Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus: The Roman Ideal of Civic Virtue

The significance of George Washington's inspirational career can't be overstated. As the first U.S. President, Washington lead the nation’s formation, setting an example for governance, and commanding the Continental Army to victory in the Revolutionary War, thereby securing independence from Britain. He was self-aware regarding his preeminent leadership position in that he knew he was setting precedents in nearly every decision he made. One of his most consequential was establishing a tradition when he chose to relinquish power rather than maintain it after his second term as president. 

Where this idea stem from? From the prominent Roman statesman, consul and twice-appointed dictator Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus (c. 519–c. 430 BCE). Cincinnatus is celebrated in Roman tradition as a model of selfless leadership, humility, and devotion to the republic over personal power.

Cincinnatus lived during a turbulent period shortly after the overthrow of Rome's monarchy in 509 BCE, when the young republic faced threats from neighboring Italic tribes like the Aequi and Volsci. As an upper-crust aristocrat, he served as consul in 460 BCE but later retired to a modest farm following financial hardships (possibly due to the death of his son Caeso in exile). 

His legendary story centers on his appointment as dictator in 458 BCE during a military crisis. A Roman consular army, led by Lucius Minucius Esquilinus Augurinus, was trapped and besieged by the Aequi on Mount Algidus near Rome. With the city in peril, the Senate offered Cincinnatus—then in his 80s—the extraordinary powers of dictator (magister populi), a temporary office granting absolute authority for up to six months to resolve emergencies. 

Statue of Cincinnatus in Vienna

According to the ancient historian Livy, Roman envoys found Cincinnatus plowing his small farm (some accounts say digging a ditch) when they arrived with the summons. He reportedly donned his toga, accepted the role without hesitation, and led a swift campaign that defeated the Aequi in a single day, liberating the trapped legions. Upon returning to Rome in triumph, Cincinnatus disbanded his army, relinquished his dictatorship after just 15–16 days (well short of the six-month limit), and famously returned to his plow, rejecting any rewards or prolonged power. 

A second tradition, less corroborated, claims he was reappointed dictator in 439 BCE to investigate and suppress a potential coup by the wealthy plebeian Spurius Maelius, who was accused of using grain distributions to amass monarchical ambitions. Cincinnatus again resolved the crisis quickly and stepped down. 

How did George Washington come to be familiar with these and other stories from ancient times? They were readers. I believe it was David McCullough's biography of John Adams that told a story about the leading book store in London in the 1770s. He wrote that more than half of the sales there had been to the American Colonies. Adams, Jefferson, Washington and others were dedicated students of philosophy, economics, history and the accumulated wisdom of the ages.

Cincinnatus himself became a symbol of the ideal citizen-soldier and republican leader, embodying humility and civic responsibility. In Roman lore, he represented the virtues of an agrarian past over urban corruption. 

His story profoundly influenced the American Founding Fathers, who saw parallels in their own republican experiment. George Washington was dubbed the "American Cincinnatus" for resigning his military commission after the Revolutionary War and declining kingship, prioritizing civilian rule. 

The title "American Cincinnatus" was first applied to George Washington by his contemporaries, notably during and after the Revolutionary War. The nickname is most commonly attributed to Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee, who, in his eulogy for Washington in 1799, praised him as a modern embodiment of the Roman leader Cincinnatus— a farmer who reluctantly took power to save his country and then returned to private life.

This led to the naming of the Society of the Cincinnati (1783), a fraternal order of Revolutionary War officers, after him. The city of Cincinnati, Ohio, also derives its name from the society.  Today, Cincinnatus remains invoked in discussions of ethical leadership, contrasting with figures who cling to power, and underscores themes of temporary authority in democratic systems. 

There are lessons about power to be gleaned from this story.

EdNote: U.S. Grant's favorite horse was name Cincinnati. There is also a statue of Cincinnati to this day.

Is the U.S. Media a Mouthpiece for the State? Stephen Kinzer Argues "Yes"

Those of us who grew up during the Cold War were constantly reminded that Pravda, the state news vehicle of the Soviet Union, was primarily a channel for Soviet propaganda.  The word pravda means truth and its primary function was to spread the Party's message to the rest of the world.

The unspoken message here was that our media was the voice of the good guys and that it was not propaganda. It was a free press reporting real news as it happens.

A couple nights ago I was listening to an interview with Stephen Kinzer on National Public Radio. Kinzer is a journalist and author who was formerly with the New York Times. On NPR Kinzer stated that he and the Times parted ways over the issue of journalistic integrity, especially with regard to being a channel for the U.S. propaganda. (This was how interpreted what he said on the air.)

As one who has written about this topic on numerous occasions (eg. He Who Controls the Narrative Controls the People, and The Purpose of Propaganda: Social Engineering) it made me interested in learning more about Stephen Kinzer, his ideas and experiences, so I asked Google Bard for a summary of Mr. Kinzer's views on the U.S. media as a mouthpiece for our government and the Pentagon.*

Bard Replied:

Stephen Kinzer is a journalist and author who has written extensively about the role of the U.S. media in foreign policy. He argues that the U.S. media has a long history of serving as a mouthpiece for the government and the Pentagon.

Kinzer points to several examples of this, including:

• The media's uncritical reporting of the lead-up to the Iraq War, which was based on false claims about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
• The media's failure to challenge the Bush administration's justification for the war in Afghanistan, which was based on the claim that the Taliban was harboring al-Qaeda.
• The media's reluctance to report on the human cost of U.S. wars, such as the war in Iraq, which has killed hundreds of thousands of civilians.

