Historians/History

Bush's Wars: Terry Anderson

The History News Network recorded this video of Terry Anderson speaking at the annual meeting of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association on August 13, 2011.He spoke at a roundtable devoted to the discussion of his book, Bush's Wars (Oxford University Press).

Bill Moyers and Robin Lindley: Continuing the Conversation—The Renowned Journalist on His New Book, His Career, His Brushes with History, and Where We Stand Now

by Robin Lindley

Related Links:  HNN Exclusive: Bill Moyers to Return to TV with a New Series Bill Moyers has been my North Star, in his eloquence, his quiet passion and courage,  and in the way he presents me and millions of others with the ideals of our nation, from our past to our present to our uncertain future.  Always he offers the gift of thoughtfulness and of hope. —Studs Terkel

J.H. Plumb Would Be Aghast at Today's Distorted History

by John Willingham

 Born a century ago this month, the late Cambridge historian J. H. Plumb would be dismayed were he alive today to see how a heavily distorted “past” has assumed center stage in American public life in the decade since his death, at the expense of what Plumb characterized as “history.”The influence of the anti-historical past is evident.  The most recent example comes in the person of Texas Governor Rick Perry, now a presidential candidate.  Perry not only comes from a state where the past still dominates history in the public memory, but he is the unabashed champion of the same discredited past that Plumb hoped was indeed passing more than forty years ago, when he wrote one of his most influential books, The Death of the Past, in 1969.

Hiroshima & Nagasaki: 66 Years Later

by Murray Polner

The 66th anniversary of the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was approaching and a neighbor, a retired fireman and WWII veteran, asked if I thought the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justified. He said he did because many American soldiers and marines might have been killed in a land invasion of Japan’s main islands. Okinawa, he said, was bad enough. Invading Japan would have been far worse. In no way was he dismissing the killing of so many civilians but like virtually all Americans at the time he unquestioningly believed the Government’s assertions –obviously not stated in this precise way—that because of Pearl Harbor and the many American deaths occurred while hopskotching across the islands of the Pacific, it was perfectly alright to kill enemy civilians in a war. President Truman’s announcement at the time avoided dealing with the issue when he emphasized that Hiroshima was a military base. Ergo, the city was a legitimate wartime target. He never sought to explain Nagasaki.

"Witness to an Extreme Century": An Interview with Robert Jay Lifton

by Robin Lindley

Darkness is only driven out with light, not more darkness. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.Eminent psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, M.D., now age 85, has spent his life at the often dark and bloody confluence of psychology and human history.   He is perhaps most well known for his research on the character and human consequences of historic mass traumas such as the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the Holocaust, and the counterinsurgency wars of the past half-century.

The Great Hiroshima Cover-Up—And the Greatest Movie Never Made

by Greg Mitchell

In the northwestern corner of the Hiroshima Peace Park, amid a quiet grove of trees, the earth suddenly swells. It is not much of a mound—only about ten feet high and sixty feet across.  Unlike most mounds, however, this one is hollow, and within it rests perhaps the greatest concentration of human residue in the world.Grey clouds rising from sticks of incense hang in the air, spookily.  Tourists do not dawdle here.  Visitors searching for the Peace Bell, directly ahead, or the Children’s Monument, down the path to the right, hurry past it without so much as a sideways glance.  Still, it has a strange beauty: a lump of earth (not quite lush) topped by a small monument that resembles the tip of a pagoda.  On one side of the Memorial Mound the gray wooden fence has a gate, and down five steps from the gate is a door.  Visitors are usually not allowed through that door, but occasionally the city of Hiroshima honors a request from a foreign journalist.

Wait, The Berlin Wall's Already Been Down for Twenty Years?

by Brian Ladd

Fifty years ago this week, the world was shocked by the sight of a barrier being built across the center of Berlin.  The Cold War was at its height in 1961, but the Berlin Wall quickly became its icon. Long after its demise, the Wall can still help us sort out the contradictions of a bygone age.

