Historians/History

Why Many Think that Ronald Reagan's Court Appointments May Have Been His Chief Legacy

by David M. O'Brien

One among many of Reagan's great strengths was his ability to forge a broad coalition among traditional conservatives, moderate Republicans, and the new right or "movement conservatives." Like other presidents who have to deal with their special interest groups, once in office Reagan sought in symbolic and tangible ways

Gil Troy Interviews Gil Troy About His New Book on Ronald Reagan

by Gil Troy

Why is it so important for us to understand Reagan's presidency and the 1980s during this moment in time? Anyone who woke up on November 3 and claimed to be surprised that America has shifted right - or that culture is an important po

How the Old Guard at the Nixon Library Hoodwinked Historians

by David John Marley

Nixon's campaign slogan was "Nixon, now more than ever," if historians really want to change things at his library, they should take up the rallying cry, "NARA, now more than ever." If you listen carefully to all of the noise being made by academics who want to punish the Nixon Library by keeping them out of the federal system, you can hear members of the Nixon Foundation begging not to be thrown into the briar patch. In the past few weeks scholars have been

So Universities Hire Liberal Faculty--This Is News?

by Russell Jacoby

The Yale student did not like what he heard. Sociologists derided religion and economists damned corporations. One professor pre-emptively rejected the suggestion that "workers on public relief be denied the franchise." "I propose, simply, to expose," wrote the young author in a booklong denunciation, one of "the most extraordinary incongruities of our time. Under the "protective label 'academic freedom,'" the institution that derives its "moral and financ

Did the PLO Murder Robert Kennedy?

by Mel Ayton

The issue of a possible conspiracy in the murder of Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 has once again been resurrected.

In Defense of Old-Fashioned Political History (And What One School Is Doing About It)

by Robert "KC" Johnson

In late 2003, National Endowment for the Humanities chairman Bruce Cole wrote, “Today it is all the more urgent that we study American institutions, culture and history. Defending our democracy demands more than successful military campaigns. It also requires an understanding of the ideals, ideas and institutions that have shaped our country.” Coming off a fiercely contested presidential election, with U.S. troops on the ground in Ira

What Conclusions Can We Draw from the Forum on Plagiarism Recently Held by the Chronicle of Higher Education?

by Don Adams

What do baseball and the study of history have in common? An appreciation of the connection between past and present, to be sure, but if a recent discussion forum on the website for the Chronicle of Higher Education is any indication, they share something far more disturbing as well. According to dozens of posts made by everyone from undergraduates to clerical staff to senior faculty, plagiarism has become

Should Historians Be Working for the Tobacco Industry?

by Robert N. Proctor

Historians of medicine last year were shocked to learn that Kenneth Ludmerer, president of the American Association for the History of Medicine, has been quietly working as an expert witness for the tobacco industry since the late 1980s. In a deposition[1] submitted for his work as an expert witness in USA v Philip Morris Inc et al, the ongoing federal case against the industry, Ludmerer admits to having worked on at least thirteen separate trials over the past 15 years, always for the d

Is Princeton's Faculty too Liberal?

by Jon Wiener

This week Mr. Wiener is visiting Princeton, his alma mater, to discuss his latest book. He took the opportunity to address the question of bias in academia. Is the Princeton faculty too liberal? Oped columnist (and Princeton Ph.D.) George F. Will complains that faculties like Princeton's are "intellectual versions of one-party nations;" David Horowitz of FrontPageMag.com has complained about what he calls "the atmosphere of intolerance and hate towards conservatives&qu

Leftwing Israeli Academics Shouldn't Be Complaining

by Steven Plaut

A spectre is haunting the far-left fever swamps to be found in certain corners of Israeli universities: "Israel Academia Monitor," Israel's new cousin to the "Campus Watch" web site that operates in the U.S., directed by Dr. Daniel Pipes. Campus Watch has long been controversial because of its practice of publishing some of the loopier citations and statements of faculty members in the U.S. who pose as Middle East "experts." It has outraged the academic left wing, a

