Blogs > February 18, 2008

Feb 17, 2008

February 18, 2008

CAMPAIGN 2008 WATCH:

PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN 2008 WATCH:

  • Primary Season Election Results - NYT

  • Gil Troy, a history professor at McGill University, said Obama is able to mix style and substance with ease like former U.S. president Ronald Reagan."This kind of ease cannot be invented or replicated - you either have it or you don't. Bill Clinton has it, Bob Dole - who has other talents - didn't," Troy said."Ronald Reagan had it (and) Walter Mondale, his opponent in 1984, didn't." - Canada.com, 2-16-08

  • Douglas Brinkley and Ted Widmer on"Been there, failed at that"For all three of them, their Senate careers are not what people are looking at," Brinkley said, noting that"workhorse" senators Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Sam Brownback dropped out of the race early.
    Each of the candidates is unique in U.S. history -- Clinton because she is a woman, Obama because he is black and McCain because of his experience as a prisoner of war -- and there are no easy predictions about how they will perform in office, Widmer said."It's a fascinating, volatile moment and no one knows what's going to happen next," he said."And that's good for democracy, too." - 2-11-08

  • Gerald Gamm on"Clinton-Obama: perils of a long Democratic battle":"Right now, the traditional Democratic coalition is split exactly between them," says Gerald Gamm, an associate professor of political science and history at the University of Rochester in New York. - The Christian Science Monitor, 2-11-08

CAMPAIGN 2008 WATCH:

BIGGEST STORIES: PRESIDENT'S DAY:

BIGGEST STORIES: Black History Month

BIGGEST STORIES: Black History Month:

HNN STATS THIS WEEK:

HNN STATS THIS WEEK:

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY:

    THIS WEEK IN HISTORY:

  • 18/02/1503 - Henry Tudor created Prince of Wales (later Henry VIII)

  • 18/02/1688 - Quakers conduct 1st formal protest of slavery in Germantown, Pa

  • 18/02/1861 - Confederate President Jefferson Davis inaugurated at Montgomery Ala

  • 18/02/1865 - Union troops force Confederates to abandon Ft Anderson, NC

  • 18/02/1865 - Evacuation of Charleston, SC; Sherman's troops burn city

  • 18/02/1927 - US and Canada begin diplomatic relations

  • 18/02/1970 - US president Nixon launches"Nixon-doctrine"

  • 18/02/1988 - Anthony M Kennedy, sworn in as Supreme Court Justice

  • 19/02/1807 - VP Aaron Burr arrested in Alabama for treason; later found innocent

  • 19/02/1878 - Thomas Alva Edison patents gramophone (phonograph)

  • 19/02/1881 - Kansas becomes 1st state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages

  • 19/02/1919 - Pan-African Congress, organized by W E B Du Bois (Paris)

  • 19/02/1941 - Nazi raid Amsterdam and round up 429 young Jews for deportation

  • 19/02/1942 - FDR orders detention and internment of all west-coast Japanese-Americans

  • 19/02/1945 - US 5th Fleet launches invasion of Iwo Jima against the Japanese

  • 19/02/1963 - USSR informs JFK it's withdrawing several thousand troops from Cuba

  • 19/02/1986 - US Senate ratifies UN's anti-genocide convention 37 years later

  • 20/02/1547 - King Edward VI of England was enthroned following death of Henry VIII

  • 20/02/1792 - US postal service created; postage 6›-12«›, depending on distance

  • 20/02/1809 - Supreme Court rules federal govt power greater than any state

  • 20/02/1839 - Congress prohibits dueling in District of Columbia

  • 20/02/1861 - Dept of Navy of Confederacy forms

  • 20/02/1869 - Tenn Gov W C Brownlow declares martial law in Ku Klux Klan crisis

  • 20/02/1933 - House of Reps completes congressional action to repeal Prohibition

  • 20/02/1941 - 1st transport of Jews to concentration camps leave Plotsk Poland

  • 20/02/1953 - US Court of Appeals rules that Organized Baseball is a sport and not a business, affirming the 25-year-old Supreme Court ruling

  • 20/02/1962 - John Glenn is 1st American to orbit Earth (Friendship 7)

  • 21/02/1764 - John Wilkes thrown out of Engl House of Commons for"Essay on Women"

