Roundup

Delusions of Dominance: Biden Can’t Restore American Primacy—and Shouldn’t Try

by Stephen Wertheim

To lead a successful foreign policy, Joe Biden must deeply reconsider the American commitment to foreign military intervention. 

Babe Ruth’s Record was a Mythical Monument of White Superiority. Hank Aaron Tore it Down

by Kevin B. Blackistone

Sports have long served as a projection screen for white angst over challenges to racial supremacy. Hank Aaron's 715th home run was one of a line of Black athletic challenges to white racism and was met with similar hostility.

Trump is Not a Fascist. But that Didn't Make Him any Less Dangerous to Our Democracy

by Thomas Weber

Hitler and Trump, along with fascism and Trumpism, are all destructive to liberal democracy but in fundamentally different ways. 

Anything is Possible: Toward an Abolitionist Vision

by Marc Lamont Hill

Abolitionism is about more than dismantling prisons. It is also about building a world with universal access to safety, self-determination, freedom and dignity.

“Many Students Are Now Taught in School to Hate Their Own Country”

by Jonathan Wilson

The biggest problem with the "1776 Commission" report is its broad and unfounded assumptions about how students actually respond to history classes. The report never asks if students might love America more because it has moved on from the 18th century, because its purpose is ideological grievance, not effective teaching. 

Trumpism isn't "History": But our Blindness to History Could Lead to its Comeback

by Jim Sleeper

"Trump couldn't have conned as many of us as he did if our schools had taught more of us about this country's dalliances with demagogues like Huey Long and Joe McCarthy."

A Practical Path to Condemn and Disqualify Donald Trump

by Philip Zelikow

The standard of proof required for the Senate to bar Donald Trump from holding office under the 14th Amendment only demands that Trump gave aid and comfort to enemies of the Constitution, not that he participated in an insurrection. As his own words demonstrate that he did, this path should be followed. 

4 Cautionary Tales from the French Revolution

by Christine Adams

A historian of revolutionary France argues that the period presents cautions about the prevalence of disinformation, the potential of rhetoric to incite, the folly of blaming singular figures for broad trends and movements, and the cynicism that flows from efforts to undermine the legitimacy of democratic institutions. 

Please Stop Calling Things Archives: An Archivist's Plea

by B.M. Watson

"As many historians currently use the word “archives,” they seem to imply that an archive is the natural state in which primary sources arrange themselves after being discarded or left by their creators."

The Origins of Trump’s Slapdash, Last-Second ‘1776 Report’

by Joshua Tait

Putting the "1776 Commission" report into context requires understanding that it's not just a "conservative" project, but a product of a movement to define the United States as the realization of classical and Biblical civilization imperiled by relativism and multiculturalism. 

Yes, the Senate Can Try Trump

by Keith E. Whittington

The debates at the constitutional convention over the impeachment power don't give any suggestion that that power would be limited to current government officials. 

White Americans have Weaponized the Idea of Girlhood

by Crystal Webster

The concept of childhood has elastic boundaries; in a racist society, those boundaries stretch to portray whites as innocents deserving protection and Black youth as dangerous and susceptible to punishment. 

The Roundup Top Ten for January 22, 2021

The top opinion writing by historians from around the web this week. 

What Americans Across the Political Spectrum Got Wrong About the Attempted Insurrection

by Corrie Decker and Elisabeth McMahon

American reactions to the Capitol insurrection made implicit and explicit comparisons to the developing world, reflecting the way that American exceptionalism has grown out of the Enlightenment's hierarchical and racist ranking of civilizations with Europe (and America) on top and Africa at the bottom. 

Bad Religion in the Ivory Tower

by Jacques Berlinerblau

Have scholars of religion and politics missed the rise of militant Christian nationalism because they follow an unspoken rule to "always posit religion at its best, secularism at its worst"? 

Why the Mob Thought Attacking the Capitol was their ‘1776 Moment’

by Franita Tolson

"The pro-Trump insurrectionists seeking to replicate 1776 ignore that America has consistently recommitted itself to democracy in the two centuries since the Revolution — choosing voting over violence and ballots over bullets."

Georgia’s New Senators will Write the Next Chapter in Black-Jewish Relations

by Jeff Melnick

The history of the Leo Frank trial and lynching shows that, while both groups have faced prejudice and discrimination, "the glory of Black-Jewish relations has always been more aspirational than achieved." Georgia's two new senators have a chance to advance a coalition for progress and equity.

Embracing Democracy: The Storming of the US Capitol and the Positive Lessons of Weimar Germany

by Andrew I. Port

A 1922 political assassination rallied the German public and political class against the far right. The Weimar Republic's failure to consolidate itself around the idea of democracy shows that the January 6 Capitol riot cannot be allowed to fade from discussion lest the authoritarian beliefs behind it return even stronger.

Making Revisionism Great Again: The Trouble With Trump’s Rewriting Of American History

by James W. Loewen

The 1776 commission quotes Frederick Douglass for its own peculiar purposes, so I shall end by quoting him for mine. “He is a lover of his country who rebukes and does not excuse its sins.”

Reflections On An Imploding Empire

by Russell Rickford

Progressive dissidents must meet the moment of Biden's inauguration by not settling for what liberal politicians offer on economic justice, human rights, environment, labor, and health.