Roundup

Civil Rights Unionism and Democracy for Teachers

by Jesse Chanin

Nat LaCour connected civil rights unionism to teachers’ struggle to build union democracy. A remembrance and evaluation.

Why Jimmy Lai and Hong Kong’s Democracy Advocates Need Biden’s Public Support Right Now

by Natan Sharansky

A former Soviet political prisoner and human rights advocate calls on the Biden transition team to make clear that the new president will not accept China's repression of democracy in Hong Kong. 

Lifetime Tenure Meant Even Trump’s Supreme Court Picks Could Resist His Pressure

by Teri Kanefield

Alexander Hamilton's arguments for a independent judiciary in the Federalist Papers were borne out by the Supreme Court's dismissal of the pro-Trump suit brought by Texas's attorney general. 

Immigration Cruelty Didn’t Start With Trump. Will It End Under Biden?

by Elliott Young

There is a long and ignoble history of cruelty toward immigrants in the United States, and the end of the Trump presidency will not change it by itself. 

The Roundup Top Ten for December 11, 2020

by HNN Staff

The top opinion essays by historians and about history from around the web this week. 

The Long History of Black Women Organizing in Georgia Might Decide Senate Control

by Danielle Phillips-Cunningham

Black women in Georgia have long been leaders in building coalitions for political rights, labor protection, and equal justice under law. It's fitting that Black women have been leaders in the state's political shift toward the Democrats. 

President Trump Must Go To Jail For Our Democracy To Get Back To Normal

by Richard Striner

"Decent Republicans — and there are millions of them — need help, and the best way to give it is to make an example of Trump."

Stephen F. Cohen Helped Us Understand the Russian Revolution and Nikolai Bukharin

by Kevin Murphy

A fellow historian of Russia and the Soviet Union praises Stephen Cohen's scholarship and willingness to question orthodoxies in examining the internal diversity of revolutionary Communism. 

Americans Used to Sacrifice for the Public Good. What Happened?

by Brandon T. Jett and Christopher McKnight Nichols

The United States has lost the language and practice of collective sacrifice for the common good.

Even if Georgia Turns Blue, North Carolina may not Follow

by Michael Bitzer and Virginia Summey

North Carolina's politics have long been characterized by a competition between fairly evenly balanced forces of conservatism and moderation. Democrats who hope to permanently tip the state in their favor are likely to be disappointed. 

The End of the Businessman President

by Kyle Edward Williams

Will Donald Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic mark the end of the pernicious myths that the popular good is served by running government like a business, or that business executives have a talent for governing? 

Clerks Wearing Masks: Building Historical Empathy while Teaching the 1918 Influenza Epidemic

by E. Thomas Ewing and Jeffrey S. Reznick

"We, like many in the historical profession, spend a great deal of time asking what people in the past believed, thought, and understood, but we also can—and should—ask what people in the future might think about us and our circumstances."

How Did the GOP Become the Party of Ideas?

by Lawrence B. Glickman

The Republican Party's reputation as the "Party of Ideas" in the late 1970s and 1980s was generally created by Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who derided the New Deal and Great Society as stale and outdated in a struggle to push the Democratic Party to the right. 

The Persistence Of Creationism Shows Losing Could Make Trumpism More Extreme

by Adam Laats

Modern sophisticates were confident that the Scopes Trial marked the defeat and discrediting of creationism. Those alarmed by the denialism of Trump supporters about the election results should remember that the rumors of fundamentalism's demise were greatly exaggerated. 

The Other ‘Mank’: Joe Mankiewicz and the Wildest Night in Hollywood History

by Greg Mitchell

The Netflix film "Mank" provides an opportunity to remember the civil liberties stand taken by Frank Mankiewicz's brother Joe, who opposed the imposition of loyalty oaths on the Directors' Guild at the height of the postwar red scare. 

How Americans Came to Distrust Science

by Andrew Jewett

Scientists and their supporters cannot overcome the current moment of hostility toward their profession and rejection of their expertise unless they confront the cultural history of skepticism toward science, in both conservative and liberal forms. 

Letters From An American: 12/5/2020

by Heather Cox Richardson

There is an uncomfortable precedent in 1884 for Republicans' refusal to acknowledge Biden's victory. Is the GOP seeking to sow economic and public health chaos in an effort to reinforce their minority rule? 

Cleaning House: Watergate and the Limits of Reform

by John A. Lawrence

The reform agenda of the "Watergate Babies" class elected to Congress in 1974 achieved important successes but failed to prevent either the rise of the imperial presidency or increased partisan polarization. 

When I Was Trolled, My Institution Got It Right

by Susan M. Shaw

As faculty work to engage the public more directly through social media and journalistic outlets, the potential increases for politically motivated trolling and outrage campaigns attacking faculty. Here's how institutions can support the intellectual freedom of their faculty without caving to outrage campaigns. 

How John Adams Managed a Peaceful Transition of Presidential Power

by Sara Georgini

John Adams handed over power to Thomas Jefferson in 1801, but his actions demonstrated that power truly remained in the hands of the people.