Kinzer argues that the U.S. media is not simply passive in its role as a mouthpiece for the government. He believes that the media is actively complicit in promoting U.S. foreign policy interests. (EdNote: emphasis mine) He cites the example of the media's coverage of the Arab Spring, which he argues was largely supportive of U.S. intervention in the region.

Kinzer's views on the U.S. media have been controversial. Some critics have accused him of being too critical of the media, while others have said that he is right to point out the media's biases.

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This is exactly what Seymour Hersh was shocked to find when he came to D.C. to be part of the Washington Press Corp. DC journalists enjoyed hobnobbing with the government elite. As a result they became bedfellows and were reluctant to be real reporters.

Hersh began ruffling the status quo with stories like his unearthing the My Lai massacre and by tracking down Lt. Calley, the Viet Nam War atrocity scapegoat. (Recommended: Reporter by Seymour Hersh is a Must Read for All Young Journalists)

Regardless of one's views on Kinzer's specific arguments, there is no doubt that the U.S. media plays a significant role in shaping public opinion about foreign policy. Many believe Kinzer's work has helped to raise awareness of the ways in which the media can be used to promote government interests. 

* It should be noted that AI systems are sometimes unreliable. The Bard's views seemed like a fair description to me.

Memory Games: How Well Do You Know Your Presidents? (Part I)

Purple martin. (Public domain)

I have a problem with names. Unfortunately, as I get older it seems to be getting worse. When my mind reaches for a name, it often seems to find a hole there. It's like the brain is a pantry with shelves of products, but when you look for the one you need, it seems to have been moved. At that point, I don't know where to even look.

Anyways, there are techniques one can use to improve your memory. What I plan to share here is an easy way to remember the first 20 U.S. presidents. You should be able to accomplish this in a relatively short time, especially since you probably already know the first few.

One way people remember lists of things is to use mnemonic devices. A mnemonic device is a technique that enables you to more easily retrieve information. One such device is to assign images to correlate to the numbers in a list. Then, as you recall each image you pair it with the thing you want to remember. Here are the first ten images in my mnemonic list: 1 is a gun, 2 is a shoe, 3 is a tree, 4 is a door, 5 is a hive, 6 is for sticks, 7 is heaven, 8 is a gate, 9 is a vine and 10 is a hen. If memorize this, reciting the first ten presidents is a snap. 

1. Picture a gun shooting one dollar bills. George Washington is the president on the one dollar bill, though this is easy because everyone knows he was first anyways. Nevertheless, if you did not know that, the one dollar bill is a clue.

2. Picture a shoe being studied under a microscope by a scientist. The microscope is so powerful it can actually see the atoms in the leather. John Adams is the second president.

3. The tree you picture here is decorated with ornaments which are all in the shape of Monticello. Monticello was Thomas Jefferson's home near Charlottesville, Virginia. If you prefer another image, maybe you can picture a Chef serving a plate with a tree growing on it. Chef-erson.

4. Four is a door, and for this image I have stapled Mad magazines all over the door. James Madison was our fourth prez.

5. For this one, I picture two men in suits rowing a boat with a beehive in the back of the boat. They are trying to get away from it as fast as they can. The one man is shouting, "Row, mon, row!" James Monroe was our fifth president.

6. For this one, I envision a wreath made of sticks floating in the air. There are sticks intersecting the wreath on the lower right, forming the letter Q. The Q reminds me that John Quincy Adams was our. sixth president.

7. Up on a cloud we see the Pearly Gates. (Seven is Heaven.) In front of these there are a couple children playing jacks. Andrew Jackson was our 7th commander-in-chief.

8. Now we come to a gate. Sitting on the gate is a purple bird. The purple bird is a purple martin. Our 8th president is Martin Van Buren. 

9. For this one I picture a hairy vine. You can make it a giant Jack-in-the-beanstalk vine if you want, but it is really hairy, which is the operative clue for William Henry Harrison. If want to picture the vine growing fast, then wilting, it will be a reminder that President Harrison died one month after taking office, the shortest term of any U.S. president.

10. Ten is a hen, a giant hen wearing a tie. I envision a necktie, but you can put a polkadot bowtie on this hen if you wish. The tie stands for John Tyler. 

Now, I'm going to switch to a different kind of mnemonic device, once again using unusual or absurd images but in a different manner. For presidents 11 thru 20 I will picture a humorous sequence of images as if in a movie. The movie begins with Tyler, the giant hen wearing a tie. 

John Tyler

The giant hen (wearing a tie) is poking a tailor with a stick, while the tailor is busy sewing a button onto a dapper pinstripe suit worn by another man. The tailor puts down his needle and thread to take a trowel and begins filling this other man's pockets with dirt while that fellow is shouting "More!"

Suddenly an arrow pierces this man's thigh and we see that it has been fired from a cannon.

This little visual sequence covers the next five presidents: Polk (11), Taylor (12), Fillmore (13), Pierce (14) and Buchanan (15).

Since we all know Lincoln was 16, no need for a tool to remember that, but we will use Lincoln as a starting point for the next set. 

Picture Lincoln sitting by a fire pit cooking Johnson brats over an open fire with his left hand while signing a document  with his right that says Land Grant at the top. There's a smoky haze wafting around Lincoln's face which we think is from the fire pit, but as the camera pans we see it is actually from a giant cigar lying in the field behind him.

That's it. If you visualize this scene you will recognize Lincoln (16), Johnson (17), Grant (18), Hayes (19) and Garfield (20).

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OK. Test yourself. Have you nailed it? Here's the full list if you want to make your own humorous mnemonic images to memorize the rest:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_United_States

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