Teddy Roosevelt and Josh Hawley's History Lessons
By David Goldfischer
The Latest 
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Editor's Note on Coverage of the Capitol Riot and Related Events
Michan Connor
The events of January 6 and their ongoing political fallout have dictated changes to HNN's publication schedule this week.
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A Modern Day Lynch Mob Invaded the Capitol on January 6
Guy Lancaster
When the Capitol rioters took selfies and posted their exploits on social media, they worked from the same expectation of impunity as drove participants in Jim Crow lynch mobs.
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Black Women Have Been Important Party and Electoral Organizers for a Century
Alison M. Parker
Black women's political organizing was a key to Joe Biden's victory and the Democratic Senate victories in Georgia; these episodes are part of a long historical tradition of activists using partisan politics to press for racial and gender equality.
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Donald Trump’s Situational Fascism
Gavriel Rosenfeld
Rather than engage in an unproductive debate about whether Donald Trump is or is not a bona fide fascist, scholars should consider the events of January 6 (and Trump's role in inciting them) as emergent, contingent results of the interplay of factors latent in American liberal democracy.
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Banana Republic or Nut Country? January 6 Put American Exceptionalism in Perspective
Frank P. Barajas
American political elites have responsed to the Capitol riot by comparing it unfavorably to something that would happen in a "banana republic." The historical record of American interference in Latin America and of our own domestic tumults shows that we may not be bananas, but have had our fair share of nuts.
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Historians, Insurrectionists and Fragile White Folks
James Brewer Stewart
A historian of abolition and an advocate of racial justice argues that historians must reject the psychological framework of some recent popular antiracist books and learn from the history of activists embodying Frederick Douglass's call for a "moral revolution" through engagement with others.
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Trump's Nero Decree
Frank Domurad
Adolf Hitler coped with the realization of incipient defeat by ordering the destruction of vital infrastructure in Germany as vengeance against a people who had, he believed, failed him. Donald Trump has been taking a similar approach to the nation's infrastructure and the COVID response (except for the border wall).
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A New "Trump Precedent" Under the 25th Amendment?
Devan Charles Lindey
If the vice president and cabinet invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Donald Trump from the powers of the presidency, it would set a new precedent in the largely uncharted territory of dealing with Presidential incapacity.
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The Problem with a Self-Pardon
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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Public Speech and Democracy
Sandra Peart
American leaders have failed to support public speech that sustains disagreement without violence. That culture of speech must be rebuilt for democracy to survive.
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Will the Republicans Take the Fascist Option?
Kevin Matthews
Before this past week, too many in the GOP seemed too willing to choose the fascist option. Now they have seen what it looks like and where it leads. The question Republicans must answer is simple: Will they choose fascism anyway?
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Introducing Ann Banks' New HNN Blog "Confederates In My Closet"
"After the 2016 election, the Civil War came for me, and there was nothing quaint about it. As a reinvigorated white supremacy began sweeping the country, I knew it was time to take the Confederates out of the closet."
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Blog
How I got into This
Ann Banks
For decades I harbored in the back of my office closet an archive I inherited from my father’s Alabama kin. Wills bequeathing family oil portraits; yellowed newspaper clipping...
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The Long Overdue End of the “Serious Conservative"
Charles J. Holden
Two darlings of the conservative movement – Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley – found themselves in hot water last week after supporting the false narrative of election fraud that inspired the Capitol rioting. It's part of a long legacy of media-anointed "serious conservatives" whose smarts have been inflated.
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Images of the Capitol Riot Reflect a National Crisis
Danielle Taana Smith
Treating Trumpism as an aberration rather than as the eruption of deep-seated impulses to bigotry and violence is a dangerous delusion.
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Jefferson's Other Legacy: Religious Liberty
Cameron Addis
Thomas Jefferson's critics have pointed out his ownership of slaves as reason to question his continued relevance as a symbol of freedom. But his commitment to religious liberty helped to prevent violent sectarian conflict and should be honored.
