it concluded with the prominent American
singer Andy Willilliams singing the Battle Hymn. From a historian's perspective,
perhaps the most interesting thing about this performance by Andy
Williams is that he sang verse four as verse two
(12:12):
and verse five as verse three. Now, I can't find
any direct evidence of why this change was made, but
it was probably because verses four and five in the
Battle Hymn are much less militant and far more biblical
than the original verses two and three, And this may
have been the wishes of Ethel Kennedy rfk's widow. And
so here's Andy Williams singing the battle Hymn at Rfk's
(12:35):
funeral in nineteen sixty eight.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
Mine eyes have seen the glory.
Speaker 6 (12:44):
A co.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
He is traveling out where the grapes still. He had
loosed the faithful lightning of his tible. Swift soul.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
He's too, He's.
Speaker 5 (13:14):
My archy, lory glory.
Speaker 7 (13:23):
Haa lory, Gloryala, lor glory Halla. He is too themarchy.
Speaker 5 (13:45):
He has sunded forth the trouble, but that shall comer retreat.
He's sitting at the hearts of men before his judgment seat.
Oh be swifts my soul to and as sir him
be j the ert my feet.
Speaker 7 (14:05):
Our God is marching on.
Speaker 5 (14:12):
Oh, glory, lor lor.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Oy, glory. Have is true isrch.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
In the beauty of a little This Christ was born
across the sea with the glory in his person that.
Speaker 8 (14:45):
Transfer views you and me as he died to make
men holy, let style and makeman free while God is marching.
Speaker 9 (15:01):
Oh it.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Is to be.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Is as you can hear. It was incredibly moving and
(16:04):
was eventually released as a single after the funeral. But
now let me lighten the tones somewhat, but still continue
with the chronology I'm following. I started going to school
in the late nineteen sixties, and within the first ten
or fifteen minutes of arriving there, I learned the famous
American children's song The Burning of the School, sung you
(16:26):
Guessed it to the tune of the Battle Hymn. Now
the lyrics very and have no doubt been modified by
subsequent generations of school children. But what I remember is
mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of
the school. We have tortured all the teachers, and we've
shot the principal. We're down in his office shooting crap
and playing pool. Our truth is marching on glory, glory, hallelujah.
(16:50):
Teacher hit me with a ruler. I hid behind the
door with a loaded forty four, And the teacher ain't
a teacher no more. Remember an alternative final phrase saying
that I met the teacher quote at the bank with
a brand new Sherman tank end quote. Well, yikes. For
an old pacifist and gun hater like myself, these lyrics
(17:12):
seem pretty gruesome, but we belted them out as strongly
as we could whenever we got the chance. Another fun
use of the battle hymn comes from soccer fans in
Britain and in mainland Europe. You may know that fans
of various football clubs in Europe have been singing team
inspired songs during games, and especially during the long periods
of football matches when the action is mainly taking place
(17:34):
in the middle of the field and things can kind
of get boring. The Battle Hymn of the Republic was
first used in the nineteen fifties by the Hibernian football
club based in Edinburgh. Different takes on the Glory, Glory
Hallelujah part of the battle hymn have been employed by
Leeds United and Tottenham Hotspur since the nineteen eighties, but
perhaps the best known glory Glory song chant has been
(17:58):
the one that fans of Manchester United it have been
singing for decades now. Like so many of these football
fans songs. They often take phrases and sections from well
known songs and change the words to celebrate their team
glory Glory. Man United starts off using the Battle Hymns
melody and the glory Glory idea, but then switches to
another popular melody during the verses. Here's a sample that
(18:21):
refers to quote the boys in Red on their way
to Wimbley, which is where the final for the English
Football Association Championship is played.
Speaker 7 (19:02):
That's the same.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Bad United Famous United States.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Well. That brings us right up from what many people
consider the greatest vocal rendition of the Battle Hymn the public,
sung by Whitney Houston. Professor Elaine Showalter opened our Julia
Ward Howe Battle Him of the Republic week, as you remember,
and when we were planning the interview, she told me
it was her favorite rendition.
