Professor of History, Boston College

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Drone Strikes and Civilian Casualties

Will admitting a “tragic mistake” change the way we wage war?

September 21, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

Last Friday, Marine Corps General Frank McKenzie of U.S. Central Command admitted that the August 29 drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, that the U.S. had claimed hit ISIS-K fighters had instead killed 10 civilians, including seven children. This “tragic mistake,” as he called it, at the very end of the ...

Columnists

For the Freedom to Vote

The protection of voting rights seems more vital than ever

September 15, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

_____ This week, the team of Democratic senators working on a voting rights measure that could meet the demands of conservative Democratic West Virginia senator Joe Manchin released their bill. The 592-page document is described as a bill “to expand Americans’ access to the ballot box and reduce the influence of ...

Feminism

Handing Power Back to the Vigilantes

Texas’s new abortion ban erodes the power of the federal government to protect civil rights, and there is no reason that this mechanism couldn’t be used to undermine much more.

September 7, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

_____ The new anti-abortion law in Texas is not just about abortion; it is about undermining civil rights decisions made by the Supreme Court during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. The Supreme Court declined to stop a state law that violates a constitutional right. Since World War II, the Supreme Court has ...

Politics

Individualism Vs. the Common Good in America

For all that Republicans insist that individualism is the heart of Americanism, in fact the history of federal protection of the common good began in the 1860s

August 30, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

_____ America is in a watershed moment. Since the 1980s, the country has focused on individualism: the idea that the expansion of the federal government after the Depression in the 1930s created a form of collectivism that we must destroy by cutting taxes and slashing regulation to leave individuals free to ...

Individualism Vs. the Common Good in America

Politics

Redistricting and Race in the 2020 Census

Will an increasingly urbanizing, multicultural nation continue to accept being governed by an ever-smaller white, rural minority?

August 18, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

_____ Last week, the Census Bureau released information about the 2020 census, designed to enable states to start the process of drawing new lines for their congressional districts, a process known as redistricting. Because of that very limited intent for this particular information dump, the picture the material gives is a very ...

Redistricting and Race in the 2020 Census

North America

Backing Trump When He Is Out of Office Is…Expensive

As the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol begins its work, the Department of Justice invites Republican politicians who supported the insurrection to defend themselves

July 30, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

The ripples of the explosive Tuesday testimony that four police officers gave before the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol continue to spread. Committee members are meeting this week to decide how they will proceed. Congress goes on recess during August, but ...

Backing Trump When He Is Out of Office Is…Expensive

Columnists

Why Voting Rights Are Still Necessary Trouble

Just a year after Representative Lewis’s death, the rights for which he fought are under greater threat than they have been since 1965

July 21, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

_____ A year ago last week, Georgia Representative John Lewis passed away from pancreatic cancer at 80 years old. As a young adult, Lewis was a “troublemaker,” breaking the laws of his state: the laws upholding racial segregation. He organized voting registration drives and in 1960 was one of the thirteen ...

Why Voting Rights Are Still Necessary Trouble

Columnists

A “Proud Capitalist,” Joe Biden is Championing Competition

Capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism; it’s exploitation

July 13, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

_____ Last week, as President Joe Biden signed “An Executive Order Promoting Competition in the American Economy,” he echoed the language of his predecessors. “[C]ompetition keeps the economy moving and keeps it growing,” he said. “Fair competition is why capitalism has been the world’s greatest force for prosperity and growth…. But ...

A “Proud Capitalist,” Joe Biden is Championing Competition

Columnists

How Trump’s Big Lie Fuels Voter Suppression and Republican Authoritarianism

In American history, the attempt to overturn our election procedures for one man, based on a conspiracy theory, is unprecedented

July 7, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

_____ Six months ago this week, rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, intending to stop the counting of the certified ballots that would make Joseph R. Biden president and Kamala Harris vice president. This attack was unprecedented. It broke our nation’s long history of the peaceful transfer of power. You know the story ...

How Trump’s Big Lie Fuels Voter Suppression and Republican Authoritarianism

Columnists

‘There Was Nothing There’

Barr calls BS as the ground gives way under the Big Lie

June 28, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

_____ The big news this week was a series of interviews that former attorney general William Barr did with Jonathan D. Karl of The Atlantic: Barr emphasized that former president Donald Trump’s claims that he had won the 2020 election were “bullshit.” What is interesting about this is not the idea that ...

Columnists

Not One Senate Republican Is For the People

The right to vote is under assault as the GOP defends a government by white men, for white men

June 23, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

_____ There were three important takeaways from this week’s Senate vote on whether to begin debate on S1, the For the People Act, the bill that would protect voting rights, end partisan gerrymandering, establish new ethics rules for federal officials, and curb big money in politics. The first is that Senator Joe ...

Not One Senate Republican Is For the People

Columnists

In Defense of Democracy

From Israel to Peru, there are lots of moving pieces in the world right now

June 14, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

_____ President Joe Biden is currently in England, participating in a meeting of the G7, an informal group of wealthy democracies including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The participants have issued a statement reinforcing their shared commitment to “democracy, freedom, equality, the rule of ...

Heather Cox Richardson

Drone Strikes and Civilian Casualties

Will admitting a “tragic mistake” change the way we wage war?

For the Freedom to Vote

The protection of voting rights seems more vital than ever

Handing Power Back to the Vigilantes

Texas’s new abortion ban erodes the power of the federal government to protect civil rights, and there is no reason that this mechanism couldn’t be used to undermine much more.

Individualism Vs. the Common Good in America

For all that Republicans insist that individualism is the heart of Americanism, in fact the history of federal protection of the common good began in the 1860s

Redistricting and Race in the 2020 Census

Will an increasingly urbanizing, multicultural nation continue to accept being governed by an ever-smaller white, rural minority?

Backing Trump When He Is Out of Office Is…Expensive

As the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol begins its work, the Department of Justice invites Republican politicians who supported the insurrection to defend themselves

Why Voting Rights Are Still Necessary Trouble

Just a year after Representative Lewis’s death, the rights for which he fought are under greater threat than they have been since 1965

A “Proud Capitalist,” Joe Biden is Championing Competition

Capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism; it’s exploitation

How Trump’s Big Lie Fuels Voter Suppression and Republican Authoritarianism

In American history, the attempt to overturn our election procedures for one man, based on a conspiracy theory, is unprecedented

‘There Was Nothing There’

Barr calls BS as the ground gives way under the Big Lie

Not One Senate Republican Is For the People

The right to vote is under assault as the GOP defends a government by white men, for white men

In Defense of Democracy

From Israel to Peru, there are lots of moving pieces in the world right now

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