Godspeed, Alistair Cooke.
Alistair passed away yesterday in New York at the age of 95. I won't repeat what all the obituaries will say.
As one who came from England to America as a boy, I found that Alistair's commentaries perfectly embodied my love of this country. I loved hearing his take on life here in America and the always sympathetic voice reminded me of everything that is good here.
Yes, I tear my hair out sometimes over the politics and the myopia (I often think Teddy Roosevelt was correct in saying that America's national animal should be the grizzly bear not the bald eagle) but the fact remains that I've lived my entire adult life here and made a good living.
It is sometimes easy to lose sight of America's virtues amidst the bluster and foreign policy blunders. But Americans are, at their best, a tremendously generous and open people and Alistair's letters reminded us of that weekly.
I think he will be sorely missed.
(For those of you who have never had the opportunity to hear him, his last letter is here (BBC UK RealAudio). A transcript is here.)
Posted by artandscience at March 31, 2004 07:57 AMI really enjoyed this post. I'd never heard of Alistair Cooke before (or if I had I never knew his name) but I listened to his last letter and found it quite enjoyable. I look forward to browsing through the archives to find some of his older writings. Thanks a lot.
Posted by: daniel at March 31, 2004 07:49 PMYou might have known him as the voice of Masterpiece Theatre. I think his "Letters from America" will be more enduring but he may well have had wider exposure here in America from the PBS series.
Posted by: stefan at April 3, 2004 08:56 PM