Joe Biden

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• 1/24/2021
  

  "Hands Off Until He Was Safe Over": David Reynolds Urges Biden to Look to Lincoln

  by James Thornton Harris

  Historian David S. Reynolds recently published Abe: Abraham Lincoln and his Times, a cultural biography that shows how the 16th president was shaped by the many social currents swirling in the young United States.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  1/21/2021
  

  Charlottesville Inspired Biden to Run. Now It Has a Message for Him

  People who lived through the 2017 white supremacist invasion of Charlottesville warn that there can't be any unity without accountability. 

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• SOURCE: Associated Press
  1/21/2021
  

  Biden Revokes Trump Report Promoting "Patriotic Education"

  "In documents announcing Biden’s executive order, administration officials said the panel sought to erase America’s history of racial injustice'."

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  1/21/2021
  

  Trump’s Parting Gift to Joe Biden

  by Ronald Brownstein

  Joe Biden's inaugural address was the first since Lincoln's in 1861 that used the term "disunion," emphasizing the severity of America's political division and Biden's potential to create a political realignment around commitment to democracy and democratic culture. 

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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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• 1/19/2021
  

  Biden Isn't the First President to Have to Change Tracks en Route to Inauguration

  by Jeff Rogg

  The threat of violence forced Joe Biden to cancel plans to travel from Wilmington to Washington by Amtrak, as he famously did during his Senate years. The decision recalls Lincoln's efforts to avoid the (possibly apocryphal) Baltimore Plot. 

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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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• 1/17/2020
  

  Restoring Civil Society by Executive Order?: An Inaugural Reverie

  by John L. Godwin

  Joe Biden should defend the First Amendment right to peaceable assembly by a temporary emergency order criminalizing the carrying of firearms at public protest events and make clear that the threat of force is not part of the democratic process.

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• 1/12/2021
  

  Lessons for Today from FDR and the Progressives?

  by Walter G. Moss

  Drawing lessons for Joe Biden's fraught entry to the presidency from FDR requires considering some unexpected virtues like empathy and humor. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  12/20/2020
  

  What Books Should Biden Read? We Asked 22 Writers

  Prominent public thinkers recommend books to President-Elect Joe Biden to inform his domestic and foreign policy positions. 

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• 12/20/2020
  

  Can Biden Broaden Our American Dream?

  by Walter G. Moss

  Can a program of national service create pathways to individual opportunity while also building the social cohesion America needs to recover? 

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  12/17/2020
  

  History Exposes the Problem with Biden’s Defense Secretary Nominee

  by Grant Golub

  World War II demonstrated the need for strong civilian control over a military divided between multiple armed service branches, both to guide strategy and to ensure the ultimate authority of the President over the military. The nomination of a recently-retired Army general for Secretary of Defense departs from that tradition. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  12/14/2020
  

  GOP Leader McConnell Congratulates Biden As President-Elect

  Julian Zelizer argues that the whole Washington Republican establishment has been involved in a dangerous effort to undermine faith in the election, even after the Electoral College has cast its votes and given Joe Biden a winning total. 

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• SOURCE: NPR
  12/11/2020
  

  Biden Made Big Promises On Juvenile Justice. Activists Worry It's Not Enough

  Historian David Stein argues that social movements can't expect the Biden administration to voluntarily commit to deep reforms of juvenile justice systems; they must organize and exert pressure to force those changes. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  12/9/2020
  

  Biden Could Redefine What It Means To Be ‘A Catholic In Good Standing.’

  Joe Biden will not enjoy the solid support from Catholic Americans that JFK did. But his presidency may force the Church into necessary consideration of its public priorities. 

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• 12/6/2020
  

  Let America Be America Again

  by Ed Simon

  Outpourings of joy on November 7 when it became apparent Joe Biden had defeated Donald Trump don't mean that the nation's problems are solved, but spontaneous, collective celebration means people still have the capability to recognize our shared fate and work together.

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• 12/6/2020
  

  Stop the Music

  by Richard H. Kohn

  President-Elect Biden has allowed too much speculation about his choices for Secretary of Defense and unwisely floated the name of a retired Army general for the job. He needs to make a quick commitment to a nominee whose national defense experience comes from the civil, not the military, arena.

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  11/30/2020
  

  Joe Biden’s Harshest Critics are Likely to be Some of His Fellow Catholics

  by Theresa Keeley

  Abortion is the most divisive issue for liberal and conservative Catholics in America today, but reflects a decades-long division in beliefs about how the Church should engage with the world. It may be tricky for Joe Biden to navigate as a faithful Catholic.

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• 11/22/2020
  

  Biden will Confront Systemic Conservatism Despite a Mandate for Change

  by Steven F. Lawson

  If Joe Biden wants to implement progressive change, he'll be stopped not by a lack of popular support, but by the conservatism built into American institutions. 

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• SOURCE: The New Republic
  11/18/2020
  

  An FDR-Size Executive Order for Biden

  by Thomas Geoghegan

  Joseph Biden should issue an executive order requiring federal contracts go to firms with collective bargaining agreements in place, boosting wages, strengthening organized labor, and stimulating economic recovery.