Soon after I took over the position of managing editor of Seattle’s morning newspaper, The Post-Intelligencer, in the middle 1960s, I inaugurated a tradition by ordering that henceforth the Declaration of Independence was to be reproduced on Page 1 in bold letters every Fourth of July.
At first, some of my colleagues wore frowns that seemed to say: “This guy has lost his marbles.” But, in time, as public acceptance of the unusual idea grew and the compliments poured in to the newspaper for its unusual salute to the spirit of America, the staff became united in lauding the new tradition.
As a matter of fact, I didn’t care what anyone thought or said inside the newspaper or outside it. I was determined that, for one day each year at least, the newspaper I directed was going to put the crime news, the political and government reports, and everything else aside (or at least not on Page 1), so that full attention could be given by our readers and our staff to the greatest document in the history of humankind.
That tradition lasted for the decade I was the newspaper’s managing editor. When I left, the new editor dropped the idea for reasons I never could discern. I think it was a shame that the new order didn’t share my opinion that no other document in world history could match the Declaration of Independence in importance and meaning to free men and women everywhere.
I think reverence for the Declaration and its meaning should be taught in every private and public school in America. The drama that preceded its creation and remained with it in those revolutionary days should be absorbed by every boy and girl in America at an early age and repeated often thereafter so that the spirit of the Declaration is never diminished nor abandoned.
Thomas Jefferson’s hand is clearly evidenced in the Declaration’s beautiful prose and its courageous intentions. He had some help from four other committee members, but he was the magnificent document’s principal architect.<
Even more significant and compelling than the Magna Charta, the Declaration of Independence threw off the yoke of an oppressor nation that was far stronger militarily than the ragtag American forces. But sheer determination and the presence of a brilliant general named George Washington triumphed over a superior force — and America, the independent upstart that was to become the “star” of the free democratic world, was born.
I hasten to recommend to every American who can read that he or she find a copy of the Declaration at the library and thrill to its magic words and its superb meaning for each one of us. It’s relatively short — but, oh, so sweet and beautiful and meaningful!