C-Span's Mistake

by Deborah E. Lipstadt

The media storm in which I have been engulfed actually began a few weeks ago. Shortly after History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving appeared HarperCollins received a call from C-Span’s Book TV asking for my speaking schedule. They were excited about covering the book. The HarperCollins folks were very pleased; particularly

History for Dummies

by David Greenberg

Several weeks ago, a history book called The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, by Thomas E. Woods Jr., a hitherto unknown assistant professor at Suffolk County Community College in New York, appeared on the New York Times paperback best-seller chart. User-friendly in its layout,

The Nixon Papers Deal--An Archivist's Perspective

by Maarja Krusten

Historians reacted with surprise when the Nixon Library and Birthplace Foundation recently cancelled a scholarly conference on President Richard Nixon and Vietnam. In calling off the conference, the Reverend John H. Taylor, executive director of the Library, pointed to low registration figures. But scholars wondered if the Foundation simply got cold feet.Alarmed by the cancellation, the 16 experts who were supposed to speak at the confere

Japan's Hidden Role in the "Return" of Zainichi Koreans to North Korea

by Tessa Morris-Suzuki

The slow and troubled journey towards a future normalization of relations between Japan and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK - North Korea) is shaped by two radically different visions of the past. Both Japanese and North Korean governments demand a “settling of accounts” for past history. For Japan, however, the “account” in question is the fate of the Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea. For the North Korean side, on the other hand, it is the older and larger history o

Is Ward Churchill the New Michael Bellesiles?

by Thomas Brown

I’m beginning to see Ward Churchill as the carny in the dunking booth, who hurls insults at the crowd, and then howls with outrage when he gets soaked. Yes, the unenlightened were out to get you. Yes, the system was rigged against you by the power structure. No argument there. But should anyone care?For the second time in the new millennium, a university professor has come under heavy fire from the political right, and is in danger of losing his job as a consequence. The most pro

Iwo Jima: A Battle of Choice Waged on the Basis of Faulty Intelligence and Bad Planning

by Max Boot

On Feb. 19, 1945, 30,000 Marines splashed ashore on a small volcanic island in the central Pacific. After four days of bitter fighting, a small patrol reached the peak of Mt. Suribachi, where it planted a U.S. flag in an iconic scene captured by photographer Joe Rosenthal. This famous image was hardly the end of the battle. Iwo Jima would not be secure until March 26. Almost all of the 21,000 Japanese defenders elected to die rather than surrender. Rooting them out cost more than 6,000 American

Petition to Suspend the Transfer of the Nixon Papers to the Nixon Library

At noon on March 10 the following petition, posted on the website of the National Security Archive, was faxed to members of Congress. The petition was presented in response to the Nixon Library's abrupt decision to cancel a long-scheduled April conference on Nixon and Vietnam. As reported on HNN last week, this was the first conference at the Library that was to have featu

Even Richard Nixon Would Have Been Embarrassed

by Melvin Small

Richard Nixon once wrote that "History will treat me fairly. Historians probably won't because most historians are on the left." Apparently one way to compensate for the putative shortfall in fair and balanced historians is for the protectors of the Nixon legacy to control the dialogue at his presidential library, which still is not integrated into the admirable National Archives system of presidential libraries. Last fall, the Nixon Presidential Library and Whittier College

About the Nixon Library's Promise to Turn Over a New Leaf

by Stanley I. Kutler

The Richard M. Nixon “Library & Birthplace” and Whittier College, the former president’s alma mater, joined forces to sponsor a promising April conference on “Richard Nixon as Commander-in-Chief,” with the immodest sub-title of “The History of Nixon and Vietnam.” Nearly twenty-five accomplished historians, journalists, and public officials, with wide-ranging expertise, agreed to participate. Many sacrificed more lucrative invitations, believing

It's the 250th Anniversary of the French & Indian War: Should We Care?

by William M. Fowler, Jr.

A little more than two hundred and fifty years ago a group of militia and Indians led by a twenty-two year old major named George Washington surprised a camp of sleeping French soldiers near present day Pittsburgh. Washington could