Search Results

Displaying 289 - 312 of 1249
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver in 2007.

An Immigrant in the White House? But Will It Be Arnold?

… Proponents of a new Constitutional amendment want to change the presidency in reference to one man, but they should be … first time the constitutional definition of the presidency was written in reference to one man but, like any such … one foot in political theory and the other in politics. When the delegates to the constitutional convention, meeting …
Tilden illustration - a hand on another hand that is on a gun on a table with papers

Top Ten Origins: Other “Unprecedented” Elections in American History

… Many election cycles feel “unprecedented” in the moment. Some, however, really do represent something … always because of what the issues were or who the victor was. The following ten elections each brought something … for Jefferson but not for Burr, thereby avoiding a tie. When the ballots were opened, however, it emerged that no …
Woodrow Wilson in 1911.

The Peril of Absolute Power

… Over a century ago, the British historian Lord Acton warned that absolute power … and for most of America’s history, the United States was a weak nation. It lacked the military strength to … Jefferson, for example, believed peace was possible only when all states treated each other as equals. He argued that …

"Y'En A Marre!" (We're Fed Up!): Senegal in the Season of Discontent

… a morning of research in Senegal's national archives, in the coastal African country's capital of Dakar. The archives … paid scant attention to the events, but that morning there was an increased police presence and nervous onlookers … in the era after colonialism were peaceful and orderly. When Senghor decided to retire at the end of 1980, he …
Ivan Aivazovsky, a Native of Feodosia, Crimea, is known as one of Russia's greatest painters, and one of the world's best at seascapes. The Battle of Sinop (Russian and Turkish Navies), 1853

Top Ten Origins: Stories from Crimea

The Crimea that most people have come to know is a peninsula … original historian, called Crimea’s local peoples the Tauri when he came to the region to visit Greek colonies. Greeks … classical name, used often until the twentieth century, was Taurica (Tavrida in Russian). 2.   The Emergence of the
Crowds outside the Bank of United States in New York after its failure in 1931.

Blame It All on Unintended Consequences

… catch experts unawares? Even more intriguingly, why do they defy analysis after they’ve happened? Neither … of their self interest, mediated by competition, was better and cheaper meat, beer and bread. The invisible …   Another example of an unintended consequence came when the mavens of information technology followed William …
U.S. Marine Barracks in Lebanon

Ten Terrorists Attacks in History

… basement of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.  The hotel was the administrative hub of the British presence in … for Black September.  The crisis was resolved tragically when a poorly planned German effort to free the hostages … Party, an act that they believed would undermine the Leninist Revolution that they hoped to achieve.  Moro’s …
Photo of Eugene V. Debs from 1900.

Let’s Hear It for the Losers!

… As Al Gore and George W. Bush fight out these final days in their battle for the presidency, the … unsuccessful race for the presidency in 1908, a record was set: "neither before nor since has anybody been defeated … Richard Nixon handily defeated George McGovern in 1972 when McGovern earned only 17 electoral votes out of a total …
Billboard of Nursultan Nazarbayev in Kazakhstan, 2015.

Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and the Democratization Shell Game

… Since their independence from  the Soviet Union in 1991, many have … chose to step down from power.  One model they might follow was the so-called “Niyazov method,” named after the first … in which a head of state facing significant legal issues when their term limits are up promotes a successor in …
The Champs Elysees crowded with French patriots after the liberation of Paris in 1944.

We Didn’t Go It Alone in 1944

… In the spring of 2003, French protesters marched in huge … unilateral policies now causing so much trouble in Iraq. When it comes to remembering World War II, Americans should … A nationalist who pursued diplomacy independent of Washington, de Gaulle angered Americans by announcing that …
President Lyndon B. Johnson visiting American troops in Vietnam in 1966.

The Ambiguities of “Cut and Run”

… Karl Rove’s recent “cut and run” accusations against the Bush administration’s Democratic opponents ought to be … Did Dwight D. Eisenhower “cut and run” in Korea in 1953? It was Ike who told the nation that if he were elected he would … conceded that Eisenhower did the responsible thing when he quickly completed the truce negotiations that ended …

Protestant Preaching after the Age of Graham

When Billy Graham died in February of this year, many of the tributes referred to him as “America’s Pastor”—and as … and Jews who make up the majority of Americans today he was hardly “America’s” pastor. Nevertheless, when he died …
President Nixon photographed through a window explaining release of edited transcripts, April 29, 1974

Will There Be a Last Nixon Cover-Up?

