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U.S. Whistleblowers First Got Government Protection in 1777

by Christopher Klein

The Founding Fathers passed the country’s first whistleblower protection law just seven months after signing the Declaration of Independence. The government even footed the legal bills.

The fight to end Roe v. Wade enters its endgame next week. Here's the History Behind It.

by Ian Millhiser

The Supreme Court could dismantle the constitutional right to an abortion, and all it has to do is sit on its hands.

Will Impeachment Backfire? Here's What History Suggests.

Featuring the insights of historian Brenda Wineapple. 

Before the Trump Impeachment Inquiry, These Were American History's Most Famous Whistle-Blowers

by Olivia B. Waxman

The episode that now has President Donald Trump staring down a House impeachment inquiry began, as many important moments in American history have, with a whistle-blower.

Are There Any Meaningful Historical Analogies for Brexit? Historians Respond.

Featuring Ali Ansari, Miranda Malins​, D.H. Robinson​, and Jonathan Fitzgibbons​.

Trump impeachment? History suggests Wall Street ought not worry

The move by Democrats in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday to launch a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump has caused nervousness on Wall Street - but history suggests investors need not worry.

That time Nixon released doctored transcripts during Watergate

Trump said in a tweet Tuesday the rough transcript will prove it was “very friendly and totally appropriate call.” To students of history, though, this is more fodder for the endless comparisons between Trump and Nixon.

7 Reasons Why the Chicago 8 Trial Mattered

Fifty years ago, the trial raised questions about the First Amendment and exposed a culture clash in America.

How Do We Address a Statue of President Roosevelt That Affirms Racist Hierarchies?

Almost two years after the fascist rally at Charlottesville around a mediocre statue of Robert E. Lee, the American Museum of Natural History has opened its exhibition Addressing the Statue.

Spanish Court Approves Franco’s Exhumation

The decision follows a yearlong judicial battle between the caretaker Socialist government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and the family of Franco, who sought to block the exhumation.

A Slain Jewish Girl’s Diary of Life Under the Soviets and the Nazis

At a moment when basic agreement over simple truths has become a political battleground and history a weapon, the publication of the book, “Renia’s Diary,” offers a reminder of the power of bearing witness.

"A Republic, If We Can Keep It:" What Historians Want You to Know About Impeachment

Historians help contextualize today's announcement of an impeachment inquiry. 

Protesters shut down D.C. traffic before. It helped end the Vietnam War — and reshaped American activism.

by Hannah Natanson

Thousands of protesters against the Vietnam War took to the streets of downtown Washington in May 1971 with a single goal: Bring traffic to a total, grinding halt in the nation’s capital.

‘He lies like a dog’: The first effort to impeach a president was led by his own party

Long before President Donald Trump, there was President John Tyler.

Thomas Cook, the travel agency of Britain’s far-flung 19th-century empire, is dead

Thomas Cook was born with a railway journey that took place in 1841—the same year that Hong Kong was ceded to Britain, then at the peak of its imperial power.

There's a new way to deal with Confederate monuments: Signs that explain their racist history

“It’s happening in all sorts of places,” said Adam Domby, a history professor at the College of Charleston who is writing a book about Confederate monuments. “Still, it’s clearly in many cases being used as a stopgap because the laws prohibit removing them.”  

The bodies of three young Native American girls are returned to the Oneida Reservation. And a community heals.

For the Oneida people, the heartbreak and wounds of the past remain vivid in their memories and stories.

Merriam Webster added 'they' as a non-binary pronoun. Here's a brief history of gender neutral pronouns

These identifiers are nothing new and have actually been used throughout the history of literature.

How decades of L.A. smog led to California’s war with Trump over car pollution

President Trump said he would revoke California’s ability to set its own auto emissions standards, a provision that gave the most populous state significant sway over the car industry.

History is on California's Side in Emissions Imbroglio With Trump

by Andrew M Harris

The Trump administration claims sole power to regulate tailpipe standards. However, professors say most populous state has law, facts on its side.