Mr Obama’s magic carpet
QUESTION Was a misquote sewn into President Obama’s Oval Office carpet?
When President Obama revamped the Oval Office in the White house in August 2010, out went George W. Bush’s carpet of golden sunbeams, radiating from a presidential seal, and the bust of Winston Churchill — and in came golden striped wallpaper, golden couches and a giant oval tan-and-navy rug, circumscribed with inspirational quotations from five U.S. luminaries.
Four of the quotes were the line from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s inaugural speech: ‘The only thing we have to fear is fear itself’; Abraham Lincoln’s declaration: ‘Government of the people, by the people for the people’; John F. Kennedy’s: ‘no problem of human destiny is beyond human beings’; and Teddy Roosevelt’s socialist statement: ‘The welfare of each of us is dependent fundamentally upon the welfare of all of us.’
Obama’s fifth quote was one of his favourite phrases: ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,’ a phrase he had used repeatedly on the campaign trail and attributed to Martin Luther King Jr.
In a 2009 Time magazine article, Obama wrote: ‘But as I learned in the shadow of an empty steel plant more than two decades ago, while you can’t necessarily bend history to your will, you can do your part to see that, in the words of Dr King, it “bends toward justice”. So I hope that you will stand up and do what you can to serve your community, shape our history and enrich both your own life and the lives of others across this country.’
King first used the phrase in a 1958 article in The Gospel Messenger periodical: ‘evil may so shape events that Caesar will occupy a palace and Christ a cross, but that same Christ arose and split history into AD and BC, so that even the life of Caesar must be dated by his name.
‘Yes, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”. There is something in the universe which justifies William Cullen Bryant [19th century U.S. poet and journalist] in saying: “Truth crushed to earth will rise again.”’
The fact that King placed it between quotation marks signalled that he was aware it was a pre-existing aphorism. The quote, in fact, originated with Theodore Parker, a Unitarian minister and slavery abolitionist.
In 1853, in a collection of Ten Sermons Of Religion, the third sermon entitled Of Justice And The Conscience, Parker wrote: ‘I do not pretend to understand the moral universe, the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways. But from what I see, I am sure it bends towards justice. Things refuse to be mismanaged long. Jefferson trembled when he thought of slavery and remembered that God is just. ere long, all America will tremble.’
In 1918, his ideas were condensed into a more familiar version in a compilation titled Readings From Great Authors, in a section listing statements attributed to Parker: ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’ King was clearly using a precis of Parker’s original.
D. Kelly, Belfast.
QUESTION In a recent Test Match between India and Australia, Steve O’Keefe bowled 77 overs in an innings. Is this a record?
STEVE O’KEEFE achieved this feat last month in the third Test of Australia’s tour to India, taking three wickets for 199 runs as he racked up 17 maidens.
It placed him joint 19th in the list of most overs bowled in a Test innings, along with england bowler Tom Cartwright, who bowled 77 overs against Australia at Old Trafford in 1964, taking two for 118 with 32 maidens.
The most overs bowled in a Test innings was by West Indian spinner Sonny Ramadhin, who bowled 98 overs against england at edgbaston in 1957, taking two for 179. The most maidens bowled was by Ramadhin’s spin partner Alf valentine, also against england in 1950 at Trent Bridge, taking three for 140 off 92 overs, including 49 maidens. This puts him third on the list of most overs bowled after Tom veivers, who bowled 95.1 overs for Australia against england at Trent Bridge in 1950, taking three for 140.
The most expensive bowling figures are those of L.O. Fleetwood-Smith for Australia against england at the Oval in 1938 of one for 298 off 87 overs, placing him 4th on the list of overs bowled.
Ian Tyrer, Wellington, Shropshire.
QUESTION Further to the question about jokes in the Soviet Union, does anyone know of any jokes from the Roman Empire?
FURTHER to the earlier answer, the Roman comedies of Plautus featured dissolute young men, nagging wives, cowardly soldiers, savvy slaves and a doddery old fool, the senex, who was outwitted by everyone, even his slaves.
educated Romans, however, left such ribald humour to the plebs and aspired to wit and satire. A recurring theme was religion and the emperor’s divinity.
emperors were generally worshipped while living and deified at death. On his deathbed, emperor vespasian said:
‘Vae, puto deus fio (Alas, I think I am becoming a god).’
When some Spaniards told Augustus that a palm tree grew on his altar (thinking it an omen), he replied that it showed how often they lit a sacrificial fire.
When Claudius was murdered by poisoned mushrooms, his successor nero called mushrooms the food of the gods.
When Caracalla murdered his brother Geta, it was suggested that deifying Geta would mitigate the crime. Caracalla agreed, so long as Geta dwelt in heaven and not on earth.
The Romans consulted the gods on everything, though some doubted their existence. Ovid, in the Ars Amatoria, wrote: ‘Expedit esse deos, et, ut expedit, esse putemus (it is expedient that there be gods; and being expedient, let us believe there are).’ Graham Jennings, London SW16.
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