Benjamin A. Railton's Blog, page 10

August 5, 2025: Birthday Bests: 2012-2013

[On August15th, this AmericanStudier celebrates his 48th birthday.So as I do each year, here’s a series sharing some of my favorite posts fromeach year on the blog, leading up to a new post with 48 favorites from the lastyear. And as ever, you couldn’t give me a better present than to say hi andtell me a bit about what brings you to the blog, what you’ve found or enjoyedhere, your own AmericanStudies thoughts, or anything else!]

For my 36th birthday I highlighted 36 of my favorite posts fromthe blog’s third year:

1)     BadMemories, Part Four: As part of a series on how we could betterremember our darkest histories, I considered memoir, photography, and fictionof the Japanese Internment.

2)     Crowd-SourcingBad Memories: Perhaps my favorite of the crowd-sourced posts to date, as manyfellow AmericanStudiers weighed in on the week’s theme.

3)     Books ThatShaped AmericanStudier, Childhood: I began a series on books that havehugely impacted me with one of my first favorites, the Hardy Boys series.

4)     IsabellaStewart Gardner: A Gardner Museum-inspired series began with a post on Gardnerherself, one of my favorite Americans.

5)     JohnSinger Sargent: Posts on Gardner and Sargent go together as perfectly as, well,Gardner and Sargent did!

6)     AugustusSaint-Gaudens: Any post that allows me to write more about the greatestAmerican sculptor, and one of the most inspiring Americans period, is wellworth sharing again.

7-11) The five posts in thisseries on Americanhope remain perhaps my most definitivestatements of the complexities,contexts, and crucial importance of this elusive emotion.

12) Up in theAir, Part Five: Summer camps, childhood memories, and nostalgia—one of my moreuniversal and, I believe, broadly relevant posts.

13) Ezra JackKeats: This post, in a series on children’s books, expressed theimportance of this pioneering author—and was linked to by the Keats Foundation!

14-18) Anotherseries in which I need tohighlight all five posts—this hasbeen the longest and hardest year of my life, and writing theseposts on how Americanshave responded to adversity helped me get through it.

19) AmericanSpooking, Part 3: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Grant Wood, and American Horror Story help me thinkabout whether America can have homegrown horror, and where we might find it.

20) ExtraThanks: A Thanksgiving series concludes with a few reflections on one ofmy most unexpected and inspiring moments of the year.

21) AmericanWinter, Part Four: The very different but equally Americanperspectives at the heart of two winter classics.

22) AmericanStudyingthe Pacific, Part Four: On the limitations and lessons of achildhood spent building models.

23) Lincoln,Culture, and History: Some of my thoughts on Steven Spielberg’spopular and important historical film (with thisadditional post after I saw it!).

24) Making MyList (Again), Part Five: A series of wishes for the AmericanStudiesElves ends with the educational experience I wish all children could have.

25) AmericanStudyingOur Biggest Issues: Climate Change: As I’ve shifted more fully to anemphasis on public scholarship, I’ve worked hard to find ways to connect mysubjects to contemporary concerns—and this post exemplifies that goal.

26) AmericanHomes, Part Four: The American narratives inside (perhaps deepinside) one of our silliest films.

27) RememberingWheatley and Washington: A Black History Month series onconversations begins with the time the poet met the (future) president.

28) I LoveThree Pages in Ceremony: I’ve always wanted to write about my singlefavorite moment in American fiction. Here I did!

29) PopularFiction: Christian Novels: It’s always fun to write (and so learn)about subjects I myself know too little about, and this post definitelyqualifies.

30) SupremeContexts: Santa Clara County and Revision: Few Supreme Court decisions are asrelevant to our contemporary moment, and thus worth remembering, as this one.

31) Spring inAmerica: Children’s Stories: Two pioneering children’s classics thatcaptures two opposing sides to a new season.

32) Baseballin America: The Black Sox: This whole baseball series was fun toresearch and write, so I’ll just highlight one of its posts (yes, the one thatincludes John Sayles!).

33) Comic BookHeroes: Wonder Woman: Ditto for this comic book series, but thispost was the one for which I learned the most and had my eyes opened mostcompletely.

34) RoopikaRisam’s Guest Post: I could include any and all guest posts inthis list—but Roopika’s was certainly a wonderful addition to the blog.

