Cw Has Americans Brushing Up On History

June 30, 1999|By DEBORAH STRASZHEIM Daily Press

WILLIAMSBURG — Time for another one of those humiliating history surveys.

Who do more people recognize? Martha Stewart as America's professional hostess or Martha Washington as America's first lady who lived at Mount Vernon?

Martha Stewart.


This is the third year Colonial Williamsburg has released a history survey on how much - or how little - Americans know about the founding of their nation. This year, Opinion Research Corp. polled 1,008 adults across the nation by telephone to compare their knowledge of history and pop culture. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.

Among the more embarrassing findings: More people correctly identified the slogan "Just Do It" as advertising for Nike than knew the phrase "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" is part of the Declaration of Independence.

Some of the questions along with the percentage of people who gave each answer (correct answers are in italics):

Which company uses the advertising slogan "Just Do It"?

A. Coca-Cola, 10 %

B. Nike, 79%

C. Levi's, 4%

D. Don't know, 7 %

The phrase, "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" can be found in which of the following U.S. documents?

A. Declaration of Independence, 47%

B. Bill of Rights, 23%

C. Constitution, 25%

D. Don't know, 5%

What is the name of the businessman whose computer software company created the Windows operating system?

A. Steve Jobs, 2%

B. Bill Gates, 90%

C. Lee Iaccoca, 3%

D. Don't know, 5%

Which of the following three men is considered one of our country's founding fathers?

A. Alexander Hamilton, 53%

B. Benedict Arnold, 6%

C. Andrew Jackson, 36%

D. Don't know, 5%

Speaking of which, 56 of the 1,008 people surveyed thought Benedict Arnold was one of the founding fathers. Arnold was an American general in the Revolutionary War who plotted to betray the American fort at West Point to the British. He was so widely scorned after the plot was discovered that his name has become synonymous with the word traitor.

But there is hope. In some cases, adults knew as much about historical figures as pop culture icons. For example, almost seven of 10 knew Patrick Henry said, "Give me liberty or give me death." That's almost as many as the percentage who knew George Harrison was a member of the Beatles.

More people knew that Samuel Adams, the man, was leader of the Boston Tea Party than knew Samuel Adams, the beer, can be described as a microbrew.

"It's natural for us to know about movies, sports and other parts of today's culture - they're part of our daily lives," said Frederick Nahm, acting president of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. "But we can't let them take the place of the important people and events of our shared past. We have to keep that history alive by making it relevant, compelling and real."

Tim Andrews, director of public relations for Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, said the release of the survey is timely for the 4th of July holiday.

"This provides an opportunity for Americans, as we celebrate our independence, to reflect on how our country came to be,'' he said.

There were actually some questions where Americans knew quite a bit more about history than things like television. Consider this:

Nearly eight of 10 adults recognized George Washington as a general in the American Revolution. By comparison, just more than half knew Obi-Wan Kenobi said, "May the force be with you."

Ninety-five percent also knew Paul Revere was the man who warned, "the British are coming!" Of course, 24 people thought Walt Whitman said that, but that's beside the point.

- Reporter Kara Vick contributed to this story.

- Deborah Straszheim can be reached at 221-7220 or by e-mail at

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