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Historical Rhetoric Resurfaced in Georgia's Runoff Election
Alicia K. Jackson
Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock didn't just defeat their Republican opponents on January 5, they defeated a number of racist tropes that have characterized Georgia politics since Reconstruction.
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Blog
Humphrey and Biden: One Presidential Scholar's Two Political Heroes
Ronald L. Feinman
Hubert Humphrey was the author's first political hero; Joe Biden carries forth many of Humphrey's qualities to lead the country in a time of crisis.
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Leaders Have Shirked Responsibility When Pandemics Affected Presidents
Robert Brent Toplin
It's a matter of speculation whether his illness with COVID-19 has contributed to Trump's recent behavior, but it's not unlikely. It's another episode showing the need for rigorous attention to the issue of presidential incapacitation.
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Lessons for Today from FDR and the Progressives?
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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Will VMI Move Further Toward Change and Away from Stonewall Jackson?
Wallace Hettle
Removing the statue of Stonewall Jackson from campus is just one step that the Virginia Military Institute must take toward separating itself from the Lost Cause myth and serving all Virginians.
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Roundup Top Ten for January 8, 2021
The top opinion writing by historians or about history from around the web this week.
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Georgia Election Official Joins Long Line of Voices to Call for ‘Living in Truth'
Jeffrey H. Jackson
"History shows us that people -- sometimes one at a time -- can defend the truth by pointing out what everyone knows but which the powerful sometimes refuse to believe."
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Worst Pardon Ever? You'll Be Surprised
Michael Genovese
The prospect of Trump issuing pardons to his family (and even trying to pardon himself) and the contentious history of pardons should be cause to limit the pardon power by providing for Congressional oversight.
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Peace is Good. But are More Peace Deals Necessarily Better?
Catherine Baylin Duryea
The recent normalization of relations between Israel and Morocco extends longstanding covert cooperation between the two nations, but troublingly reflects Mideast politics that are increasingly aimed at isolating Iran. It also includes concessions that contribute to the marginalization of the people of Western Sahara.
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A Personal Message from the Editor
2020 showed how important history is for understanding the news. If HNN was an important source of insight and information for you in 2020, please support our work for 2021.
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Defending the 1619 Project in the Context of History Education Today
Alan J. Singer
Critics of the 1619 project may dispute particular claims or interpretations, but an understanding of the minimal attention devoted to slavery and its legacies in secondary school curricula shows that the project is badly needed.
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The Psychology of Election Denial
Robert Brent Toplin
The Republican response to the election results is a lesson in the mental mechanics of cognitive dissonance.
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Actually, It's Doctor....
Suzanne Chod
A recent editorial asking Dr. Jill Biden to stop using the honorific is steeped in sexism and nostalgia for the unchallenged authority of white men. Ironically, her upcoming public role may help to further break down such hierarchies.
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The Plague in Ancient Athens: A Cautionary Tale for America
Fred Zilian
The United States in some respects has fared better under COVID than Athens did during the plague that accompanied the Peloponnesian War: a vaccine is in sight, and our head of state survived the day's most feared disease. But in both cases, disease showed the strains and cracks of a society and political system that will be difficult to repair.
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Create Collaborative Videos to Build Historical Engagement
Andrew Joseph Pegoda
A history professor advocates collaborative, creative performance as a way to encourage students to engage with primary sources and build empathy for the historical other.
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Can Biden Broaden Our American Dream?
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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Trump's Troop Withdrawal in Afghanistan: Part 2 – Is There Even a "Trump Doctrine"?
Brian Glyn Williams
Many Americans have bought Donald Trump's claim that he seeks to extricate the U.S. from "endless wars," including in Afghanistan. Viewed in the context of his other foreign policy actions, this claim is nonsensical, and undermines the work being done in support of global democracy and American interests.
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"A Christmas Carol" Makes the Same Demand Today: Feed the Hungry
William Lambers
Three ghosts visiting Americans this holiday might show the lifesaving benefits of food aid in the past, the scope of food insecurity today, and the prospects of hunger worsening in the future.
