Historians

Presidents Day 2022: New Documentaries On Abraham Lincoln And Lyndon B. Johnson, And New Siena College Research Institute Presidential Survey

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Today is Presidents Day 2022, and yesterday and continuing are documentaries on Abraham Lincoln on History Channnel (Sunday to Tuesday); and on Lyndon B. Johnson on CNN (Sunday and Monday).

And Siena College Research Institute, which conducts a Presidential survey among historians, political scientists, and expert journalists, in the second year of each Presidency, just posted a new survey form, as they always do one year into a new Presidency.

So sometime later in the year 2022, the results of the survey will be announced.

And this Presidential scholar, a participant, has just indicated how he ranks the Presidents, including Joe Biden for the first time.

It will be interesting to see what, if any changes, will occur now that Donald Trump is out of the White House, and Joe Biden has served one full year!

11 Years Of “The Progressive Professor” And Counting

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Two days from now, on August 11, this blog will mark eleven years of commentary, and this entry now is the 6,420th entry, so with the round number, the author decided to commemorate this event two days early.

This idea of a blog, originally proposed by my son David, has been an enjoyable and challenging endeavor, and I thank all readers and contributors over the past 11 years, and intend to continue this commitment into the future years, as ideas and personalities are debated, and when the Presidency is in danger from the most dangerous person ever to hold that office.

I do not intend to remain silent or complicit, and if I lose so called “friends” in the process, so be it, as I will call out anyone who defends this President, who is destroying the Constitution, and will rank at the bottom of all Presidents, unmatched by any other Chief Executive.

No reputable historian or political scientist or award winning journalist is supportive of this demagogue, and I am content that morality, ethics, decency, compassion, and empathy are on my side, and I can sleep at night knowing that!

It will take years, if not decades, to overcome the damage and harm that he has wrought, and it is essential that he be defeated in 2020, along with Mike Pence, in order to see the light of the future, which would be a loving, welcoming, acceptance of the reality that America will NOT be a white majority nation in the 2040s, but rather a nation of all nations, the epitome of the Statue of Liberty!

Donald Trump, The Republican Party, And The Trump “Base” Have No Respect, Regard, Or Appreciation Of Government Employees

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Donald Trump, the Republican Party, and the Trump ‘base” have no respect, regard, or appreciation of government employees, and the role they play in the lives of 325 million Americans.

Everyone in America is impacted by the dedication of public servants who sacrifice their lives and families in many positions, and in all cases, have an effect daily on all of us.

But there are those who trash public employees as if they are freeloading, when they must meet strict standards for their jobs, and in so many cases, are not well compensated.

How would Americans live without the effect of such agencies as follows:

Department of Agriculture

Department of Commerce

Department of Defense

Department of Education

Department of Energy

Department of Health and Human Services

Department of Homeland Security

Department of Housing and Urban Development

Department of the Interior

Department of Justice

Department of Labor

Department of State

Department of Transportation

Department of the Treasury

Department of Veterans Affairs

National Archives

The Library of Congress

Presidential Libraries

Smithsonian Institution

Federal Trade Commission

Federal Communications Commission

Consumer Product Safety Commission

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Environmental Protection Agency

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Science Foundation

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Tennessee Valley Authority

Securities and Exchange Commission

Small Business Administration

Federal Reserve Board

United States Postal Service

Social Security Administration

National Transportation Safety Board

Amtrak

Peace Corps

Central Intelligence Agency

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Secret Service

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

National Park Foundation

The continuation of the Federal Government Shutdown is a rebuke not only to the affected government employees, but to all 325 million Americans, and Donald Trump will pay the price in public opinion polls, and in the analysis over time of historians and political scientists.

George H. W. Bush And John Adams: Comparisons

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With the death of George H. W. Bush, we can make many comparisons with John Adams.

Both were born in Massachusetts.

Both served as Vice President under their Presidents for eight years, John Adams under George Washington, and George H. W. Bush under Ronald Reagan.

Both only had one term as President, defeated for reelection.

Both are seen as lower in ranking than their predecessors, George Washington and Ronald Reagan, who served two terms in office.

Both had the President elected after them rank higher in rankings of Presidents, and both Thomas Jefferson and Bill Clinton served two terms in office.

Both outlived their wives.

Both had a son become President, and live to see that occur.

