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Is Ward Churchill the New Michael Bellesiles?

by Thomas Brown

I’m beginning to see Ward Churchill as the carny in the dunking booth, who hurls insults at the crowd, and then howls with outrage when he gets soaked. Yes, the unenlightened were out to get you. Yes, the system was rigged against you by the power structure. No argument there. But should anyone care?For the second time in the new millennium, a university professor has come under heavy fire from the political right, and is in danger of losing his job as a consequence. The most pro

Social Security, George W. Bush--And the "L" Word (No, Not Liberalism)

by Robert Brent Toplin

Millions of Americans who view Social Security as one of the most successful programs ever created by the U.S. government find current talk about its supposed failures puzzling. They recognize that the system is generally healthy today, and they understand that some minor adjustments in future years can sustain it long past the middle of the twenty-first century, the time when shortfalls will likely develop because of an aging population. Yet President Bush continues to make frightening pred

Why So Many Find the Anti-Evolution Argument Appealing

by Charles A. Israel

After the recent court ruling ordering the removal of evolution disclaimer stickers from district biology textbooks, the Cobb County (Ga.) School Board denounced the case as “an unnecessary judicial intrusion into local control of schools.” The case is currently under appeal to the 11th Circuit. The stickers in question were placed in the books in 2002 when the district finally bought texts actually describing evolution. Under pressure from parents (in the form of 2300 pe

Reading Between the Lines of the Bush/Putin Press Conference

by Judith Apter Klinghoffer

Something rather extraordinary happened during the joint press conference held by presidents Bush and Putin in Bratislava. Vladimir Putin was placed on the dock accused of disloyalty to the Russian democracy and George W. Bush was forced into acting as his prosecutor. So upset were the Russian reporters that they reverted to their Soviet era behavior. Ironically, in so doing they prevented the subject from being changed, kept Putin on the defensive and the spotlight squarely on the sad decli

Japan's Hidden Role in the "Return" of Zainichi Koreans to North Korea

by Tessa Morris-Suzuki

The slow and troubled journey towards a future normalization of relations between Japan and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK - North Korea) is shaped by two radically different visions of the past. Both Japanese and North Korean governments demand a “settling of accounts” for past history. For Japan, however, the “account” in question is the fate of the Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea. For the North Korean side, on the other hand, it is the older and larger history o

Petition to Suspend the Transfer of the Nixon Papers to the Nixon Library

At noon on March 10 the following petition, posted on the website of the National Security Archive, was faxed to members of Congress. The petition was presented in response to the Nixon Library's abrupt decision to cancel a long-scheduled April conference on Nixon and Vietnam. As reported on HNN last week, this was the first conference at the Library that was to have featu

Even Richard Nixon Would Have Been Embarrassed

by Melvin Small

Richard Nixon once wrote that "History will treat me fairly. Historians probably won't because most historians are on the left." Apparently one way to compensate for the putative shortfall in fair and balanced historians is for the protectors of the Nixon legacy to control the dialogue at his presidential library, which still is not integrated into the admirable National Archives system of presidential libraries. Last fall, the Nixon Presidential Library and Whittier College

About the Nixon Library's Promise to Turn Over a New Leaf

by Stanley I. Kutler

The Richard M. Nixon “Library & Birthplace” and Whittier College, the former president’s alma mater, joined forces to sponsor a promising April conference on “Richard Nixon as Commander-in-Chief,” with the immodest sub-title of “The History of Nixon and Vietnam.” Nearly twenty-five accomplished historians, journalists, and public officials, with wide-ranging expertise, agreed to participate. Many sacrificed more lucrative invitations, believing

How History Was Used by All Sides in the Supreme Court Debate About the 10 Commandments

by Anne Lagaisse

Last week the United States Supreme Court considered two cases which concerned the placement of the 10 Commandments in public settings on government property. One case involved the display of the 10 Commandments in a glass case at a courthouse in Kentucky. The other involved a monument on the grounds of the state capitol in Austin. Lawyers on all sides of the issue, including members of the Court, used history to bolst