Speaker 5 (20:08):
Now.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Whitney Houston sang this at a Welcome Home Heroes concert
in Norfolk, Virginia, on March third, nineteen ninety one for
veterans returning from the Gulf War between the United States
and its allies against Iraq after that country's invasion of Kowai.
And here's that performance now, Okay, okay.
Speaker 9 (20:29):
I hope what we feel here tonight will never ever
be lost. I know that tonight is the beginning of
a new age of understanding and hope for all of us.
Please stand and sing this song with me, would you please.
Speaker 6 (20:47):
It's the battle Hymn of Republic. You know the words.
I know you don't. My nights have seen the glory.
I'm the CoA. He is triumphing ou comping to j
(21:08):
Wear the Ugrips opera costar. He has loosed his faith
for lie ning up his time reviles with.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Bare cheat.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Seven eight saving it.
Speaker 6 (21:59):
Thanks.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
It's true, It's true.
Speaker 5 (22:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Remember well, you notice that she started by saying, quote,
(24:11):
I hope what we feel here tonight will never ever
be lost. I know that tonight is the beginning of
a new age of understanding and hope for all of us.
End quote. And you don't need me to tell you that.
The tragedy of this is that the First Golf War
was followed a decade later by nine to eleven and
the War in Afghanistan, which lasted between two thousand and
(24:34):
one and twenty twenty one, and which more or less
included the Second Golf War. That is the Iraq War
between two thousand and two and twenty eleven, so it
was anything but the beginning of a new age of
understanding and hope. But I'd like to conclude this episode
by talking about what I think is the most meaningful
use of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, certainly in
(24:56):
my lifetime. Now I have to backtrack a little bit
from Whitney Houston in nineteen ninety one and take you
back again to that terrible year nineteen sixty eight, specifically
April third, nineteen sixty eight, in Memphis, Tennessee. I'm sure
a great many of you know the story of Martin
Luther King's last few days, but not many people know
(25:17):
about the details of what happened on April third, the
night before King was killed. In late March, King and
a number of other civil rights leaders had gone to
Memphis to help support sanitation workers who were on strike
for better pay and working conditions. There was a civil
rights rally scheduled at a church for the evening of
April third, but King was sick. He certainly had a
(25:40):
sore throat and was suffering from exhaustion, so he asked
his colleague Ralph Abernethy to be the main speaker at
the rally, and a rainstorm broke out late in the afternoon,
so it looked like the rally turnout would be low anyway,
So by staying in his hotel room and resting, King
would be stronger for the protest marches in the days ahead. Yet,
when Ralph Abernethy arrived at the church where the rally
(26:02):
was being held, it was packed with civil rights workers,
with sanitation workers who were striking, and many other people,
all hoping to be inspired by doctor King for the
work in the days ahead. Abernathy realized that he couldn't
inspire them like King, so he called MLK at the
hotel and begged him to come speak, if only briefly.
(26:23):
King agreed to come, but he couldn't promise to give
a full speech. Well, giving a full speech was exactly
what he did, forty three minutes long, subsequently entitled I've
Been to the Mountaintop. It's one of the greatest speeches
ever given by perhaps the greatest speaker in American history.
You see, one of the most troubling things going on
in Memphis was that the city had placed legal injunctions
(26:46):
against protesters marching in support of the striking sanitation workers
that April third night. King spoke out vigorously against these injunctions,
mainly because he thought they were unconstitutional and un American.
He used the injunction problem to address the fundamental problem
at the heart of American life, especially in the South.
(27:07):
That problem was that many American elites, especially local and
state governments in the South, were ignoring constitutional rights and
constitutional norms in order to maintain illegal racial discrimination. And
so Martin Luther King had one extremely reasonable request for
all levels of government in the United States.
Speaker 10 (27:30):
All we say to America is be true to what
you said on paper.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
I lived in.
Speaker 10 (27:42):
China, Are even Russia any totalitarian country?
Speaker 7 (27:48):
Maybe I could understand.
