Recently Published

Will Obama be FDR to McCain’s Hoover?

by Manisha Sinha

Since the financial crisis precipitated a global economic melt-down, political pundits, historians, and the candidates themselves have made numerous comparisons between recent events and the Great Depression of 1929. Joe Biden’s slip-up on when exactly the Depression took place pales in comparison to John McCain’s far fetched claim that Obama’s tax plans are similar to President Herbert Hoover’s, under whose watch

2008 Is a Long Ways Away from 1908, But Still ...

by Adam Burns

It all seemed to be going so well. A quick war toppling an oppressive regime to free the poor masses from tyranny, a sound plan surely… However, all did not go quite according to plan, the oppressed masses sparked a bloody insurgency and the U.S. death toll grew higher by the day, the week, the month, and the year. Stories of war crimes and torture soured liberal public opinion against a continued occupation. If only the liberated masses would realize that the point of all this is to h

Crazy Woman in Pittsburgh? Republican Problems Run Deeper

by Joseph Palermo

On October 24, 2008, John McCain's communications director for Pennsylvania, Peter Feldman, fanned the flames of racial bigotry to score political points. Feldman peddled the story to at least two Pittsburgh TV news outlets (KDKA and WPXI) that a 6' 4" "dark skinned" African-American man assaulted, robbed, and carved a "B" into the cheek of a 20-year-old white woman "volunteer" from the Young Republicans named Ashley Todd. McCain's communications wizard embell

The Bank Crisis Blame Game, Then and Now

by Jessica M. Lepler

Whether Barack Obama or John McCain finds himself taking the oath of office on January 20, he won't be the first man to be handed a financial crisis along with the keys to the White House. FDR faced a depression and a banking crisis in 1933. Another president, even farther in the past, faced a situation closer to today's mess: forgotten Martin Van Buren. When Martin Van Buren placed his hand on the Bible on March 4, 1837, a string of business failures simultaneously began to topple th

The Bailout: A Far Cry from Socialism

by Andrew M. Schocket

"Socialism!" That's the alarm many conservative commentators and legislators are sounding about the latest development in Washington's bank bailout scheme. Critics worry that the latest bank rescue plan will begin a slippery slope towards socialism or at least a day when government officials run American businesses, the American economy and, eventually, American lives. But this isn't the first time the U.S. government has held stock in banks, and the nation never turned to

Ed Brooke, Barack Obama, and the Color of American Politics

by Jason Sokol

Barack Obama may “make history,” but he is not without forerunners. To those who listen closely, the echoes of Edward Brooke’s run for the United State Senate – forty-two years ago –

The Liberal Hour: An Interview with G. Calvin Mackenzie and Robert Weisbrot

by David Liebers

G. Calvin Mackenzie is The Goldfarb Family Distinguished Professor of Government at Colby College and author or editor of more than a dozen books.  Robert Weisbrot is Christian A. Johnson Distinguished Teaching Professor of History also at Colby College, and specializes in Modern American history, the Presidency of John F. Kennedy and the Cold War. (All responses are collaborative efforts between the two authors.)  

Obama or McCain will need Global Hunger Czar

by William Lambers

Either Barack Obama or John McCain will inherit as president the worst global food crisis in decades. High food prices are forcing millions more people into the already swollen ranks of the hungry. The new president will be more able to tackle the hunger crisis with passage of the Global Food Security Act, introduced by Senators Lugar and Casey. Both Obama and McCain can help support this legislation in the coming months. The Global Food Security Act would create a White Ho

John McCain's Economic Plan: Laissez-Failure

by Joseph Palermo

John McCain is running one of the most divisive, negative, and dishonorable presidential campaigns in modern history. By spreading the Big Lie that Barack Obama is a "terrorist sympathizer" who is not from the "real" America, McCain is fanning the flames of latent racism and xenophobia. He is doing everything in his power to divide and conquer the country. His robo-call smears and his surrogates' McCarthyite attacks against his Democratic opponent are strange ways to pu

