I won't make excuses for that rhetoric. I wonder if you'll do the same for LBJ's rhetoric about African Americans, and the fairly good evidence that his support of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was more motivated by power politics than an actual sense of African American equality. This is, by the way, in sharp contrast to President Grant's support of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which if not later eviscerated by the Supreme Court, would have made the 1964 act unnecessary. That Grant believed in racial equality is beyond a reasonable doubt, as so many of his actions as president were directed toward that end.

An analysis of whether LBJ ever said "I'll have those @)#()@@#$'s voting Democratic for 200 years" as a rationale for the Civil Rights Act of 1964:

https://tinyurl.com/9uh6zje

And, an analysis of U. S. Grant and Civil Rights:

https://tinyurl.com/4earvrs2

BTW, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, mentioned here, was passed before Grant was president. It was passed over Andrew Johnson's veto. Both the Klu Klux Bill of 1871 and the Civil Rights Act of 1875 were passed at the urging of Grant, who signed both bills.

An interesting side note that I only learned about recently is that his father, Jesse Grant, spent some time living with and working with Owen Brown, the father of John Brown, of Harper's Ferry fame. This undoubtedly help to shape Jesse's abolitionist attitudes, which he expressed for the rest of his life.

https://tinyurl.com/yfvw5nrz

And, yes, I know about Grant's anti-Jewish order during the Civil War -- the infamous General Order #11. For the rest of his life he regretted that order, and tried his best to make amends for it. Here's a quote from the National Park Service summarizing his attempts at atonement:

"When Grant was elected to be President of the United States in 1868, he tried to correct his mistake through a number of different actions. He appointing a record number of Jewish Americans to government offices during his eight years as president. When the Adas Israel Congregation opened its new Synagogue in Washington, D.C., in 1876, President Grant attended the three-hour ceremony. Grant also spoke out against Jewish persecution in other countries. While some Jewish people continued to harbor resentment for Grant’s actions [during the war], many in the community actually felt that he had become a friend and defender of their rights. When Grant died in July 1885, the Philadelphia Jewish Record exclaimed, 'None will mourn his loss more sincerely than the Hebrew.'”

Went and enjoyed it and "got" the red scare reference. That said, it's getting increasing difficult when speaking to groups of younger people to draw what many of us would call common analogies. The lack of cultural literacy makes drawing connections very difficult. That's why I'm a big fan of reintroducing civics as a college requirement in Ohio's state schools.

Senate Bill 83 which has passed the Senate and is now before the house, actually requires said classes if it passes and is signed by the governor.

That's the rub. If the bill just requires students to take an existing class in US history or US politics, that's one thing. If they mandate a specific course that is designed outside of the universities and then forced upon them, then it will be a disaster.

My grandparents farm near Trimble in northern Athens County had many buckeye trees. Not part of WNF but close enough and wooded enough that it could have much the same species of trees.