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  • 2/28/2021

    George Shultz: The Last Progressive

    by Ron Schatz

    "A steadfast Republican committed to union-management cooperation, peace through treaties, competitive capitalism, and empowerment of African-Americans, George Shultz was the last old-fashioned Progressive."

  • 2/28/2021

    The "War on Cancer" at 50: The Most Fruitful Failure in Human History

    by Judith L. Pearson

    Announced by Richard Nixon in 1971, the "War on Cancer" has not yielded a cure. But it has driven research that has deepened understanding of cancers and developed life-saving treatments, while erasing ignorance and stigma. It has been one of humanity's most successful failures. 

  • 2/21/2021

    Must the Capitol Riots be Included in the Legacy of American Dissent?

    by Ralph Young

    Teachers of history might feel a disconnect between praising American traditions of dissent and condemning the Capitol riots. They shouldn't. Historical evaluation of the grievances of dissenters, whatever their methods, finds real grievances, not lies, at the root of dissent.

  • 2/21/2021

    Don't Defend Democracy With Half-Truths About the Past

    by Brook Thomas

    Although the Capitol riots raised deep concern about the rule of law, there is a deeper challenge ahead of the nation: to understand and change the undemocratic aspects of our foundational law and refuse half-measures in the name of unity.

  • 2/21/2021

    January 6, 2021: A Day of Populist Transgression

    by Robert A. Schneider

    The Capitol riot included a small core of actors bent on destruction, with many more along for the ride reveling in a moment of transgression. In this way, it was a microcosm of the Trumpian movement that, now unleashed, will be difficult to contain.

  • 2/21/2021

    Trump Was Almost Re-Elected. What Does That Say About Us?

    by Walter G. Moss and Rick Shenkman

    Joe Biden's popular vote and electoral margins were large, but only a small number of votes proved decisive. Moving ahead, it is necessary to understand what Trump's ongoing popularity says about America.

  • 2/14/2021

    Heed the Cornerman's Cry

    by Mike McQuillan

    The failure to heed the warnings of the Kerner Commission in 1968 – of a society divided by racism and inequality – has led to ongoing suffering and a politics of resentment over an ethic of mutual care.

  • 2/14/2021

    Opportunities for a Catholic President, Then and Now

    by Patrick Lacroix

    Polling of religious voters might encourage Democrats to give up on reaching them. John F. Kennedy's experience shows that Joe Biden, as the second Catholic President, could succeed in narrowing the gap. 

  • 2/14/2021

    What Becomes of a Broken Party?

    by James Robenalt

    The Republican Party seems to be refusing the opportunity to save itself by rejecting Trumpism. His acquittal in a second Senate trial means he will be free to demand the party bend to his will or be destroyed. 

  • 2/14/2021

    Political Violence: Still as American as Cherry Pie

    by Alan J. Singer

    SNCC leader H. Rap Brown declared that violence was "American as cherry pie" in 1967. Though his remarks were scorned then, he was correct, and no movement for justice can succeed without acknowledging it.   

  • 2/14/2021

    History, Evidence and the Ethics of Belief

    by Guy Lancaster

    Untrammelled freedom of belief has been enshrined as an American civic virtue. The nation, democracy, and possibly the planet are imperiled without a collective commitment to respect belief only to the extent available evidence supports it. 

  • 2/14/2021

    Immigrant Families are the Second Casualty of War

    by Elliott Young

    If truth is the first casualty in war, immigrants follow as a close second. During the first and second world wars, tens of thousands of immigrants in the United States were locked up in prisons as part of a geopolitical game beyond their control.

  • 2/14/2021

    Trumpism after Trump: Beyond Fascism

    by Gavriel Rosenfeld

    Understanding the future of the far-right grievance politics catalyzed by the Trump presidency, it might be helpful to think of it as "MAGA-ism," a 21st century American phenomenon.

  • 2/14/2021

    The Balance of Power in 2021 Rests with Two Senators

    by Michael Landis

    The actions of pro-slavery northern "doughfaces" in Congress, led by Stephen Douglas of Illinois, helped to protect the expansion of slavery even as a national majority grew to oppose it. Today, Joe Manchin and Jon Tester will have to consider home state elections, their own conservative tendencies, and the fate of the Biden administration's policy agenda and act accordingly.

  • 2/7/2021

    History (and Historians) Need a New Deal

    by Shannan Clark

    Only a program of direct public employment for historians, along with other academics, can lead to a vibrant future for the discipline in which access to careers is expanded, with greater diversity and equity.  The history of the WPA cultural projects shows us the way.