AMERICAN HERITAGE

Featured Articles

Oklahoma City and the Cost of Violence

by Calvin Warner

Thirty years later, an Oklahoma native reflects on one of the deadliest domestic terrorist attacks in American history.

Limits on Presidential Power from FDR to Trump

by Todd Belt

What does history tell us about presidents who have tried to push the limits of the system?

The Comic Revolution

by Bruce Watson

Before Saturday Night Live, there was "Your Show of Shows."

Eisenhower’s “Middle Way”

by Steven Wagner

As president, Dwight D. Eisenhower took a moderate position on many issues, believing that “good judgment seeks balance and progress.”

Solving Our Political Disarray

by Yuval Levin

The Constitution is more than a legal code. It is also a framework for union and solidarity.

Classic Essays from Our Archives

A Yankee Among The War Lords | October 1970, Vol 21, No 6

By Barbara W. Tuchman

First of the Three Parts from STILWELL THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE IN CHINA 1911-1945

Growing Up Colored | Summer 2012, Vol 62, No 2

By Henry Louis Gates Jr.

The noted writer and educator tells of his boyhood in the West Virginia town of Piedmont, where African Americans were second-class citizens, but family pride ran deep.

Lincoln As Commander in Chief | Winter 2009, Vol 58, No 6

By James M. McPherson

Even though he had no military training, Lincoln quickly rose to become one of America’s most talented commanders.

1619: The Year That Shaped America | Winter 2019, Vol 64, No 1

By James Horn

Four hundred years ago this year, two momentous events happened in Britain’s fledgling colony in Virginia: the New World’s first democratic assembly convened, and an English privateer brought kidnapped Africans to sell as slaves. Such were the conflicted origins of modern America.

The Man of the Century | May/June 1994, Vol 45, No 3

By Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

Of all the Allied leaders, argues FDR's biographer, only Roosevelt saw clearly the shape of the new world they were fighting to create.

A Few Parchment Pages Two Hundred Years Later | May/June 1987, Vol 70, No 3

By Richard B. Morris

The framers of the Constitution were proud of what they had done but might be astonished that their words still carry so much weight. A distinguished scholar tells us how the great charter has survived and flourished.

Today in History

Fort Pulaski surrenders

Union cannon bombard Fort Pulaski along the Savannah River, forcing the Confederate garrison to surrender. The loss of Fort Pulaski effectively closed Savannah to Confederate blockade runners and demonstrated the ineffectiveness of masonry forts against modern artillery.
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Truman relieves MacArthur

President Harry S. Truman relieves General Douglas MacArthur from commanding United Nations forces during the Korean War. MacArthur had made several insubordinate comments that had undermined President Truman's foreign policies and sought a widespread expansion of the conflict.
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LBJ signs Civil Rights Act of 1968

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968 into law, opening housing opportunities to all Americans regardless of race, ethnicity, or creed. Widely considered the Fair Housing Act, the law enforced previous fair housing provisions and ensured federal protection.