Roundup: Historians' Take

Alan Brinkley: Obama vs. Tea Party: Think FDR vs. Huey Long

[Alan Brinkley, a history professor at Columbia University, is the author of “Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin & the Great Depression.” His most recent book is "The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century."] In the aftermath of the massive Democratic losses on Election Day, the tea party movements have proved that their efforts made a significant contribution to the Republican victories. Though only a few true tea party candidates were actually elec

Johann Neem: The Spoils of the Citizens United Decision and Its Affront to Democratic Deliberation

[Johann Neem is associate professor of history at Western Washington University and author of "Creating a Nation of Joiners: Democracy and Civil Society in Early National Massachusetts" (2008).] NOW that the midterm elections are over, we can better grapple with the true costs of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission and the immediate outpouring of cash that shaped the elections' outcome. The 2010 decision det

Steven M. Gillon: The Lessons of 1994

[Steven M. Gillon is the resident historian of the History Channel and professor of history at the University of Oklahoma. His book, The Kennedy Assassination -- 24 Hours After, is published by Basic Books.] Democrats are still absorbing the electoral drubbing they suffered at the polls this week. As the New York Times reported, nearly every congressional district in America voted more Republican in 2010 than in 2008. Republicans rode a wave of well-financed and carefully orchestrat

Julian E. Zelizer: 5 Myths about George W. Bush

[Julian E. Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, is the editor of"The Presidency of George W. Bush: A First Historical Assessment."] September 11. Katrina. Iraq. These events will be forever linked with the presidency of George W. Bush. Now, with the release of his memoir,"Decision Points," the former president has the chance to defend his record and explain his actions. But as historians and the public alike look back on the Bush White House, w

Conrad Black: The Bums Were Thrown Out

[Conrad Black is the author of Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom and Richard M. Nixon: A Life in Full.] As was generally predicted, the Republicans appear to have picked up about 65 House seats, the greatest one-year pickup they have had since 1894, and, though it is not certain, seven Senate seats, to close the Democratic lead to 52–48 and force Vice Pres. Joe Biden to stay close to the Capitol to break ties. It was only last year that the Democrats were exulting in t

Victor Davis Hanson: America Just Checked into Rehab

[Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the author, most recently, of The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern.] On Tuesday, voters rejected President Obama’s attempt to remake America in the image of an imploding Europe — not just by overwhelmingly electing Republican candidates to the House, but by preferring dozens of maverick conservatives who ran against the establishment. Why the near-

H.W. Brands: For 2012, Obama Should Learn from FDR's Reelection

[H.W. Brands is the author of "Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt" and, most recently, "American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900."] Getting elected to the presidency is difficult; getting reelected is harder; getting reelected when the economy is dragging is nearly impossible. In American history, only one president has won a second term when the economy was in dire shape: Franklin D. Roose

Amanda Foreman: Obama can take comfort from history

[Amanda Foreman is a historian and the author of A World on Fire: an Epic History of Two Nations Divided (Allen Lane).] When is a defeat actually a victory? When it destroys the enemy's future capacity to fight. Barack Obama can take comfort from this maxim as he contemplates the new reality on Capitol Hill today. The polls predicted a massive swing to the Republicans and were proven right: 10 governorships, six Senate seats and more than 60 House seats. There has not

Jonathan Zimmerman: You Can't Judge a War by the Atrocities Committed Fighting It

[Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history and education at New York University. He is the author of “Small Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory.”] Most Americans regard World War II as a "just war" because the United States helped stem the vicious tide of global fascism. But during that war, American soldiers dismembered Japanese corpses and collected their body parts as souvenirs. A contradiction? Not really. You can commit war crimes on behalf of a just

Jonathan Zimmerman: Glenn Beck Won--Progressivism Lost

[Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history and education at New York University. He is the author of “Small Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory.”] Not just for Mr. Beck’s Republican Party, which captured the House and nearly the Senate in yesterday’s midterm elections. The verdict represents a victory for Beck’s political philosophy, a brand of conservatism that sees progressive values as the No. 1 threat to America. One day, historians might look back on 2010 as the y

Juan Cole: Revisiting the Midterms of FDR and Truman

[Juan Cole, the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan, maintains the blog Informed Comment. His most recent book, just out in paperback, is “Engaging the Muslim World.”] We might look back on these years of the “Greatest Generation” as heroic, and Roosevelt as unbeatable. But you know what? His Democrats lost the popular vote, losing big in the House of Representatives, and Republicans picked up 47 seats. Because of the way things were th

Julian E. Zelizer: Is It 1994 All Over Again?