… Nixon’s White House records soon will be transferred from the National Archives to a library associated with the Nixon … clear mandate to screen Nixon’s records for public release. When NARA took custody of Nixon’s records in 1977, it said … as too oriented toward public disclosure. Taylor implied I was a liberal — or at least not a “Nixon Republican.” In …
The Lorraine Motel

Putting Race on Display: The National Civil Rights Museum

… Talk on race in America. In “Putting Race on Display,” they interview Ohio State historians Stephanie Shaw and … Civil Rights Act of 1964.   Leticia Wiggins   The redesign was the first since the museum opened in 1991. Interactive … involvement in this process, too. Maybe they were there when I wasn't.   Dr. Hasan Jeffries   Certainly the
Person on horseback faces line of police and military vehicles

Native Sovereignty and the Dakota Access Pipeline

… As the struggle between members of the Standing Rock … oil storage center in South Central Illinois. The pipeline was approved several years ago and in early 2016, the … United States government has not had a good history when it comes to honoring those particular treaties and …
Cover of The Anatomy Murders by Lisa Rosner

The Anatomy Murders

Review of The Anatomy Murders, by Lisa Rosner (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009)
… If prostitution is mankind's oldest profession, then grave robbing may be a close second. Since the ancient … training in Europe's medical schools. This sort of research was legally prohibited in England, though in 1752 anatomists won a small victory when they were given permission to dissect executed …
King Capital, caricature by the Slovenian graphic artist and illustrator Hinko Smrekar (first half of the 20th century).

Why Business Loves Laissez Faire

… As he refines his economic message on the campaign trail this summer, Republican John McCain has … market will take care of everything. This economic formula was fashioned most thoroughly by economist Milton Friedman … ruling that unions constituted illegal "cartels."  When workers went on strike, big business repeatedly called …
"The Bosses of the Senate" (1889). Reformers like the cartoonist Joseph Keppler depicted the Senate as controlled by the giant moneybags, who represented the nation's financial trusts and monopolies.

The Dreary Science Meets Politics

… As he refines his economic message on the campaign trail this summer, Republican John McCain has … market will take care of everything. This economic formula was fashioned most thoroughly by economist Milton Friedman … ruling that unions constituted illegal "cartels."  When workers went on strike, big business repeatedly called …

The Catholic Church and Sexual Abuse, Then and Now

The institution of the Catholic Church finds itself in a … held for the opening session of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. in 2005. Some church leaders were found to … culture going back to the 19 th  century—the time when Pope Pius IX repositioned the Church against modernity …

Alawites and the Fate of Syria

When in early March 2011 the “Arab Spring”—a wave of pro-democracy demonstrations … unity of the opposition movement, which, according to them, was above any sectarian and ethnic division and dispute. In … some Alawites to make careers in the Ottoman army and bureaucracy. The Alawites enjoyed little benefit from the
Still image from the Movie The Bridge (Criterion Collection).

Top Ten Origins: World War II Films

… From the visceral beach sequence in Steven Spielberg’s Saving … to be “the first film I really felt I had to make,” was one of two great war films he made in the 1950s (the … Wajda, 1957 Still from Kanal  (Criterion Collection). When Polish participants in the 1944 Uprising climb into the
Nationalist police forces in Barcelona preventing voting in the October 1, 2017 referendum.

Top Ten Origins: Catalonia (Catalunya) and Spain

… On October 1, 2017, the Spanish region of Catalonia—known as Catalunya to … Iberian Kingdoms in 1400 ( right ). In the 12 th century, when one of the kings of Aragon decided to marry a princess … became integrated into the kingdom of Aragon. Aragon was already expanding, and soon claimed the small kingdoms …
Crowd photo at the 2017 Women's March in Washington DC

The Way We Never Were (Prologued, Season 1, Episode 1)

… On the season premiere of Prologued, we confront the myth of … in American politics since the turn of the 20th century, when men who opposed women's suffrage based their concern on … an unanticipated election result. The most recent anomaly was the 2016 presidential election. November 10, 2016, was a …