Stephen J. Summerhill, John Alexander Williams. Sinking Columbus: Contested History, Cultural Politics, and Mythmaking during the Quincentenary. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2000. 219 S. $59.95, cloth, ISBN 978-0-8130-1799-0.

Reviewed by John E. Kicza

Published on H-LatAm (April, 2002)

Getting It Right About Getting It Wrong developed plans to locate a replica of the Santa Summerhill and Williams have written an ex‐ Maria near its downtown. New York City pre‐ cellent, interesting, and sometimes amusing re‐ pared a parade of tall ships in its harbor. Chicago port about the eforts of a representative set of aspired to hold a World's Fair that rivaled the countries (the , , , , famed Columbian Exposition in 1892-93. and the ) to celebrate the In 1985, Secretary of State George Schultz Quincentenary in 1992. The authors can speak swore into ofce the members of the Christopher with considerable authority about the process. Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee Commission, Williams, a professor of history at Appalachian which was to preside over the country's 1992 cele‐ State University, headed the Christopher Colum‐ bration. The Jubilee Commission initially intended bus Quincentenary Jubilee Commission from 1986 the focus of the event to be on Columbus and his to 1988. Summerhill, a professor of Spanish and 1492 voyage. But scholars had long before moved Portuguese at Ohio State University, served as away from such themes to concentrate on the de‐ Vice Provost for International Afairs and directed mographic impact of the discovery and processes the university's Center for International Studies of cultural and environmental change. Under its from 1986 to 1990. Quincentenary initiative, the National Endow‐ When planners of the Quincentenary began ment for the Humanities provided over $31 mil‐ to make plans in 1982 for its celebration a decade lion to some 400 projects between 1984 and 1992. later, there were no indications that the meaning Few of them addressed Columbus and his deeds. and character of the event would be contested. In Summerhill and Williams point out that patri‐ fact, the frst proposals closely resembled the otic writers of the 1780s and 1790s frst intro‐ types of celebrations that had taken place in duced Columbus as "a symbolic founder of the 1892-93. Columbia, South Carolina erected a stat‐ United States" and encouraged the use of his ue to the discoverer in 1987, and Columbus, Ohio name to designate sites in the new nation. His de‐ H-Net Reviews vout Catholicism and service to Spain were neatly States and , the Commission decided to overlooked, while his Italian origin was played take a two-pronged approach to the celebration. It up. Washington Irving's biography of the great ex‐ would endorse certain expensive high-profle plorer, modeled closely after the biography writ‐ events, such as the display of tall ships or models ten by Columbus's son, depicted him as a tragic of Columbus's feet, that would be funded by cor‐ hero, the view most commonly refected in subse‐ porate sponsors. These, it was hoped, would cap‐ quent artistic representations. ture the public's attention and entice them to at‐ In 1882, a recently-founded Irish Catholic tend the many cultural events being planned by brotherhood in New Haven Connecticut named it‐ museums, arts councils, and the like. self the Knights of Columbus. At frst primarily an But the Commission enjoyed little success in insurance club, it soon dedicated itself to the pro‐ attracting major corporate sponsors. Goudie could motion of Catholicism in this militantly protestant no even attract support from Hispanic American country. The KOC supported pa‐ organizations, including his fellow Cuban-Ameri‐ rades in northeastern cities that contained sub‐ cans. Then Goudie was found personally to be in stantial Catholic immigrant communities and severe fnancial straits, and a government audit of joined in the ultimately unsuccessful campaign to the Commission discovered that it was insolvent have Columbus made a saint. and had paid a large amount to one of Goudie's But as the Quincentenary approached, Lati‐ friends. Goudie resigned soon thereafter. A new nos and Spanish nationalists challenged this es‐ chairman was selected, but the Jubilee Commis‐ tablished tradition. This struggle over how to rep‐ sion accomplished little, and the country's "of‐ resent Columbus's cultural identity frst fared up cial" celebration of the Quincentenary was very in the dispute between Italian-American and Lati‐ meager. no politicians over the composition of the Jubilee The other major efort in the United States to Commission. When Italian members heavily out‐ fete the Quncentenary was nearly as great a fas‐ numbered Latinos, a national Latino organization co. In 1981, Chicago undertook its campaign to created a rival private group, the National His‐ sponsor a World's Fair in honor of the famed panic Quincentennial Commission, to run alterna‐ Columbian Exposition of 1892-93. The Chicago tive programs. utility and newspaper interests who were the pri‐ The White House selected the majority of Ju‐ mary promoters of the idea defeated rival eforts bilee Commission members. It chose only individ‐ by Houston and Miami. But in 1982, a formidable uals with a record of supporting Ronald Reagan foreign competitor, , announced its inten‐ since his 1976 run for the presidency. John N. tion to gain the exclusive right to sponsor a Goudie, a Cuban-American real estate mogul from World's Fair in 1992. Since 1928, the Bureau of In‐ Miami, was named chairman. Of the twenty-four ternational Expositions had chosen between com‐ appointed members, only three had credentials as peting proposals. All contestants understood that historians: William McNeill, a global historian a World's Fair was doomed to fail if another was from the University of Chicago and a former Pres‐ scheduled at the same time or even in the near fu‐ ident of the American Historical Association; ture. The organizers of the Chicago proposal ini‐ Charles Polzer, a veteran Latin American histori‐ tially dismissed the Seville bid, but over the next an at the University of ; and Henry Ray‐ few years, the Spanish city improved its plan, mont, a retired journalist who specialized in Latin while Chicago's foundered, largely over the city's American issues. Over the next several years in a bitter racial politics. Leaders of its many ethnic series of meetings held throughout the United neighborhoods could not agree on a location for