  • 21/02/1792 - Congress passes Pres Succession Act

  • 21/02/1804 - 1st locomotive, Richard Trevithick's, runs for 1st time, in Wales

  • 21/02/1857 - Congress outlaws foreign currency as legal tender in US

  • 21/02/1862 - Confederate Constitution and presidency are declared permanent

  • 21/02/1862 - Texas Rangers win Confederate victory at Battle of Val Verde, NM

  • 21/02/1874 - Benjamin Disraeli replaces William Gladstone as English premier

  • 21/02/1885 - Washington Monument dedicated (Wash DC)

  • 21/02/1895 - NC Legislature, adjourns for day to mark death of Frederick Douglass

  • 21/02/1916 - Battle of Verdun in WW I begins (1 million casualties)

  • 21/02/1943 - Dutch RC bishops protest against persecution of Jews

  • 21/02/1965 – Black nationalist leader Malcolm X is assassinated.

  • 21/02/1972 - Richard Nixon becomes 1st US president to visit China

  • 22/02/1495 - French King Charles VIII enters Naples to claim crown

  • 22/02/1630 - Indians introduce pilgrims to popcorn, at Thanksgiving

  • 22/02/1819 - Spain renounces claims to Oregon Country, Florida (Adams-On¡s Treaty)

  • 22/02/1821 - Spain sells (east) Florida to United States for $5 million

  • 22/02/1854 - 1st meeting of Republican Party (Michigan)

  • 22/02/1856 - 1st national meeting of Republican Party (Pittsburgh)

  • 22/02/1861 - On a bet Edward Weston leaves Boston to walk to Lincoln's inauguration

  • 22/02/1864 - -27] Battle at Dalton Georgia

  • 22/02/1889 - Pres Cleveland signs bill to admit Dakotas, Montana and Washington state

  • 22/02/1900 - Hawaii became a US territory

  • 22/02/1924 - 1st presidential radio address (Calvin Coolidge)

  • 22/02/1967 - 25,000 US and S Vietnamese troops launched Operation Junction City, offensive to smash Viet Cong stronghold near Cambodian border

  • 23/02/1455 - Johannes Gutenberg prints 1st book, Bible (estimated date)

  • 23/02/1836 - Alamo besieged by Santa Anna; entire garrison eventually killed

  • 23/02/1861 - Pres-elect Lincoln arrives secretly in Wash DC to take office

  • 23/02/1861 - By popular referendum, Texas becomes 7th state to secede from US

  • 23/02/1883 - Alabama becomes 1st US state to enact an antitrust law

  • 23/02/1945 - US Marines raise flag on Iwo Jima, famous photo and statue

  • 23/02/1947 - Gen Eisenhower opens drive to raise $170M in aid for European Jews

  • 23/02/1967 - US troops begin largest offensive of Vietnam War

  • 23/02/1997 - Scientists in Scotland announced they succeeded in cloning an adult mammal, producing a lamb named"Dolly"

  • 24/02/1803 - Supreme Court 1st rules a law unconstitutional (Marbury v Madison)

  • 24/02/1836 - 3,000 Mexicans attack 182 Texans at Alamo, lasts 13 days

  • 24/02/1848 - King Louis-Philippe abdicates, 2nd French republic declared

  • 24/02/1864 - -Feb 25] Battle of Tunnel Hill, GA (Buzzard's Roost)

  • 24/02/1868 - 1st US parade with floats (Mardi Gras-Mobile Alabama)

  • 24/02/1868 - House of Reps vote 126 to 47, to impeach President Andrew Johnson

  • 24/02/1944 - Argentina coup by Juan Peron minister of war

  • 24/02/1949 - Israel and Egypt sign an armistice agreement

  • 24/02/1991 - US and allies begin a ground war assault on Iraqi troops

  • 25/02/1793 - 1st cabinet meeting (At George Washington's home)

  • 25/02/1804 - Jefferson nominated for president at Democratic-Republican caucus

  • 25/02/1862 - Paper currency (greenbacks) introduced in US by Pres Abraham Lincoln

  • 25/02/1870 - Hiram Revels, is sworn in as 1st black member of Congress (Sen-R-MS)

  • 25/02/1919 - League of Nations set up by Paris Treaty

  • 25/02/1941 - February strike against persecution of Jews, in Amsterdam

IN THE NEWS:

