Fraught Family Reunification After the Holocaust
By Rebecca Clifford
The Latest 
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"Every Goodbye Ain’t Gone and Every Close Eye Ain’t Shut": Black Georgians' Memories and Election Unease
Alicia K. Jackson
The unspoken realities of past voter suppression resonate in the present experience of many Black Georgians.
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Treason, the Death Penalty, and American Identity
Carlton F.W. Larson
The only capital sentence for treason carried out under United States law shows the way that racism is embedded in the idea of national belonging.
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Fear of the "Pussification" of America: A Short Cultural History
Gregory A. Daddis
The bizarre idea that COVID-19 can be defeated through manliness is one of the stranger cultural themes of our time, but it connects to a long history of anxiety about masculinity in a changing America that encourages violent and even self-destructive actions in the name of proving virility.
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Ranking Donald Trump: No Cause for National Happiness
James M. Banner, Jr.
He’s accomplished what no other president has been able to achieve since the first presidential ranking in 1948. He’s managed to raise James Buchanan, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, and Warren Harding off the floor. The sad thing is that this is no achievement we can cheer.
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Does the "Divided Loyalty" Question Still Dog Catholic Politicians?
D.G. Hart
Joe Biden will likely do what JFK and Al Smith did, namely, fit his faith into the norms of American politics.
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My Memories of Voter Suppression
Lawrence Wittner
After witnessing firsthand the depth of struggle needed to secure the Voting Rights Act in 1965, the author says the 2013 Supreme Court decision to gut the VRA and subsequent acts by state governments to suppress the vote "betray the most basic principle of democracy."
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Where In The World Are You? How My Great-Grandmother’s Letters Helped Me Locate My Great-Uncle after 78 Years
Hazel Gaynor
"Disaster and tragedy are often where we find our strongest bonds, and as we find ourselves separated from family and distanced from loved ones, stories of community and shared hope are, arguably, more important than ever."
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Lessons from the 18th Century Dutch Republic
Matthijs Tieleman
The history of the Dutch Republic demonstrates that polarization can gradually destroy a country from within and can easily be exploited by foreign actors. The embrace of political pluralism by every citizen is the key antidote to the rot of polarization.
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Blog
Return to the Presidential Succession Act of 1886 (With Some Modification)
Ronald L. Feinman
Presidential succession would extend past the vice president only in a dire circumstance, when the nation could ill afford a partisan battle. Reverting to the Presidential Succession Act of 1886 wo...
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Blog
Vaughn Davis Bornet, RIP at 102
Stone Age Brain
He wrote for HNN for years. He continued writing after he turned 100.
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"The Silent Guns of Two Octobers" Reviewing a New History of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Sheldon M. Stern
Longtime JFK Library historian Sheldon Stern offers a review of a new book on the diplomatic resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
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The Roundup Top Ten for October 16, 2020
The top op eds by historians from around the web this week.
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"Provided I Can Fuse on Ground Which I Think is Right": A Lincolnian View of the White House History Conference
Allen C. Guelzo
"The fact that Americans have not always lived up fully to that Enlightenment universalism, or that ethnicity has often gotten bloodily in the way of it, merely shows that we are human, not that it is wrong."
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Who Owns Churchill?: Three Mythic Configurations
Steven Fielding, Bill Schwarz, and Richard Toye
A new book examines the ways that Winston Churchill's image has been used in British politics, not least by Churchill himself.
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Judicial Overreach in High Partisan Times: How the Dred Scott Decision Broke the Democrats and Boomeranged on the Court
James A. Morone
We usually parse Dred Scott v. Sandford as the Worst Decision Ever, but it also offers an overlooked political lesson. The Court waded into a high partisan battle and badly damaged the institutions behind the ruling.
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The Coming Election and the Political State of Fugue
Danielle Taana Smith
American institiutions are threatened with transformation into unrecognizable and undemocratic forms; stopping these changes means holding on to a collective sense of national purpose in the face of misinformation and gaslighting.
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Corporate Money Turns Democracy Upside Down in California Initiative Process
James Thornton Harris
Intended as a tool to circumvent the power of big business in the state legislature, California's ballot initiative process has become yet another channel for the political influence of big money.
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Paul Revere Made the Boston Massacre a Flashpoint for Revolution.
Philip Gerard
The incident that became known as the Boston Massacre didn't have to happen, and didn't have to become a flashpoint for violence after. As political tensions break into violence today, it's worthwhile to think about Boston in 1770.
