A Historian’s Responsibility

Recently the New Yorker came out with allegations that Stephen Ambrose (famed WWII and Nixon Biographer) exaggerated his contact with Dwight Eisenhower, General of the Army and 34th President of the United States.  {See: Raymer, Richard, “Channeling Ike,” The New...

My Morris Moment

1972 Bumper Sticker Since “The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt” came out during my senior year of high school at Los Alamitos High in Southern California; Edmund Morris has always been an idol of mine.  His clear, three dimensional writing on the twenty-sixth president...

Clinton on Nixon

Just as Nixon was considered the only president who could open diplomatic relations with China, Clinton was the only one who could bestow upon Nixon the kind of public credibility he so desired. —Monica Crowley “Nixon in Winter” (1998) In my library, I try to...

The Checkers Effect

Beginning of Fund Speech I come before you tonight as a candidate for the Vice Presidency and as a man whose honesty and — and integrity has been questioned. —Richard Nixon September 23, 1952 We all know that Richard Nixon is one of the most complex and...

Health Care at Morton’s Fork

As defined by Wikipedia, a Morton’s Fork is “a choice between two equally unpleasant alternatives.” In the health care debate, this is the choice between government run health care, or corporate run health care.  We progressives like to call this choice — reform...