The Misanthrope’s Corner

IN AN effort to prove that Americans have an innate reverence for the arts, Hillary Clinton recently told the story of Dolley Madison’s priorities on the night the British burned the White House in 1814. Did the fashionable Dolley think to save her wardrobe, including all those Empire turbans? No, indeed. She saved Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of George Washington.

Therefore, implied Mrs. Clinton, the National Endowment for the Arts is, and of right ought to be, first in the hearts of her countrypersons.

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Florence King

Florence King was a contributing editor of National Review.

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Franklin Delano Roosevelt

IN AN effort to prove that Americans have an innate reverence for the arts, Hillary Clinton recently told the story of Dolley Madison’s priorities on the night the British burned the White House in 1814. Did the fashionable Dolley think to save her wardrobe, including all those Empire turbans? No, indeed. She saved Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of George Washington.

Therefore, implied Mrs. Clinton, the National Endowment for the Arts is, and of right ought to be, first in the hearts of her countrypersons.