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The Lenin Plot: The Concealed History of The US-Led Effort to Overthrow the USSR
Barnes Carr
"The Lenin Plot was a massive embarrassment for the Allies, and they tried to cover it up. The denial continued for years."
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The Battle of Salamis Opened the Door for Ancient Greece’s Golden Age
Fred Zilian
September marked the 2,500th anniversary of the Battle of Salamis, where the Greeks won a surprising naval victory over Persian forces, thwarted their efforts to conquer Greece, and set the stage for the golden age of Athenian civilization.
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Winners, All: A Personal History of Soldiers at War
Ron Steinman
Whether they knew it at the time, the wounded servicemen the author met at the 3rd Field Hospital outside of Saigon were the spirit of America. Winners all, they were not then suckers, losers, fools or mugs.
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Paris, City of Dreams: Napoleon III, Baron Haussmann and the Creation of Paris
Jeff Roquen
Nothing can compare to a visit to Paris, but until international travel resumes, readers can learn how the modern city was built through Mary McAulliffe's book.
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Like Lincoln, Biden at Gettysburg Urges Reunification
Walter G. Moss
Joe Biden's speech evoked the calls for unity and shared purpose made by presidents from Lincoln to FDR to Obama. The coming weeks will tell if voters embrace the message.
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Trump's Opportunities to Thwart Democracy
Alan J. Singer
There are several provisions in the Constitution that could allow Donald Trump, with the help of friendly courts, to hold power against the will of the electorate.
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The Roundup Top Ten for October 9, 2020
The week's top op-eds by historians and about history from around the web.
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Loyalty and Duty in the Federal Bureaucracy, From Nixon to Trump
Michael Koncewicz
Independent civil servants checked Richard Nixon's worst impulses to use the executive branch to punish enemies. The independence of the bureaucracy has since eroded, to Donald Trump's advantage.
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A Founding Member Says the Commission on Presidential Debates Needs to Change
Richard Moe
A founding member of the Commission on Presidential Debates argues that the body must take stock of its rules and procedures after Tuesday's debacle or risk irrelevance.
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Combatting History “Indoctrination” in 1945 and 2020
Brian M. Puaca
As the new 1776 Commission begins to consider how to wield history as a weapon against indoctrination, America’s educational work in Germany can serve as a guidepost for a commitment to preparing vigilant young men and women to build and defend democracy.
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Will 2020 Place the US Alongside Apartheid South Africa in History's Hall of Shame?
Teresa Barnes
The South African National Party won a parliamentary victory in 1948 and consolidated power quickly to institutionalize Apartheid and focus national politics on racial issues. This surprise turned into a half-century of hard right rule and stands as a warning to Americans today.
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"Follow the Science," but Explain and Apologize
Susan M. Reverby
Governments need to establish trust so that their public health announcements are credible and persuasive, but have undermined that trust by conducting ethically questionable studies. A model of apology is part of the solution.
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The Rise of the Anti-Analytical Presidency
Michael A. Genovese
The tools for making sound decisions are available. Not to rely on them is a choice presidents make with tragic consequences.
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Blog
Presidents Lie About Their Health More Than Any Other Subject
Stone Age Brain
Even honest presidents have lied about their health. So we shouldn't expect Donald Trump to tell the truth.
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Trump Returns to Campaign, Live Rallies Despite COVID
HNN Staff
Boasting of his recovery, Trump returns to live rallies. It's unclear whether his health or presidency will recover from COVID.
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A Personal Encounter with White Supremacy
Robert Huddleston
A lynching in the author's Missouri hometown in 1936 demonstrates the danger of white acquiescence to prejudice and racism.
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The Etymology of "Jazz": A Cautionary Word About Digital Sources
Ken Lawrence
Digitization projects have made historical newspapers much more readily accessible, but the process admits error and historians should be cautious making bold claims based on them.
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Andrew Rotter's "Sensual Empires: Britain and America in India and the Philippines"
Shannon Bontrager
Andrew Rotter extends recent work in sensory history to the study of imperialism, documenting how British and American colonialism depended on the connection between sensory experience and racial and nationalist ideology.
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Corrected American History: The Cheery Colonial Period
Lawrence Baron
Peruse a leaked lesson plan from the 1776 commission.
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Roundup Top Ten for October 2, 2020
The top opinion writing by historians from around the web this week.
News
- Suffrage: Women's Long Battle for the Vote (Virtual Event, 10/26)
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- Online Lecture: Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped Into Slavery and Their Astonishing Odyssey Home (11/2)
- In a Land of Cul-de-Sacs, the Street Grid Stages a Comeback
- Frontline: Whose Vote Counts?
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