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There is a great scene in the fabulous John Adams HBO miniseries of 2008 that shows John Adams as a very old man shuffling up to an artist's rendering of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. All of the signers appear in the painting together for this crucial moment in American history.
The artist is immensely proud of his work and can't wait to show it off to the founding father. He waits with great anticipation, panting after a compliment from Adams.
Adams, the very definition of the old codger, looks over the painting and sneers. He first insults the work. And then he glares at the artist and says, "It's very bad history."
The artist is befuddled. "I took such care," he blusters, "to make sure I got the rendering of each signer of the Declaration just right," missing Adams' point completely.
The former president goes on to explain in anger that there was never a time when all of the signers of the Declaration were in Philadelphia together. There was a war on and their lives were in danger so they were sneaking in and out of the city at different times and days to affix their signatures.
The artist, obviously backed up by the ferocity of Adams' attack, but wanting to remain respectful to the venerable old man responds, "It's just a little artistic license, that's all." (An excuse passed down to the movie makers of our generation.)
Adams lets out a few more disgusted grunts and is escorted out the door by his son and then president, John Quincy Adams.
You know, it's funny, I remember seeing pictures of that famous painting as a kid and never once did I not think that they were all there together at one time. It's a big deal, because the truth speaks to the duress they were under, the artist's rendering does not.
Next one...
Did you know that Ty Cobb, the early 20th century baseball player, the first real star of Major League Baseball, the first one ever elected to the Hall of Fame, was also a racist, a child abuser, a murderer and a rapist?
Except that he wasn't.
But scores of books and articles said so. Particularly one book that was written and published upon his death in 1961. A book that Cobb wanted written so he could set the record straight and then tried to quash before it was published because he saw what it was becoming.
You see, his ghost author and "collaborator", Al Stump, saw instead a moneymaker and amplified Cobb's faults all the more. He knew what we know today, sensationalism sells.
The problem for Cobb is he was dying and all Stump had to do was wait him out. He did. And then published his book.
A movie based on that book came out in the early nineties starring Tommy Lee Jones. There was a scene in the movie that depicted Cobb as an old man trying to rape a young woman. He gives up only when he realizes he cannot "perform."
It absolutely never happened. The director and Stump decided that, though not technically true, it's "something Cobb would do."
There was never one intimation in Cobb's whole life that he sexually assaulted anybody.
This is all spelled out superbly by Charles Leerhsen in his well-researched and well documented 2015 biography of Cobb, Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty.
To be sure, Cobb was a brawler. He was volatile and could be a jackass. Intense would be an understatement.
But racist? Never an inkling. He fought a lot, but with many more white men than black. And when Jackie Robinson broke the baseball color barrier, Cobb cheered the news. Nope, no racist.
He was rough on his kids, was a distant father, was cross and demanding in kind of a peevish way, but he was no abuser.
Another rumor had it that he murdered three men in his life. This rumor became fact in many circles. But it is simply not so. There is zero evidence anywhere or even an implication during his life that he killed or even tried to kill anyone.
Even the myth of his sharpening his spikes for the purpose of injuring other players when he would slide into a base is just that...a myth. Oh he'd go in hard, and you'd best be out of his way when he did, but all within the rules.
Listen, we will never get history perfectly, but we have to get it as right as we can. True, substantive lessons cannot be learned from sham stories and fairy tale lives.
The amazing thing is that the truth is actually as compelling, if not more so, than the lies. But to be accurate takes effort.
We need to make that effort.
After all, we all leave an imprint. We all leave a legacy. Wouldn't it be a shame if someone stole yours.
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