1892 quotes by historians for you to enjoy

Beyond institutional amnesia, a rejection of causal analysis is the existential rock on which American Exceptionalism sits. The United States unique sense of itself depends on an ambiguous relationship to the past. History is affirmed, since it is America's unprecedented historical success that justifies the exceptionalism. Greg Grandin

Success Relationship History Past Sense Rejection Analysis States Unprecedented Since Institutional Beyond Rock Causal Existential Historical Past History Ambiguous Itself America American Depends Which Justifies Unique United Amnesia United States

As first lady, Hillary Clinton spent the early months of her husband's administration drafting healthcare-reform legislation, only to see it put on the back burner by the North American Free Trade Agreement. Greg Grandin

Free Husband First First Lady Back Months Spent Administration See Only Free Trade Put Hillary Hillary Clinton Trade Clinton North North American American Legislation Lady Burner Agreement Her Early Drafting

Migrants don't come to the United States because, as Ambassador Aponte argued in her press conference, of 'lies' told by smugglers that, once here, you can't get deported. They come because their countries have been destroyed by U.S. policy. Greg Grandin

It is a job requirement of U.S. envoys to El Salvador to be skilled in the art of the threat. And Aponte, named ambassador in 2010, is a pro. In particular, she's been tasked with making sure the former insurgent FMLN, which first won the presidency in 2009 and was reelected in 2014, reconciles itself to neoliberal reality. Greg Grandin

Art Reality Job First Presidency Threat Named Particular She Sure Making Insurgent Been Ambassador Won Itself Salvador Pro Which El Salvador Former Skilled Requirement

The removal of the British after the American Revolution opened the floodgates of paramilitary ranger power. For instance, in 1786, ranger units, including one that included Daniel Boone, attacked a number of friendly Shawnee towns along the Mad River. Greg Grandin

Hillary Clinton became secretary of state under Barack Obama. It's hard to convey just how stunningly cynical she has been on Colombia: In 2008, running against Obama, she opposed, in unambiguous terms, a free-trade deal with Colombia. Greg Grandin

Cynical State Secretary Has-Been Obama Running Colombia Hillary Terms Hillary Clinton She Became Deal How Opposed Been Clinton Just Against Barack Barack Obama Convey Hard

Defenders of Wilson are correct to beg for context when considering his legacy. But it is they who ignore the context: the role Wilson played in using war, including Haiti's racist counterinsurgency, to nationalize white supremacy, militarism, and Christian evangelism. Greg Grandin

A new book by 'New York Times' reporter Charlie Savage, 'Power Wars,' suggests that there has been little substantive difference between George W. Bush's administration and Obama's when it comes to national-security policies or the legal justifications used to pursue regime change in the Greater Middle East. Greg Grandin

Savage Change Legal Book Power East Has-Been Obama Administration Charlie Pursue Between New New Book Policies Greater George Been George W Times Reporter York New York Difference Middle Substantive New York Times Middle East Regime Little Bush Used Wars

Within days of Richard Nixon's inauguration in January 1969, national-security adviser Kissinger asked the Pentagon to lay out his bombing options in Indochina. The previous president, Lyndon Baines Johnson, had suspended his own bombing campaign against North Vietnam in hopes of negotiating a broader cease-fire. Greg Grandin

Own Lyndon President Negotiating Broader Nixon Out Hopes Pentagon Kissinger Lay Johnson Previous Had Days Adviser Within His Campaign North Options North Vietnam Suspended Against January Richard Asked Inauguration Vietnam Bombing

Most students of Kissinger find it hard to say anything about Kissinger that isn't about the man himself. He is such an outsize figure that he eclipses his own context, leading his many biographers, critics, and admirers to focus nearly exclusively on the quirks of his personality or his moral failings. Greg Grandin

Man Personality Focus Own Say Moral Find Critics Admirers About Kissinger Students He Leading Failings Most Himself Context His Anything Hard Figure Many Nearly

In particular, Kissinger was a key player during a transformative period of the imperial presidency, in the 1960s and '70s, when the Vietnam War undermined the traditional foundations on which it had stood since the early years of the Cold War: elite planning, bipartisan consensus, and public support. Greg Grandin

War Key Cold Early Years Cold War Presidency Kissinger Imperial Had Support Since Particular Period Undermined Traditional Years Stood Transformative Which Public Vietnam Vietnam War Planning Public Support Foundations Player Early Elite Consensus Bipartisan

Even before the expansion of slave labor in the South and into the West, slavery was already an important source of northern profit, as was the already exploding slave trade in the Caribbean and South America. Banks capitalized the slave trade, and insurance companies underwrote it. Greg Grandin

Starting in the early 1800s, Southerners in the United States began to defend slavery as their 'peculiar institution,' and northerners didn't mind, since the phrase suggested that chattel bondage was quarantined from the rest of the nation: that it was, or soon would be, a relic of its past and would not define its future. Greg Grandin

Future Mind Rest Nation Past Define States Relic Would Would-Be Phrase Soon Since Institution Began Southerners United United States Early Suggested Bondage Slavery Defend Starting Peculiar

Harriet Washington, in 'Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present,' documents the smallpox experiments Thomas Jefferson performed on his Monticello slaves. In fact, much of what we now think of as public health emerged from the slave system. Greg Grandin

Health History Dark Black Think Thomas Thomas Jefferson Harriet System Black Americans Emerged Colonial Fact Smallpox Performed Documents His Times American In Fact Experimentation Experiments Apartheid Public Much Public Health Jefferson Washington Now Medical Present Slave Slaves

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. H. W. Brands

War People Fire Once Out Abraham Abraham Lincoln Obliged Support Spoke Felt Lincoln Fence Were Mexican American Against Who

George W. Bush has shown himself to be a decent guy, not exploiting his former office to make top dollars giving speeches. H. W. Brands

Giving Top Guy Make Himself George Dollars His George W George W. Bush Office Decent Former Bush Exploiting Shown Speeches

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. H. W. Brands

War World Political Decision Fire Power President Astonished Harry April System Nerve General Had Korean Korean War Truman Shocked America American Political System Height Realize Much Douglas

I certainly don't think that the heirs of the American Revolution were a particularly noble class. H. W. Brands

Class Revolution Think Noble Particularly Were American Heirs American Revolution Certainly

I've probably written some books - I know I've written some books that were more interesting to me than to a large audience, but that was mostly when I was first getting started in academia and writing for a narrow audience. H. W. Brands

Reagan's enduring value as a conservative icon stems from his resolute preaching of the conservative gospel, in words that still warm the hearts of the most zealous conservatives. Yet Reagan's value as a conservative model must begin with recognition of his flexibility in the pursuit of his conservative goals. H. W. Brands

Words Conservative Goals Value Preaching Conservatives Recognition Must Pursuit Stems Most Gospel Reagan Still His Begin Model Hearts Enduring Icon Warm Flexibility Zealous Resolute

Americans knock themselves out, especially since 9/11, praising the military. H. W. Brands

Military Out Knock Since Praising American Themselves

Quotes by Historians