Speaker 10 (27:51):
Some of these illegal injunctions, Maybe I could understand the
denial of sudden basic Fresh Amendment privilege just because they
haven't committed themselves to that. Over that, but somewhere I
read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of
(28:12):
the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom
of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America
is the right to protest far rights. So just as
(28:33):
I say, we aren't gonna let any dogs, a water
holess turn us around. We aren't going to let any
injunction turn us around.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
There was one more thing that King wanted to get
across to his listeners in the audience, to the reporters
covering the event, and to everyone who would read about
the speech the next day. Throughout his civil rights work,
starting back in the fifth King's life had been under threat,
and after he came out against the war in Vietnam
a year earlier at a speech at Riverside Church of
(29:09):
New York on April fourth, nineteen sixty seven, the threats
became much more serious and much more frightening. It had
gotten so bad that he told his wife and his
closest advisers that he expected to be attacked, probably fatally,
before the end of the year. And most of his
followers had long feared this, but King decided to address
(29:29):
it directly at the end of his mountaintop speech. And
it's here at the very end, as he was turning
away from the podium to go to take his seat,
that he invoked the battle Hymn of the Republic.
Speaker 10 (29:42):
God, I don't know what will happen now, We've got
some difficult days ahead, but it really don't matter with
me now, because I'd been to the mountaintop. Like anybody,
I would like to live a long life. Longevity has
(30:08):
its place, but I'm not concerned about that now. I
just want to do God's will, and He's allowed me
to go up to the mountain, and I've looked.
Speaker 7 (30:23):
Over and I've seen.
Speaker 10 (30:27):
The promised land. I may not get there with you,
but I want you to know the night and we
as a people will get to the promised Land. So
I'm happy tonight.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man.
My eyes have seen the glory.
Speaker 4 (30:54):
Of the coming of them all.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
If you watch the whole video of this speech, you'll
see that doctor King almost had to be helped to
a seat by Abernethy and the others at the end.
This was probably because he was ill, as I mentioned earlier,
but it may have also been because of the emotion
he released in talking about his own mortality and the
future of the civil rights movement and all of you know.
(31:23):
Just under twenty four hours later, Martin Luther King was
shot as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine
Motel in Memphis. He was shot at six p M
and died an hour later at Saint Joseph's Hospital in Memphis.
And while it's correct to say, and many people do
mention this a lot that King's last publicly spoken words
(31:43):
were mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming
of the Lord. At the end of his mountain top
speech the night before, the last words of his life,
as recorded by Jesse Jackson and others who were standing
with him on that balcony, were directed at a musician
who was scheduled to perform at a civil rights event
that night. Doctor King said, make sure you play take
(32:04):
my hand, precious Lord, in the meeting tonight. Play it
real pretty. Then he was shot. Still, in terms of
what everyone remembers as his final message to the civil
rights movement in this country, and before he quoted the
final line of the Battle Hymn, doctor King said he'd
been to the mountaintop, looked over, and had seen a
(32:26):
promised land of justice and harmony. Well, historians have also
been to the mountaintop, and the only way for us
to get there is to study and master mountains of
historical material. It takes years to summit that mountain, but
once we get to the top, we're only allowed to
look backward, and when looking over the decades since eighteen
(32:46):
sixty one, when the Battle Hymn was first written, we
have seen and studied many horrific examples of humans abusing
each other and killing each other. Most relevant to what's
going on the United States and other parts of the
world right now is we study the rise of totalitarian
dictatorships in the past, and perhaps the most frightening thing
(33:08):
that we see is the way members of the public,
often out of ignorance and fear, allowed strong men to
take over. Even worse, in my view, is when otherwise
reasonable and normal people believed that a strong man was
necessary for a country, and they trampled on all sorts
of constitutional and moral traditions in order to allow him
(33:30):
to come to power. They even put their professed religious
morals aside and actually helped a dictator dress himself up
in moral superiority. Not only did we see all this
in the election of Donald Trump on November sixth, but
we're seeing it in more depth and much more clearly
in the psychotic cabinet nominations he's making, and in the
(33:52):
ways that maga members of Congress, especially the Speaker of
the house, Mike Johnson are falling in behind him in lockstep.
