News at Home

• 
• 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. 

• 
• 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.

• 
• 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.

• 
• 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.

• 
• 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."

• 
• 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.

• 
• 6/30/19
  

  Adding a Citizenship Question to the Census Will Return It to Its Racist Origins

  by Derek Litvak

  The Trump administration is now attempting to do exactly what slaveholders did in the eighteenth-century: use the Constitution to inflate the political power of a vocal minority. 

• 
• 6/30/19
  

  The Declassified History of Hitler's British Traitors

  by Tim Tate

  For all the genuine unity and determination of the vast majority of the British population to defeat Hitler, there was also a small – but dangerous – sub-stratum which yearned for the day when his troops could goose-step down Whitehall amid an orgy of swastika flags.

• 
• 6/30/19
  

  How the Specter of Andrew Johnson Haunts Donald Trump

  by Mike Purdy

  When the history books are written, impeachment may define Trump’s presidency in a similar way that “impeachment” and “Andrew Johnson” are solidly and forever linked together.

• 
• 6/30/19
  

  Independence Day and the Importance of Public Service in the Face of Regnant Tyranny

  by Gregory D. Foster

  It isn’t hard to recognize something of the challenge before all public servants – certainly those who accept the proposition that we have enduring civic obligations, grounded in the Oath we have taken, that demand to be met – now, perhaps as never before. 

• 
• 6/30/19
  

  Colin Powell’s Recent “Lincoln Medal” Disregards A Checkered Past

  by Jeffrey J. Matthews

  Powell’s outstanding service as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff notwithstanding, the perpetual lionizing of the general has had the effect of misbalancing the historical record. Despite of—or because of—his popularity and patriotic achievements, Powell has not been held to account for some of his major failings as a public servant.

• 
• 6/30/19
  

  The Case for Religious Progressivism

  by Walter G. Moss

  Those who argue, “We should keep religion out of politics,” are being simplistic. One can more properly cite individuals like Frederick Douglass, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King Jr., Barack Obama, and Pope Francis who counter that the spiritual and moral values commonly advocated by major religions should inspire our politics.

• 
• 6/30/19
  

  Presidential War Powers and Bill Clinton's Battles

  by Paul W. Lovinger

  Reviewing the 1999 attack on Yugoslavia and other belligerent acts: a study of arbitrary power and its supremacy over the Constitution in modern times.