35) AmericanSwims: Cheever’s Swimmer: Part of the fun of this blog is sharingAmerican texts that I think we should all read, and Cheever’s short story is agreat example.

36) BookRelease Reflections, Part Four: I have to end the list with one ofthe things I’m most     excited about inthe year to come (and I now have at least 20 talks definitely coming up!).

Nextbirthday best post tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Youknow what to do!

August 4, 2025: Birthday Bests: 2011-2012

[On August15th, this AmericanStudier celebrates his 48th birthday.So as I do each year, here’s a series sharing some of my favorite posts fromeach year on the blog, leading up to a new post with 48 favorites from the lastyear. And as ever, you couldn’t give me a better present than to say hi andtell me a bit about what brings you to the blog, what you’ve found or enjoyedhere, your own AmericanStudies thoughts, or anything else!]

Here are35 of my favorite posts from my blog’s second year!

1)     August 16:Me Too: In which I follow up the birthday favorites by highlighting fiveposts that make clear just how much I too continue to learn about America.

2)     August 23:Virginia, Cradle of American Studies: The first post in what I believe wasmy first series (now of course the blog’s central format), on a few ofVirginia’s American Studies connections.

3)     September1: First Questions: A back to school post, highlighting both therole that teaching plays in my American Studying and my (continued!) desire foryour input on my topics here.

4)     September2: Not Tortured Enough: On torture, American ideals and realities,and how contemporary politics and overarching American questions intersect.

5)     September12: The Neverending Story: Perhaps the most vital American Studiesresponse I can imagine to September 11th and its decade-longaftermath.

6)     October 6:Native Voices: Linking the NEASA conference at Plimoth Plantation, the hardestpart of my dissertation and first book, and a key American question.

7)     October11: Remembering an Iconoclastic Genius: One of my most important jobs here,I think, is to help us better remember important (and often inspiring) peopleand histories and stories that we’ve forgotten; Derreck Bell is one suchperson.

8)     October19: The Importance of Reading Ernest: Making the case for an under-readAmerican great, and remembering to keep my literary interests present in thisspace at the same time.

9)     November7: Moments That Remain 1: The fall’s NEASA conference was one of thebest weekends of my life, and it was very exciting to be able to bring a bit ofit to the blog.

10)  November14: Kids Say the Darnedest Things 1: Of the few different ways I’ve triedto grapple with the Penn State scandal in this space, I think this series,using student voices and ideas to remember the best of what college should be,is my favorite.

11)  November28: Bond, Racist Bond?: It’s not easy to analyze something welove—but I tried that here, with one of my favorite films in my favoriteseries.

12)  December5: Defining Diversity: Transitioning from a topical post (oneresponding to other American commentators) to the continued development of myown ideas about American culture and identity.

13)  December12: Cross-Culture 1: It’s Not Only Rock and Roll: And thenextending those ideas to one of the many different media, genres, anddisciplines that American Studies helps us analyze.

14)  December19: Making My List 1: Memory Days: The Memory Days have become aseparate and ongoing project and page here, but this is where they began.

15)  December29: Year in Review 4: School for Scandal: Another stab at Penn State—notsearching for answers so much as highlighting some of the key American Studiesquestions.

16)  January 4:Gaga for American Studies: What American Studies can help us see in andsay about Lady Gaga. Enough said.

17)  January16: The Real King: I haven’t repeated posts across years toooften, but my MLK Day post has become a regular on that important occasion, andthis was the start of that tradition!

18)  January21: American Studies for Lifelong Learning: A series that helped me plan thespring semester, connect my teaching to this blog, and, in this case, move metoward both a new experience and what would turn out to be my third book.

19)  January23: Mexican American Studies: I’m maybe most proud of this series out ofall that I’ve done in this space this year, and this is where it started.

20)  February2: The Three Acts of John Rocker: Trying to do complex justice to afigure and story that are both close to my heart (or at least the AtlantaBraves are) and easily over-simplified.

21)  February16: Remembering Yasuhiro Ishimoto: Another far-too forgotten figure,and a post inspired by an idea from a friend (which was the origin for thenow-frequent crowd-sourced posts).

22)  February24: Detroit Connections: I think it’s fair to say that I hadn’tthought about this topic at all prior to coming up with the series and writingthe post. That’s part of what a blog allows us to do, and while the resultshave to speak for themselves, I love the opportunity.

