Two 19th-century elections are a reminder that a sizable midterm shift, like the one expected in November, can signal long-lasting changes in American politics that set the country in a new direction.
Articles on Harry Truman
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Air Force One shouldn’t be seen as only a cool piece of flying technology or a political flash point. Instead, writes a historian, the presidential plane has shaped and defined the modern presidency.
The Trump administration fired the entire board that oversees the National Science Foundation, raising an age-old question about the separation of science and state.
Congress has refused to exercise oversight of the Iran war, with Republicans nixing Democrats’ attempts to exercise legislators’ power over military engagements. That’s nothing new.
American voters, even those aligned with Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, usually shift course when they see they didn’t get what they voted for. Will this fate befall Trump in November?
Trump’s Iran war is historically unique in one critically important way: Early on, the war is not popular with the American public.
US lawmakers who opposed Guatemala’s democratically elected leaders alleged communist subterfuge. They didn’t mention the United Fruit Company’s complaints before the 1954 coup.
The president’s concerns about Air Force One seem less focused on safety and security and more on size and opulence.
Republicans have a leader, Donald Trump; a banner, MAGA; and a song, ‘God Bless the USA.’ Democrats have nothing like this.
The history of Christian support for a Jewish state far predates the religious right.
Trump wants Ukraine to repay the US for the military aid it sent Kyiv. Once upon a time, the US was more generous: It rebuilt Western Europe after World War II.
Left out of FDR’s New Deal, the health insurance program for the poor was finally established in 1965.
Kamala Harris’ running mate sprinkles ‘damn’ throughout his speeches, even doing it in his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.
Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and other presidents showed that getting limited information as president can have some benefits – but also risks.
Kamala Harris is on track to be one of the most influential vice presidents in history. This says more about the Senate than the amount of power the vice president actually wields.
President Joe Biden has pledged sweeping action on climate change but struggled to deliver it. A legal scholar explains why a national emergency declaration should be a last resort.
During World War II, the US and USSR fought together to defeat the Nazis. When the war ended, the two superpowers began fighting each other.
Kennan was one of America’s few true experts on Soviet affairs. He famously urged a “Containment” strategy to prevent Soviet expansionism, advising against military responses and arms build-ups.
Only one president has done so – Franklin Delano Roosevelt – but others considered it, and even tried.
The vice president may be second in line for the most powerful job in the nation, but there isn’t necessarily a lot to do besides wait – unless the president wants another adviser.
Top contributors
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Associate Professor of Political Science, Westminster College
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Professor in The Division of Global Affairs and The Department of Political Science, Rutgers University - Newark
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Associate Professor of Instruction, The University of Texas at Austin
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Assistant Professor, International Studies, Indiana University
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Professor Emeritus of Communication, American University School of Communication
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Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley
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Associate Professor of Latin American History, Stephen F. Austin State University
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Associate Professor, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
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Professor of Political Science, University of Connecticut
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Associate Professor of Journalism, Indiana University
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Roger J. Kreuz is a Friend of The Conversation.
Associate Dean and Feinstone Interdisciplinary Research Professor, University of Memphis
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Professor of History & American Culture Studies, Washington University in St. Louis
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Assistant Professor of U.S. History, University of Cambridge
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Curator of Military History, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
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Professor Emeritus of Religion, Middlebury College