American - Historian | August 7, 1953 -
Once you become president, you don't even have to stop for red lights. And if it looks like traffic's too bad, you just take a helicopter.
H. W. Brands
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When the Constitution was written in 1787, there was this supposition that American politics would be above party. The people who would staff the positions in government would have the interests of the country, or at least their states and congressional districts, at heart, and so they wouldn't form permanent political parties.
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When people think of the oil industry, they think of Rockefeller, much like when people think of the software industry, they think of Bill Gates.
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Harry Truman's decision to fire Douglas MacArthur at the height of the Korean War in April 1951 shocked the American political system and astonished the world. Much of the world didn't realize the president had the power to fire a five-star general; much of America didn't realize Truman had the nerve.
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People who teach American history survey classes have a lot of ground to cover and tend to focus on landmarks. You get through the Civil War and Reconstruction, and you have to get to the beginning of the 20th century fast. It's pretty easy to go lightly on the Gilded Age.
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It wasn't the smiling Trump that people elected. It was the frowning, glowering, angry Donald Trump that people elected.
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If you put on the military uniform, you're a prima facie hero. Generals are the epitome of that. They're the ones who have been most successful at the soldier's trade.
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In the academic world, biographies of these great figures of the past fell out of favor in the 1960s, when there was a turn toward social history, which meant the history of the voiceless and faceless. But the public at large never embraced the idea that these dead white guys should be abandoned.
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I'm often asked, 'Why didn't Benjamin Franklin ever become president?' My short, easy answer is: He died.
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Presidents have to decide what their popularity is for. Lyndon Johnson probably understood best that political popularity is a wasting asset. You had to use it when you had it.
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If - heaven forbid - a shooter did come into my class, I wouldn't want to have to worry about getting caught in a crossfire.
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Abraham Lincoln spoke out against the Mexican War. But once Americans were under fire, people who were on the fence felt obliged to support it.
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