Both reached to the age of 90, with Adams being the longest lived until Ronald Reagan, then Gerald Ford, then George H. W. Bush, and then Jimmy Carter surpassed his age.

Bush died at the oldest age of any President, although Jimmy Carter could surpass Bush if he lives to March 22, 2019.

Both died after 25 plus years in retirement.

Both have been rated higher than their son, John Quincy Adams and George W. Bush, in rankings of historians and political scientists, and it is unlikely that their sons will ever surpass them.

2018 Presidents And Executive Politics Presidential Greatness Survey Of 170 Political Scientists: First Experts Assessment Of Donald Trump

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The American Political Science Association conducted a survey from late December 2017 to mid January 2018 of social science experts in presidential politics, the first such survey to assess all of the 44 men who have held the office of the Presidency, including Donald Trump after one year in office.

Last year, C Span had its third survey of Presidential experts, mostly historians but some political scientists and journalists, rating the Presidents, as Barack Obama left office.

So this is a significant moment, as now Donald Trump is part of the equation. The score rating is, theoretically from 100 high to a Zero low.

Abraham Lincoln had 95.03 rating of this group of scholars, and Donald Trump ended up number 44 out of 44, with a score of 12.34, nearly three points lower than James Buchanan with 15.09 score, with the pre Civil War President finally getting out of the basement as the lowest ranked President.

Even William Henry Harrison, the one month President in 1841, who accomplished nothing but his inaugural address and selection of his cabinet, ended up 42nd with a score of 19.02, demonstrating just how disastrous this group of political scientists sees Donald Trump after one year.

Democrats and Liberals and Moderates rated him 44th, the bottom, while Independents ranked Trump 43rd, ahead of only Buchanan. But even Republicans and Conservatives only rated him 40th out of 44, only ahead of Buchanan, Harrison, Pierce, and Andrew Johnson for Republicans, and only ahead of Buchanan, Harrison, Andrew Johnson and Pierce for Conservatives.

In percentage, Democrats gave Trump a 7.60 rating; Liberals a 7.92 rating; Moderates a 13.43 rating; Independents a 16.49 rating; Republicans a 24.53 rating; and Conservatives a 25.19 rating.

Trump topped the list as the most polarizing President, mentioned 138 times. The closest to him was Andrew Jackson, mentioned 81 times; George W. Bush with 74 mentions; and Barack Obama 72 times. Richard Nixon was fifth, with 55 mentions and tied with Abraham Lincoln, followed by Andrew Johnson with 37 mentions, Ronald Reagan with 33 mentions, Bill Clinton with 30 mentions, and Franklin D. Roosevelt with 29 mentions, to round out the top ten.

Five questions were asked about Trump: his Presidency overall; Legislative Accomplishments; Foreign Policy Leadership; Embodying Institutional Norms; and Communicating with the Public.

Trump earned three Fs and 2 Ds, with his best score on Communicating with the Public and lowest on Embodying Institutional Norms.

The only area in any group where Trump gained a C was in Foreign Policy Leadership, and also in Communicating with the Public, both from Republicans.

So Donald Trump, in the view of scholars and experts on the Presidency, is a true disaster, and to think he will get out of the basement and pass the four Presidents above him, is truly delusional!

The 166th Anniversary Of The “National Newspaper” With More Pulitzer Prizes Than Any Other: The New York Times

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Today is the 166th Anniversary of a treasured newspaper, seen as the “National Newspaper” of America, the New York Times.

Founded on September 18, 1851, the New York Times has recorded America’s history and that of the world through the Civil War, the Gilded Age, the Progressive Era, The Great Depression and the New Deal, the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, The Vietnam War, The Watergate Scandal, The Reagan and Clinton Era, September 11, the Obama Era, and now the Trump Presidency and the challenges it presents to a free press.

Through it all, it has been the leader in news reporting and scoops often unique from others, and has been under attack by those who are angry that it exposes evil and wrong doing so often.

The New York Times has made its mistakes and had some stories later demonstrated to be untrue or manufactured, and is certainly far from perfect, but what source is perfect?

But it has admitted its shortcomings when they have become evident.

It is the newspaper of record, with the best index for researchers, writers, and historians. It has won 122 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper, and has the highest paper circulation of any metropolitan daily newspaper in America.

It is the only paper to have such an index going back to its founding in 1851. Any one doing newspaper research would need to search the archives of the NY Times as a beginning point for other research.