IN THE NEWS:

REVIEWED AND FIRST CHAPTERS:

REVIEWED AND FIRST CHAPTERS:

  • Maureen N. McLane on Daniel Walker Howe: Re-collecting the past A historian puts together a fascinating, richly detailed portrait of America in the early 1800s What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 - Chicago Tribune, 2-17-08

  • Randi Storch: Radical heritage An engaging look at the final years of Chicago's reign as the left-wing capital of America Red Chicago: American Communism and Its Grassroots, 1928-35 - Chicago Tribune, 2-16-08

  • Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore: The power of radicals Historian examines the activists who first took on racism Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights 1919-1950 - News & Observer, 2-17-08

  • Allen C. Guelzo, William Lee Miller: HISTORY UNITED STATES They Don't Make Debates Like This Anymore Lincoln may have won the debates, but he lost his campaign for the Senate. The Debates that Defined America, PRESIDENT LINCOLN The Duty of A Statesman - WaPo, 2-17-08

  • Vladislav Zubok on Orlando Figes: HISTORY | SOVIET UNION The Destruction of Memory Preserving the testimony of the generation that lived under Stalin THE WHISPERERS Private Life in Stalin's Russia - WaPo, 2-17-08

  • Brian McGinty: Parlous Times How one president finessed the law of the land LINCOLN AND THE COURT - WaPo, 2-14-08

  • Laton McCartney: There Will Be Scandal: An Oil Stain on the Jazz Age THE TEAPOT DOME SCANDAL How Big Oil Bought the Harding White House and Tried to Steal the Country - NYT,

OP-EDs:

OP-EDs:

BLOGS:

BLOGS:

PROFILED:

PROFILED:

FEATURES:

FEATURES:

INTERVIEWS:

INTERVIEWS:

QUOTED:

QUOTED:

  • Stephen Hess on"Been there, failed at that History shows experience does not guarantee success in the White House":"It's not just how much experience they had, but where and how they got that experience," said Stephen Hess, a senior fellow emeritus at the Brookings Institution and an expert in presidential history.
    Former vice presidents come into office with the best understanding of the executive branch but struggle to create their own legacy, Hess said. Military leaders have the most experience running a large bureaucracy, he said, citing Dwight D. Eisenhower as an example. - 2-11-08

  • Jean Harvey Baker on"Been there, failed at that History shows experience does not guarantee success in the White House": Lincoln"[He] was just really superb at understanding the crisis of the time and understanding how to get along with people," Goucher College history professor Jean Harvey Baker said.
    Franklin Roosevelt:"As a human being, his struggle against his infirmity is just as important as his experience in politics," Baker said. - 2-11-08

  • Ted Widmer on"Been there, failed at that History shows experience does not guarantee success in the White House":"Lincoln was"a towering genius who could have never made it during a normal election," said Brown University historian Ted Widmer, adding that he" came at exactly the moment we needed him." Although other presidents with thin resumes proved to be capable leaders, Lincoln is an extreme example. As Widmer says:"I don't think it's so realistic to think there are a lot of Abraham Lincolns floating around out there."
    Herbery Hoover:"It's kind of the opposite of the Lincoln argument," Widmer said."An outsider came in and was a very unsuccessful president."
    "Governors are more used to being the executive. Even if they're from a smaller state, they know how to delegate well, hire and fire, stay within budgets," Widmer said."Senators are more used to working within the system, which can be a good thing." - 2-11-08

  • Douglas Brinkley on"Been there, failed at that History shows experience does not guarantee success in the White House":"This may look like a lack of political experience, but he learned a lot by being on the ground," said Rice University history professor Douglas Brinkley, adding that [Theodore] Roosevelt's time in the West and fighting in the war helped him make wise decisions about land preservation and the military. - 2-11-08

HONORED / AWARDED / APPOINTED:

HONORED, AWARDED, APPOINTED:

SPOTTED:

SPOTTED:

SPOTTED:

SPOTTED:

EXHIBITS:

EXHIBITS:

CALENDAR:

CALENDAR:

