Martin Luther King Jr. criticizes the Vietnam war at a speech at University of Minnesota in 1967.
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Centrism and Moderation? No Thanks.

In times of moral crisis, everyone picks a side — even those proclaiming neutrality.

The Southern Paradox: The Democratic Party Below the Mason-Dixon Line

How the region switched from being the stronghold of one party to the base of its adversary.

Inside Every Foreigner

A review of Robert Dallek's book, "Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life."

Why Has It Taken Us So Long to See Trump’s Weakness?

There’s a bad synergy at work between the short-termism of the news cycle and the longue durée-ism of the academy.

A Centuries-Old Idea Could Revolutionize Climate Policy

The Green New Deal’s mastermind is a precocious New Yorker with big ambitions. Sound familiar?

What Presidential Announcements Reveal About the Candidates

The speeches present the country’s condition as a puzzle that’s missing one piece, which the candidate can supply.

A Brief History of Presidential Lethargy

How much do we expect our presidents to rest?

How the U.S. Weaponized the Border Wall

The borderlands have “been transformed into a vast graveyard of the missing.”

How Did the Constitution Become America’s Authoritative Text?

A new history of the early republic explores the origins of originalism.

How The CIA Overthrew Iran's Democracy In 4 Days

The first episode of NPR's new history podcast tells the story of a 1953 coup that set the stage for US-Middle East relations ever since.

It Will Take More Than Congress to Cure America’s War Addiction

All that talk about "reclaiming" congressional war powers? Historically, Congress has applauded presidential wars.

The Bitter Origins of the Fight Over Big Government

What the battle between Herbert Hoover and FDR can teach us.

AOC and the American Founding

The problem with progressive intellectuals looking to the nation's founders for progressive models.
Men observing teams of horses and mules.

Andrew Jackson and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

How the so-called champion of the common man set a precedent for using federal troops to quash labor unrest.
Ross Perot speaks at a podium.

Why Billionaires With Big Egos Now Dream of Being President

The trends that brought us Howard Schultz (and Donald Trump) started in the 1970s.

AOC Thinks Billionaires Are a Threat to Democracy. So Did Our Founders.

The idea that democracy and billionaires are incompatible might seem radical to conservatives. But to America’s founders, it seemed like common sense.

#MeToo, Networks of Complicity, and the 1920s Klan

How the Klan’s extensive networks of patriarchal power enabled abusive men to prey on women.
Senators Joseph McCarthy and Kenneth Wherry.

The Lavender Scare: When the U.S. Government Persecuted Employees for Being Gay

From 1947 until the 1990s, an estimated 10,000 LGBTQ people were pushed out of government and military positions.

Foreign Interference in US Elections Dates Back Decades

2016 was not the first election in which a foreign power tried to interfere – Nazis and Soviets tried it too.

The Unbelievable Story of the Plot Against George Soros

How two Jewish American political consultants helped create the world’s largest anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.

The Case for Impeachment

Starting the process will rein in a president undermining American ideals—and bring the debate into Congress, where it belongs.

Manufacturing Illegality

Historian Mae Ngai reflects on how a century of immigration law created a crisis.
Anthony Scaramucci
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The Revolving Door Between Reality TV and the Trump Administration

Why Anthony Scaramucci’s turn on “Celebrity Big Brother” shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Franklin Roosevelt on the campaign trail.
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The Left is Pushing Democrats to Embrace Their Greatest President. It’s a Good Thing.

Democrats should proudly trumpet the New Deal — and extend it.

The Border Patrol has Been a Cult of Brutality Since 1924

The U.S. needs a historical reckoning with the true cause of the border crisis: the long, brutal history of border enforcement itself.

Truman Declared an Emergency When He Felt Thwarted. Trump Should Know: It Didn’t End Well.

Truman seized control of the country’s steel mills during the Korean War. It led to a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court.

The Populist Specter

Is the groundswell of popular discontent in Europe and the Americas what’s really threatening democracy?
Painting of cavalry with swords drawn heading into U.S.-Mexico War battle.

American Extremism Has Always Flowed from the Border

Donald Trump says there is “a crisis of the soul” at the border. He is right, though not in the way he thinks.

Ulysses Grant’s Forgotten Fight for Native American Rights

The President and his Seneca friend Ely Parker wanted Indians to gain citizenship, but their efforts are mostly lost to history.

The Strange History of the House’s 181-Year-Old Ban on Hats — and the Push to Overturn It

There isn’t any rule against tobacco spitting on the House floor, but there is one against wearing a hat.