2008 in History

by Steve Hochstadt

I have been telling my students how historic this election is. Maybe if they believe my claim that 2008 will long be remembered and talked about, like 1968 and 1929, they will make the effort to vote. Then they won’t spend their lives wondering why they didn’t realize quickly enough how significant this election and this year are and will be. My students aren’t the only ones who don’t realize how many Americans will remember 2008. I’m not talking about any &

Let's Be Honest About Why We Vote the Way We Do

by Leslie Kitchen

We can’t really convince our friends or that damned brother-in-law of anything during an election year, nor are they any more successful with us. The conversations go on for months. Both sides use the tricks of logic, but to no avail. All the evidence, even some matters that are not quite evident, are pulled into the discussion by all involved. Still no one moves. Carefully selected statistics, the last refuge of dirty rotten scoundrels, are pulled out like Christmas presents and, to th

It's Time to Teach the Truth About Slavery in New York

by William Loren Katz

As some southern legislatures, prodded by African American representatives, expressed regret over their states' role in slave trading and exploiting slave labor, a kind of “truth and reconciliation” movement has stirred educators. So far the focus has been on the southern states where African people were brutally exploited, their families sundered, resulting in a civil war and a nation wide system of racial inequality.Now some educators are claiming this truth omits the complicity of “the free North.” Each northern state profited from slave labor until the end of the colonial period, and for decades after some continued to profit from the slave trade and tolerate slavery while loudly championing liberty!

Mr. Jefferson's Women

by Jon Kukla

Hundreds of books and articles have been written about Thomas Jefferson’s extraordinary life, genius, and achievements. With few exceptions, however, little was known about the women who figured in Jefferson&rsq

United Nations Day is October 24, 2008 ... Let's Celebrate!

by Gus Feissel and Chris O’Sullivan

What would the world look like without the United Nations? You can partially answer that question by looking at the world before the U.N. was established in San Francisco in 1945. In the 30 years prior to the founding of the U.N., more than 75 million people perished in two world wars fought among the great powers. The U.N. was established in response to these three decades of violence and cataclysm. President Franklin Roosevelt, who coined the term “United Nations,” pushed for a wor

Bring Back Glass-Steagall?

by Robert Buzzanco

Yes, as through this world I've rambled                                                                     I've seen lots of funny men;

Whatever Happened to Immigration as an Election Topic?

by Jose Angel Hernandez

In 1929 more “legal residents” were deported to Mexico than those considered “illegal.” This is part of the immigration history we don't know.

What Arthur Miller Might Say About this Election

by Derek Alger

Instead of paying attention to political pundits or those self-described Democratic or Republican consultants and their repetitive talking points, perhaps it would be more useful to consider what Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright Arthur Miller observed about acting and Presidential politics. Miller, whose plays include Death of a Salesman, A View from the Bridge, and The Crucible, and was twice awarded the New York Drama Critics Award, was especially aware of the importance of a

What Economic Historians Think About the Meltdown

by Andrea Young

Corporate debt. Housing markets. Foreclosures. Contracted liquidity. These terms are synonymous with one that has been flooding headlines and creating unrest for anyone with a bank account: the subprime mortgage crisis. What began as rapacious arrangements between financial institutions and under-banked borrowers led to global economies being dragged into the daunting direction that some believe could spell depression. Are we repeating history? Or is this a new breed of greed? “

In November We Vote on Civil War in Iraq

by Nabil Al-Hadithy

Sen. McCain took a principled position in supporting the US troops surge to Iraq when the country was almost unanimously against the war. During the first presidential debate, McCain took credit for the surge and credited the surge for the path to victory. Since July 2008, McCain’s has campaign attacked Obama for being too stubborn to admit the surge turned the course of the war in Iraq. McCain likened Obama’s stubbornness to the Bush administration and this was disturbing to Obam

The Age of Reagan: An Interview with Sean Wilentz (Part II)

by Rick Shenkman

Part one of this interview appeared in September.One of the great ironies you draw attenti