2 H-Net Reviews the fair nor how diferent groups would beneft partisan fghter during World War Two. He is a from it. dominating fgure cutting across their narrative, Ultimately, the only mega-event held in the erupting from time to time to shake things up and United States was AmeriFlora, a horticultural ex‐ to move the debate in new directions through his position in Columbus, Ohio. But even this project international stature and strongly-held views. was greatly scaled down from its initial plan be‐ The United States was only one of more than cause of the difculty in obtaining corporate twenty countries that created centennial planning sponsorship. The number of visitors likewise re‐ groups. These include Spain, Portugal, Italy, a sulted much lower than anticipated. number of Latin American countries, and even As 1992 neared, Native American spokesmen . No matter the projects pursued and re‐ increasingly denounced the very concept of the sources committed, these countries all experi‐ Quincentenary as insensitive to the suferings in‐ enced disappointing outcomes. Spain's primary ficted on the native population as a consequence goal in its celebration was to strengthen ties with of Columbus's discovery. They ofered the idea of the Latin American nations. It therefore stressed the "invasion of America" as an alternative to the their common heritage and pursued closer eco‐ "discovery of America." When numerous Ameri‐ nomic and political integration, while also demon‐ can Indian groups announced plans to actively strating that it was untainted by any enduring protest the Quincentenary, the Jubilee Commis‐ "colonialist" perspective. sion designated Dave Warren, a prominent Native Three major events marked Spain's celebra‐ American as an honorary member. But he re‐ tion of 1992: the Barcelona Olympics, which were signed in 1990 and was not replaced. not an ofcial Quincentenary event, but which The growing campaign against Columbus had been awarded to the country because of the reached a high point with the publication of Kirk‐ importance of that year to its history; Expo '92 in patrick Sale's The Conquest of Paradise: Christo‐ Seville; and the designation of Madrid as Cultural pher Columbus and the Columbian Legacy. This Capital of . Expo '92 received some 15.5 powerful indictment of Columbus and of the envi‐ million vistors, a half million more than project‐ ronmental and human devastation that followed ed. So by that measure it certainly seemed a suc‐ with Spanish colonization was probably the frst cess. Further, the Socialist government of Spain, anti-Columbus book to reach a popular audience. which had strongly backed the project, declared The growing attack on the explorer and of the that the Expo had earned a proft of $120 million. concept of a Quincentenary by "progressives" gal‐ However, when a Conservative government came vanized cultural conservatives to assert more stri‐ to power in the 1996 elections, its investigation re‐ dently than before the accomplishments of the vealed that the event actually lost some $250 mil‐ European settlers and the benefts that mankind lion. Enormous corruption was discovered in the had derived from their actions. The American In‐ awarding of bids and in cost overruns. dian Movement had its greatest public success in Hundreds of other celebrations took place in San Francisco, where some thousands of demon‐ Spain in 1992. The seventeen autonomous re‐ strators prevented Itialian Americans from stag‐ gions, the ffty provinces, and many more munici‐ ing their traditional mock landing by Columbus palities, universities, and cultural institutions par‐ and also disrupted the Columbus Day parade. ticipated. But the larger national goals of closer Summerhill and William introduce Paolo ties with the Latin American countries and en‐ Emilio Taviani, a Genoese scholar of Columbus hanced prosperity did not occur. and an Italian national hero for his service as a