Why Conservatives Are So Upset with Thomas Woods's Politically Incorrect History Book

by Ronald Radosh

Writing in the New York Times on January 26, editorial board member Adam Cohen launched a major attack on Thomas Woods Jr.’s The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History. Rather than Woods's book being an effort to “set the record straight,” Cohen charges, it is something else: “an attempt to push the record far to the right.” Cohen finds that among other claims made by Woods, the most e

Is Congress AWOL on Iraq?

by James M. Carter

Is the Congress today doing its job with respect to the continuing war in Iraq? This is now more than ever an appropriate question for Americans to begin to ask. The Congress is, of course, vested by the Constitution with certain responsibilities of oversight. Its members, as representatives of the people, are expected to ask the difficult questions. They are expected to ensure the proper working of the government. They are expected, to as great an extent as is possible, to make the go

Should a Soldier Who Changes His Mind About War Have a Right to Status as a Conscientious Objector?

by Staughton Lynd

Everybody knows the conscientious objector. We recall the Quaker wife in High Noon, who objected to all killing until her husband supposedly showed her that sometimes violence is the only way. Or we think of the Amish elder in Witness who spoke with horror of persons who use a "gun of the hand," or handgun. Conscientious objection is defined in United States military regulations as objection to "war in any form," based on "religious training

Why Iraq, Like Vietnam, Is Immoral and Unnecessary

by Peter Kirstein

There are numerous parallels between America’s wars in Vietnam and Iraq. Both were unnecessary, unjust wars that severely damaged the international reputation of the United States. While it contravenes the vision of American exceptionalism, the U.S. is reviled for its preemptive, unilateralist foreign policy that is characteristic of state-sponsored terrorism. It is no accident that Europeans consider the United States a major threat to international peace and security. A Pew Glo

It's the 250th Anniversary of the French & Indian War: Should We Care?

by William M. Fowler, Jr.

A little more than two hundred and fifty years ago a group of militia and Indians led by a twenty-two year old major named George Washington surprised a camp of sleeping French soldiers near present day Pittsburgh. Washington could

Dear John Taylor: A Letter to the Executive Director of the Nixon Library

by Thomas S. Blanton

Late last week the Nixon Library and Birthplace abruptly cancelled a conference on Vietnam that was to have featured more than a score of prominent academics, including well-known critics of the Nixon administration. John Taylor, Executive Director of the Nixon Library, explained that he cancelled the event because only seven people had thus far signed up to buy tickets. In response to

When Did Social Security Become the Third Rail of American Politics?

by Rick Shenkman

In 1964 Barry Goldwater lost the presidency in a landslide to Lyndon Johnson in part because of the perception that Goldwater was hostile to Social Security. But it wasn't until the early 1980s that Social Security became known as the third rail of American politics. It was House Speaker Tip O'Neill who coined the phrase and O'Neill who, more than anyone, made Social Security murderous to touch.In 1980 Ronald Reagan had campaigned for the presidency on a pledge to preserve Social Security

Nixon Library Cancels Vietnam Conference

by Rick Shenkman

In a surprise move that has left many scholars aghast and baffled, the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace has abruptly cancelled an academic conference scheduled for April that was to examine the history of Nixon and Vietnam. The conference, already advertised in the American Historical Association's newsletter and other places, was to

A Brief History of Lebanon Dispels the Illusion that President Bush Is Driving Events There

by Juan Cole

It is often pointed out that presidents get too much praise and blame for the economy, since the domestic economy has its own rhythms. We are now going to see everything that happens in the Middle East attributed to George W. Bush, whether he had much to do with it or not (usually not). What is now Lebanon consists of relatively hilly territory along the eastern Mediterranean coast. The mountains allowed small and often heterodox religious groups to survive, since t

Ariel Sharon Pulls a Nixon

by Derek Catsam

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the arch-conservative old warrior from the Likud Party, has undertaken something that no one would have thought possible: He has been engaging in serious negotiations with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. It was Sharon's visit to the al-Aqsa mosque as opposition leader in September 2000 that precipitated the Palestinian declaration of Intifada that has raged for more than four years. That Sharon is now at the center of not only quelling th

Why the Bush Policy Is Failing in North Korea

by James I. Matray

On February 10 Peter Jennings reported on ABC’s "Evening News" North Korea’s public announcement that it possessed nuclear weapons.