The Bobby Kennedy Myth

Many on the left have learned the wrong lessons from his ill-fated presidential bid.

The Last Words of Robert F. Kennedy

Until his last breath, RFK insisted that Americans confront their country’s shortcomings—and live up to its potential.

Robert F. Kennedy Is Remembered as a Liberal Icon. Here's the Truth About His Politics

For many American liberals, RFK became a symbol of not just a better past, but also a better future that might have been.

Why Do Sports Teams Visit the White House?

The president’s patriotic pageant renews a question dating back to the first White House visit by a champion sports team.

The American Revolution’s Greatest Leader Was Openly Gay

“Baron Von Steuben” was responsible for whipping the U.S. military into shape when things were looking bleakest.

U.S. Population Is Growing, But the House of Representatives Is Same Size as in Taft Era

How representative is the U.S. House of Representatives?

RFK, in Arthur Schlesinger’s Words

On the 50th anniversary of RFK's death, a glimpse inside one of his closest relationships.
Roseanne Barr
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Why Roseanne Barr Paid a Bigger Price For Tweeting Than Donald Trump Has

These days, Hollywood is more democratic than Washington.
Pat Buchanan surrounded by balloons at a campaign rally.

Revisiting a Transformational Speech: The Culture War Scorecard

Social conservatives won some and lost some since Pat laid down the marker.

Reassessing Woodrow Wilson, the Crusader President

A new biography offers a fair-minded portrait of a vain moralist and political visionary whose certitude exceeded his judgment.

Roger Goodell’s Father Had a Political Backbone—Why Doesn’t Roger?

The NFL commissioner is bending to pressure from a reactionary Republican president—something his father refused to do.
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The Year The World Almost Blew Up – And Nobody Noticed

On November 9, 1983, the Soviet Union nearly ordered a full pre-emptive nuclear strike against the US and Western Europe.

How the ‘Watergate Babies’ Broke American Politics

In an effort to open Congress, they institutionalized a confrontational style that permeates contemporary politics today.
Football players with raised fists.
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Trump Said Protesting NFL Players ‘Shouldn’t Be In This Country’

We should take him seriously. Black Americans have been threatened with deportation before and it never ends well.

The Johnson-Reed Act of May 24, 1924

The worldview laid out in the 94-year old law is still the foundational principle of American immigration policy today.

151 Years of America’s Housing History

From the first tenement regulation to work requirements for public-housing residents, these are key moments in housing policy.
Trump speaks to auto workers.

Forget Trump – Populism is the Cure, Not the Disease

Populism is typically presented as a new threat to liberal democracy. But properly understood, it is neither modern nor rightwing.

Richard Nixon Probably Would Not Have Been Saved by Fox News

The 37th president used methods of media manipulation that Donald Trump can only fantasize about.
Demonstrator outside the U.S. Capitol protesting Scott Pruitt's confirmation.
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Would Firing Scott Pruitt Save the EPA?

Not unless the most dangerous assault in the EPA's history also ends.
Stamped passport.

The New Passport-Poor

Travel documentation was created to restrict – and it may become even more entrapping in the future.

Trumpism Is the New McCarthyism

Just as as McCarthyism did decades ago, Trumpism conceals the Republican Party’s long-term program to dismantle the public sector.

A Most Violent Year

The world that 1968 ushered in is a far cry from the one activists imagined.
Frederick Douglass.

Frederick Douglass Is No Libertarian

It’s the 200th anniversary of Frederick Douglass’s birth, and some on the right have been crashing the party.

How the American Revolution was Made on Honor and Sold on Merit

A review of "American Honor: The Creation of the Nation’s Ideals during the Revolutionary Era."
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Iran, North Korea, Russia: How the Nuclear Threat Re-emerged

Countries are expanding their nuclear arsenals. So why is the public so complacent about the risk of nuclear catastrophe?

An Unlikely Hardliner, George H. W. Bush Was Ready to Push Presidential Powers

Though he ended up seeking congressional approval for the Gulf War, Bush was unconvinced he needed it – saying he would have gone regardless of the vote.
Demonstrators hold a painting of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump outside a Trump rally in Phoenix, Arizona, August 22, 2017.

American Democracy Has Faced Worse Threats Than Donald Trump

The golden age of American politics was illiberal, undemocratic, and bloody.
Trump and Kanye.
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Republicans Think Celebrities Can Win Them the Black Vote. They’re Wrong.

Kanye West won't win Trump black support. But it will cost West his.
Colin Powell holding a vial of anthrax.

How Torture-Produced Intelligence Deceived Us Into Iraq

A first-hand account of how intel gleaned from 'enhanced interrogation' was used to make the case for the 2003 invasion.

The Presidency Is Too Big to Succeed

The problems of presidential gigantism can’t be solved by finding the right giant—the office is dying from its own growth.