"Cultural Amnesia" Threatens Democracy.

• Position: Brief Article

Americans' grasp of history is slipping away, and this cultural amnesia is a threat to democracy, according to Stephen Bertman, a cultural expert at the University of Windsor, Canada. "In a recent poll, 60% of adult Americans couldn't name the U.S. president who ordered the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Over 20% didn't know where, or even if, the bomb had been used," he reported to the World Future Society, Bethesda, Md.

The dumbing down of America is a real threat to democracy, Bertman warns, because democratic traditions depend on people's understanding and belief in the Constitution, and on their willingness to make sacrifices for democracy in the future. He cites four "memory killers" that account for Americans' Cultural amnesia:

* The passage of time has stripped historical events...