Every day seemed to be a new outrage. I hope, however,
that we can all somehow follow doctor King's rhetorical example
one the Jewelia Ward Howe and all the people who
sang the song in the Civil War must all have felt. Please,
(34:14):
let's all say we're not fearing any man, especially one
who wants to be a tyrant, and let's work to
make sure that tyranny never succeeds here
Hello everyone. As Professor Buzzkill here, you probably wonder what
happened to me. It's been a month since we've done
a show, and you probably remember that I promised you
five shows during our Julia Ward Howe Battle Him of
the Republic week. The fifth show was going to be
me talking about the Battle hymn, and in many ways
it's endured into the twenty first century. I was going
(00:34):
to give you examples of how it's been used in
all sorts of ways, from political movements to childhood parodies
to crowd songs in English football stadiums. And I was
going to end the show with a rousing call to
go out and vote with the same kind of vigor
and passion that Julia Wardhowe urged Americans to quote die
(00:55):
to make ren free, in the way Christ had died
to make men holy. But a major test infection hit
me before the election, and I was down for the count.
No matter how hard I tried, every time I recorded something,
my voice sounded awful and I couldn't have inspired anyone
to do anything. And then, of course the election was held,
(01:17):
and we all know what happened. I don't know if
there's anyone in the United States, who is more shocked
than I was. And of course, the effect that the
elections result might have had on what shows I'm putting
out on this pokey podcast is nothing compared to the
bailful and quite possibly permanent effects it's going to have
on the United States. My first reaction to the election,
(01:39):
as you might imagine, was to scrap the idea of
a summation and inspiration show about the Battle Hymn, and
maybe even stop doing the podcast completely, given that my
heart might not be in it, knowing what awful things
might well happen in the next decade or so. Somewhat similarly,
Heather Cox Richardson did not respond to the election the
(02:00):
very next day. In her Letters from an American, like
the intelligent, level headed, and even tempered person we all
know her to be, she has written sensibly and sensitively
about what has happened and has now begun to talk
about what we as Americans should do. I want to
point you particularly to an interview she did with John
Stewart recently, and I've put the link to that in
(02:21):
the blog post for this episode. It was the best
explanation I've heard about what happened and what we should
do in the elections aftermath. Now, since she's the most
consequential intellectual in the United States right now, I decided
to follow her example and bring back the idea of
a summation and inspiration show using the Battle hym as
my framing device. This, then, is that show. I want
(02:45):
to go over some of the history of the Battle
Hymn that we didn't cover in the previous shows during
Julia Ward how Week, and I want to show its
central place in American history, as Professor Stafford told us
in his interview, and apart from what I try to
lighten things up by talking about the childhood parodies and
the soccer crowd versions, I'd really like to emphasize the
(03:06):
republic part of the Battle Hymn of the Republic and
how important a republic is for human freedom and for
human dignity, especially in comparison to an autocracy or some
sort of totalitarianism, the possibility of which the majority of
Americans seem to have been willing to accept when they
voted for Trump. So here goes. First of all, you
(03:28):
remember that Professor Stauffer talked about the Battle Hymn being
used as a quote progressive battle hymn. During Teddy Roosevelt's time,
Roosevelt and the progressive movement were trying to tear down
an oligarchy that was growing in the United States, an
oligarchy of big businessmen and bankers made uber rich by
the Second Industrial Revolution of the late nineteenth century, and
(03:50):
using that wealth to influence and eventually dominate politics, pushing
it in their own direction, and at the same time
pushing everyone else out of the realm of political discussion,
of voting, and of decision making. We didn't have time
to talk much about the actual lyrics of the many
songs that came out as progressive battle hymns, and I
(04:10):
couldn't find any actual recordings, but I've put a link
to a collection of them at the Teddy Roosevelt Center
at Dickinson State University on the blog post for this episode.
Scroll through them if you can, and you'll see the
wide range of issues that progressivism at that time tried
to address. Those progressive battle hymns were popular, but perhaps
(04:30):
more popular or more widely sung in groups, was the
famous version of the battle hymn written and sung by
workers during the first stages of protests for workers' rights.
That became so obviously needed as the Second Industrial Revolution
created an economy based on very large factories with very
large labor forces that could more or less be forced
(04:52):
to work very long hours for very little pay. There
were no worker protections, and so the modern industrial unionization
movement started. And one of the things that movement needed
so desperately in the beginning was to tell people that
the only solution was workers gathering together and pressing for change.
