Roundup: Historians' Take

John Q. Barrett: Jackson List: "Fool's Errands" & Innocence in American Law

[Mr. Barrett is the editor of the memoirs of of Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson. He is a Professor of Law at St. John's University in New York City, where he teaches constitutional law, criminal procedure and legal history, and he is the Elizabeth S. Lenna Fellow at the Robert H. Jackson Center in Jamestown, New York.] For the Jackson List: In 1989, off-duty Savannah, Georgia, police officer Mark MacPhail, responding to a report that a homeless man was being beaten

Michael Parenti: Italian American Identity: To Be or Not To Be

[Michael Parenti is the author of twenty-one books including The Assassination of Julius Caesar (New Press), The Culture Struggle (Seven Stories), Contrary Notions (City Lights), and God and His Demons (Prometheus Books, forthcoming).] In the 1950s and early 1960s, it was the accepted view among many social scientists that, as ethnic assimilation advanced, ethnic group identities would fade away. But in fact, ethnicity continued to impact significantly upon political life. Why was

Ruth Dudley Edwards: Ted Kennedy loathed Britain - so why did Gordon Brown knight him?

[Ruth Dudley Edwards is an Irish historian and journalist.] Sometimes it is right to speak ill of the dead. The truth matters, even when it is deeply unsavoury. The truth about Ted Kennedy is certainly unsavoury. Not that you'd know it from yesterday's tributes, dominated by sycophantic humbug. 'A great and good man,' said a fawning Tony Blair. 'A true and constant friend of the peace process in Northern Ireland,' said Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Wood

Juan Cole: Palestinians Plan State, but Will Netanyahu Block it?

The Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, has put forward a plan for a Palestinian state to be attained within 2 years. This is the first time such a blueprint with a timeline has been offered and it is a very big deal. The reason it can be taken more seriously than most talking points generated by the Israeli-Palestinian 'negotiations' (the longest-running ugly divorce in contemporary history) is that President Obama is dedicated to a two-state solution. If he is going to get one, something

Stanley Kutler: Why Rendition?

[Stanley Kutler is E. Gordon Fox Professor of U.S. Institutions and author of The Wars of Watergate and other writings.] Two front-page New York Times (August 25, 2009) stories appeared concerning our treatment of alleged terrorists and past practices of torture. First, Attorney General Eric Holder announced the naming of a special prosecutor to investigate the long-ignored, long-suppressed, and now much redacted Inspector General's report of the Central Intelligence Agency's physic

Sean Wilentz: Triumph And Tragedy ... The Seesaw Life Of Edward M. Kennedy

[Sean Wilentz is a contributing editor at The New Republic, and the author of The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln (Norton) and The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008 (Harper).] Over the past 40 years, Edward Moore Kennedy was the grand statesman of the Democratic liberalism that emerged out of the 1960s. He was a loyalist to his principles even when those principles fell completely out of fashion. He overcame personal flaws and searing travails to become a masterfu

Julian E. Zelizer: Ted Kennedy was a true believer

[Julian E. Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. His new book, "Arsenal of Democracy: The Politics of National Security -- From World War II to the War on Terrorism," will be published this fall by Basic Books. Zelizer writes widely about current events.] In one of the funniest scenes in the film "The Big Lebowski," the hot-headed Vietnam veteran Walter Sobchak, played by John Goodman, explains to t

Thomas Frank: It's time for Obama to channel Harry Truman on health-care reform

[Thomas Frank is a historian and founder of The Baffler magazine.] What is at stake in the debate over health care is more than the mere crafting of policy. The issue is now the identity of the Democratic Party. By now we know that Democrats can bail out traditional Republican constituencies like Wall Street, but it remains to be seen whether they can enact a convincing version of their own signature issue, health-care reform. At this point, it's fair to a

Julian E. Zelizer: Liberals' passion for public option

[Julian E. Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. His new book, "Arsenal of Democracy: The Politics of National Security -- From World War II to the War on Terrorism," will be published this fall by Basic Books. Zelizer writes widely about current events.] President Obama was caught off guard by the frustration that liberals expressed at the suggestion he might drop the public option from health care reform.

Edwin Black: Government Death Panels and Mass Murder Were Always an Option in 20th Century America's War Against the Weak

This article is based on the award-winning bestseller 'War Against the Weak--Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race' The summer of 2009 has been rife with misplaced fears about government death panels arising from proposed insurance reform. These fears are not based on anything in the proposed legislation. But government death panels and mass euthanasia were always a public option during the first decades of the twentieth century. This campaign to exterminate

Andreas Umland and Ingmar Bredies: Democratic Ukraine, Autocratic Russia: Why?

