The author of a new accounting of Great American progressives – The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame – says he was shocked to find on a recent trip to Milwaukee that this fair city has forgotten one of its old Socialist leaders, Victor Berger.
Peter Dreier, a professor in the Politics Department at Occidental College in L.A., says he found no streets named after the former Wisconsin Congressman and Socialist Party leader, no landmarks, no elementary schools, no bronze likenesses patina’d with age.
He was appalled:
Given his political base, Berger would certainly applaud having a local baseball team called the Brewers, but shouldn’t Milwaukee’s progressives and unionists insist that Miller Park – the team’s privately-owned stadium that was built with public funds – be renamed Berger Ballpark? Shouldn’t one of the city’s few remaining breweries produce a new product called Berger Beer? And shouldn’t one of Milwaukee’s many German restaurants add to its menu a Berger Burger?
For much more, check out the Huffington Post.
Look closely, and you can tell the poster seen below was defaced, as the Wisconsin Historical Society says, to make the stoutly anti-war candidate look like a German Kaiser during a 1918 U.S. Senate race.
