The Education & Research InstituteLiberal Bias in Textbooks

September 2019

TrueAmericanHistory.us

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The American Pageant indulges in wildly revisionist historiography by glossing over the achievements and policies of Republican presidential administrations, while inflating their Democratic counterparts to superhuman levels. The textbook authors strive for a polite correctness that sacrifices mainstream historical narratives in favor of token identity politics and ends up veering far away from the common threads that unite our country. Where editorialized opinions are presented, they are repeatedly written with a partisan bias, tarnishing everyone from 20th century conservative icons to current incumbents of the nation’s highest offices.

The American Pageant may be the bestselling American History textbook ever written. Since its first release in 1956 it has been read by tens of millions of students, updated, and reprinted through seventeen editions. Advanced Placement (AP) history courses especially like to use The American Pageant as a stand in for college level curricula for high-performing high school students. The problem is that The American Pageant is a thoroughly unreliable narrator of U.S. history.

Educational materials in public schools should not represent either a conservative or liberal perspective. Students deserve a fact-based education, free from partisan opinion. Discussions of politics should bend over backwards to present both sides and allow our children to develop their own views. A few of the most egregious examples of political bias in The American Pageant are highlighted below.

Overview

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Presidents: Coverage of 20th century politics is skewed towards left leaning Presidents and policies by simple means of omission. A rhetorical analysis finds that The American Pageant mentions each Democratic administration an average of 124 times, compared to an average of 71 mentions for their Republican counterparts. If the depth of coverage in American Pageant is to be taken at face value, Woodrow Wilson’s time in office was more historically significant than any Republican administration of the 20th century. Indeed, American Pageant’s most detailed coverage of Republican politics is reserved for the presidency of Richard Nixon, in a chapter that gives far more weight to the Watergate investigation than conservative principles or Nixon’s significant legislative achievements.

Uneven Emphasis

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Cultural Leaders: The American Pageant intersperses each chapter with vignettes about the supposed architects of prosperity in the United States during various time periods, the so-called “Makers of America.” The textbook does reflect mainstream history by honoring suburbanites and scientists as widely recognized symbols of post-war America. But just as frequently it amplifies the impact of fringe voices beyond their contemporary significance. If the textbook is to be believed, Beatniks are more characteristic of the 1960’s than Baby Boomers, and Latinos led us through the 1990’s more than internet entrepreneurs. Environmentalists and Filipino and Japanese immigrants are held up as the best symbols of the nation’s early roots as a superpower, while Vietnamese refugees personify the midcentury struggle against the encroaching forces of Communism.

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Biographical Sketches: The authors engage in baseless armchair psychology to describe Democratic presidents as destined for greatness and Republicans as bumbling idiots.

Needless Editorializing

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Anti-Trump Bias: The American Pageant offers the following description of the 45th President of the United States: “New York City real estate mogul and reality-television personality Donald J. Trump bullied, belittled, and bamboozled sixteen rivals to snag—some said hi-jack—the Republican nomination. His legions of critics, including many Republican grandees, considered the brash billionaire a swaggering colossus of ignorance, vanity, and vulgarity . . . With often cavalier disregard for the facts, Trump, prince of plutocrats, campaigned as a populist who would ‘drain the swamp’ in Washington D.C., and ‘make America great again.’”

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“The American Pageant reads like 1,000 pages of left wing propaganda, designed to inculcate students with a warped view of the United States.” says E&RI Chairman Daniel Oliver. “The book clearly sets out to reprimand private enterprise in favor of centrally planned big government.”

Society places a great deal of trust in the public education system. America’s human capital - voters, taxpayers, and soldiers - are shaped at a formitive age by values taught in the classroom. The time is long over due to demand that our children are presented with balanced perspectives.

The Education and Research Institute (ERI) is an educational organization founded in 1974, Its purpose is to create greater awareness and understanding of America’s history and traditional values. ERI has been researching and publishing studies on public policy issues for more than 30 years. A more comprehensive, line-by-line rebuttal of American Pageant can be found online at the Education & Research Institute.