Roundup: Talking About History

Fergus M. Bordewich: The fake history now associated with the Underground Railroad

[Fergus M. Bordewich is the author of “Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America.”] FEW aspects of the American past have inspired more colorful mythology than the Underground Railroad. It’s probably fair to say that most Americans view it as a thrilling tapestry of midnight flights, hairbreadth escapes, mysterious codes and strange hiding places. So it’s not surprising that the intriguing (if only recently invented) tale of escape m

Retired Memphis Policeman: No Black Officers Assigned to Martin Luther King on Day of Assassination

AMY GOODMAN: On Sunday, we went to the Metropolitan Baptist Church and ran into a retired police detective. JERRY WILLIAMS: My name is Jerry Williams. I’m a retired Memphis policeman. During the time of Dr. King's assassination, I was working the homicide bureau in the Memphis Police Department. And on two previous occasions when Dr. King would come to Memphis, I was assigned to head his security team. But the last time he came, there were no black officers assigned for that securi

John Patrick Diggins: Reagan's misunderstood

[John Patrick Diggins is a professor of history at the City University of New York Graduate Center. This essay is adapted, with permission of the publisher, from Ronald Reagan: Fate, Freedom, and the Making of History, to be published next month by W.W. Norton & Company Inc. Copyright © 2007 by John Patrick Diggins.] ... In a curious way that is still not accepted by skeptics, the presidency of Ronald Reagan revived the study of intellectual history, for the historical era of th

Aaron Hanscom: Never Again?

[Aaron Hanscom is a freelance writer in Los Angeles.] On the eve of this year’s International Day of Commemoration for Holocaust victims, the UN passed a resolution condemning any denial of the Holocaust. Specifically, the resolution “urges all member states unreservedly to reject any denial of the Holocaust as a historical event, either in full or in part, or any activities to this end." The US-introduced resolution did not specifically name Iran, even though Iranian Presiden

Anthony Weller: George Weller’s Censored Eyewitness Dispatches on the atomic bombing and Japan’s POWs

[Anthony Weller is the author of three novels (most recently, The Siege of Salt Cove) and a memoir of India and Pakistan. He has traveled widely for numerous magazines and is also well-known as a musician. He has a websi

Ariel Cohen: Holocaust Deniers and Their Supporters

[Ariel Cohen, Ph.D., is Senior Fellow in Russian and Eurasian Studies at the Heritage Foundation and editor/author of Eurasia in Balance (Ashgate, 2005).] January 27th was the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz (1944). It was also U.N.-sponsored International Holocaust Commemoration Day. Many countries joined in support of a UN resolution, initiated by the United States, which "condemns without reservation any denial of the Holocaust" and urges UN member states &q

Ion Mihai Pacepa: The KGB made corrupting the Church a priority.

[Lt. General Ion Mihai Pacepa is the highest-ranking intelligence officer ever to have defected from the former Soviet bloc. His book Red Horizons has been republished in 27 countries.] The Soviet Union was never comfortable living in the same world with the Vatican. The most recent disclosures document that the Kremlin was prepared to go to any lengths to counter the Catholic Church’s strong anti-Communism. In March 2006 an Italian parliamentary commission concluded “b

Dina Porat: What Makes an Anti-Semite?

[Prof. Dina Porat is the head of Tel Aviv University's School of Jewish Studies.] In January 2005, an international working definition of anti-Semitism was accepted for the first time since the term was coined in the late 19th century. This definition [see below], approved in June 2005 at a conference in Cordoba, Spain, is the result of a joint effort on the part of two institutions - a center established in Vienna by the European Union to monitor racism and xenophobia, and a center

Annette John-Hall: Black history is entwined in America's

I know I'm a week early, but I want to get a jump start on my Black History Month column before the floodgates of commercialism open. It's not that I'm not proud of seeing the accomplishments of African Americans magnified. Especially this year, seeing progress with five black actors nominated for Academy Awards; Barack Obama, the only African American in the U.S. Senate, pondering a presidential run; and two black coaches taking their teams to the Super Bowl. But every

Caleb Crain: Andrew Jackson’s assault on habeas corpus

By late 1814, it was clear that America was no winning the War of 1812. Washington, including th Capitol and the White House, was in ashes. Ne Englanders were so demoralized that they wer considering secession. When British troops, hardene from battling Napoleon, set sail for Louisiana, som feared that America might not be able to hold on to its recent acquisition. Into the national gloom, however, light broke. On January 8, 1815, a major general from Tennessee named Andrew Ja

Mark Moyar: The Vietnam history you haven't heard

[Mark Moyar is the author of "Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954-1965."] With ever-increasing frequency, Americans are told that Iraq is another Vietnam, usually by those accusing the Bush administration of miring the United States in a hopeless war. For most who make this comparison, the Vietnam War was an act of hubris, fought for no good reason and in alliance with cowards. But new historical research shows this conventional interpretation of Vietnam to be deeply

Carlin Romano: Who Took the 'Judeo' Out of 'Judeo-Christian'?