23)  March 6:Celebrating Zitkala-Sa: The whole Women’s History series was a lotof fun, but any time I get the chance to recommend this unique and amazingauthor, I take it.

24)  March 21:Balboa Park: Family vacations will never be the same, now that they’re partof my American Studying and blogging too. That’s fine by me.

25)  March 27:Race and Danny Chen: Like the prior day’s subject, TrayvonMartin, Chen is a tragically killed American whose story we should all know andwith which we have to engage.

26)  April 4:Melville’s Confidence Man: A good reminder that both literature andlaughter have their place on the blog too.

27)  April 19:How Would a Patriot Act? Part Three: This post on the amazing andinspiring Yung Wing helped me continue developing book three.

28)  April 26:Great American Stories, Part Four: One of the very best American shortstories, by one of my very favorite authors.

29)  May 10:Maurice Sendak: Sometimes I feel locked into a week’s series, but Sendak’s deathreminded me that sometimes I need to shift gears and write about a topical andimportant subject.

30)  May 29:Remembering Pat Tillman: I hope I did justice to the complexities andambiguities in this American life and death; this remains by far my most-readpost on the Open Salon version of this blog, so it seems like it struck a chordwith folks.

31)  June 2-3:Remembering or Commemorating War: Michael Kammen, Kurt Vonnegut andClint Eastwood, and big American questions—if that’s not American Studying,what is?

32)  June 12:Playing with America, Part 2: But this is American Studying too—analyzingsome of the cultural and historical causes behind the hula hoop fad.

33)  June16-17: Crowd-sourced Post on Material Culture: My first crowd-sourced post, now oneof my favorite aspects of the blog. Add your thoughts for this week’s!

34)  July 6:Newton’s Histories, Part 5: To come full circle to the August 16thpost, Jonathan Walker reminds me of how much I still have to learn aboutAmerican history and culture.

35)  July 27:Jennings on the Long Haul: And the inspiring life and career of FrancesJennings reminds me of why continuing to learn, study, analyze, teach, andwrite about America is so important and so rewarding.

Nextbirthday best post tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Youknow what to do!

August 3, 2025: Birthday Bests: 2010-2011

[On August15th, this AmericanStudier celebrates his 48th birthday.So as I do each year, here’s a series sharing some of my favorite posts fromeach year on the blog, leading up to a new post with 48 favorites from the lastyear. And as ever, you couldn’t give me a better present than to say hi andtell me a bit about what brings you to the blog, what you’ve found or enjoyedhere, your own AmericanStudies thoughts, or anything else!]

In honor of this AmericanStudier’s 34thbirthday in 2011, here (from oldest to most recent) were 34 of my favoriteposts from the blog’s first year:

1)      TheWilmington Massacre and The Marrow of Tradition: My firstfull post, but also my first stab at two of this blog’s central purposes:narrating largely forgotten histories; and recommending texts we should allread.

2)      PineRidge, the American Indian Movement, and Apted’s Films: Ditto tothose purposes, but also a post in which I interwove history, politics,identity, and different media in, I hope, a pretty exemplary American Studiesway.

3)      The ShawMemorial: I’ll freely admit that my first handful of posts were also justdedicated to texts and figures and moments and histories that I love—but theMemorial, like Chesnutt’s novel and Thunderheartin those first two links, is also a deeply inspiring work of American art.

4)      TheChinese Exclusion Act and the Most Amazing Baseball Game Ever: Probablymy favorite post to date, maybe because it tells my favorite American story.

5)      Ely Parker: The postin which I came up with my idea for Ben’s American Hall of Inspiration; I knowmany of my posts can be pretty depressing, but hopefully the Hall can be a wayfor me to keep coming back to Americans whose stories and legacies are anythingbut.

6)      MyColleague Ian Williams’ Work with Incarcerated Americans: Thefirst post where I made clear that we don’t need to look into our nationalhistory to find truly inspiring Americans and efforts.

7)      RushLimbaugh’s Thanksgiving Nonsense: My first request, and the first postto engage directly with the kinds of false American histories being advanced bythe contemporary right.

8)      The Pledgeof Allegiance: Another central purpose for this blog is to complicate, and attimes directly challenge and seek to change, some of our most accepted nationaland historical narratives. This is one of the most important such challenges.