Why Stephen Ambrose's World War II and Mine Are So Different

by Bernard A. Weisberger

Editor's Note: Bernard A. Weisberger, now in his eighties, has lived a rich life as a teacher, historian, and writer of books and documentaries. For many years he wrote a column for American Heritage, where he was a contributing editor. What follows is the opening from Mr. Weisberger's unpublished memoir, My Personal War: 1942-1946. The memoir recounts his adventures as a young soldier assigned to a unit responsible for translating Japanese documents and messages. In this excerpt he recounts how different the war seemed to him than to Stephen Ambrose. One, don't romanticize my service, such as it was. It's understandable that two generations or more after 1945, young people assume that any veteran was a "warrior" like those who populate the TV screens. I had the same feeling myself about the white-haired Civil War vet who, dressed in a splendid uniform, was paraded in an open car down the main thoroughfare of Hudson, New York, every Memorial Day in the early nineteen-thirties, though I have no idea of what he actually did. I want to make it clear at the start that I was never anywhere near an armed enemy. I performed my duties at a minimum of several hundred miles away from the front lines, sitting at a desk in a clean uniform, and each night slept safely in a clean bed.

Barry Landau Isn't an Historian, He's an Antiquarian—So Let's Stop Calling Him One

by Samuel J. Redman

Recently, the New York Times, Washington Post, and Baltimore Sun have reported on the strange case of Barry H. Landau. Landau, a presidential memorabilia collector, has been indicted on federal charges of stealing documents from the Maryland Historical Society. His activities at the National Archives are also under investigation by an Archival Recovery Team. Numerous other archives across the United States are now reviewing their records for Landau’s name – then reviewing the material he requested for inconsistencies. The documents in question include, notably, letters signed by Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin as well copies of presidential speeches made by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

America Fought Hunger as Well as Communists in Korea

by William Lambers

 It is June, 1950, and North Korean troops have crossed over the border to attack South Korea. Heavy artillery and tanks have moved in.  A war has erupted that would soon involve U.S. forces coming to the aid of the South, and the Communist Chinese army joining with the North.If you were a civilian trapped in between this conflict, you would be in shock. You could try to outrun the enemy and flee to safer ground.  Maybe you could escape.  Maybe not.A Reuters article described the mass exodus of Korean civilians in the summer of 1950 as a blanket of dust "raised by the trudging feet of thousands of refugees trekking south."But when war comes, there is always more than one enemy.  With the chaos of armed conflict comes hunger.  This foe can be the most relentless and hardest to escape.  And so it was for Koreans.

James Bradley's "The Imperial Cruise" is an Outrage, Pure and Simple

by William N. Tilchin

An Unhinged Ideological PolemicIn The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War, author James Bradley sets out to expose Theodore Roosevelt as an arrogantly self-centered, untalented, racist, enormously destructive buffoon.  Utilizing historical evidence selectively and improperly as he peddles interpretations of history that are sharply in conflict with the findings of generations of credible popular and professional historians, Bradley is stunningly incorrect on each of these counts.  Nevertheless, arrogant, self-centered buffoonery is indeed at the core of this book.  This buffoonery does not pertain at all to the consummate diplomatist and the great and farseeing U.S. president who is the object of Bradley's ill-informed, ill-conceived, self-righteous scorn.  Rather, this buffoonery is exhibited by the would-be historian who has composed this shameful travesty.In a penetrating dual review of Bradley's book and Evan Thomas's The War Lovers: Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst, and the Rush to Empire, 1898—each published by Little, Brown and Company—Jonathan S. Tobin, the executive editor of the journal Commentary, opens with these words:

Channelling George Washington: Winston Churchill, Great-Grandson of the American Revolution

by Thomas Fleming

“I’ve got a question that will baffle all you so-called historians, plus a lot of history buffs.  What British prime minister was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati?”“Maybe we ought to remind people the Society is composed of the descendants of the officers of the Continental Army—and you were its first president.”“I might add there’s a French branch, still regularly meeting in Paris.”“Why was the Society created?”

Middle East Studies in Upheaval

by Daniel Pipes

The troubled academic study of the Middle East and Islam by Americans is changing in fundamental ways. I offer some thoughts based on 42 years of personal observation:From Western offence to Islamic offence: Muslim relations with Christians divide into four long periods: from Muhammad's hijra to the First Crusade, 622-1099, during which time Muslims expanded at Christian expense; to the 2nd siege of Vienna, 1099-1683, which saw a mix of Muslim advances (e.g., Anatolia) and retreats (Iberia); to the Arab oil boycott, 1683-1973, with Christians on the offense; and since 1973, with Muslims on the offense.

