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Lawrence Gellert, Black Musical Protest & White Denial: An Interview With Steven Garabedian

by Aaron J. Leonard

Steve Garabedian's new book reexamines the life and work of Lawrence Gellert, a Jewish New Yorker who relocated to the South, recorded African American songs, and clashed with the growing establishment of white folklorists. Is it time to reappraise Gellert's contributions to the preservation of Black musical culture?

How Biden used the VP Springboard to Vault into the Oval Office

by Joel K. Goldstein

Joe Biden's leap from VP to POTUS is a rarity. Vice presidents are often contenders, but seldom successful. Circumstance helped Biden break the mold, but so did learning on the job as second-in-command to become a more credible candidate for the top job. 

Trumpism is the Rage of a Threatened Masculine Ideal. What's the Alternative?

by Walter G. Moss

Trump's brand of authoritarian populism hinges on performing a belligerent self-centered masculinity that resonates with white male grievances and anxieties. American politics needs a model of manliness that includes cooperation, humility and courage to pull back from the horror suggested by January 6th's mob attack on the Capitol. 

Biden's Inaugural and the Return of History

by Paul J. Welch Behringer

Joseph Biden's inaugural address signals a willingness to return to learning from history that may encourage the empathy and humilty elected officials need to solve the nation's problems. 

Vice Presidential Loyalty and Independence

by Ron Faucheux

As the Trump era comes to an end, Vice President Pence is paddling his own boat. Where he goes is now up to him––and him alone.

Misremember the Alamo

by Douglas Sackman

Like most Americans, when Trump tries to "remember the Alamo," he gets it all wrong. His recent visit to Alamo, Texas was 240 miles south of the mission so holy to many Texans, but it was closer in spirit than Trump probably realized. 

Will Eugene Goodman Share the Fate of Frank Wills?

by Adam Henig

Congress and the nation have celebrated the heroic actions of Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman, who distracted a mob to give members of Congress time to reach safety. When his momentary fame fades, Goodman deserves better than another unexpected hero, Watergate security guard Frank Wills. 

Trump Inflamed the American "War of Sections." What Comes Next?

by Steve Suitts

2020 shows the south is arguably still the key region in American politics, but it may not be a stronghold of white conservative politics for long. 

Kamala Harris and the Modern Vice Presidency

by Richard Moe

Kamala Harris seems poised to exert influence over policy and legislation as vice president. In this sense, she will carry forward the evolution of the office, according to a former vice presidential chief of staff who contributed to the development of the "modern vice presidency." 

Pardon Me?: The History of the Washington Territorial Government and the Self-Pardon

by Michael Schein

The question of self-pardons by an executive isn't a theoretical one. It was resolved – in the negative – by events in the Washington territory in 1856.

The Politics of an Inauguration Unlike Any Other

by Michael A. Genovese

Joe Biden's inauguration will be unlike any other, but he will need to draw on inaugural traditions of declaring purpose and invoking solidarity if he is to begin to repair national division.

Confronting "Who We Are"

by Verena Erlenbusch-Anderson

The Capitol riots should prompt consideration of how racism is sustained by mainstream institutions and operates through everyday patterns of thought and action, as much as in open eruptions of violence. 

The Free Press and Democracy in a "Murder the Media" Age

by Wendy Melillo

Journalism as a profession needs to embrace its historical role as a guardian of democracy and refuse to let objectivity work as a shield for authoritarianism; authoritarians won't accept a free press anyway.

Restoring Civil Society by Executive Order?: An Inaugural Reverie

by John L. Godwin

Joe Biden should defend the First Amendment right to peaceable assembly by a temporary emergency order criminalizing the carrying of firearms at public protest events and make clear that the threat of force is not part of the democratic process.

The Great Evasion

by Lawrence Wittner

Joe Biden should reverse the nation's long dereliction of duty in leading the world toward nuclear disarmament and reducing the threat of nuclear war.

Were Trump's Pardons Even Legal?

by James D. Zirin

Almost all the pundits, constitutional lawyers, and members of the professoriate are laying down their arms, largely conceding that the President has broad powers to pardon anyone in the world, with the possible exception of himself. But are they giving too much away?"

Banana Republic or Nut Country? January 6 Put American Exceptionalism in Perspective

by Frank P. Barajas

American political elites have responsed to the Capitol riot by comparing it unfavorably to something that would happen in a "banana republic." The historical record of American interference in Latin America and of our own domestic tumults shows that we may not be bananas, but have had our fair share of nuts.

Donald Trump’s Situational Fascism

by Gavriel Rosenfeld

Rather than engage in an unproductive debate about whether Donald Trump is or is not a bona fide fascist, scholars should consider the events of January 6 (and Trump's role in inciting them) as emergent, contingent results of the interplay of factors latent in American liberal democracy.

Historians, Insurrectionists and Fragile White Folks

by James Brewer Stewart

A historian of abolition and an advocate of racial justice argues that historians must reject the psychological framework of some recent popular antiracist books and learn from the history of activists embodying Frederick Douglass's call for a "moral revolution" through engagement with others.

The Problem with a Self-Pardon

by Robert J. Spitzer

It is likely that the issue of a president's ability to pardon himself will be contested in short order. A constitutional scholar of the presidency explains why such an action cannot be countenanced in a society of law.