[Dr Andreas Umland is a lecturer in contemporary East European history at The Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt in Upper Bavaria, general editor of the book series “Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society”, and co-editor of the German-Russian journal"Forum for the Ideas and History of Contemporary Eastern Europe".] The last years' developments in the former Soviet Union were fascinating for the specialist and might have puzzled the layman: Why have Europe's two larges

Richard Pipes: Pride and Power, Russia caught between continents and haunted by its past

[Richard Pipes is Frank B. Baird Jr. professor of history, emeritus, at Harvard University. In 1981 and 1982 he served as Director of East European and Soviet Affairs in President Reagan's National Security Council.] Russia is obsessed with being recognized as a "Great Power." She has felt as one since the 17th century, after having conquered Siberia, but especially since her victory in World War II over Germany and the success in sending the first human into space. It cos

Frederick W. Kagan: We're Not the Soviets in Afghanistan

[Frederick W. Kagan is a contributing editor to THE WEEKLY STANDARD and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.] Comparisons between our current efforts in Afghanistan and the Soviet intervention that led to the collapse of the USSR are natural and can be helpful, but only with great care. Below are a number of key points to keep in mind when thinking about the Soviet operations, especially when considering the size of the U.S. or international military footprint.

Tom Palaima: On Cable News, "Truth" Sometimes Resembles "1984"

[Mr. Palaima teaches classics at the University of Texas at Austin. He may be reached at tpalaima@sbcglobal.net.] In George Orwell's "1984," the central character, Winston Smith, works at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting news items from the past so they support what the all-controlling inner Party asserts as present and past reality. The slogan that sums up this process is, "He who controls the past controls the future." Past government reports, economic plans and proj

Juan Cole: Bush Admin. worse than our Nightmares

It was worse. Back in the bad old days of Bush's corrupt gang, we on the left were pilloried for suggesting that the administration was manipulating terrorism-related news in order to win the 2004 elections. But when Tom Ridge says it . . . In fact, I argued in summer, 2004, that when Ridge did raise the terrorism alert, it had the unfortunate effect of outing an al-Qaeda double agent who had been turned by the Pakistani government and was helping set a trap for al-Qaed

Moshe Dann: The International Red Cross' War Against Israel

[Moshe Dann is a former assistant professor of history, is a writer and journalist living in Jerusalem.] For nearly four decades, many in the international community have insisted that Jews are forbidden to live in Judea, Samaria, Gaza (Yesha), “eastern Jerusalem,” and the Golan — areas conquered by Israel in 1967. Leading this fight was and is a private Swiss organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The ICRC was the first international organiz

Martin Kramer: Some day, Yale's prince will come

[Martin Kramer is the Wexler-Fromer Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Adelson Institute Senior Fellow at the Shalom Center in Jerusalem, and Olin Institute Senior Fellow at Harvard University.] One of the most disturbing aspects of the Danish cartoons scandal at Yale University Press is the role of the university administration. When author Jytte Klausen was summoned by John Donatich, director of the press, to hear that it wouldn't publish the cartoons in her

Barry Rubin: Why Recognition of Israel as a Jewish State is a Prime Requirement for Israel-Palestinian Peace

[Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal.]One of Israel’s highest priorities in negotiations with the Palestinian Authority (PA) is recognition by the PA and Arab states as a “Jewish state.” The purpose of this demand is to ensure a lasting peace with Israel as it exists rather than some formal declaration which would thereafter be subverted in every possi

Neve Gordon: Boycott Israel

[Neve Gordon is the author of "Israel's Occupation" and teaches politics at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba, Israel.] Israeli newspapers this summer are filled with angry articles about the push for an international boycott of Israel. Films have been withdrawn from Israeli film festivals, Leonard Cohen is under fire around the world for his decision to perform in Tel Aviv, and Oxfam has severed ties with a celebrity spokesperson, a British actress who also endorses cosm

Josef Joffe: The Default Power (the USA)

[Josef Joffe is co-editor of Die Zeit and a fellow in international relations at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A longer version of this essay will appear in the September/October issue of Foreign Affairs.] Every 10 years, it is decline time in the United States. In the late 1950s, it was the Sputnik shock, followed by the “missile gap” trumpeted by John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential campaign. A decade later, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger predicted a world