9)      PublicEnemy, N.W.A., and Rap: If you’re going to be an AmericanStudier,you have to be willing to analyze even those media and genres on which you’refar from an expert, and hopefully find interesting and valuable things to sayin the process.

10)   Chinatownand the History of LA: At the same time, the best AmericanStudierslikewise have to be able to analyze their very favorite things (like this 1974film, for me), and find ways to link them to broader American narratives andhistories.

11)   The Statueof Liberty: Our national narratives about Lady Liberty are at least asingrained as those about the Pledge of Allegiance—and just about as inaccurate.

12)   TillieOlsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing” and Parenting: Maybe the first post in which Ireally admitted my personal and intimate stakes in the topics I’m discussinghere, and another of those texts everybody should read to boot.

13)   DorotheaDix and Mental Health Reform: When it comes to a number of the people onwhom I’ve focused here, I didn’t know nearly enough myself at the start of myresearch—making the posts as valuable for me as I could hope them to be for anyother reader. This is one of those.

14)   BenFranklin and Anti-Immigrant Sentiments: As with many dominant narratives,those Americans who argue most loudy in favor of limiting immigration usuallydo so in large part through false, or at best greatly oversimplified andpartial, versions of our past. 

15)   Divorce inAmerican History: Some of our narratives about the past andpresent seem so obvious as to be beyond dispute: such as the idea that divorcehas become more common and more accepted in our contemporary society. Maybe,but as with every topic I’ve discussed here, the reality is a good bit morecomplicated.

16)   My Mom’sGuest Post on Margaret Wise Brown: The first of the many great guestposts I’ve been fortunate enough to feature here; I won’t link to the others,as you can and should find them by clicking the “Guest Posts” category on theright. And please—whether I’ve asked you specifically or not—feel free tocontribute your own guest post down the road!

17)   JFK,Tucson, and the Rhetoric and Reality of Political Violence: Thefirst post in which I deviated from my planned schedule to respond directly toa current event—something I’ve incorporated very fully into this blog in themonths since.

18)   TributePost to Professor Alan Heimert: I’d say the same about the tributeposts that I did for the guest posts—both that they exemplify how fortunateI’ve been (in this case in the many amazing people and influences I’ve known)and that you should read them all (at the “Tribute Posts” category on theright).

19)   MartinLuther King: How do we remember the real, hugely complicated, and to my mindeven more inspiring man, rather than the mythic ideal we’ve created of him? Apretty key AmericanStudies question, one worth asking of every truly inspiringAmerican.

20)   AngelIsland and Sui Sin Far’s “In the Land of the Free”:Immigration has been, I believe, my first frequent theme here, perhaps because,as this post illustrates, it can connect us so fully to so many of the darkest,richest, most powerful and significant national places and events, texts andhistories.

21)   Dresdenand Slaughterhouse Five: One of the events we Americans have workedmost hard to forget, and one of the novels that most beautifully and compellingargues for the need to remember and retell every story.

22)   Valentine’sDay Lessons: Maybe my least analytical post, and also one of my favorites. Itain’t all academic, y’know.

23)   Tori Amos,Lara Logan, and Stories of Rape: One of the greatest songs I’ve everheard helps me respond to one of the year’s most horrific stories.

24)   PeterGomes and Faith: A tribute to one of the most inspiring Americans I’ve ever met,and some thoughts on the particularly complicated and important American themehe embodies for me.

25)   The Treatyof Tripoli and the Founders on Church and State:Sometimes our historical narratives are a lot more complicated than we think.And sometimes they’re just a lot simpler. Sorry, David Barton and Glenn Beck,but there’s literally no doubt of what the Founders felt about the separationof church and state the idea of America as a “Christian nation.”

26)   NewtGingrich, Definitions of America, and Why We’re Here: Thefirst of many posts (such as all those included in the “Book Posts” category onthe right) in which I bring the ideas at the heart of my second book into myresponses to AmericanStudies narratives and myths.

27)   Du Bois,Affirmative Action, and Obama: Donald Trump quickly and thoroughly revealedhimself to be a racist jackass, but the core reasons for much of the oppositionto affirmative action are both more widespread and more worth responding tothan Trump’s buffoonery.

28)   IllegalImmigrants, Our Current Deportation Policies, and Empathy: Whatdoes deportation really mean and entail, who is affected, and at what humancost?