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To Be Or Not to Be... a Republican
James D. Zirin
Donald Trump doesn't expect to prevail in the 2020 election, but may succeed in keeping hold of the Republican Party for years to come; his insistent claims of fraud are a test of loyalty.
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Reflections on Fredrik Logevall's "JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956"
Sheldon M. Stern
Fredrik Logevall's new JFK biography is one of the first by a historian who did not personally experience the Kennedy years. Longtime JFK Library historian says this is all to the good, as Logevall makes extensive use of available primary sources to place Kennedy's political and diplomatic views in the context of his formative experiences in wartime.
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How Hudson Stuck's Ascent of Denali Boosted Recognition of Indigenous Alaskans
Patrick Dean
Hudson Stuck came to America from England in 1885 and lived a life that echoed the era's adventure books, with one important twist. He leveraged his fame from summitting North America's highest peak to advocate for the rights of native Alaskans, beginning with insisting that the mountain he climbed be known by its indigenous name, Denali.
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A Lesson from "The Crown" for American Elections? Embrace Dignity, Demand Efficiency
Lolita Buckner-Inniss
A fictionalized scene from the series "The Crown" illustrates the way that norms and good faith can overcome gaps in the letter of the law of government. The 2020 election shows that when norms and good faith approach failure, it's time to fill in those gaps.
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Anarchism and the Avant-Garde: Félix Fénéon at the Museum of Modern Art
Sam Ben-Meir
A new MOMA exhibition centers not on artists, but on the avant-garde critic and editor Félix Fénéon, whose championing of innovative artists meshed with his radical politics as a critique of the injustices of modern society.
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Senator Mike Lee Disregards History While Claiming to Support American Unity
Matt Chumchal
Senator Mike Lee this week claimed proposed museums dedicated to the history of women and Latino/as in America would foster division by ethnicity and sex. A biology professor shares an experience with the new National Museum of African American History and Culture and argues that the proposed museums are in fact needed to create the understanding needed to forge unity.
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A Narrow Definition of "Winner" Shouldn't Hide McGovern's Moral Clarity
Mike McQuillan
A former senate aide and campaign volunteer saw George McGovern's moral clarity and decency up close, and says the nation is worse off for branding him a loser after the 1972 election.
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Seven Years from the "Day of Infamy" to "Human Rights Day"
Rick Halperin
"As 2020 comes to a close, even in the midst of a terrible pandemic which may claim 300,000 U.S. deaths by year’s end, we would do well to pause and reflect upon how much progress has been made, and still needs to be made, in the struggle for human rights."
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Review of Robert Putnam’s "The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again"
Walter G. Moss
Robert Putnam's book on the "Great Divergence" toward economic inequality, political polarization and social fragmentation contains ample historical generalization, but asks big questions that it will be worth historians' time to engage.
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Will Biden Shake Up a Century of US-Ireland Relations?
Mark Holan
As the second Irish-American Catholic president, Joe Biden may be expected to sprinkle his speeches with lines from Seamus Heaney, but he's likely to tread a moderate path as issues like Brexit test the Irish-American relationship.
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Trump's Troop Withdrawal in Afghanistan: Part 1 – Abandoning a Vulnerable Ally in the War on Terror
Brian Glyn Williams
Donald Trump's plan to withdraw troops from Afghanistan misrepresents the scope and costs of the American mission and ignores the high stakes of failure for both Afghans and American security, according to a scholar of the War on Terror.
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Blog
The Pandemic Pied Piper
(R)evolutionary Biology
What explains the willingness of seemingly sane people to believe that COVID is a hoax, even as their loved ones or they themselves die of it? It's likely Trump is exploiting deeply embeded ten...
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Blog
The Slippery Slope
Steve Hochstadt
Republican politicians who have signed on to Trump's futile and desperate claims of a stolen election have calculated that they're unlikely to face consequences fom the voters. The future o...
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The Roundup Top Ten for December 11, 2020
HNN Staff
The top opinion essays by historians and about history from around the web this week.
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