Bibles and bullets

TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. – There are plenty of activities to do on a sunny Saturday in Bloomington. Among these are a day at the golf course and streaking through the quad with Will Ferrell. That’s why sitting at a colonial-era battle reenactment in West Lafayette seems wholly unnecessary.\nHowever, it’s hard to watch the actors portraying French and British troops and not become completely engulfed in the history and allure of historic Fort Ouiatenon and other Indiana battle sites.\nOne such site, the Tippecanoe Battlefield, highlights a particularly joyous time in our nation’s history, when we necessarily ministered to savage Indians with much-needed Bibles and bullets to the head. The treatment of the native population by the U.S. Army seemed justified for the time period and its prominent mindset was to do what was best for the country’s defense and for the Indians’ prosperity, although they likely didn’t realize it at the time. Bibles and bullets are a great way of improving people’s lives, which is perhaps why the U.S. – the great Christian nation that it is – continues its “ministry” in the Middle East.\nAt the center of the Battle of Tippecanoe, which took place in 1811, was William Henry Harrison, U.S. Army general and shortest serving U.S. president. (He died after a month in office.) Harrison, much like our current commander-in-chief, eventually reaped what he had sown through his militaristic ambitions.\nAfter the battle, which saw Harrison defeat the forces gathered by Indian leader Tecumseh, it is said that Harrison and the American presidency became the object of a rather daunting curse. The curse, admittedly unsubstantiated folklore, posited that Harrison would be elected president and die in office. What’s more, the president elected every 20 years after Harrison would also meet a doomed fate, or so the story goes. \nHarrison, elected in 1840, died in office, as did Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Harding, Roosevelt and Kennedy, all elected in 20-year cycles. Ronald Reagan, elected 20 years after Kennedy, was shot and very nearly killed.\nSupposedly the president elected in 2000 would be the next in line to experience an unfortunate spell of luck. This would, in theory, mean George W. Bush should meet a not-so-pleasant fate (let’s assume he was actually elected in 2000 and discount that whole Al Gore thing – dang tree-hugger, anyway). With just 15 months left in office for Bush, odds are the curse will finally be broken with Bush’s survival, which is good considering the next in line for the presidency is a Dick.\nInstead of looking at the curse in a literal sense, however, maybe it’s best viewed through a figurative lens. Bush, much like Harrison, sealed his own fate with military zeal undertaken with reckless abandon. Although Bush won’t die in office (which, as I noted, is probably for the best), we can assume he killed his own presidency a long time ago: March 19, 2003 to be exact, the start of the Iraq War. \nWho’d have thought a day trip wrought with geeky history could end so insightfully? Sure beats streaking through the quad.