"Birth of a Nation" and "History written with lightning"

[Bonnie Taylor-Blake]

Oops.  About "teaching history by lighting" and *The Birth of a Nation*,
it's a good thing that film historian Arthur Lennig's already tracked it.

All the way back to the end of February, 1915, a mere ten days after the
film had been screened at the White House.

-- Bonnie

[From Arthur Lennig's "Myth and fact: The reception of The Birth of a
Nation," *Film History* 16(2): 117-141, 2004.]

Wilson was impressed with the work, which echoed his own views as offered in
his *History of the American People* (1902) . . . and he reputedly said that
it was like 'writing history with lightning ... My only regret is that it is
all too true.' Although this remark has often been cited, its provenance
remains hazy. It seems to have stemmed from an interview conducted with
Griffith only a few days after the White House showing and printed in the
*New York American* on 28 February 1915. In it, Griffith claimed that the
film 'received very high praise from high quarters in Washington' and
explained that 'I was gratified when a man we all revere, or ought to, said
it teaches history by lightning'. [57] (Notice the discrepancy between
'writing' his story and 'teaching' it. There is no mention of 'My only
regret is that it is all too true'.) [p. 122]

[Lennig's footnote follows.]

[57] I examined bound volumes of the newspapers at the New York State
Library to check this. It can be found in the Sunday paper of *The New York
American*, section M, p. 9. Griffith also used the word 'teach' in a
statement reported in Stephen Gordon, *Photoplay*, October 1916.