29)   Tribute toMy Grandfather Art Railton: The saddest Railton event of the year leadsme to reflect on the many inspiring qualities of my grandfather’s life,identity, and especially perspective.

30)   MyClearest Immigration Post: Cutting through some of the complexities andstating things as plainly as possible, in response to Sarah Palin’s historicalfalsehoods. Repeated and renamed with even more force here.

31)   PaulRevere, Longfellow, and Wikipedia: Another Sarah Palin-inspired post,this time on her revisions to the Paul Revere story and the question of what is“common knowledge” and what purposes it serves in our communal conversations.

32)   “Us vs.them” narratives, Muslim Americans, and Illegal Immigrants: Thefirst of a couple posts to consider these particularly frustrating and divisivenational narratives. The second, which also followed up my Norwegian terrorismresponse (linked below), is here.

33)   AbrahamCahan: The many impressive genres and writings of this turn of thecentury Jewish American, and why AmericanStudiers should work to push downboundaries between disciplines as much as possible.

34)  Terrorism,Norway, and Rhetoric: One of the latest and most importantiterations of my using a current event to drive some American analyses—andlikewise an illustration of just how fully interconnected international andAmerican events and histories are.

Nextbirthday best post tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Youknow what to do!

August 2, 2025: July 2025 Recap

[A Recapof the month that was in AmericanStudying.]

June30: Models of Critical Patriotism: Hannah Griffitts: For this year’s 4thof July series, I excerpted and expanded upon sections from Of Thee I Sing,starting with this post on the great poem “The Female Patriots."

July1: Models of Critical Patriotism: David Walker: The series continues with afiery work and voice that exemplify the “critical” in critical patriotism.

July2: Models of Critical Patriotism: Standing Bear: Two 2025 takeaways fromone of our most inspiring court rulings, as the series celebrates on.

July3: Models of Critical Patriotism: Carlos Bulosan: One of our most poeticand powerful patriotic passages.

July4: Models of Critical Patriotism: Thoreau: The series concludes with a July4th special on a particularly patriotic text from one of our bestprotest voices.

July5-6: Keeping the Critical Patriotic Conversations Going: And a specialweekend follow-up request for opportunities to keep talking about my book andall things American patriotism!

July7: Rock-y Groundbreakers: Bill Haley: In honor of Haley’s 100thbirthday, a series on rock ‘n roll pioneers kicks off with how Haley’s mythosis limited but still important.

July8: Rock-y Groundbreakers: Chuck Berry and Little Richard: The seriescontinues with a pair of foundational voices who represent some of the worstand best of rock and race.

July9: Rock-y Groundbreakers: Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens: Two ways toseparate a forever-linked pair, and one non-tragic way to pair them, as the seriesrocks on.

July10: Rock-y Groundbreakers: Fats Domino: A few iconic moments in the careerof the legendary rock ‘n roller.

July11: Rock-y Groundbreakers: Women Who Rock: The series concludes with fourof the many women who helped launch the rock revolution, through pieces byfemale journalists and historians.

July12-13: Crowd-sourced Rock Responses: My first crowd-sourced post in awhile, featuring responses to the week’s posts and further rock recs.

July14: AmericanStudying Sinners: Coogler’s Career: A series on my favoritefilm of the year kicks off with how the director’s prior (great) filmsforeshadowed this masterpiece.

July15: AmericanStudying Sinners: Hoodoo: The series continues with twoliterary predecessors to my favorite character in the film.

July16: AmericanStudying Sinners: The Mississippi Chinese: A 1970s book and2010s article that help contextualize one of the film’s most unique families,as the series screens on.

July17: AmericanStudying Sinners: The Blues: Two stunning scenes that together embodythe best of a foundational musical genre.

July18: AmericanStudying Sinners: Interracial Romance: The series concludeswith another layer to the film’s mid-credits scene and why I love it so much.

July19-20: AmericanStudying Sinners: Other Scholars on the Film: A specialweekend follow-up featuring responses to the film from fellow SinnersStudiers.

July21: The U.S. Postal System: Ben Franklin: A series for the USPS’s 250thanniversary kicks off with innovations from three stages in the career of thefirst Postmaster General.

July22: The U.S. Postal System: The Pony Express: The series continues withthree figures who helped shape the short-lived but iconic Western mail route.