That was, in essence saying that the industrial economy couldn't
(05:14):
work like an autocracy of Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and
a handful of others. And that's exactly you see what
a republic does, or is supposed to do. Create an
organizational system for political governing and even economic management that's
based on everyone being equal before the law and everyone's
voice being taken into account, whether on the factory floor
(05:35):
or on the floor of Congress. Using the battle hymn
tune also known as the John Brown's Body Tomb, Solidarity
Forever was written in nineteen fifteen by Ralph Chaplin, a
union worker an organizer who had helped striking coal miners
in West Virginia a few years earlier. Solidarity Forever swept
through the union world and almost immediately became sung commonly
(05:56):
by striking workers or those wanting to form a union.
Game so common for working groups to sing it that
it eventually became an important song in the growth of
the folk song movement that started in the nineteen thirties
during the depression and lasted well into the nineteen sixties
and early nineteen seventies. And here's Pete Seeger performing it
in the nineteen sixties. He more or less performed it
(06:17):
throughout his career well into the seventies, and he certainly
started singing it back in the thirties. I'll play one
chorus and the new verse that Seeker added for the
age of atomic weapons and atomic.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
War, Salatity forever sala.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
On the Union batsung.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
When the Union's inspiration threw the worker's blood children. There
can be a power greater anywhere beneath the sun. Yet
what course on earth is weaker than the feeble strength
of one? But the Union makes.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
A strong sarity forever sarity for.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Slatality, For the Union makes a strong.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
In our hands is placed a power greater than their
hearted gold, greater than the might of atoms magnified a
thousand hole. We can bring to birth a new world
from the ashes of the old. Or the Union makes
a strong.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Sitality.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
It's in the nineteen seventies. Women's movements, particularly women's industrial movements,
added feminist lyrics to Solidarity Forever. I couldn't find a
good audio version for this, but a key verse says,
we're the women of the Union, and we sure know
how to fight. We'll fight for women's issues and will
(08:26):
fight for women's rights. A women's work is never done
from morning until night. Women make the union strong. The
union movement in the United States never became solidified, however,
even when trying to fight for the best interests of workers.
After all, the Teamsters union, one of the biggest in
the United States, didn't endorse a candidate for the twenty
twenty four election, which was extremely surprising, even though the
(08:49):
biggest American union, the afl CIO, has expressed deep disappointment
and even fear of the upcoming Trump administration. So the
solidarity part of Solidarity Forever remains frankly an aspiration. Let
me return to the nineteen sixties. The battle Hymn of
the Republic was played at two very important funerals in
the nineteen sixties. I was surprised, however, to find that
(09:12):
it was not played at President Kennedy's funeral in nineteen
sixty three, and yet across the pond, some British people
were surprised that it was played at Churchill's funeral in
nineteen sixty five, but those in Britain who were in
the know weren't surprised. After all, Churchill's mother was American.
He was always extremely interested in the United States, and
(09:32):
of course he considered the United States an equal partner,
not only on the Allied side in World War Two,
but also as a partner in a potential future Anglo
American alliance during and after the Cold War. More relevant
for our purposes, the American Civil War section of Churchill's
famous History of the English Speaking Peoples referred to the
(09:52):
importance of the Battle Hymn in helping make the public
perception of that war turned from just saving the Union
to a war for the abolition of slavery in the
United States. Now. Churchill, as he was fading in health,
told his family and those who would be planning his
funeral that he wanted to battle him and the Republic
prominent in the order of the funeral service, and those
(10:16):
who attended his funeral were well aware of Churchill's admiration
of America, and so they understood why they were being
asked to sing it at his funeral service. Now, the
only recording of the Battle Hymn at Churchill's funeral is
not of the greatest audio quality, but I thought you
should hear a clip. And as many of you know,
(11:29):
the other famous time the Battle Hymn was sung at
a funeral was for Robert Kennedy in nineteen sixty eight.
Robert Kennedy was shot on June fifth, nineteen sixty eight,
while campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president in that
year's election. He died the next day, and the country
was deeply shocked at the second Kennedy assassination in five years.
