A Call to Heroism: Renewing America’s Vision of Greatness

Chapter’s 1-5

Peter Gibbon

James Williams

Dr. Max Guirguis

PSCI 101 – American Federal Government

MWF 10:10 AM – Fall 2023

 Chapter 1: What is a Hero?

The word hero has had a different meaning from century to century. There are people

who have been called heroes that do not like the title. They will give credit to people that served

under them or others, who do not see why they are heroes for what they did. Some think the term

hero is old, like mythological heroes, and heroes of epic tales. Others think hero is a male term as

many so-called heroes have been men like military men, and explorers. Nobody is ever perfect;

everyone has done something that is wrong in people's eyes. Even though they used to be

thought of as heroes, if time goes by and something that they did is now frowned upon, are they

still a hero? We get the word hero from the Greeks and now use it to describe humans instead of

gods.

Overtime the word hero has steered away from just warriors or military men. Now there

are heroes in music, sports, politics, and even school. One of the downsides of heroes is the idea

that they need to be perfect. As the world progresses, heroes have been pointed out by their flaws

rather than what they achieved. Someone who is a hero changes from culture to culture, not

everyone sees the same people as heroes. Hero has now been attached to words like legend, icon,

and mentor. A hero is the main part of a legend or story and is more than an icon. The word hero

is not used as much anymore as people think what they did is not as glorious as people make it

out to be. Heroes do give people hope and help them push to be better. It is a good thing to have

local heroes and mentors, but they can limit people and their ideas. True heroes help push people

to think bigger and use their imagination.

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 Chapter 2: The Nineteenth-Century Ideology of Heroism

In the nineteenth century, heroes were a strongpoint with how people went on with their

lives. Parents would name their kids after great heroes, everyone was celebrating the founding

fathers for the constitution and the defeat of England, and Americans were naming cities and

state capitols after these heroes. Patriotism was running deep in the 1800’s as new monuments

were being created and Marquis de Lafayette came back to America and did a trip from New

York to New Orleans. On the first Memorial Day in 1868, people remembered and thought back

on what their heroes did for their freedom. Historians and poets of the time wrote about heroes as

heroes give people a sense of hope and fulfill people's lives. Even in this time of patriotism, not

everyone was sold on this idea of heroes.

Even though journalists would diminish heroes because of mistakes they made or ideas

they had, people still believed in and had hope for their heroes. Thomas Carlye was a

philosopher who had many ideas of a hero. He admired honesty and believed heroes should

always do what is right. He was a writer who knew what was real, but still had faith in what

could be. Ralph Emerson, who brought Carlye’s writing to America, gave people the idea that

they can be a hero. Horace Mann was a hero for public schools in the nineteenth century. He had

both important qualities that Carlyle and Emerson believed in and used them to help all aspects

of public schooling. When looking back on heroes, you see where many of these heroes turn to

religion to help them with what they need. A hero does not have many easy victories, but more

suffering than greatness. Being able to study great people in history can help everyone in their

own lives.

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 Chapter 3: Our Help in Ages Past

Throughout Americas history religion has influenced many public figures and heroes.

Many presidents, educators, and public figures used religious ways in their daily life. Religion

has an impact on heroes and their ways. Religion was something that promoted heroism in the

nineteenth century as many stories of the bible are famous heroes' stories. In the nineteenth

century women were never thought of as heroes and did not have the same respect men held.

They were not allowed a vote in any important topics and could not hold office or work any man

held jobs. Women like Lucretia Mott, Harriet Tubman, and Dorothea Dix started making an

impact, but it still was not able to change too much. Even though they fought for themselves and

others, they would not get what they wanted until the twentieth century. They never gained the

same amount of praise that men of the time received for their actions.

Fredick Douglass was a believer of religious ways and heroes. He was able to show

people what he went through as a slave and the awful conditions and punishments the plantation

owners put them through. Throughout the nineteenth century the idea of a hero was attached to

gender and race. Not too many people thought of heroes that were women or African Americans.

Even with these barriers, Douglas was able to make a name for himself and be a hero. He stood

up for what was right and said what was on his mind. Throughout the nineteenth century, we see

the connection between heroism and religion. Many of the heroes of this time used religion to

help fuel and point them in the right path. Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela were two

of the biggest heroes of the time, and they both relied on religion to seek what was right. As time

has passed, many believe religion is outdated and they can get through life without it.

Monuments of these heroes are a way for people to pay their respects to them.
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 Chapter 4: The American Warrior Hero

The warrior or soldier has been the hero to people for most of America's history. Some of

these soldiers never wanted to be in the war to start with, and since, this idea of warrior heroes

has been altered. Andrew Carnegie was one of these people, he thought people should honor the

heroes who rescue and help people rather than soldiers who take and cause destruction. During

this time Theodore Roosevelt had the idea that Americans younger generation has become too

soft and wanted them to become strong men. During World War I and World War II people saw

soldiers as heroes but this changed with the Vietnam War. Many turned against the war and lost

support for the military. After the war new movies came out that were against the idea of war.

These war movies started having more gore and bloodshed in their scenes which made people

oppose the idea of it. The soldiers who used to be thought of as heroes, are not seen in the same

light in the post-Vietnam War movies.

All this also had an impact on school as students were taught war through antiwar books

and soldiers were talked about less in history. The Vietnam War led to less support of the

military and the ideas of a hero. It also led to Americans not being able to trust and follow their

leaders after what they did in the war. At the end of the cold war, the support for the military

dropped, new soldiers were hard to come by and many soldiers left to pursue other work. When

the attacks on September 11th, 2001, occurred, Americans turned to the heroic soldiers who they

ran off. Heroes can come in all kinds of different professions. Athletes used to stay loyal to one

team their whole career and cared for the fans that looked up to them. It was a time where

players did not care about the publicity but more about the game itself.

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 Chapter 5: The Fall of the Hero Athlete

In the nineteenth and early twentieth century athletes were trying to be good role models

on and off the field. They wanted to give younger generations a good role model to look up to.

As it got later in the twentieth century, more athletes were acting out and making problems for

themselves. Athletes started giving reporters too much information on what they did and had no

care for who all knew. Athletes were going in a downward spiral and many of the idea's athletes

had a century before were gone. With steroids and pay raises, the love for the game seemed to be

diminishing and athletes cared more about how well they played and how much money they

were making rather than being good role models for the next generation. Even heroes in sports

we think of today did not make the best decisions, but reporters would cover up what they did, or

people will just look past it.

As time has passed, more athletes in the early twentieth century have had bad decisions

uncovered. Whether that be throwing games, performance enhancers, and even more private

affairs. Even in sports women heroes are still forgotten. Even though they had some of the same

accomplishes as men, they were never remembered at the same level as the male athletes of the

time. Would the hero athletes of the nineteenth century be able to have the same ideals as they

did, or would they have been pressured into going down the path of the athletes they preached

against? They were heroes in a different day and age as reporters did not follow their every move

and athletes acted and did things differently. Younger generations tend to look up to the athletes

they see everywhere, to them, they are heroes. These younger generations still look up to these

people and try to be like them, they follow the behavior of their hero athletes.