It’s official. The Trump presidency is over. The Biden presidency is here. Here are a few thoughts, with the help of my Twitter feed, on today’s inauguration ceremony: I began the day with a reminder. It’s been a long four...
Eisenhower
Episode 79: John Foster Dulles and the Cold War Protestant Left
In this episode we talk about the connections between liberal Protestantism, American foreign policy, and the Cold War in mid-20th-century America. We discuss these themes through an examination of the life of former U.S. Secretary of State (1953-1959) John Foster...
*Christianity Today*: Trump is first president to change faiths in office since Eisenhower
We posted on Trump’s newfound “non-denominational” faith here. Here is a taste of Dan Silliman’s piece: Dwight Eisenhower was baptized the second Sunday he was in the White House, in January 1953. He was joining the group that Trump is...
What Happened to the Never-Trump Republicans?
A few still exist, but most of them have lined-up with their Trump-controlled party. I can’t tell you how many times I hear from people who did not support Trump in 2016, but today defend him and his policies with...
When Weapons of War Become Idols: How Christians Should Respond to Donald Trump’s Military Parade
This guest post comes from my friend Byron Borger, proprietor of Hearts & Minds Bookstore in Dallastown, PA. If you like Byron’s post (or even if you don’t) head over to the Hearts & Minds website and buy a few...
Did Men Invent “Likability?”
Check out historian Claire Potter‘s piece at The New York Times: “Men Invented ‘Likability.’ Guess Who Benefits.” She reflects on the origins of the idea of “likability” advertising culture and, eventually presidential politics. As Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar and...
Kruse: Ike’s First 100 Days Created the Religious Right
Princeton University historian Kevin Kruse is now writing a regular column for Esquire magazine. I follow Kevin on Twitter and had the chance to review his excellent book One Nation Under God, so I am sure I will be a regular...
Dwight Eisenhower on Refugees
Dwight Eisenhower to the Congress on Immigration, March 17, 1960. Here is a taste: To the Congress of the United States: I again urge the liberalization of some of our existing restrictions upon immigration. The strength of this nation may...
"Bernie Sanders’s socialism is Eisenhower’s and F.D.R.’s world if Reagan had never happened"
Jeremiah Purdy of The New Yorker shows how Bernie Sanders’s definition of “Democratic Socialism” looks a lot like the policies of F.D.R. and Ike. A taste:We finally know what Bernie Sanders means by “democratic socialism.” Speaking on his political philosophy at Georgetown yesterday, the Vermont senator...
What Was "Operation Wetback?"
If you watched the GOP debate last night on Fox Business News you saw Donald Trump compare his immigration policy to the 1955 roundup of illegal Mexican immigrants in a project, endorsed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, known as “Operation...
Kruse, *One Nation Under God*: A Review
I have been singing the praises of Kevin Kruse’s One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America. It is a great book that has received a lot of attention. Kruse has been doing a lot of interviews to...
Ross Douthat and Mark Silk: Differing Opinions on Obama at the Prayer Breakfast, Niebuhr, and Eisenhower
I am in self-imposed exile today–working on my American Bible Society book. But this whole Obama Prayer Breakfast stuff (see my original piece here) keeps drawing me away from my writing and back to the blog. Did you see Ross...
100th Anniversary of Gettysburg Address
1963: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZSuThJDjRE] British Pathe videos...
We All Like Ike: Eisenhower Comes to England
1959: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv_I5OsHwPU] From British Pathe
Why Barack Obama Should be the GOP Candidate in 2012
Yes, you read that correctly. Michael Lind’s recent post at Salon reminds us that many of Obama’s policies are similar to the old “liberal” wing of the Republican Party. Lind argues that the Obama administration “is the third Clinton administration–or...
Brooks on Obama: Idealism vs. Prudence
In today’s column David Brooks reflects on the complicated and complex nature of the Obama presidency. Obama, he argues, has drawn from the idealism of John F. Kennedy and the prudence of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Brooks writes: On Jan. 20, […]