Historians/History

15 Stars: Three Generals Who Saved the American Century

by Stanley Weintraub

NOT SINCE the immense fame of Grant, Sherman, and Lee at the close of the Civil War have three generals become such household names as Douglas MacArthur, George C. Marshall, and Dwight D. Eisenhower by the climax of World War II. Colleagues, and on occasion competitors, they had leapfrogged each other, sometimes stonewalled each other, even supported and protected each other, throughout their celebrated careers. They were each created five-star generals when that super-rank was authorized

Was Churchill a Friend of the Jews and Zionism? More Questions and Answers

by Daniel Mandel

I thank those who have discussed my piece on HNN, " Was Churchill a friend of the Jews and Zionism?" published on 21 May. Putting aside all exchanges extraneous to the precise subject, three major challenges have emerged from readers: Churchill wrote in 1920 an article in which he blamed atheistic Jews for Bolshevism, demonstrating that he was anti-Semitic Whatever Churchill thought about helping the European Je

Why You Shouldn't Pay Attention to the Claims that Israel Attacked the USS Liberty Deliberately

by A. Jay Cristol

On June 8, 2007, the San Diego Union Tribune published an article titled"Time for the Truth About the Liberty," with a byline, Ward Boston, Jr. Ward Boston, Jr.served his country as a naval aviator during World War II. He completed law school and then, after a stint with the FBI, he returned to the Navy as a legal specialist in the days prior to creation of the Judge Advocate Generals Corp. By 1967, he had been promoted

Did We Always Care About Voting Rights?

by Brian K. Landsberg

Voting rights in the United States continue to attract public debate. Voter fraud investigations, faulty election procedures, the extension of the Voting Rights Act and, of course, the 2000 presidential election have all drawn attention. One common assumption is that the federal government must play a muscular role in addressing voting rights issues. Yet this assumption was strongly disputed fifty years ago, when Congress enacted the first modern civil rights law. What happened to change the

What Were Einstein's Politics?

by David E. Rowe and Robert Schulmann

The Cold War ushered in a period of intense rivalry and suspicion between the United States and the Soviet Union. Domestically, formal and unofficial probes into an individual’s political reliability became commonplace. The era of the loyalty oath and the security-clearance boards had arrived. Given Einstein’s propensity to speak his mind and his fearless association with organizations under suspicion he presented a tempting target for those who viewed expressions of sympathy for the

Did JFK Say It?

by Sheldon M. Stern

Early in 2003, as I began the final editing of the manuscript for my book on the Cuban missile crisis ExComm meetings, I turned to the dreaded but unavoidable task of checking the accuracy of hundreds of footnotes. 1 I had already decided to include a JFK remark apparently made late on September 30, 1962 when federal troops failed to arrive in time to prevent a riot over the enrollment of James Meredith at the Oxford campus of the University of Mi

The American History Curriculum: Why Is It Still Eastern-centric?

by Ron Briley

The protest by the Hispanic community regarding the failure of documentary filmmaker Ken Burns to include the story of Latinos and Latinas in his forthcoming PBS production on World War II reflects a long standing historical bias regarding the portrayal of the American West and its citizens in our national narrative.  Although Burns has made concessions to widen the focus of his film to include Native American and Hispanic perspectives

Are We There Yet? Historians and the History of Tourism

by Lawrence Culver

Now that June is passing into July, many historians, at least those who teach, are enjoying one of the most rewarding aspects of an academic career – summer.  Of course, summer does not mean three months of lying on the beach.  On the contrary, our summers are often spent revising book manuscripts, writing conference papers or course lectures, or making research trips to archives.      For academics, summer is often less a time of relaxation and more

Why I Decided to Find a Publisher for My College Students' Papers

by Jon Alexander

American POW Memoirs from the Revolutionary War through the Vietnam War, a collection of fourteen papers written by students in an undergraduate seminar that I developed, was published by Wipf and Stock Publishers in March. 1 The seminar in which the papers were written was offered for one semester. It was an ordinary seminar open to juniors an

