Editorials
Governing — James Monroe and the Pandemic You Don’t Know About
Before he was our fifth president, Monroe was Virginia’s governor at a time when yellow fever was deadly and hard to control. Setting aside ideology, he prevented a health crisis despite his disdain for strong government.
The Washington Post — It has been 500 days since a confirmed secretary led DHS. That is a problem.
The Constitution gives the Senate power to ensure that competent, experienced secretaries lead executive departments.
USA Today — Kamala Harris vice presidential pick launches Biden toward a Cabinet that looks like America
If Biden wins the election in November, his Cabinet will represent an opportunity to rally underrepresented groups and interests around his administration.
The Washington Post — George Washington invoked executive privilege. But he’d reject Barr’s version.
Washington supported a much more limited conception of executive privilege.
Smithsonian Magazine — What the Protestors Tagging Historic Sites Get Right About the Past
Places of memory up and down the East Coast also witnessed acts of resistance and oppression
The Washington Post — The White House is the people’s house — something Trump seems to forget
Access to the White House reflects core American values that date back to George Washington
We’re History — This Day in Cabinet History: Presidential Power and Diplomacy
On April 19, 1793, President George Washington convened his department secretaries for a cabinet meeting that would ultimately lodge the authority for foreign diplomacy in the executive branch rather than Congress.
Teaching United States History — Teach My Book: Lindsay M. Chervinsky, The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution
Teaching United States History is excited to present Teach My Book, a series of posts where distinguished authors reflect on their work and how instructors might integrate their insights into the classroom. Our thoughts today come from Lindsay Chervinsky, Historian at the White House Historical Association. Dr. Chervinsky is discussing her new book The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution (Harvard 2020).
American Heritage — How George Washington Designed the Cabinet as the Most Important Governing Tool
The cabinet precedents George Washington established have largely guided his successors, and they determine whether a president is remembered by history as a success or failure.
Uncommon Sense — Women Also Know Washington
The last decade has witnessed a noticeable uptick of works on Washington authored by women, with more to come in the pipeline.
History Extra (BBC History Magazine) — 8 Facts You Might Not Know About the White House
How much do you know about the history of the White House in Washington DC, which has been home to all US presidents since John Adams in 1800 (including the current president, Donald Trump)? Writing for HistoryExtra, White House historian Lindsay M Chervinsky shares eight surprising facts about the famous building — from how it was built by enslaved workers, to the year it caught fire…
The Docket at Law and History Review — George Washington’s Constitutional Theory
Washington intentionally left behind very little written documentation of his ideas about the Constitution or how he interpreted the presidency. But that didn’t mean he didn’t have ideas about how the Constitution should operate or the powers of the executive.
The Panorama — High Politics and Physical Space: Rethinking How We Commemorate Place
How can we use the digital re-creation of historic places (and thus the commemoration of these spaces) to bring new viewers into the field and bring together different historical approaches?
The Washington Post, Made by History — Trump’s Cabinet is still full of scandals. History shows that he may regret that.
The perils of allowing scandals to linger