The Surprising Story of How Stonewall Jackson Became a Mythical Figure for the Religious Right

by Wallace A. Hettle

Next week will mark the 150th anniversary of First Bull Run, the initial major battle of the Civil War.  The combat that day remains memorable for several reasons, including the importance of the telegraph and the use of trains to transport troops.  Few images in Civil War history are more compelling and tragic than the panic of green Union soldiers running away from the field. 

How Did the Railroads Survive and Prosper?

by Maury Klein

Chances are that most Americans think railroads are a thing of the past, a nostalgic technology that once dominated the American scene before being upstaged by automobiles, trucks, and airplanes.  One major reason for this belief is that the railroad has simply passed out of their experience.  Relatively few people take trains, and the only other point of contact for most people is a track crossing where they might sit for some time waiting for a seemingly endless freight to go by.  In fact, the sheer length of such trains provides a clue that the railroads are still very much with us.  Far from being a moribund antique of an industry, it has evolved into a dynamic, prosperous one.

Channelling George Washington: The Revolution That Changed the World

by Thomas Fleming

“What do you think is the most important thing most people don’t know about the American Revolution?”   “How you changed the strategy of the war in 1776 and rescued the Americans from collapse?”“That was important.  But it matters more at West Point and amongst the dwindling handful of historians capable of thinking militarily.  What I’ve got in mind matters to average people all over the world.”“I’m all ears, even if my eyelids are drooping.”“The global impact of the Declaration of Independence.  I didn’t give the subject much thought until I got up here to Elysium and watched history unfold around the world.”“A fascinating idea.  Tell us more about it.”

Sarah Palin's Paul Revere Gaffe Should All Give Us Pause

by Mark R. Malebranche II

Sarah Palin has drawn a lot of attention recently for her retelling of Paul Revere’s midnight ride.  Many Americans were surprised to hear how Revere, according to Palin, “warned the British that they weren't gonna be taking away our arms, by ringing those bells and making sure, as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots that we were gonna be secure and we were gonna be free."  This isn’t the version of the story most of us are familiar with, and Palin has drawn a certain amount of heat from the press for her mis-history.  Revere did not ring a warning bell, nor did he fire warning shots that night.  To add fuel to the fire, Palin has defended her mistake by claiming that she did not get the story wrong and in all actuality, “here’s what Paul Revere did.  He warned the Americans that the British were coming, the British were coming and they’re gonna try to take our arms…” and that, “part of his ride was to warn the British that were already there that, hey, you’re not gonna take American arms…”

Harriet Beecher Stowe at 200

by Tess Chakkalakal

June marks the two hundreth anniversary of the birth of Harriet Beecher Stowe. When Stowe scholars from around the world descended on Bowdoin College last week to discuss the life and work of the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, they were also assessing the role she is said to have played in the Civil War.  President Lincoln may have called Stowe “the little woman” whose novel “made this big war,” but Uncle Tom’s Cabin, like her subsequent antislavery novel Dred, made no such call to arms.  And that was not all it did not do.  Although it inveighed against particular laws—especially the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850—the book did not point to any particular law or policy to put an end to the greater evil it identified.

In a Dark Time: Author Erik Larson on an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin

by Robin Lindley

In a dark time the eye begins to see. Theodore RoethkeBerlin, 1933.  On January 30, German President Paul von Hindenburg swore in Adolf Hitler as chancellor of a coalition government.   On February 27, the Reichstag (legislature) building burned and communists were blamed, although some suspected agents of Hitler.  After the fire, the government suspended basic civil rights, and the Nazis used anti-communist hysteria to attack their enemies.  In March, an enabling act made Hitler’s government a legal dictatorship and Nazis moved brutally against their political foes and Jews.  Within weeks, the Communist Party dissolved and the Social Democratic Party was banned.  Stormtroopers ransacked union offices across Germany in May.  By July, the Nazi Party became the only legal political party in Germany.

Teachers Haven't Failed Students—Historians Have

by James Livingston

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