Dear President-Elect Trump:
The year was 1624. Sweden had been at war with neighboring nations, and the Swedish king wanted a warship that would dominate the sea. He commissioned the Vasa—a mammoth vessel with two decks of cannons rather than the traditional one. His shipbuilders advised against it, arguing that such a large and heavy ship required more ballast than they could provide to keep such a tall ship upright in the water. But the king could not be persuaded. Four years later, in 1628, the Vasa was finished, complete with two decks of cannons to rule the open seas.
The Vasa’s maiden voyage was a grand affair. The king, his court, and the Swedish who’s who of 1628 all assembled at the dock to witness the Vasa’s unleashing from its mooring. With great fanfare, the grand warship left its dock, entering the harbor.
It sailed a few hundred yards, a slight crosswind blew against the massive boat, and the Vasa tipped on its side, never recovering. It sank in the harbor in front of the Swedish elite, killing many on board.
The boat was so tall that its mast protruded from the water. It was the only visible remains of the great ship. In 1628 Sweden, it was a day never to be forgotten.
The mast continued to extend out of the water and into the Swedish air, marking the Vasa’s final resting point for 100 years. But after 100 years, the oak mast succumbed and broke off from the ship, erasing any visible evidence of the warship that lay at the bottom of the harbor.
The day that was never to be forgotten was gradually forgotten. Without the mast sticking out of the water, people gradually forgot about the Vasa.
Centuries passed.
Then in 1956, an amateur historian and archivist Anders Franzén found a reference to the Vasa in Swedish archives. He began looking and probing for the Vasa. He fashioned a tool that would sink to the bottom of the harbor and take a core sample of whatever it landed on. He searched and searched methodically through the harbor. The Swedish government and elite laughed and mocked him. Certainly, after three hundred years, there would be no remains of the mighty Vasa, if it ever existed at all, they reasoned.
Anders Franzén persisted, ignoring the mocking and scoffing.
Then it happened. Franzén’s tool landed on something that felt different than the 100’s of times it had hit the silted bottom of the harbor. Raising his instrument from the water, Franzén pulled a core sample of old oak from his tool. He had found the Vasa.
Persuading Swedish authorities that he had found the Vasa proved difficult. But in time, he convinced them to attempt to raise the ship. Finally, in 1958 the Swedish government raised it from the harbor’s bottom. Out of the Swedish harbor rose a ship—300 years old, in pristine condition. The water conditions of the harbor had been just right to preserve the Vasa through all the centuries.
The Vasa was something new and incredible, not only for Sweden but for all the world. Today, TripAdvisor.com ranks it as one of the world’s top ten attractions.
The Vasa is incredible, but it is hardly new. It was there all the time, in the harbor, for three hundred years.
People had just forgotten.
Many values that made America great are like the Vasa. They lay dormant in America’s past—not entirely forgotten, but fading in our memory.
We must identify them, raise them from our past, place them in our view, and use them to restore America. American values allowed for the success of the American Revolution. If we remember them, they will allow for an American Restoration.
Sincerely,
David O. Leavitt