(11:51):
His funeral was held at Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan
on June eighth, and it concluded with the prominent American
singer Andy Willilliams singing the Battle Hymn. From a historian's perspective,
perhaps the most interesting thing about this performance by Andy
Williams is that he sang verse four as verse two
(12:12):
and verse five as verse three. Now, I can't find
any direct evidence of why this change was made, but
it was probably because verses four and five in the
Battle Hymn are much less militant and far more biblical
than the original verses two and three, And this may
have been the wishes of Ethel Kennedy rfk's widow. And
so here's Andy Williams singing the battle Hymn at Rfk's
(12:35):
funeral in nineteen sixty eight.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
Mine eyes have seen the glory.
Speaker 6 (12:44):
A co.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
He is traveling out where the grapes still. He had
loosed the faithful lightning of his tible. Swift soul.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
He's too, He's.
Speaker 5 (13:14):
My archy, lory glory.
Speaker 7 (13:23):
Haa lory, Gloryala, lor glory Halla. He is too themarchy.
Speaker 5 (13:45):
He has sunded forth the trouble, but that shall comer retreat.
He's sitting at the hearts of men before his judgment seat.
Oh be swifts my soul to and as sir him
be j the ert my feet.
Speaker 7 (14:05):
Our God is marching on.
Speaker 5 (14:12):
Oh, glory, lor lor.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Oy, glory. Have is true isrch.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
In the beauty of a little This Christ was born
across the sea with the glory in his person that.
Speaker 8 (14:45):
Transfer views you and me as he died to make
men holy, let style and makeman free while God is marching.
Speaker 9 (15:01):
Oh it.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Is to be.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Is as you can hear. It was incredibly moving and
(16:04):
was eventually released as a single after the funeral. But
now let me lighten the tones somewhat, but still continue
with the chronology I'm following. I started going to school
in the late nineteen sixties, and within the first ten
or fifteen minutes of arriving there, I learned the famous
American children's song The Burning of the School, sung you
(16:26):
Guessed it to the tune of the Battle Hymn. Now
the lyrics very and have no doubt been modified by
subsequent generations of school children. But what I remember is
mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of
the school. We have tortured all the teachers, and we've
shot the principal. We're down in his office shooting crap
and playing pool. Our truth is marching on glory, glory, hallelujah.
(16:50):
Teacher hit me with a ruler. I hid behind the
door with a loaded forty four, And the teacher ain't
a teacher no more. Remember an alternative final phrase saying
that I met the teacher quote at the bank with
a brand new Sherman tank end quote. Well, yikes. For
an old pacifist and gun hater like myself, these lyrics
(17:12):
seem pretty gruesome, but we belted them out as strongly
as we could whenever we got the chance. Another fun
use of the battle hymn comes from soccer fans in
Britain and in mainland Europe. You may know that fans
of various football clubs in Europe have been singing team
inspired songs during games, and especially during the long periods
of football matches when the action is mainly taking place
(17:34):
in the middle of the field and things can kind
of get boring. The Battle Hymn of the Republic was
first used in the nineteen fifties by the Hibernian football
club based in Edinburgh. Different takes on the Glory, Glory
Hallelujah part of the battle hymn have been employed by
Leeds United and Tottenham Hotspur since the nineteen eighties, but
perhaps the best known glory Glory song chant has been
(17:58):
the one that fans of Manchester United it have been
singing for decades now. Like so many of these football
fans songs. They often take phrases and sections from well
known songs and change the words to celebrate their team
glory Glory. Man United starts off using the Battle Hymns
melody and the glory Glory idea, but then switches to
another popular melody during the verses. Here's a sample that
(18:21):
refers to quote the boys in Red on their way
to Wimbley, which is where the final for the English
Football Association Championship is played.
Speaker 7 (19:02):
That's the same.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Bad United Famous United States.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Well. That brings us right up from what many people
consider the greatest vocal rendition of the Battle Hymn the public,
sung by Whitney Houston. Professor Elaine Showalter opened our Julia
Ward Howe Battle Him of the Republic week, as you remember,
and when we were planning the interview, she told me
it was her favorite rendition.
Speaker 5 (20:08):
Now.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Whitney Houston sang this at a Welcome Home Heroes concert
in Norfolk, Virginia, on March third, nineteen ninety one for
veterans returning from the Gulf War between the United States
and its allies against Iraq after that country's invasion of Kowai.
