conservatism 
-
3/2/2021
Historians on CPAC 2021
The annual conservative meeting showed that Donald Trump still holds the steering wheel of the Republican Party. Historians on the speeches, the stage design, and the golden idol.
-
SOURCE: New York Times
Trumpism Grips a Post-Policy G.O.P. as Traditional Conservatism Fades
by Jonathan Martin
This year's CPAC meeting shows a remarkable Trumpian orthodoxy among Republican officials that stands out in contrast to the intense public debates that have followed previous electoral defeats.
-
SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
2/2/2021
We Need a Second Season of ‘Mrs. America.’ Here’s Why
by Magdalene Zier
After the defeat of the ERA, Phyllis Schlafly's activist career entered a second act, pushing the federal judiciary in conservative directions.
-
SOURCE: The Week
2/18/2021
Rush Limbaugh Taught Republicans To Rage
by Neil J. Young
Even from the perspective of today's degraded political culture that he helped bring about, Limbaugh's cruelty remains shocking.
-
SOURCE: Democracy Now
2/25/2021
“Decades in the Making”: How Mainstream Conservatives & Right-Wing Money Fueled the Capitol Attack
Author Brendan O'Connor says the Capitol riots were decades in the making, and discusses the history of ideology and institution-building on the right that organized the riots.
-
SOURCE: The New Republic
2/19/2021
The Rise and Fall of the L. Brent Bozells
by Timothy Noah
The charging of L. Brent Bozell IV with disorderly conduct for entering the Senate chamber on January 6 prompts reflection on how a series of men named L. Brent Bozell trace the evolution of American conservatism.
-
SOURCE: New York Times
2/22/2021
The Legacy of Rush Limbaugh (Podcast)
The Times Podcast "The Daily" looks at the career and legacy of the controversial radio host.
-
SOURCE: The Atlantic
2/21/2021
Texas Failed Because It Did Not Plan
An analysis of three interrelated failures of planning, logistics, and markets that led to the Texas electrical disaster.
-
SOURCE: Informed Comment
2/17/2021
From COVID to Power Outages in Ice Storms, the Texas Republican Party has Created a Failed State
by Juan Cole
Texas Republicans have gotten out of the way of the market and preached the futility of government action. A non-winterized utility grid is the result.
-
SOURCE: The New Republic
2/19/2021
Rush Limbaugh and the Nineties Roots of “Cancel Culture”
by Alex Pareene
Rush Limbaugh's career ended in a siloed media environment where the right occupied its own channels. But it began in a mainstream media that was eager to profit by marketing his brand of down-punching reactionary grievance.
-
SOURCE: Radical History Review
2/19/2021
His Ignominy Is His Triumph: a Counter-Obituary of Rush Limbaugh
by A.J. Bauer
"You’d be hard pressed to find a better popularizer of the concept of counter-hegemonic struggle (“culture war” in the vernacular), albeit on the right, or a more “organic intellectual” of the U.S. white upper middle class."
-
SOURCE: Washington Post
2/18/2021
We Wouldn’t Have Had President Trump Without Rush Limbaugh
by Max Boot
Rush Limbaugh stripped conservative politics of principle, policy, and argument, broadcasting a show based on "assertion, mockery, and resentment." Donald Trump's presidency has proven that this was enough.
-
2/17/2021
Rush Limbaugh Dead at 70, Influenced Combative Conservatism Over the Airwaves
by HNN Staff
The talk radio host energized conservatives and disgusted others with racist, misogynistic, gay-bashing rhetoric, building a lucrative media empire and a culture of politicized resentment.
-
2/18/2021
The Texas Weather and Power Catastrophe
by HNN Staff
The combination of severe winter storms and persistent cold and a deregulated energy supply system without compulsion to invest in winterization has left Texans without power, heat or drinking water for days. Senator Ted Cruz appears to have decamped to Cancun while politicians blame wind and solar power for frozen natural gas refineries.
-
SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
2/15/2021
McConnell’s Task: Purging the Crackpots and Bigots
by Kevin M. Schultz
William F. Buckley Jr. was able to advance conservative ideas by publicly dissociating from antisemites, Ayn Rand cultists and John Birch conspiracists on the right-wing fringes. Mitch McConnell's problem leading America's conservative party is that all those groups are back with a vengeance.
-
SOURCE: Washington Post
2/17/2021
From Limbaugh to Trump: Rick Perlstein Explains Rush’s Real Legacy
Washington Post political columnist interviews historian Rick Perlstein on the late talk radio host's impact on political culture.
-
SOURCE: New York Times
2/17/2021
Rush Limbaugh, Talk Radio’s Conservative Provocateur, Dies at 70
The conservative talk radio host and de facto head of the Republican Party died on February 17 after a long career of airing right-wing grievances and attacking liberals, feminists, environmentalists, Democrats, and Black political leaders.
-
SOURCE: Stanford Daily
2/12/2021
A Tragic Day at the Senate
by David Palumbo-Liu
A Stanford scholar of Asian American Studies decries the university administration's dismissal of faculty complaints that the conservative Hoover Institution has produced disinformation about both COVID-19 and the integrity of the 2020 presidential election under the imprimatur of Stanford's academic reputation.
-
SOURCE: Dissent
2/14/2021
Backlash Forever (Review Essay)
by Gabriel Winant
Historian Gabriel Winant reviews two recent books about the past and present of reactionary white working class politics and considers whether this tendency can be overcome.
-
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.
News
- The Muddled History of Anti-Asian Violence
- Massive Investment in Social Studies and Civics Education Proposed to Address Eroding Trust in Democratic Institutions
- Lightning Strikes Twice: Another Lost Jacob Lawrence Surfaces
- Former Procter and Gamble CEO: America and the World Need History Majors
- Cherokee Nation Addresses Bias Against Descendants of Enslaved People
- Part of Being a Domestic Goddess in 17th-Century Europe Was Making Medicines
- How Dr. Seuss Responded to Critics Who Called Out His Racism
- Discovery Of Schoolhouse For Black Children Now Offers A History Lesson
- People Longing for Movie Theaters During the 1918 Flu Pandemic Feels Very Familiar in 2021
- How Did "Bipartisanship" Become a Goal In Itself? (Podcast)