Tag Archive
Sam Tanenhaus of the New York Times Misses Historical “Narrative”
In his piece in Sunday’s New York Times, “Identity Politics Leans Right,” Sam Tanenhaus raises some thought provoking questions for historians. He uses the current debate raging inside the Texas State Board of Education about what should be included or axed in the American history curriculum. He uses the Texas case as a… »
Obama Speaks Some Truth From Power
President Barack Obama’s Nobel lecture last Thursday in Oslo shows he understands that “peace is not merely the absence of visible conflict.” “Only a just peace based upon the inherent rights and dignity of every individual can truly be lasting,” he said. Hearing a president say this is mind blowing and illustrates the side of… »
The “Goldilocks Principle” and Afghan War Options
A piece in yesterday’s New York Times by Peter Baker and Helene Cooper reported that all of the U.S. military options for Afghanistan that President Barack Obama is currently contemplating include some kind of troop escalation. “Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates appears to be supportive of the middle option,” they write. This search for a… »
Just One More Example of Edward Kennedy’s Service to His Country
Among the thousands of contributions to his country that Edward Kennedy made throughout the course of his 46-year career in the United States Senate one episode that stands out to me is his role in exposing the human costs of the American war in Vietnam. In early January 1968, just prior to the Tet Offensive,… »
Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite was the kind of television news anchor that simply no longer exists. Yes, he was on board with Lyndon Johnson’s war in Vietnam in the early years, which reflected the bipartisan consensus of the time, but by 1968, when the Tet Offensive laid bare all of the savage illusions of that catastrophic war,… »