October 20, 2007

Analogy

Would Thomas Hutchinson have had sympathy for Philippe Pétain? I was listening to a series of lectures on the American Revolution, and when Hutchinson and his early career was compared with what he did later as Lord Governor of Massachusetts, I couldn't help thinking of Pétain. I'm not quite sure why; the analogy between the two is far from perfect. But I think maybe Hutchinson would have gone easy on the Marshal -- each man was trying to make the best of a very bad situation in which he felt overwhelmed.

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