Editor:
For two weeks during the summer of 1968, I was a crew member on the Eagle, the square-rigged Coast Guard cutter used to teach cadets about sailing under wind power. The Eagle was acquired by the United States at the end of World War II as part of dividing up war booty from Germany. Originally named the “Horst Wessel,” the Eagle is one of a class of five training barques built in Hamburg in 1935-36 for the purpose of training young naval officers.
Horst Wessel lived in the Berlin suburbs and had dropped out of school to join the brownshirts, also known as storm troopers, who regularly clashed with communists and other political parties during the late stages of the Weimar Republic. He was well known among members of the SA for writing lyrics to be sung to known tunes.
In 1930, when he was only 22, Horst Wessel was murdered, probably by communists, in his Berlin apartment. Immediately after his death, he was raised to martyr status by Joseph Goebbels and a set of lyrics he had written became known as the Horst Wessel Song which was sung all over Germany – and was adopted as a co-national anthem in 1933. Three years later, the “Horst Wessel” training ship began service in the German navy – as part of a broader effort to restore German greatness through classical arts and science.
As Coast Guard cadets we were taught about the origins of the Eagle as a cautionary tale. The story of Horst Wessel resonates with us today as a large portion of the American public and politicians seek to raise up one of their own who was tragically assassinated – but all assassinations are tragic.
In the 1960s I witnessed the assassinations of JFK and his brother RFK, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, George Lincoln Rockwell and Medgar Evers. Later came the attempted assassinations of George Wallace, Gerald Ford (twice in a month), Ronald Reagan, and, more recently, Donald Trump (also twice). Four presidents have been assassinated. Attempts were made on the lives of Teddy Roosevelt (1912), his cousin FDR (1932) and Harry Truman (1950). Sadly, politically inspired violence is engrained in American life.
The recent assassination of a young political operative – married with two small children – was horrifying and deserves to be mourned, but it should not be the catalyst for a broad-scale attack on political opponents through a government directed program of revenge and retribution. Time will heal the deep hurt caused by such a violent and public death. But the destruction of perceived enemies and political opponents – and assault on all provisions of the First Amendment – will take much longer to be restored. At this time, all Americans should take a deep breath and consider what would be lost from a moment of extreme reaction to yet another death by gunfire.
Jay Miller
Hillsboro
