Virginia Historical Society Podcast

On June 1, 2017, at noon, David Cox delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "The Paradox of Robert Edward Lee." Robert E. Lee remains as controversial today as he was in his own era, in part because of the contradictions he embodied. A critic of slavery and secession, he fought for the cause that embodied each. He was the only man ever offered the command of armies that opposed each other. Deemed one of the greatest of military minds, his side still lost. Then, he became one of the chief proponents of reconciliation, yet he held serious reservations pertaining to race and reconstruction. In his book, The Religious Life of Robert E. Lee (March 2017), David Cox explores how Lee’s faith influenced his views and his actions. In this lecture, he will examine how Lee’s religious convictions guided two of his most important, if paradoxical, decisions: to resign his commission and side with Virginia in 1861, then to accept the presidency of Washington College in Lexington as a means of promoting the reconciliation he hop