South Mouth: Why Liberals Hate Dixie

IN 1906, Varina Howell Davis, widow of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, died in New York. She had moved there for financial reasons after her husband’s death in 1889. Needing to earn her living but reluctant to embarrass her fellow Mississippians by doing it in their midst, she accepted an offer from her cousin’s husband, Joseph Pulitzer, to review books for his paper.

Now that New York Gov. George Pataki has ripped the Georgia state flag from the Albany capitol, it is instructive to learn how an earlier New York responded to the passing of the First Lady of the Confederacy.

About the Author

Florence King

Florence King was a contributing editor of National Review.

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IN 1906, Varina Howell Davis, widow of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, died in New York. She had moved there for financial reasons after her husband’s death in 1889. Needing to earn her living but reluctant to embarrass her fellow Mississippians by doing it in their midst, she accepted an offer from her cousin’s husband, Joseph Pulitzer, to review books for his paper.

Now that New York Gov. George Pataki has ripped the Georgia state flag from the Albany capitol, it is instructive to learn how an earlier New York responded to the passing of the First Lady of the Confederacy.