And here's that performance now, Okay, okay.
Speaker 9 (20:29):
I hope what we feel here tonight will never ever
be lost. I know that tonight is the beginning of
a new age of understanding and hope for all of us.
Please stand and sing this song with me, would you please.
Speaker 6 (20:47):
It's the battle Hymn of Republic. You know the words.
I know you don't. My nights have seen the glory.
I'm the CoA. He is triumphing ou comping to j
(21:08):
Wear the Ugrips opera costar. He has loosed his faith
for lie ning up his time reviles with.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Bare cheat.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Seven eight saving it.
Speaker 6 (21:59):
Thanks.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
It's true, It's true.
Speaker 5 (22:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Remember well, you notice that she started by saying, quote,
(24:11):
I hope what we feel here tonight will never ever
be lost. I know that tonight is the beginning of
a new age of understanding and hope for all of us.
End quote. And you don't need me to tell you that.
The tragedy of this is that the First Golf War
was followed a decade later by nine to eleven and
the War in Afghanistan, which lasted between two thousand and
(24:34):
one and twenty twenty one, and which more or less
included the Second Golf War. That is the Iraq War
between two thousand and two and twenty eleven, so it
was anything but the beginning of a new age of
understanding and hope. But I'd like to conclude this episode
by talking about what I think is the most meaningful
use of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, certainly in
(24:56):
my lifetime. Now I have to backtrack a little bit
from Whitney Houston in nineteen ninety one and take you
back again to that terrible year nineteen sixty eight, specifically
April third, nineteen sixty eight, in Memphis, Tennessee. I'm sure
a great many of you know the story of Martin
Luther King's last few days, but not many people know
(25:17):
about the details of what happened on April third, the
night before King was killed. In late March, King and
a number of other civil rights leaders had gone to
Memphis to help support sanitation workers who were on strike
for better pay and working conditions. There was a civil
rights rally scheduled at a church for the evening of
April third, but King was sick. He certainly had a
(25:40):
sore throat and was suffering from exhaustion, so he asked
his colleague Ralph Abernethy to be the main speaker at
the rally, and a rainstorm broke out late in the afternoon,
so it looked like the rally turnout would be low anyway,
So by staying in his hotel room and resting, King
would be stronger for the protest marches in the days ahead. Yet,
when Ralph Abernethy arrived at the church where the rally
(26:02):
was being held, it was packed with civil rights workers,
with sanitation workers who were striking, and many other people,
all hoping to be inspired by doctor King for the
work in the days ahead. Abernathy realized that he couldn't
inspire them like King, so he called MLK at the
hotel and begged him to come speak, if only briefly.
(26:23):
King agreed to come, but he couldn't promise to give
a full speech. Well, giving a full speech was exactly
what he did, forty three minutes long, subsequently entitled I've
Been to the Mountaintop. It's one of the greatest speeches
ever given by perhaps the greatest speaker in American history.
You see, one of the most troubling things going on
in Memphis was that the city had placed legal injunctions
(26:46):
against protesters marching in support of the striking sanitation workers
that April third night. King spoke out vigorously against these injunctions,
mainly because he thought they were unconstitutional and un American.
He used the injunction problem to address the fundamental problem
at the heart of American life, especially in the South.
(27:07):
That problem was that many American elites, especially local and
state governments in the South, were ignoring constitutional rights and
constitutional norms in order to maintain illegal racial discrimination. And
so Martin Luther King had one extremely reasonable request for
all levels of government in the United States.
Speaker 10 (27:30):
All we say to America is be true to what
you said on paper.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
I lived in.
Speaker 10 (27:42):
China, Are even Russia any totalitarian country?
Speaker 7 (27:48):
Maybe I could understand.
