Roundup

The Surge Fallacy

by Peter Beinart

Having misunderstood the Iraq War, U.S. Republicans are taking a dangerously hawkish turn on foreign policy.

Clinton and Bush test America’s appetite for dynasties

by Rick Perlstein

US dynasties are not just political — parents pass half their wealth to their kids

How Trump Can Ensure Democratic Dominance for Generations

by Michael Kazin

It happened before, 90 years ago, when the GOP cracked down hard on immigrants. Republicans never recovered.

Could a Supreme Court justice be president?

by Lewis L. Gould

Bill Kristol has another bright idea to free the Republican Party from the looming prospect of a Donald Trump presidential candidacy. Why not, he inquires, Justice Samuel Alito from the Supreme Court?

Video of the Week: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver - History Lies

John Oliver shares some of his favorite completely made-up history facts.

Before Trump or Fiorina, There Was Wendell Willkie

by Michael Beschloss

Only once in American history has a major political party granted its prize to someone whose principal qualification was to have served as a corporate chief executive.

The Red-Baiting of Lena Horne

by John Meroney

At the height of her career, the beautiful young performer accidentally stumbled into a power struggle between Hollywood communists and McCarthyites.

The peculiar history of computers in the Soviet Union

by Laura Kurek

The story of why the Soviet Union first labeled the computer as a taboo invention, and later believed it would prove the superiority of the communist system.

What’s really at stake when a school closes?

by Jelani Cobb

Jamaica High School, in Queens, was once the largest high school in the United States. But after a hundred and twenty-two years, the school was closing; the class of 2014, which had just twenty-four members, would be the last.

An Error of Era?

by Scott McLemee

Review of Jacques Le Goff, "Must We Divide History Into Periods?"

Kissinger’s 4 lessons

by Niall Ferguson

Kissinger was never just a realist, as a review of his early life shows.

Roundup Top 10!

This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editors of HNN.

The Richard Nixon - Ray Conniff Incident

Historic coverage of an incident during a concert by Ray Conniff at the White House on January 28, 1972

These candidates can’t take a joke: Inside the baffling humorlessness of presidential politics

by Jonathan Zimmerman

Self-deprecating humor used to be an invaluable tool for connecting with voters. Now? Not so much.

Why Republicans Reject the Iran Deal — and All Diplomacy

by Nicole Hemmer and Tom Switzer

Conservative hostility to this agreement is nothing new. G.O.P. hardliners denounced Nixon and Reagan’s diplomatic achievements too.

How a Volcanic Eruption in 1815 Darkened the World but Colored the Arts

by William J. Broad

Investigators are still struggling to understand the most powerful eruption in recorded history, which gave rise to icy weather and pandemics, but also to great literature and art

President Carter’s vice-presidential legacy

by Joel K. Goldstein

Part of his underappreciated legacy as president was the historic role he played in elevating the vice presidency from an awkward, standby position to a constructive part of government on an ongoing basis.

NYT Roundtable: Should ‘Birthright Citizenship’ Be Abolished?

Should birthright citizenship be abolished and, if so, what impact would it have in the United States? What alternative citizenship model should the U.S. adopt instead?

It didn’t start with Limbaugh and Trump: The deep roots of the GOP’s war on women

by Heather Cox Richardson

Though Rush & The Donald draw attention for their vulgar misogyny, conservative assault on equality dates to Nixon

Carter, Reagan, and Machiavelli

by Paul Krugman

Rex Nutting has a very nice article about the reality of Jimmy Carter’s presidency, which has been distorted out of recognition by the myth of Saint Reagan.