  • Feb. 28, 2008: Historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. of Harvard University will speak at Arkansas State University on Feb. 28. Gates will present a lecture —"Bridging the Digital Divide: W. E. B. DuBois and the Encarta Americana" — at 7 p.m. in Centennial Hall, Reng Student Services Center / Student Union, 101 N. Caraway Road, in Jonesboro. - Arkansas Democrat Gazette, 2-10-08

  • May-September 2008: Elizabeth Brand Monroe, Deborah A. Lee, Lectures Showcase Leesburg's History for 250th Anniversary - WaPo, 1-18-08

  • David Zabecki: Hooks up with Stephen Ambrose Tours / Zabecki will lead the 14-day tour to visit historic World War II sites in Gdansk, Krakow, Warsaw and Berlin from May 16-30, 2008.- Press Release--Stephen Ambrose Tours, 1-10-08

ON TV:

    ON TV: History Listings This Week

  • C-Span2, BookTV: President Day Specials on Presidential History, Monday, February 18, @ 1am - Tuesday, February19 @ 7am ET - C-Span2, BookTV

  • History Channel:"Life After People," Sunday, February 17, @ 8pm ET/PT

  • History Channel:"The Presidents," Marathon Monday, February 18, @ 4-8pm ET/PT

  • History Channel:"History of the Joke," Monday, February 18, @ 9pm ET/PT

  • History Channel:"The Kennedy Assassination: Beyond Conspiracy," Tuesday, February 19, @ 2pm ET/PT

  • History Channel:"Mega Disasters :New York Earthquake," Tuesday, February 12, @ 10pm ET/PT

  • History Channel:"The Lincoln Assassination : The Lincoln Assassination," Wednesday, February 20, @ 2pm ET/PT

  • History Channel:"Mysteries of the Freemasons :America," Wednesday, February 20, @ 4pm ET/PT

  • History Channel:"Decoding The Past :Presidential Prophecies," Wednesday, February 20, @ 5pm ET/PT

  • History Channel:"Shootout :Wild West," Wednesday, February 20, @ 6pm ET/PT

  • History Channel:"Rumrunners, Moonshiners and Bootleggers," Thursday, February 21, @ 2pm ET/PT

  • History Channel:"History's Mysteries :Ship of Gold," Thursday, February 21, @ 7pm ET/PT

  • History Channel:"Cities Of The Underworld :A-Bomb Underground," Thursday, February 21, @ 10pm ET/PT

  • History Channel:"Dogfights :Tuskegee Airmen," Thursday, February 21, @ 11pm ET/PT

  • History Channel:"Mega Disasters," Marathon Friday, February 22, @ 4-7pm ET/PT

  • History Channel:"Prostitution: Sex in the City" Friday, February 22, @ 11pm ET/PT

  • History Channel:"Andrew Jackson," Saturday, February 23, @ 10pm ET/PT

SELLING BIG (NYT):

SELLING BIG (NYT):

  • Jonah Goldberg: LIBERAL FASCISM #7 -- 5 weeks on list - 2-24-08

  • Tom Brokaw: BOOM! #12 -- 11 weeks on list - 2-24-08

  • Drew Gilpin Faust: THIS REPUBLIC OF SUFFERING #13 -- 3 weeks on list - 2-24-08

  • Jacob Weisberg: THE BUSH TRAGEDY #27 - 2-24-08

  • Diane Ackerman: THE ZOOKEEPER'S WIFE #27 - 2-24-08

FUTURE RELEASES:

FUTURE RELEASES:

  • Matthew Dennison: The Last Princess: The Devoted Life of Queen Victoria's Youngest Daughter, February 19, 2008

  • Nick Taylor: American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work, February 26, 2008.

  • Howard Taylor: Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret, February 28, 2008.

  • H. David Stone: Vital Rails, February 28, 2008.

  • John Fea: The Way of Improvement Leads Home: Philip Vickers Fithian and the Rural Enlightenment in Early America ( U of Pennsylvania Press), February 29, 2008

  • Joseph Balkoski: From Beachhead to Brittany, March 10, 2008

  • Susan Nagel: Marie-Therese, Child of Terror: The Fate of Marie Antoinette's Daughter, March 18, 2008

  • James Donovan: A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn - the Last Great Battle of the American West (REV), March 24, 2008.

  • Scott McClellan: What Happened, April 28, 2008

DEPARTED:

DEPARTED:


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