presidential history 
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SOURCE: New York Times
1/23/2021
The Trump Presidency Is Now History. So How Will It Rank?
Historians disagree whether Trump surpasses the awfulness of Buchanan or Andrew Johnson, but a roster of them consulted by the Times agrees he was terrible.
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1/25/2021
Biden's Inaugural and the Return of History
by Paul J. Welch Behringer
Joseph Biden's inaugural address signals a willingness to return to learning from history that may encourage the empathy and humilty elected officials need to solve the nation's problems.
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1/24/2021
George Washington Resisted the Siren Call of Absolute Power
by Jan-Benedict Steenkamp
George Washington is celebrated for his refusal to continue past two terms as President. But his earlier actions in refusing the leadership of a military coup against the Continental Congress in 1783 put the new nation on track to have civilian leadership under law.
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1/22/2021
Kamala Harris and the Modern Vice Presidency
by Richard Moe
Kamala Harris seems poised to exert influence over policy and legislation as vice president. In this sense, she will carry forward the evolution of the office, according to a former vice presidential chief of staff who contributed to the development of the "modern vice presidency."
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SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
1/17/2021
No, the Constitution Does not Allow President Trump to Pardon Himself
by Dale Carpenter
The history of debate over the pardon power in the Constitiution strongly supports the claim that a president's pardon of themselves would be unconstitutional.
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SOURCE: The New Yorker
1/15/2021
The Lessons of the Nixon Pardon
Isaac Chotiner interviews Rick Perlstein on the nature of presidential misconduct and accountability.
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SOURCE: The Atlantic
1/19/2021
The Worst President in History
by Tim Naftali
Previously condemned presidents have failed in some aspect of their oaths of office, whether by abusing power, failing to confront national crises, or putting self-interest over the nation. Trump has done all of this, argues the first director of the Nixon Library.
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SOURCE: NPR
1/17/2021
In His Inaugural Address, Biden Seeks To Move Past 'American Carnage'
Historians of the presidency and political rhetoric discuss how Biden's address on Wednesday may adapt the traditions of the inaugural address to an unprecedented context.
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SOURCE: Politico
1/17/2021
What Will Trump's Presidency Mean to History?
by David Greenberg
Above all else, a pattern of rule-breaking and a determination not to be bound by rules are the characteristics of Trumpism, and inseparable from the policies the 45th president pursued.
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SOURCE: CNN
1/17/2021
Trump's Last Year In Office Will Define His Legacy, Historians Say
A group of presidential historians including Timothy Naftali, Jeff Engel, Julian Zelizer, Laura Belmonte, Kathryn Brownell, H.W. Brands, Lindsay Chervinsky, Martha Jones, and Barbara Perry discuss what results of the Trump presidency – from resurgent white nationalism to battered norms of governing – will prove to be the most historically consequential.
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1/17/2020
The Politics of an Inauguration Unlike Any Other
by Michael A. Genovese
Joe Biden's inauguration will be unlike any other, but he will need to draw on inaugural traditions of declaring purpose and invoking solidarity if he is to begin to repair national division.
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1/17/2021
The History of Skipping a Successor's Inauguration
by Michael Patrick Cullinane
Trump's decision to skip Biden's inauguration might seem like a mere petty gesture. But it harkens back to previous episodes that reflected times of deep division and political conflict.
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1/13/2021
The Problem with a Self-Pardon
by Robert J. Spitzer
It is likely that the issue of a president's ability to pardon himself will be contested in short order. A constitutional scholar of the presidency explains why such an action cannot be countenanced in a society of law.
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1/10/2021
Teddy Roosevelt and Josh Hawley's History Lessons
by David Goldfischer
Josh Hawley wrote a 2008 biography of Theodore Roosevelt balancing praise of the former president's vision of democracy with condemnation of his grasping for power. One wonders how the author of this book could have acted as the Senator did on January 6.
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SOURCE: Boston Review
12/21/2020
The False Promise of Obama's 'Promised Land'
by Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins
A critique of the first volume of Obama's presidential memoir argues that the 44th President was unwilling to acknowledge the limits of the centrist liberal politics of the 1990s and unable to consider more progressive alternatives.
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SOURCE: PBS News Hour
12/7/2020
How Rocky Presidential Transitions Have Shaped American History
Beverly Gage of Yale University explains how presidential transitions have tested the nation in the past.
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SOURCE: National Geographic
12/4/2020
The Contentious History of U.S. Presidential Pardons—From the Whiskey Rebellion to Watergate
Rumors that Donald Trump has considered offering preemptive pardons to his children and inner circle of advisors prompt a consideration of the history of the pardon power.
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SOURCE: Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
12/5/2020
Wrestling With Woodrow Wilson’s Complicated Legacy
A longtime Virginia political observer suggests that there is more to learn by considering Woodrow Wilson's complex social views and political legacy than by taking his clear racism as reason to hide him from sight.
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SOURCE: Foreign Affairs
12/8/2020
Cleaning House: Watergate and the Limits of Reform
by John A. Lawrence
The reform agenda of the "Watergate Babies" class elected to Congress in 1974 achieved important successes but failed to prevent either the rise of the imperial presidency or increased partisan polarization.
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SOURCE: New York Times
12/2/2020
Trump Hints at Another Act in Four Years, Just Like Grover Cleveland
Trump would join several one-term presidents who sought a non-consecutive second term. The effort ended badly for most of them.