Hamilton College History Professor Maurice Isserman was a guest on Public Radio International's "To the Point" which aired on Jan. 19 on KCRW-FM in Los Angeles. The discussion was about demonstrations staged for George W. Bush's inauguration.
Isserman, who is the author of America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s and is known as a preeminent historian of the American left, was joined on the show by Ed Asner, (actor and political activist) Richard Becker, International Action Center, Elliott Nitsberg, People for the American Way, and James Maser, Gore Majority organization.
Isserman predicted the Bush protest would be small: " [there is] something about inaugural protests in general which is that it's a really poor time to have a protest. First of all, the weather in Washington is usally terrible... But also most people aren't tuned into the inauguration as an occasion for protest. The general assumptions seems to be, 'Well, the new guy is coming in. Let's give him a chance to succeed or to fail.'"
Isserman went on to cite the examples of the Nixon and Reagan inaugural protests. At Nixon's only a small group showed up but then 11 months later, half a million people marched on Washington. Nobody turned out to protest Reagan but nine months later the AFL-CIO brought 250,000 people to DC protest The Reagan Administration's actions in the PATCO strikes.
"So I think the record shows that inaugural protests are usually small, ineffective," said Isserman, "the left entertaining itself and speaking to itself."
Isserman concluded the discussion, " I think absolutely George W. Bush is a one term president. The Democrats will regain Congress in 2002... his history will be one long history of being a lame duck. A lot of people weren't paying attention this time around to voting practices. And there's going to be a lot more attention paid in the future to make sure that someone like Bush is not able to sneak into the White House... I think this is going to be a short ... unhappy presidency for George W. Bush"