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The Qunicentenary celebration in Italy was memoration," not a "celebration." Many of the modest and focused. The country emphasized the projects undertaken were scholarly and educa‐ places of Columbus's youth, so most events oc‐ tional in nature. Mexico's most public venture curred in or near to . Taviani devised and was the marvelous exhibit of Mexican art from used his political clout to implement this tradi‐ across twenty centuries that it displayed in major tional approach. He also stressed cultural and international cities. In this period, Pope John Paul scholarly undertakings, rather than commercial II ensured that Mexicans would view the papacy endeavors, as the heart of the commemoration. favorably by returning the Badianus Herbal, a Hence the publication of the Nuova Raccolta monument of indigenous cultural achievement Colombiana, a modern set of important docu‐ from the early colonial period, to its country of ments and writings from the Columbus era drawn origin from the Vatican Library, where it had from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. been held for centuries. Leon-Portilla resigned in Of course, in itself, the impact 1988, when a new presidential administration of the discovery and conquest of the came to power. He was succeeded in turn by oth‐ had long been a controversial issue, so the dis‐ er scholarly giants, Leopoldo Zea and Enrique Flo‐ agreements that so transformed both scholarly rescano. They downplayed the devastation that and popular perspectives in and the encounter had visited upon the natives, which Europe did not erupt there unexpectedly. Howev‐ had been Leon-Portilla's dominant theme, in favor er, the Dominican Republic is something of an ex‐ of stressing the impact of the enduring cultural in‐ ception to this continental pattern. Partly because teraction between the Spanish and the natives. it shared the island of Hispaniola with Haiti and But the upshot was to remove much of the edge the trajectory of history between the two coun‐ from Mexico's presentation. When Florescano re‐ tries, the Dominican Republic had long empha‐ signed in the middle of 1992, he was not replaced. sized its "Spanish" character, however mythical The national project never dominated public at‐ that might be. When the government of Juan Bala‐ tention. Ofcial activities ground slowly to a halt. guer came to power in 1986, it committed itself to In their thoughtful conclusion, Summerhill constructing the Columbus Lighthouse by 1992, and Williams point out that the Quincentenary, as which it did, at a cost of $40 million and the dis‐ an ofcial commemoration directed by ofcial placement of 50,000 people from their homes. commissions in most countries, could not escape This unsightly and unneeded structure had been being an anachronism. The events, as planned, as‐ frst proposed in the nineteenth century, and the siduously avoided examining the darker aspects project had been resurrected many times over the and implications of the event in favor of defend‐ subsequent century. Intended as a fnal burial ing viewpoints that were increasingly out of date spot for Columbus's remains and as a shrine to and unconnected to contemporary preoccupa‐ him, the Lighthouse lauded the blessings that tions and perspectives. Those few events that Catholic evangelization had brought to the Ameri‐ were arguably successful, those of Spain and the cas. Dominican Republic, glossed lightly over the im‐ Mexico's early plans for the Qunincentenary portant issues and proved to be horribly costly as were substantially shaped by Miguel Leon-Por‐ well. Perhaps, in the end, the most successful tilla, famed for his lifetime of scholarship on in‐ Quncentenary project was the Smithsonian Insti‐ digenous life and writings. He determined that tution's exhibit, Seeds of Change, for it addressed Mexico should highlight an "encounter" rather in a thoughtful yet accessible manner contempo‐ than a "discovery" and that it do so with a "com‐ rary issues and perspectives: environmental change, the impact of the introduction of new

4 H-Net Reviews plants, animals, and diseases, the adjustments that indigenous societies made to cope with mas‐ sive disruption, and the way that displaced peo‐ ples carve out new homes and cultural meanings for themselves and substantially shaped their new identities. Copyright 2002 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonproft, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For other uses contact the Reviews editorial staf: [email protected].

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Citation: John E. Kicza. Review of Summerhill, Stephen J.; Williams, John Alexander. Sinking Columbus: Contested History, Cultural Politics, and Mythmaking during the Quincentenary. H-LatAm, H-Net Reviews. April, 2002.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=6197

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