How Ronald Reagan Reinvented Religion

by John Patrick Diggins

CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALISM made its move into twentieth century American politics at just about the same time as Ronald Reagan left the governorship of California in 1975. The Reverend Jerry Falwell, warning the country that"Satan had mobilized his forces to destroy America," mobilized older conservatives called the Moral Majority to rescue the country from spiritual jeopardy. In 1988, the Reverend Pat Robertson set up the Christian Coalition. The followers of these groups all worked strenuously t

Was Churchill a Friend of the Jews and Zionism?

by Daniel Mandel

When I recently published a piece debunking the recent crop of revisionism (including his attitude to Jews) surrounding Winston Churchill in the American Spectator, a number of familiar and important questions came in from readers expressing doubt as to Churchill's partiality for Zionism and Jews. Their objections can be split into three:   1. Since Churchill in 1922 excised Transjordan from Palestin

Legislation Introduced to Investigate the Internment of Japanese Latin Americans

by John Elrick

On January 24, 2007, nearly sixty-five years after Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the internment of 120,000 US citizens of Japanese, German and Italian ancestry, Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI) reintroduced legislation to investigate a less widely known aspect of the history of World War II: the forced relocation and detainment of over two thousand Latin Americans of Japanese descent. “This is a story about the US government’s arm reaching across international borders, into a p

The Kennedy Brothers and Civil Rights

by Sheldon M. Stern

In The Bystander: John F. Kennedy and the Struggle for Black Equality, Basic Books, 2006, Nick Bryant concludes that JFK was too cautious and hesitant on civil rights.

A Funeral Oration for American Heritage

by Bernard A. Weisberger

Allow me to shed a sentimental senior tear or two for the dear, departed print version of American Heritage,  executed by Forbes, Inc., for the crime of attracting only one third of a million (350,000 to be exact) regular readers.  Whether the online edition is granted a full pardon or merely a reprieve seems unclear at this moment.  It's all rather personal with me.  I'm one of the earliest cont

Rediscovering American Conservatism Again

by Leo P. Ribuffo

Last fall my friend Leila Zenderland from Cal State Fullerton asked if I was participating in the 2007 AHA convention. Yes, I replied, I had organized a session called “The Rediscovery of American Conservation.” “Don’t you do that every year?” Leila responded. No, I answered, the AHA only lets me do it every other year. That session prompted HNN’s request for this op ed, along with the assurance that I could repeat what I have written.

Captain John Smith: Historian or Liar?

by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler

They’re still taking shots at Captain John Smith, 400 years after that sturdy English yeoman’s son arrived at Chesapeake Bay while facing a death sentence. When Christopher Newport, the commander of the 1607 expedition that would found Jamestown, announced that Smith’s name was on a sealed list of seven council members appointed to govern the colony, Smith escaped the gallows--neither the first nor the last time he would do so. The latest attack on Smith comes from a y

Why Another Book on Hiroshima?

by Robert James Maddox

The use of atomic bombs against Japan in August 1945 has remained one of the most controversial issues in American history.  The conventional view is that these weapons were used to end a bloody war that would have become far bloodier if the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands had proven necessary.  Individuals who have become known as “Hiroshima Revisionists” have dismissed this explanation as a post-war myth concoc

Hitler's Carmaker: As the Nazis Amassed Power, What Did GM Know and When? (Part 2)

by Edwin Black

Click here for Part 1. And click here for Part 2. And here for Part 3. And here for Part 4.By the spring of 1933, the world was beginning to learn about the lawlessness and savagery of the Nazi regime, and the Reich’s determination to crush its Jewish community and threa

Hitler's Carmaker: From War Profiteering to Undermining Mass Transit (Part 3)

by Edwin Black

Click here for Part 1. And click here for Part 2. And here for Part 3. And here for Part 4.During the late 1930s, Hitler’s persecution of Jews was building to a frenzy even as fears of a war escalated. Nevertheless, General Motors’ German automotive subsidiary, Ope

Hitler's Carmaker: The Inside Story of How General Motors Helped Mobilize the Third Reich (Part 1)

by Edwin Black

Click here for Part 2. And here for Part 3. And here for Part 4.James D. Mooney thrust his arm diagonally, watching its reflection in his hotel suite mirror. Not quite right. He tried once again. Still not right. Was it too stiff? Too slanted? Should his palm stretch perpendicular to the ceiling; should his arm bend at a