Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Robert Kagan's Aug. 11 op-ed, "Putin Makes His Move," was a good summary of history lessons that many of us have forgotten, especially the reminder that the Russians were humiliated at how the Cold War ended, the same way the Germans felt after World War I.

I immediately thought of Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant and the way they deliberately did not humiliate the South at the end of the Civil War. Grant and his troops were respectful toward Gen. Robert E. Lee during the somber meeting at Appomattox, and they even saluted Lee as he rode away. At the end of the war, Lincoln had a band play "Dixie" for Confederate prisoners on parole in Washington.

Where is a statesman who can show us how to win a conflict without crushing the spirits of the vanquished?

ADRIENNE D. HARRIS

Annapolis