Tonight is the first night of content in my “Introduction to History” course. I love using this video to teach historical thinking, especially causality, complexity, and contingency: I discuss how I use this video on page 10-11 in Why Study […]
John F. Kennedy
How should we deal with monuments to flawed individuals?
Eliot Cohen, the dean of The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, offers his take on the removal of monuments. Here is a taste of his piece at The Atlantic: A good place to begin is by asking whether […]
Mike Pence’s Irresponsible Use of History
In case you missed it, Vice President Mike Pence wrote an op-ed at The Wall Street Journal calling for Democratic Senators to show “courage” in the form of a willingness to “stand up” and “reject” the “partisan impeachment” of Donald Trump. […]
The Umbrella Man
It is time for this Umbrella Man video to make another appearance: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yznRGS9f-jI&w=560&h=315]
Not Since the Kennedys
It appears that Catholicism has returned to the White House. One of the things we learned during the Trump visit to the Vatican is that Melania Trump is Catholic. Sarah Pulliam Bailey reports at The Washington Post. A taste: After she […]
Jill Lepore on Presidential Debating
Check out Harvard historian Jill Lepore’s long-form piece in The New Yorker. Here are the money paragraphs: The real trouble is deeper and wider. Political argument has been having a terrible century. Instead of arguing, everyone from next-door neighbors to members […]
Word of Kennedy’s Assassination Reaches the Boston Symphony Orchestra
From Upworthy blog: President Kennedy was a transformational leader, and it’s hard to imagine what it felt like to hear of his assassination 50 years ago today. Kennedy was shot as the Boston Symphony Orchestra was about to begin its […]
JFK at Gettsyburg
It has been a very full week for history buffs. This week we commemorated the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. I thus found Diana Loski’s piece at The Gettysburg Experience particularly relevant […]
The Umbrella Man
I first saw this clip a few years ago and I have been using it to teach historical causation ever since. In fact, this story is featured in the first chapter of my Why Study History?: Reflecting on the Importance […]
Tell Your JFK Assassination Story
Where were you (or someone from your family) on the day JFK was assassinated? I was not alive, but my father was a twenty-two year old contractor working on a roof somewhere in North Jersey when someone on the ground […]
Michael Kazin on Inauguration Speeches
FDR’s 1st Inaugural Address (1933) Georgetown historian Michael Kazin reminds us that “inaugural addresses rarely foretell what a president will accomplish in office.” Here are a few great lines from inaugural addresses that did not really pan out in real […]
Martin Luther King’s Second Emancipation Proclamation
In today’s New York Times, David Blight and Allison Scharfstein call our attention to a May 1962 document that Martin Luther King Jr. wrote to John F. Kennedy calling for a “second Emancipation Proclamation” to outlaw segregation in the United […]
This Week’s Patheos Column: “John F. Kennedy, Rick Santorum, and the Separation of Church and State”
In case you haven’t heard, John F. Kennedy’s view on church and state makes Rick Santorum want to throw up. Yes, you read that correctly. This weekend in an interview with George Stephanopolous, Santorum stood behind an earlier campaign statement […]