Historians/History

Dear President Obama: Please Don't Honor the Arlington Confederate Monument

by Edward Sebesta and James Loewen

May 18, 2009 President Barack H. Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500Dear President Obama: Since the administration of Woodrow Wilson, presidents have sent annually a wreath to the Arlington Confederate Monument. Prior to the administration of George H. W. Bush, this was done on or near the birthday of Jefferson Davis.  Starting with George H.W. Bush, it has been done on Memorial Day. We a

In Memory of David Herbert Donald (1920-2009)

by Gil Troy

Related Links HNN Doyen: David Herbert Donald HNN Coverage of the Death of David Donald One of the first real history books I ever bought was W

Pugetopolis -- A Mossback Takes on Growth Addicts, Weather Wimps, and the Myth of Seattle Nice: An interview with Knute Berger

by Robin Lindley

In the late nineteenth century, newcomers to the Northwest derided the early settlers as “mossbacks” who were stuck in the past, in the w

How Did We Get the Term D-Day?

by Jonathan Gawne

Every June the press carries stories about the invasion of Normandy in 1944. One of the most common questions raised is “what does the term D-Day mean and where does it come from?” The answer to what it means is readily known. They are used for the day and hour on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. However, the question of where the U.S. Army got the term has remained a mystery. The First World War saw the start of massive operations involving the coordination of hundred

Nixonland in Paperback: An Interview with Rick Perlstein

by HNN Staff

Related Links Rick Perlstein on Obama (video interview)

How Ideological Funding is Harming Israel and Jewish Studies in the United States

by Jeremiah Haber

Jewish Studies, and now also Israel Studies, did not arise on college campuses because the American academy recognized the importance of these areas. On the contrary, it was Jewish philanthropy that endowed chairs and centers of Jewish studies beginning in the 1970s and centers of Israel Studies beginning in the 1990s and accelerating in the first decade of the current century. Although the funding often came from wealthy individuals, the universities made it clear to the donors that faculty

Reagan Was His Own Man

by James Mann

Absolutely without guile. This is the interpretation of Reagan that has endured, both with conservatives who yearn to see him as a man of uncomplicated

Harry S Truman at 125

by Frederick G. Slabach and Michael R. Gardner

Soon after Harry S Truman became President, he invited his mother, Martha, for a long visit at the White House.  When she arrived, Truman suggested she stay in the Lincoln Bedroom.  As Clark Clifford recounts in Counsel to the President, Martha turned

Why Mary Is the Mother We Celebrate the Rest of the Year

by Miri Rubin

Ten years ago I began an historical study of the figure of the Virgin Mary. I am a historian of the Middle Ages, and so I expected my work to include the study of religious imagery and prayer, hymns and Marian shr

Reporter's Notebook: Highlights from the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association

by Rick Shenkman

IndexAddendum Eric Foner: Why He Became a Historian (video)Lynn Hunt: Why She Became a Historian (video)James McPherson: Why He Became a Historian (video) Mahmood Mamdani: Good Muslim, Bad Muslim (video)Com

Distorting History

by Kevan A. Elsby

Editor's Note: Following is a press release sent to HNN and other media organizations on February 5, 2002. It came from Dr. Kevan A. Elsby (k.elsby@btinternet.com) Stephen Ambrose, in his book, D-Day June 6, 1944, THE CLIMACTIC BATTLE OF WORLD WAR II, penned several unsubstantiated comments demeaning the performance of British sailors of Combined Operations, Royal Navy. Despite the readily accessible evidence in the official records relative to Omaha Beach on D-Day, especially

Why It's Time to Revive a Tradition of Intellectual History

by William H. Goetzmann

Some of today’s prominent American historians do not believe in intellectual ideas, traditions and cultural influences.  In some of my pr

Is Herbert Aptheker's Past Being Whitewashed in a Way?

by Peter Eisenstadt

Herbert Aptheker (1915–2003) has always been a controversial figure. For many decades he was a pioneering historian of the African-American experience, writing and editing a number of significant works in the middle decades of the 20th century, when this subject was largely ignored by the mainstream historical profession. And at the same time, he was also for most of his career, one of the intellectual leaders of the American Communist Party, an association that led to his further marginalizatio

I Love It When You Talk Retro

by Ralph Keyes

Our national conversation is filled with historical allusions: Ponzi schemes, smoke-filled rooms, talking turkey, even Harry and Louise (to say nothing of Thelma and Louis

John W. Dean III and the Watergate Cover-up, Revisited

by Luke A. Nichter

Related Links HNN Hot Topics: The Watergate Transcript Controversy On Super Bowl Sunday—because my wife is from Pittsburgh I remember that otherwise unimportant detail vividly—I picked up the New York Times from my driveway and was surprised to find a front-page article about Watergate. After all, this is 2009, not 1974. The article, “John Dean at Issue in Nixon Tapes

A Story. About What? Well, You Wouldn't Want Us to Spoil the Surprise, Would You?

by Kimit A. Muston

I will be celebrating the fourth of July this year. But I will also be celebrating the fifth of July, because on the fifth of July in 1883 the U.S. government granted patent #278967 for a formula of something that had never existed in the world before. The patent was granted for an invention that every one reading this has probably used at least once in the past year, and if you haven’t used it in the past year, you really ought to. It was the brainchild of an energetic young marketing gen

OAH 2009: Sam Wineburg Dares to Ask If the Teaching American History Program Is a Boondoggle

by Rick Shenkman

His audience knew in advance this would be no ordinary luncheon address for a convention of historians. They had to get no further than the title to know that much: "An Antidote for an Ailing Profession or a $836,000,000 Boondoggle: The Future of the TAH Program." TAH--the Te

Highlights from the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Organization of American Historians

by Rick Shenkman

Related Links HNN Coverage: Past AHA & OAH Conferences News Rick Shenkman: Sam Wineburg Dares to Ask If the Teaching American History Program Is a Boondoggle OAH Finances Take a Slide and Convention Attracts Fewer Attendees

The Challenge of Writing Contemporary History

by Sir Lawrence Freedman

Contemporary history is a challenging craft. Unlike other forms the official archives are usually limited, the actors are very much alive and ready to comment on any misrepresentation, while the subject

HNN Hot Topics: The Watergate Transcript Controversy

News Frederick J. Graboske, Nixon Tapes Archivist, explains why he attacked Stanley Kutler NYT Public Editor says the Times blew the Kutler story"out of proportion" AHR won't be considering article about Kutler's Watergate transcripts