Links to Recent Articles of Interest

“What Happened the Last Time a President Purged the Bureaucracy”

By Clay Risen, Portside, posted February 9 (from Politico)

On the McCarthy-era purge of “security risks,”  climaxing early in the Eisenhower administration. The US “kneecapped itself, removing thousands of valuable employees and forcing those who remained into unhappy conformity.” The author is a reporter and editor at the New York Times and the author of RED SCARE: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America, due from Scribner on March 18.

“Trump May Wish to Abolish the Past. We Historians Will Not”

By David W. Blight, James Grossman, and Beth English, The New Republic, posted February 6

A biting critique of Trump’s “Ending Radical Indoctrination” executive order, which “violates every instinct, every principle, indeed nearly every method of research and thinking that historians have practiced for at least a century.” James Grossman and Beth English are executive directors of the American Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians, respectively and David Blight is OAH president..

“Memory-Holing Jan. 6: What Happens When You Try to Make History Vanish”

By Alec MacGillis, ProPublica, posted February 6

Contrasts the pre-Trump Justice Department’s thorough report on the 192 racial massacre in Tulsa with the new administration’s scrubbing of all records of the January 6 insurrection from official websites. (ProPublica and other groups are working to save them for posterity.} The author is a senior reporter for ProPublica and a biographer of Mitch McConnell.

“Using Tariffs to Try to Turn Canada into an American State Backfired in the Past”

By Marc-William Palen, Made by History – Time, posted February 6

A little-remembered goal of the Republican high tariffs of the 1890s was to enable the annexation of Canada, then a British colony. Instead, the tariffs only strengthened Canada’s ties with Britain. As a Canadian cabinet member said, “Our neighbors are cutting off their own noses to spite us.” The author is a historian at the University of Exeter and has written two books on international trade.

“What Is the Role of the Historian?”

By Barbara Weinstein, History News Network, posted February 4

A historical essay on the historical profession itself in the US, focusing chiefly in ways that the profession has broadened in its composition and its understanding of historical concerns, as shown by the “scholasticide” resolution supported overwhelmingly at January’s American Historical Association convention. The author teaches history at New York University and is a past president (2007) of the AHA.

“The Panama Canal Treaty Declassified”

By the National Security Archive, posted February 3

Presents internal US government documents shedding light on the 13-year process, under four presidents, that led to the Panama Canal Treaty of 1977. Includes a quote from Henry Kissinger, that continued US control of the canal “looks like pure colonialism.” The National Security Archive was founded in 1985 to combat government secrecy.

“There’s No Auschwitz in Gaza. But It’s Still Genocide”

By Daniel Blatman and Amos Goldberg, Haaretz, posted January 30

A long, complex argument comparing Israeli actions in Gaza with numerous past instances of putative genocide worldwide, concluding,”Gaza, as a human, national-collective entity, no longer exists. This is precisely what genocide looks like.”  Both authors are historians of the Holocaust and genocide studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

“In the Attack on Pro-Palestinian Campus Speech, More Than Jobs Are at Stake”

By Andrea Brower, Common Dreams, posted January 30

A sampling of punishments directed at college students and faculty for participating in nonviolent protests or merely expressing opinions. “The new McCarthyism began before Trump and has been partly initiated by ‘liberal’ higher-ed institutions, but Trump’s tyrannical regime will strive to take the trend to harrowing new extremes.” The author teaches sociology at Gonzaga University.

“The Civil Service Was Once Politicized. Then a President Was Assassinated”

By Scott S. Greenberger, Washington Post, posted January 29

A light account of how the assassination of President James A. Garfield in 1881 by a job seeker galvanized a grassroots movement to reform the workings of the federal workforce by guaranteeing civil service protection. The author wrote The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester Alan Arthur (Hachette Books, 2017).

“Birthright Citizenship Is a Sacred Guarantee”

By David W. Blight, The Atlantic, posted January 27

On the origins and meaning of Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment. “Birthright citizenship is a shield of protection to anyone born in this country, as close to a national self-definition as we have; it is our legal DNA.” The author teaches history at Yale University, has written a number of books on the Civil War era, and is currently president of the Organization of American Historians.

“The Political Force Behind Zionism”

By Ted Steinberg, Jacobin, posted January 27

A review essay of Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic by Ilan Pappé (Oneworld, 2024). The review gives a capsule history of the success of lobbying efforts in the US and Britain since the early twentieth century. The author teaches US history at Case Western Reserve University.

“The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Provides a Way to Avert Nuclear Catastrophe”

By Lawrence Wittner, Peace & Health Blog, posted January 24

On the origins and mixed progress of the treaty to ban nuclear weapons, which has drawn growing support since its drafting in 2017 though not from any of the nine nuclear powers. The author is a professor emeritus of history at SUNY Albany.

“What the History of American Expansion Can Tell Us about Trump’s Threats”

Interview with Daniel Immerwahr by Tim Murphy, Mother Jones, posted January 15. A wide-ranging discussion providing historical background on some of Trump’s professed goals. Daniel Immerwahr teaches US history at Northwestern University and has written How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States (Macmillan, 2019).

Thanks to an anonymous reader for suggesting some of the above articles and to Roger Peace for valuable consulting. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.