July23: The U.S. Postal System: Stamps: Six telling stamps that help trace thehistory of this essential element, as the series continues to deliver.

July24: The U.S. Postal System: Mailed Threats: One moment when the mail was falselyperceived as threatening, other moments when it genuinely was, and how we canput them in conversation.

July25: The U.S. Postal System: Cultural Representations: The series concludeswith takeaways from five prominent cultural representations of the USPS,including Frog & Toad!

July26-27: A Tribute to the U.S. Postal Service: A brief but impassionedweekend follow-up, making the case for the USPS, its workers, and all federalworkers in 2025.

July28: Echoes of Bad Presidents: Andrew Jackson: Speaking of 2025, a seriesinspired by Andrew Johnson’s death kicks off with how Andrew Jackson echoes ourcurrent worst president.

July29: Echoes of Bad Presidents: James Buchanan: The series continues with onemore obvious and one subtler echo of the pre-Civil War baddie.

July30: Echoes of Bad Presidents: William McKinley: How tariffs reflectmultiple layers of bad presidents past and present, as the series echoes on.

July31: Echoes of Bad Presidents: Andrew Johnson: How our worst prior presidentboth does and doesn’t echo our very worst one.

August1: Echoes of Bad Presidents: The 20th Century: The series andmonth conclude with quick hits from five 20th century badnesses herein our very bad 21st century moment.

Birthdayposts start tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Topicsyou’d like to see covered in this space? Guest Posts you’d like to contribute? Lemme know!

August 1, 2025: Echoes of Bad Presidents: The 20th Century

[On July31, 1875, Andrew Johnson died. Johnson is one of our worst presidents,which means he also remindsme a lot of our current and very worst one. So this week I’ll AmericanStudyechoes of some of our worst presidents in Trump 2.0!]

Five quickhit echoes of 20th century presidential badness here in our 21stcentury moment.

1)     WoodrowWilson: The other most overtly white supremacist president segregatedthe federal government; Trump et al are just firingmost every non-white federal employee.

2)     HerbertHoover: Hoover hastened and deepened the Depression, and treated fellowAmericans shabbily at every turn in the process; Trump is plunging us intoan even more unnecessary collapse, and throwingalmost all of us under the bus as he does.

3)     RichardNixon: Nixon treated the presidency as an excuse to pursue corruption andcrimes, most especially against all those hisparanoia labeled “enemies”; Trump’s corrupt criming dwarfs every pastinstance, including Tricky Dick’s, and is itself dwarfed by his persecutioncomplex.

4)     RonaldReagan: For so many reasons, but most especially because by the end of hissecond term Reagan was in major cognitivedecline, and likely unable to execute even the most basic functions of the presidency;yet again Trump has a predecessor beat, as he’s been in decline since wellbefore his second term began, and it’s onlygetting worse.

5)     The2000 Election: Not a person, and perhaps not in the 20th century(perspectivesdiffer on that one). But the Supreme Court’s stunning abdication of the lawin favor of partisan politics frustratingly foreshadowed a greatdeal of what has created, enabled, and extended the Age of Trump, so it’sgotta make this list.

July Recapthis weekend,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think?

July 31, 2025: Echoes of Bad Presidents: Andrew Johnson

[On July31, 1875, Andrew Johnson died. Johnson is one of our worst presidents,which means he also remindsme a lot of our current and very worst one. So this week I’ll AmericanStudyechoes of some of our worst presidents in Trump 2.0!]

On how ourworst prior president both does and doesn’t echo our very worst one.

In this August2018 Saturday Evening Post Considering History column I made thecase for some of the many reasons to define Andrew Johnson as the worst presidentin American history. Once again I’d ask you to check out that prior piece andthen come on back for further thoughts.

Welcomeback! As I hope every detail of that column made very clear (even if I didn’tsay it overtly, which is my Post editor’s preference and one I respect),impeachment proceedings are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to thelinks between Johnson’s historic awfulness and Trump’s strong competition withhim for the crown of worst president ever. Moreover, it’s my understanding thatTrump doesn’t drink, which makes his nonsensical rambling speeches even morestriking than those of the (apparently, at least occasionally) inebriatedJohnson. Also, Johnson’s finalpublic remarks (during his brief time as a Senator before hisdeath from a stroke 150 years ago today) were an extremist, whitesupremacist attack on his successor, President Ulysses S. Grant, and who amongus can imagine Trump going out any other way?

