The Long Controversy Over Alger Hiss
When Alger Hiss was convicted of perjury on January 17, 1950, it was, in one sense, the end of a legal drama that began when Whittaker Chambers had named him […]
Debacle at Fredericksburg, December, 1862
Riding something of a wave of optimism after the mixed victory at Antietam, Union forces again headed into Northern Virginia and Richmond, the Confederate capital. Under the command of newly-appointed […]
Why Should We Teach Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address?
On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered “a few appropriate remarks” at the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The inspiring prose of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address […]
David Krugler Discusses the Fall of the Berlin Wall & the End of the Cold War
November 9 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. This momentous event signaled the eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of a “Cold […]
Not a Modern Phenomenon: Impeachment & Partisanship
With current news focusing on the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry, we asked Jeremy D. Bailey, Professor of Political Science at the University of Houston, to explain the presidential impeachment […]
The Founders, the Presidency & Stephen F. Knott
In his new study of the presidency, Stephen F. Knott, Thomas and Mabel Guy Professor in Teaching American History’s Master of Arts in American History and Government program, traces what […]
Junípero Serra, Gaspar de Portolá, and the Spanish Conquest of California
Father Junípero Serra (1713–1784) founded the first Catholic “mission” in what is now present-day California 250 years ago, in July of 1769. To Serra, the enterprise was indeed a mission […]
Forgotten Stories in American History: The Battle of Peleliu
This is the first in a series of posts we’re calling Forgotten Stories in American History. It will point out events, people, ideas and places from our history that you […]
1919 – A Year of Racial Violence: An Interview with David Krugler
A century ago, in the wake of a rapid demobilization of soldiers returning from World War I, ten major race riots occurred in American cities, along with other acts of […]
400th Anniversary of Landing of African Slaves at Jamestown
In late August 1619, John Rolfe tells us that the first enslaved Africans arrived in the English colony of Virginia. These Africans had been captured from present-day Angola by Portuguese […]