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A Heroism Safe for Democracy
Midway through the post-9/11 Global War on Terror, then General John Allen, USMC (ret.) observed of the Millennial young men and women fighting in the ranks under him that they were a “new Greatest Generation.” He also believed that the courage they demonstrated was an outgrowth of their character, even of their specific American character. Many today label these soldiers as heroes. But what is heroism in a democracy, where liberty and equality, and respect for the rule of law, must be paramount?
This session will examine how the Founders thought of heroism, courage, and civic spiritedness within the new context of American democracy, and how the tradition of an “American heroic” tied to a “civic virtue armed” has translated across the 250 years of the Republic.
Rebecca Burgess is senior fellow at the Yorktown Institute and with IndependentWomen. A former senior editor of American Purpose, acting director of the Classics in Strategy and Diplomacy project, and an SME consultant for the George W. Bush Institute’s Veterans and Military Families program, she is a 2021 National Security Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies; an Advisory Board Member of Combined Arms and of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation/Monticello; and a SME for the NEH Educating for American Democracy: A Roadmap for Excellence in History and Civics Education project. Additionally, she serves on the Reader Review Board of the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps Journal. Rebecca researches the political and social institutions of democratic governance, including civics and national security, civil-military relations and the military life cycle, veterans and politics, and theories of political decay, war, empire and expansion. She has combined public policy, administrative, and academic experience, holding the position prior as a research fellow both in Foreign and Defense Policy and Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. A Ph.D. in politics at the University of Dallas, her work has been solicited for congressional testimonies, and been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist, Military Times, Newsweek, The American Interest, The Strategy Bridge, and War on the Rocks, among others.