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Column: Stop Bush Before He Makes Nixon Look Good

by P.M. Carpenter

Richard Nixon is beginning to look pretty good. Presidential payoffs to bad guys, enemy lists, misuse of government agencies, even obstruction of justice are taking on the pleasant emergence of wistful nostalgia--a real stroll in the park--compared to the sweeping and open violations of public trust being committed by George W. Bush & Company. One longs for the likes

Manifest Destiny and Mission in the 21st Century

by Paul A. Janson

To understand the present it is necessary to understand the past. In this case the past is the history of Texas and the present is George W. Bush and the war in Afghanistan. Whether one agrees with the U.S. response to the attacks of September 11th or not, it must be admitted that there were several responses available and the military response was chosen. It is enlightening, I believe, to look at the historical roots of this president and the state of Texas. I think you will be impress

Do Historians Have Special Insights About the News?

by Joyce Appleby and James M. Banner, Jr.

Historians and the American people have always had a vexing relationship. They need each other, but their interest in history springs from different sources. The public looks to the nation's past to validate its core ideals and affirm a record of progress and accomplishment. Historians, at one time willing to lend their pens to celebration, more recently have preferred to question familiar accounts and throw light on unknown historical figures.The public yearns for accessible narrati

Column: Bush and the Pretzel

by William Thompson

Presidency: Who Is George W. Bush?

by Rick Shenkman

For being such a seemingly simple guy, President Bush has proven to be almost inscrutable in his first twelve months in office. While he's a family man through and through, as advertised, and is as disciplined as he seemed to be during the campaign (though cynics have been guessing the president was actually drunk when he choked on his pretzel), in nearly all other ways he has confounded the predictions of both friends and enemies. Twelve months into his presidency we still don't know who

Column: Tom DeLay, My Hero

by P.M. Carpenter

11In these times of cultural upheaval and social uncertainty, all too often we feel adrift. It seems a heroless age, one in which we yearn for a rock, a beacon of stability, a champion of certitude. In that sense, Tom DeLay is the man of our dreams. Never adrift himself, he’s always the same.11At least he has been since 1985. That, according to a lengthy profile i

Is Doris Kearns Goodwin a Hypocrite?

by Bo Crader

In 1993 historian Doris Kearns Goodwin complained that Joe McGinniss had borrowed extensively for his The Last Brother from her 1987 book The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys."He just uses it flat out, without saying that it came from my work," Goodwin told the Boston Globe."You expect that another writer would acknowledge that," Goodwin continued."It's inexplicable why it wasn't done." Now, it's Goodwin's use of source material that requires explication. Two

Islam Is Not the Problem, Militant Islam Is

by Daniel Pipes

Who are we fighting? Two main culprits have emerged since Sept. 11: terrorism and Islam. The truth, more subtle, lies between the two--a terroristic version of Islam. Terrorism The establishment--politicians, academics, religious leaders, journalists, along with many Muslims--says terrorism is the enemy. It is carried out by"evildoers" who have nothing to do with Islam but adhere to some murky cult of terrorism.Secretary of State Colin Powell summarized this view by decla

Presidency: Direct Election Without Constitutional Amendment

by Akhil Reed Amar and Vikram David Amar

Imagine this: Americans could pick the President by direct national election, in 2004 and beyond, without formally amending our Constitution. A small number of key states-eleven, to be precise-would suffice to put a direct election system into effect. Alternatively, an even smaller number of key persons-four, to be exact-could approximate the same result, with a little help from their friends. How Key States Could Implement Direct National ElectionBegin with

Afghanistan: A Just War

by Judith Apter Klinghoffer

The concept of a just war may be an oxymoron to a Quaker and irrelevant to a Hobbesian. For the rest of us, some wars are justified while others unforgivable. Religions were the first to delineate the difference between just and unjust wars. Jewish law differentiates between obligatory war in which the enemy attacks; permissible war in which the enemy is preparing to attack; and forbidden aggressive, expansionist wars. Islam permits only holy wars (Jihad) against infidels or those opposed

