Dec 24, 2022 | History, Salon.com
When Ulysses S. Grant was inaugurated for his first presidential term in 1869, thousands of people showed up to celebrate. It was one of the grandest and swankiest parties held in generations, with pricey tickets and a level of pomp befitting the figurative coronation of the general who had preserved the Union....
Originally posted on salon.com
Sep 4, 2022 | History, Salon.com
Hippopotamus Getty Images/pjmalsbury
The hippopotamus is arguably one of the great physical comedians of the animal world. With its roly-poly body, Shrek-like ears and squat nostrils smushed into a giant snout, it’s easy to forget that the absurd-looking creatures are actually quite dangerous to humans. According to the BBC in 2016, hippopotamuses killed an average of 500 people each year in Africa — far more than lions, which tend to inspire far more fear....
Originally posted on salon.com
Sep 4, 2022 | Abortion, History, Salon.com
Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Joe Biden Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images
Future historians may well remember 2022 as the year when the U.S. Supreme Court permanently went off the rails. This goes well beyond the tormented, quasi-religious reasoning used by the court’s conservative majority in Dobbs v. Jackson, the case that officially reversed the nationwide abortion rights established in 1973 by Roe v....
Originally posted on salon.com
Aug 14, 2022 | Elections, History, Salon.com
Abraham Lincoln Speaking During one of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Charleston, Illinois, USA, September 18, 1858. Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
When Joe Biden met last week with a “select group of scholars” for a “Socratic dialogue” about America’s future, the esteemed historians compared the current crisis facing our democracy with two other historical periods: The years immediately preceding the Civil War, which broke out shortly after Abraham Lincoln’s victory in the 1860 presidential election, and the years before World War II, when proto-fascist or explicitly fascist movements like those led by aviator Charles Lindbergh popped up all over the land....
Originally posted on salon.com
Jul 24, 2022 | History, Salon.com
Joe Biden and Jimmy Carter Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images
In a column published over the Fourth of July weekend I compared Joe Biden to America’s founding fathers — in particular to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson — because they all supported ambitious economic policies that were not realized in their lifetimes....
Originally posted on salon.com
Jul 3, 2022 | History, Salon.com
Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Joe Biden Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images
Many years ago, a young man named Frank Bourgin, a graduate student in history at the University of Chicago, wrote a dissertation arguing that founding fathers like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had taken economic positions that, by modern standards, were highly progressive....
Originally posted on salon.com
May 29, 2022 | Elections, History, Salon.com
American labor leader, US Presidential candidate, and prominent socialist Eugene V. Debs (1855 – 1926) waves to supporters following his release from prison on Christmas Day, December 25, 1921. PhotoQuest/Getty Images
Nothing divides Americans like the question of free speech: What it means, who deserves it and who does not. Conservatives like to complain about being “censored” or “canceled” for their attacks on LGBTQ rights or mask mandates, but lately have started trying to impose all kinds of restrictions on speech in education, especially on issues of gender identity, sexual orientation and race....
Originally posted on salon.com
May 1, 2022 | History, Salon.com
Plastic-degrading bacteria Ideonella sakaiensis, 3D illustration Getty Images/Dr_Microbe
Though its effects are not always visible to the naked eye, plastic is choking life on Earth. Birds are dying from plastic accumulating their intestines. Animals are full of microplastics, and humans are unintentionally eating a credit card’s worth of plastic every week, which is seeping into our bloodstream....
Originally posted on salon.com
Apr 23, 2022 | History, Salon.com
Hubble telescope orbitting Earth Getty Images/NASA/dima_zel
Between 1990 and 2003, NASA scientists launched a series of technologically advanced telescopes into space. Dubbed the Great Observatories, these four astronomical telescopes were designed to observe areas of space with equipment that could monitor the range of frequencies on the electromagnetic spectrum.
The first of those telescopes, the Hubble Space Telescope, is perhaps the most famous of the bunch....
Originally posted on salon.com
Mar 13, 2022 | History, Salon.com
Richard Nixon and Donald Trump Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images
Hubert Humphrey can fairly be described as the Joe Biden of his time, but with one key difference: The Republican candidate who sabotaged U.S. foreign policy and meddled in an overseas conflict in an effort to win his presidential election wound up, well, actually winning it....
Originally posted on salon.com