Chuck Todd flunks history 101

On Sunday, 21 June 2020, 0n Meet the Press, Chuck Todd said of Juneteenth:


Alright, let me pause it here. When we come back, there were events across the country this weekend marking Juneteenth, which celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. Up next, why those celebrations may be even bigger next year, and beyond.

[CHUCK TODD resumes:]

Welcome back. Data download time. For many Americans, June 19th, Juneteenth, has long held a special meaning. But for others, especially many white Americans, this was the year it was suddenly recognized everywhere. Even so, momentum to recognize the holiday has actually been building for quite some time. First, let's talk about what it is. Juneteenth commemorates June 19th, 1865. It is the day that Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to announce the Civil War was over. The news hadn't reached Galveston yet. And to inform people that the Emancipation Proclamation had freed all enslaved people nationwide. It was more than 100 years later that Texas made Juneteenth an official holiday. And since then, 46 other states and the District of Columbia have joined Texas and done the same, with most doing so since the year 2000.



On 19 June 1865, Major General Gordon Granger announced the Emancipation Proclamation at Galveston, Texas, formally declaring the end of slavery in Texas. Slavery in the United States, especially as to Kentucky and Delaware, would not end until December 1865, with the adoption of the 13th Amendment.

Earlier, on May 13, 1865, the last land battle of the war was fought at Palmito Ranch, near Brownsville, Texas. Some of the Union troops were African Americans, who were well aware of the Emancipation Proclamation and of the surrender of General Lee.

On June 2, 1865, General Edmund Kirby Smith surrendered the Department of the Trans-Mississippi to Major General Edward Canby at Galveston, Texas. The citizens of Galveston were well aware of the status of the war more than two weeks before Granger's proclamation.

It was not until August 20, 1866, more than one year AFTER June 19, 1865, that President Andrew Johnson declared the insurrection officially over and peace restored.

Chuck Todd's "data download" is not only erroneous (slavery in the United States did not end until December 1865 and the Civil War was not deemed over in June 1865) and missing in key details (people in Texas generally and Galveston in particular knew of the status of the war, and of the Emancipation Proclamation before June 19, 1865).


Kirby Smith, who would be the last living full General of the Confederacy (Lee was only number 3 in rank) apparently believed Lee and Johnston had been imprisoned, and would exit to Mexico to avoid being tried for treason.