'The American Credo' Summary

Mencken bluntly points out weaknesses in the American system where he sees them, and it is often a bit startling how easily many of his complaints from ninety years ago could be directly applied to our current government, media, religious institutions, and political process today. Be prepared for racism against American blacks and ethnic slurs against Jews and recent immigrants as part of the baggage that comes along in his cultural commentary from 1920. I certainly don’t condone such attitudes, but despite them, I still think many of his acerbic insights on how society operates are spot on. I take his bigotry and racism as reminders that even the clever can fall into such practices, and while reacting with dismay and sometimes disgust at his commentary on these occasions, I am also prompted to reflect on what sort of equivalent behaviors I might unknowingly be guilty of now, to be judged harshly by those who hold to what are perceived to be "liberal values" ninety years in the future. He is funny, a charmer, his vocabulary rollicking and keenly honed. It was, indeed, an excellent choice when Stanley Kramer cast Gene Kelly to play E.K. Hornbeck, the character based on Mencken in the 1960 film version of Inherit the Wind.