Power

A private security guard throws a soccer ball back inside the Tornillo detention camp for migrant teens in Tornillo, Texas, Dec. 13, 2018.

A Historian on How Trump’s Wall Rhetoric Changes Lives in Mexico

Ana Raquel Minian explains why the U.S. did not always find it necessary to lock up people seeking asylum.
by Isaac Chotiner via The New Yorker on February 15, 2019
A drawing of

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.
by Josh Trujillo, Levi Hastings via The Nib on June 1, 2018
Vice President Richard M. Nixon naps aboard a chartered plane while on the campaign trail in Hawaii, August 4, 1960.

A Brief History of Presidential Lethargy

How much do we expect our presidents to rest?
by Stacy A. Cordery via The Conversation on February 15, 2019
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar waves to supporters in Minneapolis at the announcement of her presidential run, Feb. 10, 2019.

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.
by John Dickerson via The Atlantic on February 18, 2019
Central American migrants passing through Ciudad Hidalgo in Mexico on their way to seek refuge in the United States, October 21, 2018.

The Migrant Caravan: Made in USA

Much of the migrant "crisis" is blowback from decades of official U.S. policy in Central America.
by Robert Saviano via New York Review of Books on February 14, 2019
Barack Obama and Donald Trump sitting in the White House Oval Office.

All the Presidents' Taxes

Get riled up again about Trump's refusal to release his returns with a brief history of this now-discarded presidential tradition.
by Kevin M. Kruse via Esquire on April 14, 2017
George Washington stands in front of a white horse.

Why America’s Founding Fathers Wanted the President to Take a Salary

One of the very reasons the framers wanted the president to take a salary, was to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
by Jena McGregor via Washington Post on March 15, 2017
Then-former president Theodore Roosevelt lays claim to an elephant he shot while on a safari (ca. 1915).

Who Would Win in a Presidential Knife Fight to the Death?

Do successful presidents make sound knife-wielders?
by Geoff Micks via The Writings of Geoff Micks on August 22, 2012
President Nixon addresses Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin, in their Mobile Quarantine Facility aboard the USS Hornet (1969).

Nixoning the Moon

How the moon landing played perfectly into President Nixon's public relations style.
by Kathryn Cramer Brownell via Modern American History on March 1, 2018

The Fate of the Union: Kennedy and After

Reflections on the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
by David Riesman, George Lichtheim, Richard H. Rovere, Richard Hofstadter, Irving Howe , Benjamin DeMott, Norman Mailer, Neal Ascherson, Dwight Macdonald, Hans J. Morgenthau, C. Vann Woodward via New York Review of Books on December 26, 1963
President Herbert Hoover signs unemployment and drought relief bills, Dec. 20, 1930.

Hating on Herbert Hoover

Hoover was a brilliant manager, a wizard of logistics, and an effective humanitarian. Why do we remember him as a failure?
by Nicholas Lemann via The New Yorker on October 23, 2017
President Harry S Truman announces the government seizure of the steel industry on April 8, 1952.

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.
by Steve Hendrix via Washington Post on January 11, 2019