Killing Custer Reflection

James Welch's account of the strained relations between the white American settlers and the Native Americans during the 19th century sheds light on one of the most misunderstood relationships in American history. Although Welch delves deep into the alleged mistreatment of the American Indians by the white settlers that has been largely ignored by the mass media, the anti-American and pro-Native American biases he displays force the reader to take his writings with a grain of salt.
It makes sense that the United States would use the American defeat at Little Big Horn as a rallying cry to gain support for the westward and southward expansion of the nation, in much the same way the media used the "attack" on the USS Maine to rally the troops and gain support for the Spanish-American War. Throughout history, governments and media outlets have opportunistically taken advantage of events by manipulating their portrayals to the public and using them to persuade the public to back certain causes. Although this seems highly unethical, it has consistently been a highly effective method to galvanize a nation's people. Transforming ambiguous events into attacks against the national establishment, like the media was able to do by the way they framed "Custer's Last Stand", provides an effective way to sway a nation from ambivalence to passion. Welch fails to recognize that manipulating events in order to curry favor with the people has been and will continue to be a powerful governmental tactic.