As thatSenate service indicates, Johnson didn’t go quietly into that good night whenhe lost his reelection bid to Grant in 1868. But he also didn’t run for presidentagain, limiting the catastrophic damage of his historically awful presidency toone term (and an abbreviated one at that, since he took office in April 1865when Lincoln was assassinated). I’ve writtenelsewhere in this space about what we lost when we were denied a secondLincoln term and got Andrew Johnson instead, so it’s only fair to note what we werespared when Grant helped his departed friend Abe out and made sure we only gotone Johnson term. Unfortunately, neither Joe Biden nor anyone else were able todo the same when it came to a second Trump term, and so here, 150 years afterthe death of our other worst president, we fucking are.

Lastbaddie tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think?

July 30, 2025: Echoes of Bad Presidents: William McKinley

[On July31, 1875, Andrew Johnson died. Johnson is one of our worst presidents,which means he also remindsme a lot of our current and very worst one. So this week I’ll AmericanStudyechoes of some of our worst presidents in Trump 2.0!]

On howtariffs reflect multiple layers of bad presidents, past and present.

Onceagain, I’ll ask you to start this post by checking out a prior one: this November2015 post on William McKinley’s badnesses. Take a look if you would, andthen come on back.

Welcomeback! As I traced in that post, much of the worst of McKinley’s presidency canbe connected to his full embrace of imperialism, whether in thePhilippines (and everywhere else the Spanish-AmericanWar was fought) or in Hawaii.Such global imperial goals were relatively new for the US in the era, at leastas official federal foreign policy, and it’s impossible to separate them fromanother central emphasis of McKinley’s administration: tariffs.McKinley had been a champion of that restrictive type of trade and economicmeasure since his authorship of the McKinleyTariff Act of 1890 while serving in the House of Representatives, and he broughtthat perspective with him to the White House in 1897, dubbinghimself “a tariff man, standing on a tariff platform.”  

As thatlast hyperlinked article notes, that phrase could easily have been uttered byour current president about his own, even more extreme reliance on tariffs herein the opening months of his second term (a perspective Trump overtly linked toMcKinley in his secondinaugural address). Which is particularly ironic and telling given that inthe past Trump has criticized imperialist ventures like the 2nd IraqWar and made the case for less U.S. involvement in the world beyond ourborders. This time around, from noises about annexing Canada and Greenland toplans to retake the Panama Canal, Trump has revealed himself to be afull-throated imperialist, and his extremist tariff policies have to beseen as part of that larger project, just as they were for William McKinley 125years ago. Shortly before his assassination, however, McKinley dramatically changedhis tune on tariffs. Hard to imagine this even worse president doing the same.

Nextbaddie tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think?

July 29, 2025: Echoes of Bad Presidents: James Buchanan

[On July31, 1875, Andrew Johnson died. Johnson is one of our worst presidents,which means he also remindsme a lot of our current and very worst one. So this week I’ll AmericanStudyechoes of some of our worst presidents in Trump 2.0!]

On onemore obvious and one more subtle echo of Buchanan in 2025.

I imagine eachfirst paragraph this week will be a request to check out a prior post, and that’strue today. Please take a look at this October2022 post on Buchanan’s badness if you would, and then come on back formore.

Welcomeback! I don’t actually believe (other than in my darkest, doomscrollingestmoments, anyway) that the U.S. is headed for a second Civil War here in 2025,but that’s not because we don’t have the kinds of violent conflicts and divisionsthat could produce (or, paceJeff Sharlet, are already producing) such an internal schism; I just don’tthink most of us have the stomach for actual warfare (a good thing, to beclear). And in any case, I do believe that in such periods of heightened andpotentially violent internal conflict our leaders can either work to unite usor lean way, way into the divisions; James Buchanan frustratingly andtragically chosethe latter, and from his extremist first term to his Big Lie electoral conspiraciesto every part of his unfolding, even more extremist second term, Trump has doneso even more fully and destructively still.

