political history

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  10/13/2021
  

  Gaming Elections is a Conservative Political Tradition

  by John S. Huntington

  "Conservatives have spent generations attempting to exploit arcane and anti-democratic electoral structures to carve a pathway for minoritarian rule."

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  10/13/2021
  

  Review: The Schemes and Ambitions of Joseph P. Kennedy

  by Alexis Coe

  A new book locates the origin of the "Kennedy Curse" in the ruthless ambition and ego of patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy. 

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  10/8/2021
  

  The US is Politically Bankrupt

  by Rebecca L. Spang

  By provoking crisis over the debt ceiling, Republicans are failing to heed lessons from pre-revolutionary France. 

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• SOURCE: NPR
  10/10/2021
  

  Dems' Unity Problems Nothing New

  "Throughout its history, the party has featured dissent and even radical differences of viewpoint. It has been defined by these internal contrasts and conflicts as often as by its achievements."

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/24/2021
  

  Charles Sellers, 98, Historian Who Upset the Postwar Consensus, Dies

  Charles Sellers was an influential figure in explaining how the rise of market capitalism disrupted all aspects of American life, and argued this change was not for the better. 

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• 9/26/2021
  

  The Roots of the Politicization of the National Parks Service

  by Nick DeLuca

  The National Park Service has never been totally independent of politics. But a 1996 law requiring Senate approval of the NPS Director, combined with the Trump administration's use of acting directors, has created uncertainty. Approving Biden's nominee Chuck Sams is a key step to putting the National Parks on solid footing. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/13/2021
  

  There’s a Very Good Reason ‘Washington Slept Here’

  by Nathaniel Philbrick

  "Today the phrase 'Washington slept here' is a historical joke, but during the two years of intermittent travel at the beginning of his presidency, all those nights spent in taverns and homes across the country were essential to establishing an enduring Union."

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  9/7/2021
  

  Too Often, Politicians Pick Their Voters

  by Warren E. Milteer Jr.

  Political factions and then organized parties have fought over the size, composition and geographical ordering of the electorate since the founding. This legacy today undermines the legitimacy of government and the political will to protect the right to vote. 

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• SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
  9/5/2021
  

  The Recall is a Test: Has California's Direct Democracy Experiment Failed?

  It's difficult to swallow the idea that Progressive era governor Hiram Johnson would have countenanced the idea that the recall system he championed could allow a minority of voters to throw out a governor who recently was elected with 62 percent of the votes cast.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  8/28/2021
  

  Bouie: The Founders Lived in a Foreign World

  Times columnist Jamelle Bouie draws on the work of historians Matt Glassman, Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick, and Susan Dunn to argue that the Founders did not, in fact, get it right the first time – even for the society they lived in, let alone for ours.

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• SOURCE: History.com
  8/25/2021
  

  What Did the Continental Congresses Do?

  From the runup to the Revolution to the adoption of the Constitution, three Continental Congresses were the de facto national government. Here's what they did. 

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• SOURCE: Boom California
  8/23/2021
  

  Review: Geraldo Cadava's "The Hispanic Republican"

  by Jerry González

  Historian Jerry González says that "The Hispanic Republican is a wake-up call for progressives, particularly white liberals, who uncritically believe that rising Latinx population numbers will naturally shift the political winds."

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• SOURCE: Politico
  8/1/2021
  

  Is a Group of New Deal Descendants Influencing the Biden Administration?

  A group of "descendants" – relatives of New Deal officials – is working to keep discussion of FDR's social and economic policy alive in the hopes that it will shift the Biden administration in a more activist direction. 

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• SOURCE: New York Magazine
  7/26/2021
  

  What the Congressional Black Caucus Lost When It Won Power

  The Congressional Black Caucus has moved from the margins of power in the Democratic Party to the center, but has blunted its calls for change in the process, 

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• SOURCE: The Week
  7/12/2021
  

  Remembering Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards, and his Merciless Roasting of David Duke

  Edwin Edwards saved the state of Louisiana by attacking Duke as a hateful bigot, winning office despite a record of corruption. 

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• SOURCE: Phenomenal World
  7/12/2021
  

  Long Crises: Kim Phillips-Fein Interviews Benjamin Holtzman

  While New York's mayoral campaign has invoked the "bad old days" of the 1970s, the city today is still experiencing the political-economic crisis that erupted 50 years ago. 

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  7/13/2021
  

  How the Meaning of Infrastructure Has Changed Over Time

  by Peter A. Shulman

  Economists who have criticized the broad working definition of "infrastructure" in the Biden bill need to consider the history of the term, as "the means to build something greater." 

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• SOURCE: Dissent
  7/12/2021
  

  What Was the Fascism Debate?

  by Udi Greenberg

  What are the stakes in the academic debate over whether the Trump administration was fascist? 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  7/2/2021
  

  The Strange, Sad Death of America’s Political Imagination

  by Daniel Immerwahr

  What happened to big-thinking utopianism as a response to national problems? 

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• SOURCE: The Guardian
  6/28/2021
  

  The Age of Neoliberalism is Ending in America. What will Replace It?

  by Gary Gerstle

  It will be difficult for the Biden administration to revive a (Green) New Deal Order, but making progress may be key to stopping the nation's slide toward authoritarian and racist forms of populism.