Speaker 10 (27:51):
Some of these illegal injunctions, Maybe I could understand the
denial of sudden basic Fresh Amendment privilege just because they
haven't committed themselves to that. Over that, but somewhere I
read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of
(28:12):
the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom
of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America
is the right to protest far rights. So just as
(28:33):
I say, we aren't gonna let any dogs, a water
holess turn us around. We aren't going to let any
injunction turn us around.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
There was one more thing that King wanted to get
across to his listeners in the audience, to the reporters
covering the event, and to everyone who would read about
the speech the next day. Throughout his civil rights work,
starting back in the fifth King's life had been under threat,
and after he came out against the war in Vietnam
a year earlier at a speech at Riverside Church of
(29:09):
New York on April fourth, nineteen sixty seven, the threats
became much more serious and much more frightening. It had
gotten so bad that he told his wife and his
closest advisers that he expected to be attacked, probably fatally,
before the end of the year. And most of his
followers had long feared this, but King decided to address
(29:29):
it directly at the end of his mountaintop speech. And
it's here at the very end, as he was turning
away from the podium to go to take his seat,
that he invoked the battle Hymn of the Republic.
Speaker 10 (29:42):
God, I don't know what will happen now, We've got
some difficult days ahead, but it really don't matter with
me now, because I'd been to the mountaintop. Like anybody,
I would like to live a long life. Longevity has
(30:08):
its place, but I'm not concerned about that now. I
just want to do God's will, and He's allowed me
to go up to the mountain, and I've looked.
Speaker 7 (30:23):
Over and I've seen.
Speaker 10 (30:27):
The promised land. I may not get there with you,
but I want you to know the night and we
as a people will get to the promised Land. So
I'm happy tonight.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man.
My eyes have seen the glory.
Speaker 4 (30:54):
Of the coming of them all.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
If you watch the whole video of this speech, you'll
see that doctor King almost had to be helped to
a seat by Abernethy and the others at the end.
This was probably because he was ill, as I mentioned earlier,
but it may have also been because of the emotion
he released in talking about his own mortality and the
future of the civil rights movement and all of you know.
(31:23):
Just under twenty four hours later, Martin Luther King was
shot as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine
Motel in Memphis. He was shot at six p M
and died an hour later at Saint Joseph's Hospital in Memphis.
And while it's correct to say, and many people do
mention this a lot that King's last publicly spoken words
(31:43):
were mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming
of the Lord. At the end of his mountain top
speech the night before, the last words of his life,
as recorded by Jesse Jackson and others who were standing
with him on that balcony, were directed at a musician
who was scheduled to perform at a civil rights event
that night. Doctor King said, make sure you play take
(32:04):
my hand, precious Lord, in the meeting tonight. Play it
real pretty. Then he was shot. Still, in terms of
what everyone remembers as his final message to the civil
rights movement in this country, and before he quoted the
final line of the Battle Hymn, doctor King said he'd
been to the mountaintop, looked over, and had seen a
(32:26):
promised land of justice and harmony. Well, historians have also
been to the mountaintop, and the only way for us
to get there is to study and master mountains of
historical material. It takes years to summit that mountain, but
once we get to the top, we're only allowed to
look backward, and when looking over the decades since eighteen
(32:46):
sixty one, when the Battle Hymn was first written, we
have seen and studied many horrific examples of humans abusing
each other and killing each other. Most relevant to what's
going on the United States and other parts of the
world right now is we study the rise of totalitarian
dictatorships in the past, and perhaps the most frightening thing
(33:08):
that we see is the way members of the public,
often out of ignorance and fear, allowed strong men to
take over. Even worse, in my view, is when otherwise
reasonable and normal people believed that a strong man was
necessary for a country, and they trampled on all sorts
of constitutional and moral traditions in order to allow him
(33:30):
to come to power. They even put their professed religious
morals aside and actually helped a dictator dress himself up
in moral superiority. Not only did we see all this
in the election of Donald Trump on November sixth, but
we're seeing it in more depth and much more clearly
in the psychotic cabinet nominations he's making, and in the
(33:52):
ways that maga members of Congress, especially the Speaker of
the house, Mike Johnson are falling in behind him in lockstep.
Every day seemed to be a new outrage. I hope, however,
that we can all somehow follow doctor King's rhetorical example
one the Jewelia Ward Howe and all the people who
sang the song in the Civil War must all have felt. Please,
(34:14):
let's all say we're not fearing any man, especially one
who wants to be a tyrant, and let's work to
make sure that tyranny never succeeds here
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