The comingCivil War wasn’t really the focus of that prior post of mine, though. Instead,I made the case there, as I did throughout my recent podcast (in the postI called it my next book, but it became the podcast instead), for resisting andchallenging narratives of historical inevitability, especially when it comes toour worst histories. I’ve seen a lot of responses to Trump 2.0 along the linesof “Stop saying ‘This isn’t who we are.’ This is who we’ve always been,” and Iunderstand and to a degree share that desire to push past naïve idealism andrecognize our foundational and enduring worst characteristics and histories. Butif we see our worst as simply inevitable, it becomes almost impossible to keepon, much less to find our way to any hope and optimism. There will always bepresidents who embody our worst, from James Buchanan to Donald Trump. Whichmakes it that much more important for all of us who believe in our best toresist seeing them and their ilk as inevitable.

Nextbaddie tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think?

July 28, 2025: Echoes of Bad Presidents: Andrew Jackson

[On July31, 1875, Andrew Johnson died. Johnson is one of our worst presidents,which means he also remindsme a lot of our current and very worst one. So this week I’ll AmericanStudyechoes of some of our worst presidents in Trump 2.0!]

On how Icompared Trump to Jackson in 2017, and how I’d extend the comparisons today.

First, I’llask you to check out thisMarch 2017 post on the comparison, and then come on back for my thoughtshere in July 2025.

Welcomeback! In that post I argued that one striking similarity between the two presidentsand men is “thin skins and violent tempers,” and for Trump 2.0 I would extendthat comparison in a particular and extremely consequential way: Jackson’ssuccessful 1828 presidential campaign was motivated (both for him and hisextremist supporters) by perceived grievancesabout the 1824 election; and of course Trump and MAGA’s BigLie about the 2020 presidential election played a significant role in the 2024one. These electoral grievances have only made even clearer the central rolethat self-fulfilling narratives of victimization play for both Trump and his extremistbase: from “DEI hires” to “trans athletes” to “invading” immigrants who areintended to “replace” white Americans, virtually every core MAGA belief isdriven by a sense that they are under threat, and that Trump is their championin those fights. I have to imagine that an infamousdueler like Jackson was perceived in similar ways by his supporters.

In thatprior post I also sought to distinguish Jackson from Trump based on the former’sat least somewhat more genuine emphasis on “the common man.” While I do believeJackson cared more about that community than does Trump (whose embrace of billionairesin this new administration only drives home whom he sees as his true base), I didn’tsay there nearly as clearly as I should have that Jackson meant only “thecommon white man.” From hisslaveowning and “Indiankiller” days to his defining IndianRemoval policy, Jackson was unquestionably white supremacist in both hispersonal and political actions, motivated by a vision of the United States as essentiallyand enduringly white in its identity and ideals. Perhaps the late 1820s was tooearly for a slogan like “Make America Great Again,” but I have no doubt Jacksonwould have signed onto that mythic patriotic project—and even less doubt that oneof the most central goals of Trump 2.0 is an extension of the Indian Removalproject to every non-white American.

Nextbaddie tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think?

July 26-27, 2025: A Tribute to the U.S. Postal Service

[On July 26,1775, the Second Continental Congress establishedthe United States postal system. So this week for the 250thanniversary I’ve AmericanStudied that moment and other histories and stories ofthe USPS, leading up to this weekend tribute to these vital federal workers!]

Back inMarch, around the90th anniversary of President Roosevelt’s Executive Ordercreating the Works Progress Administration (WPA), I focused a SaturdayEvening Post Considering History columnon the many federal workers whom that program created and supported, and mostespecially on their enduring legacies for all Americans. That momentrepresented one of the biggest amplifications of the federal workforce in ourhistory, while the U.S. Postal Service is very much the opposite: a communityof dedicated federal workers that has endured for 250 years, doing its work inevery moment, no matter what else has been unfolding (forget rain or hail orsnow, I’m talking depressionsand warsand naturaldisasters). And, even more impressively and importantly still, doing so forevery corner of this ginormous country, from the heart of our most crowdedcities to the quietest roads in our most rural spaces. Hell, for a long time Alaskanmail carriers used sled dogs to deliver the mail! The recent spate ofattacks on federal workers, led by the Trump administration and its DOGEextremists, has reflected just how fully and frustratingly we take thatcommunity of workers’ efforts and legacies for granted, and I don’t think that’sanywhere more obvious than with postal workers. May we better remember andappreciate this longstanding, enduring, and crucial community of workers!

Nextseries starts Monday,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Postal histories or stories you’d share?