The Canadian Connection

To the Editors:

In his article “Blitzkrieg in Georgia” [NYR, November 30, 2000], James McPherson notes how extraordinary and courageous Lincoln was to proceed with an election in the midst of the American Civil War. “No other country before World War II held general elections in the midst of war.” One despairs. No, it is not that there was some obscure election in an obscure country on an obscure continent that Professor McPherson missed. On December 17, 1917, in the midst of the Great War, a general election was held in the invisible country to your north, Canada.

M. Brook Taylor
Halifax, Nova Scotia

James M. McPherson replies:

I am embarrassed. I stand corrected.