It has a slogan: “All The News That’s Fit To Print”, very appropriate for a great newspaper that has changed knowledge by its efforts in all fields of learning and public interest.

Growing Appreciation Of Barack Obama After Witnessing Donald Trump Behavior And Actions Since November 9!

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Donald Trump’s outrageous behavior and actions in office since November 9, when we learned that he had won the Electoral College, despite losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2.85 million votes, the worst loss in American history in popular vote for a winning Presidential nominee, has reverberated throughout America, and promoted a great pessimism about the future of the nation.

Trump is attempting to destroy the Barack Obama legacy, and is clearly set to negate the accomplishments of other Presidents of both parties in the past century since Theodore Roosevelt onward.

He will succeed in some ways in his destructive mission, but at the same time, it will also promote what a decent, principled, classy, dignified President we had in Barack Obama.

Historians will rank Obama high in history, despite what Trump is doing, and Trump will land at the bottom of the list of Presidents, as the most destructive, nasty, mean spirited President we have ever seen.

The truth of the Trump Presidency will be clear to all, and Barack Obama will shine ever more, as a result.

Trump, The Most Repudiated Presidential Nominee In American History, Starts Off With Controversial Appointees

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Donald Trump not only is the most unpopular President in American history in public opinion polls before his election, and not only in the popular vote margin of his opponent, Hillary Clinton, nearing one million and counting, but also in the total repudiation of his candidacy by:

Republicans who refused to endorse and support him
Conservatives who also refused to endorse and support him
Economists who warned against his election, as dangerous to the economy
Historians who warned against his election, looking at history
Defense and Security personnel who thought he was dangerous
Diplomatic personnel who were alarmed at his nomination
Newspapers that were traditionally Republican and conservative endorsing his opponent
Foreign Governments alarmed by his candidacy

Now all of these opponents must come to grips with the fact that Donald Trump is our President Elect, and alarm is spreading, as Trump has announced Stephen Bannon as his Senior Counselor and Chief Strategist in the White House, despite his misogyny, racism, nativism, antisemitism, islamophobia, homophobia and white supremacy views.

Trump also is considering neocon John Bolton, a highly abrasive personality, who was a controversial recess appointment as UN Ambassador under George W. Bush, to be Secretary of State, with the leading alternative being abrasive and egotistical former Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York!

Historians Organize Against Donald Trump: Is That A Proper Role? YES!

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More than 600 historians and scholars, including myself, have joined a group of Historians Against Donald Trump to register our concern about the possible election of a man who is perceived by just about all people in the field, except a few, to be a danger to America and its future.

There are those observers who think historians should not get involved in political races, but this is a constitutional crisis in the making, as many see it, and it is essential that people versed in the history of leadership, both good and bad, worldwide, speak their minds and warn Americans of the threat that they face, were Trump, somehow, magically able to win.

This is not a usual election, but instead is a turning point in American history that will have a vast effect on the future of the nation.

And now when Donald Trump hints at “Second Amendment remedies” against Hillary Clinton, if she wins the election, to prevent Supreme Court appointments, it is even more necessary than ever to have historians speak out about the threat of violence.

And as the author of a book on Presidential and Presidential candidate assassinations, this blogger feels a need to speak out openly of the threat of Donald Trump.

Later today, my thoughts on Trump, implying an assassination of Hillary Clinton might be a “Second Amendment remedy”, are being published on HNN, History News Network website.

Texas Textbook Standards Destroying The Truth Of American History, As Well As Science!

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The state of Texas, with the largest number of students, and therefore, having a massive effect on publication of textbooks and establishment of curriculum across the nation, has now destroyed the truth of American history, complaining a “liberal bias”, which is just, unfortunately, telling the truth about the American past.

So now the new standards do not mention slavery as the major cause of the Civil War, but rather states rights and different economic systems.

They also downgrade the importance and details of the civil rights movement on American history.

They avoid mentioning about “Jim Crow” segregation laws and the Ku Klux Klan.

They bring Jesus Christ into the curriculum, as if he was an American!

These and other faults come on top of the changes in the Science curriculum, promoting creationism, rather than evolution.

Texas is promoting ignorance and propaganda in place of History and Science, and this will dumb down the nation’s children if it is not stopped dead in its tracks.

So the historical and scientific community, and the professional associations MUST fight tooth and nail, and stop this assault on teaching the truth about the American past, as well as promoting basic scientific knowledge!