His boss was Abraham Lincoln.
The year was 1864.
Very bad things have happened before on American soil, only 135 years ago - a mere eyeblink from the viewpoint of European, Asian or Middle Eastern history. When I was a child and there were still a few people alive who could remember them, those deeds were unforgotten. And yet today the wounds are almost completely healed.
Americans know how to fight for their country; they also know how to get on with their lives, and how to discriminate between people who actually did them harm and the innocent people who happen to have the same nationality or religion. This sets them apart from the majority of peoples on Earth, and it gives me some hope for the future.