Happy Iacocca Day
For years, we have had Columbus Day at this time in October. Columbus has been credited for being the first to believe the world was a globe, though in truth most people at the time had the same belief (contemporary navigators used a system that assumed a spherical planet). He was also credited for discovering America, after finding outlying islands (and though many credit Scandinavians for a much earlier discovery of the Americas, and others can claim other Europeans should get the credit). This may or may not be true but he was, after all, looking for Asia, based on numerous false assumptions and mistakes thinking it lay thousands of miles closer to Europe than it does.
Regardless of whether Columbus was a great pioneer or navigator, he has been credibly criticized for what some have called attempted genocide; others, more restrained, have still noted Columbus’ apparently bloodthirsty nature when confronted with non-Europeans. For that reason, many Americans feel that a national holiday in his honor may be in poor taste at best, despite his successful production of a Harry Potter movie roughly six centuries later.
Columbus: They ought to make good and skilled servants… I think they can very easily be made Christians, for they seem to have no religion. If it pleases our Lord, I will take six of them to Your Highnesses when I depart, in order that they may learn our language.
Wikipedia: The native Taino people of the island were systematically enslaved and murdered. Hundreds were rounded up and shipped to Europe to be sold; many died en route. For the rest of the population, Columbus demanded that all Taino under his control should bring the Spaniards gold. Those that didn’t were to have their hands cut off. Since there was, in fact, little gold to be had, the Taino fled, and the Spaniards hunted them down and killed them. … Within two years, half of what may have been 250,000 Taino were dead. … By 1550, 60 years after Columbus landed, only a few hundred Taino were left on their island.
It is for this reason I believe the time has come for a Lee Iacocca Day. Like Columbus, Iacocca is Italian in ancestry, and honoring him is, in a way, honoring all Italian-Americans. Unlike Columbus, Iacocca does not appear to have caused many deaths, but he has accomplished a great deal for the nation. While others may have given up and allowed the great Chrysler Corporation to fail, Iaccoca stood up and worked hard to keep the corporation largely intact. He eventually demanded that the government provide some reciprocation for the immense amounts of money Chrysler had saved them during the war years (and afterwards), and with loan guarantees in hand turned Chrysler around, putting it onto a secure, profitable footing (then presiding over its near failure again, then presiding over its turnaround).
Iacocca also helped to keep Ford moving forward for years, like Walter P. Chrysler working to help the domestic auto industry. But that was just his start. Lee Iacocca worked hard to put his fame and power to work for a restoration of the Statue of Liberty, a successful effort that kept America’s most famous icon from shamefully deteriorating in full view. Later, Iacocca created the Lee Iacocca foundation, putting his efforts to saving lives by pursuing a cure for diabetes.
The time has come for Lee Iacocca Day. After all, who does America really want to be remembered for?