[Carlin Romano, critic at large for The Chronicle and literary critic for The Philadelphia Inquirer, teaches philosophy and media theory at the University of Pennsylvania.] ... Political Hebraism. Mark the phrase. Prepare to meet its makers. During four days here [Jerusalem], the new scholarly field flexed its muscles, determined to grow. In this neighborhood, the words "If you will it, it is no dream" pack a certain punch. The Shalem Center, founded by a group of Princeto

Jeff Sharlet: How the Christian right is reimagining U.S. history

[Jeff Sharlet is a Contributing Editor of Harper’s Magazine. His last article for the magazine, “Soldiers of Christ: Inside America’s Most Powerful Megachurch,” appeared in the May 2005 issue.] We keep trying to explain away American fundamentalism. Those of us not engaged personally or emotionally in the biggest political and cultural movement of our times—those on the sidelines of history—keep trying to come up with theories with which to discredit the evident allure of this

Gideon Rose: How Vietnam Really Ended

[Gideon Rose is managing editor of Foreign Affairs; he is writing a book about the ends of American wars.] With the Iraq war going badly and a hostile Congress looking for the exit, comparisons to Vietnam are all the rage. Accounts of that war's endgame have generally been spun politically or distorted by hindsight, however. Congressional anti-war activism, for example, was neither a heroic reining in of a runaway government (as the left claims) nor a perfidious stab in

Wiktor Osiatynski: Poland Makes Witch Hunting Easier

[Wiktor Osiatynski, an adviser to Poland’s Constitutional Committee from 1990 to 1996, is a law professor at Central European University.] POLAND trembled this month when the newly appointed Catholic archbishop of Warsaw, Stanislaw Wielgus, announced his resignation after revelations that he had collaborated with the Communist secret police. The Wielgus scandal seemed to portend a new era in the church’s lustration, or the purging of former secret police collaborators. So far, that

Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus: The Lessons of Vietnam

[Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus is the newly appointed senior American commander in Iraq. In 1987 he wrote a PhD thesis at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School titled, "The American Military and the Lessons of Vietnam: A Study of Military Influence and the Use of Force in the Post-Vietnam Era." The following excerpts were compiled by the Washington Post.]On the lessons of history Historical analogies are particularly compelling during crises, when the

Benjamin Hufbauer: Archives of Spin

[Benjamin Hufbauer, a professor of art history at the University of Louisville, is the author of “Presidential Temples: How Memorials and Libraries Shape Public Memory.”] SINCE Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the first federal presidential library — actually an archive and history museum — in 1941, each president has had a hand in developing his own memorial. The National Archives and Records Administration now oversees 11 presidential libraries that draw about two million tourists

James F. Hollifield: SMU should say yes to the Bush library

[James F. Hollifield, a professor of political science and the director of the Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University, is the author of the forthcoming book “The Emerging Migration State.”] WHEN I was a graduate student at Duke in 1981, the university was faced with a difficult decision: Should it accept the papers of its law school alumnus, Richard M. Nixon, and build a library and museum named for one of the most controversial presidents in American hi

Harvey Sicherman: Benjamin Franklin and the Traditions of American Diplomacy

[Harvey Sicherman is president of FPRI and a former aide to three U.S. secretaries of state. This enote is based on a lecture he gave on November 28, 2006, as The Annual Robert Strausz-Hupé Memorial Lecture; the full text of the lecture (204K PDF) is also available.] Benjamin Franklin’s diplomatic achievements are centered around three items: first the 1778 alliance with France, which was essential for the military and diplomatic success of the American War of Independence; second,

Naomi Riley: Why would Bush want his library on a college campus?

[Ms. Riley is the Journal's deputy Taste editor.] In an interview Sunday night on "60 Minutes," President Bush told Scott Pelley that he is "not the kind of guy who sits here and says 'Oh gosh, I'm worried about my legacy.' I'm more worried about making the right decisions to protect the United States of America." It's a noble sentiment, but with less than two years left in his presidency, Mr. Bush and his supporters do have to make some decisions ab