News at Home

• 
• SOURCE: New Yorker
  7/20/19
  

  Lyndon Johnson’s Unsung Role in Sending Americans to the Moon

  As chairman of the National Aeronautics and Space Council, a White House advisory group, Johnson moved quickly to “dominate Washington space activities."

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• 7/21/19
  

  Can Donald Trump Be Compared to Caligula, the Mad Emperor of Rome?

  by Stephen Dando-Collins

  Both men rid themselves of senior advisers who restrained them.

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• 7/21/19
  

  The Beginning of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic – and One Doctor's Search for a Cure

  by Seema Yasmin

  It was unparalleled, this confluence of public health, politics, clinical medicine, and public anxiety. The unknown disease was spreading faster than imagined. Humanity had never seen anything like it. 

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• 7/21/19
  

  The History of the American System of Interrogation

  by Donald E. McInnis

  Were the Central Park Five confessions a freak accident? No: every day, adults and juveniles falsely confess to serious crimes they did not commit. Why? 

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• 7/21/19
  

  Climate Change and the Last Great Awakening

  by Douglas S. Harvey

  The Last Great Awakening, if it is to be massive and successful, must involve profoundly altering our personal behaviors and inner lives while seriously committing to living in a sustainable way.

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• 7/21/19
  

  From the Founding Fathers to Trump: Who Can Be an American?

  by Donald J. Fraser

  Correctly charged as a racist statement, Trump's recent tweets also reflect an age-old question in our history: who can be an American?

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• 7/21/19
  

  Do We Want the America of Frederick Douglass or Donald Trump?

  by Walter G. Moss

  Which kind of America do we want? A “composite nation” that takes pride in its ethnic and religious diversity and sets an example for other countries who are fearful of immigrants? Or an America afraid of immigrants, especially if not lily white, Christian ones, as Trump and many of his followers desire?

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• 7/18/19
  

  Apollo: America’s Moonshot and the Power of a National Project

  by David Carlin

  President Kennedy understood that his “goal [would] serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills.” We need similar thinking today.

• 
• 7/17/19
  

  The Truth About the Holocaust and Holocaust Education

  by Ira Bedzow and Stacy Gallin

  A high school principal was removed from his position after refusing to admit that the Holocaust was a “factual, historical event.” This is not only unacceptable, it is irresponsible. One does not need to be a professional historian to know that the Holocaust occurred.

• 
• 7/14/19
  

  5 Times Presidents Lost Big in the Midterms But Won (or nearly won) Reelection

  by Donne Levy

  While presidents have previously overcome midterm election losses, Trump isn’t following any of the previously established paths to rebound and win reelection. 

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• 7/14/19
  

  Alexa: What Can Apollo 11 Teach Us About Our Relationship with Technology?

  by Tracy Dahlby

  The fact that we pulled off Apollo 11 at all is a testament to American ingenuity and pluck. Yet while the successful moon landing decided the race for space in America’s favor, it didn’t undo our subliminal angst about the tightening embrace of technology.

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• 7/14/19
  

  Mary Jo Kopechne’s Legacy

  by William C. Kashatus

  This weeks marks the 50th anniversary of the night Senator Edward M. Kennedy drove his black Oldsmobile off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island. His 28-year-old passenger was killed in the accident.

• 
• 7/17/19
  

  Billionaires and American Politics

  by Lawrence Wittner

  Big money politics in America has always existed, but the influence of billionaires has become increasingly influential in recent years.

• 
• 7/14/19
  

  Say It Ain't So Joe: Strategies of Segregation in Ventura County

  by Frank P. Barajas

  The desegregation busing laws that Joe Biden opposed in the 1970s have given way to "a more insidious segregation" in this California community today.

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• 7/9/19
  

  The 2020 Election Presents a Unique Opportunity to Elect a “New Generation of Leadership”

  by Ronald L. Feinman

  Promoting change and uniqueness in political leadership could result in higher voter turnout and potentially would enhance efforts to address the challenges of the 21st century.

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• 7/7/19
  

  Jimmy Carter, Public Historian

  by Evan A. Kutzler

  The work that the Carters do at the local level meets the National Council on Public History's inclusive definition of the field: "public history describes the many and diverse ways in which history is put to work in the world."

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• 7/3/19
  

  A Declaration of Independence from Hunger

  by William Lambers

  Food is of the utmost importance to our domestic and foreign policies. Each one of us can do something about it, especially when it comes to helping charities fight hunger.

• 
• 7/3/19
  

  America, One and Inseparable

  by Vaughn Davis Bornet

  A reflection this 4th of July on the challenges the United States face and how history can guide us. 

• 
• 7/3/19
  

  Gerrymandering presented a ‘political question doctrine’ deemed outside Supreme Court jurisdiction

  by Lackland H. Bloom, Jr.

  “After five decades of searching for a standard, Chief Justice Roberts was finally able to assemble a majority that concluded ‘enough is enough.’ There is no judicially manageable standard here. This is a non-justiciable political question.”

• 
• 7/2/19
  

  The 2020 Election and Presidential Age

  by Ronald L. Feinman

  We could have the oldest President in American history at inauguration with Sanders, Biden or Warren, or the youngest President in American history with Buttigieg, Gabbard, Swalwell or Moulton.