Tea at Trianon: Ronald Reagan’s Uneasy Role

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, January 23, 2023

Ronald Reagan’s Uneasy Role

From American Greatness:

The collective consciousness of a small town can create a sense of community and belonging. The same mindset, however, can also foster a certain exclusivity. Everyone is under the watchful eye of a small elite, and everyone participates in gossip. One lie can turn into many, and instead of being negated altogether, these lies become accepted as truth. The more they are repeated, the more strength they gain, and those who are the subject of falsehoods are changed forever.
Peter Godrey’s 1947 film, “That Hagen Girl,” explores such matters, and it involves difficult subjects—such as suicide, illegitimate children, and madness—that Hollywood rarely examined in that era. Ronald Reagan plays Tom Bates, a war hero and a lawyer in the small town of Jordan, Ohio, who is essentially cast out of his hometown because of a rumor he fathered an illegitimate daughter.

Around the same time Tom is forced out of town, Mr. and Mrs. Hagen bring a little baby, Mary into their lives. It’s not clear where the little girl comes from, or who she is. The townsfolk put two and two together and get five. The rumor, based purely on speculation, becomes stronger as years go by. Mary grows up to be a beautiful young woman (Shirley Temple) but she is stained by the alleged sin of her alleged father. As a result, she is generally treated differently by the town. As one woman puts it, she’s not “one of ours.” (Read more.)

A review of the Ronald Reagan film King's Row, HERE.