Another thing which we did in this report was to develop a basis for calculating what we term “lethality indices” for all weapons in history, from hand-to-hand implements of antiquity to nuclear explosives. Using data derived from history, we have been able to calculate the relative theoretical efficiency of weapons, and have discovered that these lethality indices are consistent with actual combat experience in a number of wars which we analyzed in depth. This, in turn, permitted us to develop a quantitative relationship between lethality, mobility, and dispersion in combat.
As a military historian, what we did, and what we ended up with, in that study are particularly fascinating to me. I might add that we have also stimulated very gratifying interest in the Army. This very afternoon I presented a briefing of the study report to the Army staff, and discussed some new, and we think potentially important, tactical concepts which the results of the study seem to point out to us.
Before leaving the subject of this study, I wish to mention that one of the members of your Society—Mr. Marshall Andrews—was a very important contributor to that study.
HERO has also done quite a bit of work in a rather different field of historical research—in which we have concerned ourselves with the teaching of history in American schools—which also demonstrates how history can be used.
We became interested in the subject of the teaching of American history in our schools for two reasons. First, because we have reason to think that the teaching of history has not been as good or as effective as it can be and should be. Too often children think of history as one of the dullest of their subjects, instead of one which can provide endless, dramatic fascination. And, as historians, we saw in this situation the possibility that historians could make a direct contribution to one of the great social problems of our time: the alienation of important minority groups, particularly in our large urban areas, from the rest of American society.
It is our hypothesis that improvement in the teaching of history will not only be a contribution to American education in general, but may also be a start toward the building of a bridge between these alienated minorities and the main stream of American society. This will be no easy task. The imaginations of Negro, Puerto Rican, and Mexican-American children will not be stimulated by such simple methods as teaching them about great American heroes—nor teaching them about Negro, Puerto Rican or Mexican-American heroes. History and historians can play only a contributory role in this task, which will require the cooperation of many different specialists. We know that two apparently divergent results must be achieved by this cooperation: improvement of the self-concept and self-respect of these minority children, who have been largely second-class citizens, while at the same time stimulating their feeling of association with the larger white majority.