The Stephen Ambrose Fact Sheet

by Katie Brynn

Fact #1Fee Paid for Speeches Mr. Ambrose, according to several sources, charges up to $40,000 per lecture. In addition, he reportedly often requires the use of a Lear jet to transport him to and from events. He gave twenty paid lectures last year.Fact #2Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours A son of Mr. Ambrose

Getting to the Bottom of the CIA/NSA/CYA Mess

by Norman Markowitz

Although there have been surprisingly few recriminations directed against the CIA and other American intelligence agencies in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, Congress is now moving to create a bipartisan commission to investigate intelligence gathering policies and the ways intelligence is used by government. We should hope that the commission will, like the post-World War II commissions that investigated civil rights and the status of women in the United States, come forward with both

Military: What’s New About the New Military

by Mark Safranski

One of the noteworthy features of the Afghan campaign in the war on terrorism is not the widespread use of smart munitions, improved since their first appearance in the Gulf War, to minimize civilian casualties while targeting Al Qaeda. There was nothing new about that since the Soviets had anticipated these technological developments two decades earlier. What was novel was the decision by the Bush administration to opt for a ground strategy dependent upon only a small cadre of special fo

Civil Liberties: What If Jefferson Davis Had Been Tried by a Military Court?

by Derek Alger

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. Maybe so. But extraordinary measures can also easily, almost imperceptibly, lead to common mistakes and assumptions, which was the case with the scope of the military tribunal gathering evidence to try those associated with John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. In the immediate aftermath of the assassination at Ford's Theater on April 14, 1865, it was not surprising that many, especially in top gover

Politics: Enron and Mr. Bush

by Edward Winslow

Almost 30 years have elapsed since the"third rate burglary" of the Democratic National Committee headquarters on June 17, 1972 that opened the dam of the Watergate scandal. The press and members of Congress largely ignored the crime, as then President Richard M. Nixon kept the nation's focus on the war in Vietnam. Similarly, with the press and Congress distracted by President George W. Bush's war in Afghanistan, they are ignoring another scandal. No third rate burglar

Column: No, My Predictions for Bush Can’t Possibly Turn Out True, Can They?

by P.M. Carpenter

Historians aren't supposed to be in the prediction-making business. It's a professional bugaboo routinely frowned on, and in some circles an overheard transgression is to be reported to the proper authorities immediately. But seeing how it's not an indictable offense, except in the eyes of some tenure-review boards, I'll make one anyway. A warning, though; it's guara

The Greatest Generation's Historian

by Nicholas Confessore

The following article appeared in volume 12, Issue 17 of The American Prospect (September 24-October 8, 2001). This June, for the second time in their lives, the men of Easy Company invaded Normandy. It was considerably easier than the first time. From New York City, the surviving veterans flew in a chartered jet--courtesy of American Airlines--to Paris, where they boarded a chartered train to the town of Carentan, courtesy of HBO, and were deposited at the Utah Beach Mem

Invade Iraq? No

by Dr. Paul Sullivan

Are the drum beats for a war against Iraq in tune with reality? No.The drums have been beating for some time to start to focus on Iraq after the military side of the Afghan war is over. These drums have been beating loudly and often in the media. Television talk shows are often"debating" the question:"Should we attack Iraq?" Sometimes the people on these show are hardly debating the issues, but agreeing with each other in different ways. It seems that there is a group of middl

Presidency: FOIA, SCHMOYA

by Ruth Rosen

The President didn't ask the networks for television time. The attorney general didn't hold a press conference. The media didn't report any dramatic change in governmental policy. As a result, most Americans had no idea that one of their most precious freedoms disappeared on Oct. 12.Yet it happened. In a memo that slipped beneath the political radar, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft vigorously urged federal agencies to resist most Freedom of Information Act requests made by Americ

Now, Stephen Ambrose

by Fred Barnes

In 1995, a history professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Thomas Childers, published a book about his uncle's B-24 crew in World War II. Entitled Wings of Morning: The Story of the Last American Bomber Shot Down over Germany in World War II, the book was well received by critics. Jonathan Yardley of the Washington Post called it"powerful and unselfconsciously beautiful." It sold fifteen thousand copies in hardcover and remains available in paperback. In 2001, Stephen