ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Sunday, August 25, 1996                TAG: 9608260065
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: B-1  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press

CIVIL WAR BUFFS ATTACK FILMMAKER

KEN BURNS SAYS his comments comparing Gen. Robert E. Lee to Hitler and Tojo were taken out of context. But some in Sons of Confederate Veterans want the filmmaker ousted from the group.

Some of the Sons of Confederate Veterans want to expel ``Civil War'' filmmaker Ken Burns from the group because he is believed to have made derogatory remarks about Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Burns says his remarks were taken out of context.

He commented on Lee during a broadcast interview with Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist Charles McDowell, who had a speaking role in Burns' ``Civil War'' series, which was first aired on public television in 1990.

``I said it was interesting to note that a man held responsible for more loyal American deaths than Tojo or Hitler became our most cherished general,'' Burns said.

Gen. Hideki Tojo was the Japanese premier who ordered the World War II attack on Pearl Harbor. German Chancellor Adolf Hitler is one of history's most heinous villains for his slaughter of Jews and other atrocities during World War II.

Burns said his treatment of Lee in the Civil War series was not in the least bit derogatory or disrespectful.

``In fact, more criticism of the series came from left-leaning professors who thought we were too sympathetic toward the Confederacy,'' he said.

Burns' ancestors fought for the Confederacy, but he said he had never asked to be a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Instead, he said, the group sought him out.

``They signed me up ... and periodically try to kick me out,'' Burns said.

Woodie L. Walker of Suffolk, commander of the Tom Smith Camp of the group, sought Burns' ouster in a resolution sent to commanders of camps throughout Virginia.

``Any remark made against the most beloved of all Southern generals is a slander against all Sons of the Confederacy, their character and their heritage,'' Walker wrote.

Collin Pulley of Courtland, the Virginia commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said the matter had been blown out of proportion by a few people. He said the remarks had been taken out of context to promote a specific point of view.

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