What Lafayette’s 1824 Tour Can Teach Americans

Mr. Cole is the author of “The Last Adieu: Lafayette’s Triumphant Return, the Echoes of Revolution, and the Gratitude of the Republic.”

This summer, the National Park Service ordered the removal of quotes referring to abolitionism, immigration and the Vietnam War at Bunker Hill, part of Boston National Historic Park. The grassy slope where America first glimpsed independence is now a front in a healthy fight over how its story is told.

Broadly, the debate is over whether interpretation at monuments and museums and in classroom curriculums should concentrate on celebrating achievements or reckoning with unfulfilled promises. At first glance, this is another symptom of a........

© The New York Times