[Julian E. Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He is the author of "Jimmy Carter" published by Times Books and editor of a book assessing former President George W. Bush's administration published by Princeton University Press.] In the weeks running up to the election, there were some commentators who concluded that the current situation would be the best outcome for President Obama. Pointing to the example of the 1994

Josh Marshall: Pro-Plantations in Rhode Island

[Josh Marshall is the founder of Talking Points Memo.] There's a proposition on the ballot this year to change the name of Rhode Island from "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations" to simply "Rhode Island." The idea is that the appendage "Providence Plantations" is redolent of slavery and should go. I can't get too crazy up in arms about it. But it'll be an unfortunate change and I'll be sorry to see it go. And in this case, I actually have a

Juan Cole: The World Is Safer Without a Republican House

[Juan Cole, the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan, maintains the blog Informed Comment. His most recent book, just out in paperback, is “Engaging the Muslim World.”] Although Congress for the most part leaves foreign policy to the president, it can occasionally intervene pivotally in that arena, as when it shot down Woodrow Wilson’s plan to have the U.S. join the League of Nations. Obama’s hopes for better relations with the Muslim wor

Daniel Pipes: Germany's Freiheit Party Joins the Fray

[Mr. Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum and Taube distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.]A new German political party, Die Freiheit (The Freedom), had its inaugural meeting on October 28 in Berlin. I was in town, so its leadership invited me to be the only non-member of the nascent party to witness and report on its founding constituent a

Gary Gerstle: Federalism in America: Beyond the Tea Partiers

[Gary Gerstle teaches American history at Vanderbilt University. This article is adapted from “The Resilient Power of the States Across the Long Nineteenth Century: An Inquiry into a Pattern of American Governance,” which appeared in Lawrence Jacobs and Desmond King, eds., The Unsustainable American State (Oxford University Press, 2009), pp. 61–87.] We hear a lot today about federalism, the doctrine that emphasizes the rights and powers of the states versus those of the federal gove

Rachel Laudan: Too Many Designations in the Kitchen

[Rachel Laudan is a historian and writer based in Mexico City and a contributor to ZesterDaily.com, where a longer version of this appears.] This month, UNESCO is expected to designate for the first time one or more of the world's culinary traditions as an "intangible cultural heritage." The cultural category, established in 2003 as a supplement to the better-known category of "tangible heritage" (castles, cities, landscapes), was created to protect traditions in

Mary Walton: Ups and Downs in the History of American Women's Suffrage

[Mary Walton is the author of "A Woman's Crusade: Alice Paul and the Battle for the Ballot."] Leaders of the National American Woman Suffrage Assn. were thrilled when William Howard Taft agreed to address their convention in 1910, the first U.S. president to do so. They were less thrilled, though, when he proceeded to compare women to Hottentots, and not in a good way. "The theory that Hottentots or any other uneducated, altogether unintelligent class is

Tom Engelhardt: The Most Dispiriting Election of a Lifetime

[Tom Engelhardt, co-founder of the American Empire Project, runs the Nation Institute's TomDispatch.com. His latest book is The American Way of War: How Bush’s Wars Became Obama’s (Haymarket Books).]By the time you read this, I’ll already have voted -- the single most reflexivepolitical act of my life -- in the single most dispiriting election I can remember.  As I haven’t missed a midterm or presidential election since my first vote in 1968, that says something.  Or maybe by the t

Juan Cole: On How War with Iran might Destroy the United States

[Juan Cole, the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan, maintains the blog Informed Comment. His most recent book, just out in paperback, is Engaging the Muslim World.] David Broder is a respected political analyst. I once had breakfast with him and I like him. I often think his columns are on the mark. So I am sure he by now regrets his piece on Saturday in the Washington Post on how Obama can get the country out of the econo