They’re Using FDR’s Deceptions as Excuses – Still!

by Jack Le Moine

From the latest happenings in things historical. This article Chris Matthews on Hillary’s ‘Secretive’ Reputation: Well, FDR Was Too was published 16 days ago in Mediaite. This described Christopher Matthews of MSNBC using Franklin D. Roosevelt’s example of secrecy to excuse Hillary Clinton’s use of e-mails. The video is at the link.

Presidents have used FDR’s example for secrecy and more importantly, deviousness to inadvertently hurt their administrations for decades now.

In the run-up to World War II, FDR tried to have it both ways, pleasing both isolationists and interventionists.

• FDR based his 1940 re-election on a guarantee to the American people that he would keep America out of World War II. At the time, the Germans had already conquered Poland, Denmark, Norway, and France. The Battle of Britain was on. At the same time he defended his programs of military preparedness.
• He asked Americans to support Lend-lease to Britain while also asking them to think only neutral thoughts of Hitler.

Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon tried to follow FDR’s example for the Vietnam War but without FDR’s skill and the substantive reasons. Vietnam was a different situation that WWII.

FDR governing style of misdirection and deception in war was not just in war but in the other areas of his administration. His successors admired and attempted to build on that to their detriment. For Lyndon Johnson, “The Credibility Gap” became his worst problem creating many others for him and his administration.

For the Clintons now, it is time at long last to let go of this particular part of the Franklin D. Roosevelt legacy.

Scientific Mistakes

by Jack Le Moine

What does a rational scientist do with an impossible result? Today we turn to something from the history of science. - The history of a line on enquiry that threatened the very foundation of modern physics: the speed limit of light broken!

From the latest happenings in things historical. This article The Data That Threatened to Break Physics was published 23 days ago in Nautalis. The article’s author is Ransom Stephens.

About The Society For Creative Anachronism

by Jack Le Moine

Modern reenactment of a Viking battle.
CC BY-SA 3.0 image by Tone from Wikipedia.

From the latest happenings in things historical. This article Recreating the Middle Ages as They Should Have Been was published 35 days ago in Slate. The article’s author is Jordan G. Teicher.

In the last century the best development in the field of history has been the addition to the activities that are available to the historians. Researching, reading, writing, lecturing history was all there was to it since Herodotus' time. Then came archeology. Now people are doing history. Re-enactors are not just writing or talking but are doing history. Civil War re-enactments, Renaissance Fairs, and Medieval evens are just a few of the activities that now happen. This came from the grassroots not the professionals.

Bring Back the Serialized Novel

by Jack Le Moine

From the latest happenings in things historical. This article Bring Back the Serialized Novel was published 15 days ago in The Washington Post. The article’s author is Hillary Kelly.

The purpose is to boost book sales and general literacy. This is how the great books of the past such as the one illustrated above were promoted. Interesting way of reaching back into the past for innovative ideas for the present.

And yes, I know:  we do that here on this blog a lot.  Only we serialize histories instead of novels.
 

Great Mothers in Church History

by Jack Le Moine

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. Who do you think are the greatest mothers in religeous history? Compare with this article.

From the latest happenings in things historical. This article Great Mothers in Church History was published yesterday in Baptist Press. The article’s author is David Roach.

On Writing Good Memoirs

by Jack Le Moine

From the latest happenings in things historical. This article Memoirs Should be More Than Just Selfies in Book Form was published 9 days ago in The Washington Post. The article’s author is Mark Athitakis.

I have always thought that historians should pay more attention to memoirs as sources of historical knowledge. The trouble is that there are good memoirs and bad memoirs. This article tries to tell how to tell them apart.

Protestant Non-Jurors

by Jack Le Moine

Who might well be the most important Anglo-American religious movement you have never heard of? From the latest happenings in things historical. The two part series of articles The Non-Jurors and Somewhere Beyond the Sea concluded 8 days ago in Patheos Blog. The article’s author is Philip Jenkins.

They were a High Church movement within the Church of England, who refused to take oaths to the new regime after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. While reading about the King of England as the head of their Church, the split seems both remote and yet important.

The current splits in the Episcopal Church in the USA on the other hand involves matters that go far beyond mere theory to the very essence of Christianity. It is interesting to read current events with the perspective of the past.

The History Behind Netanhayu's Big Speech to Congress

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhayu Meets with 

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, July 23, 2014.

Public domain image from Wikipedia.

From the latest happenings in things historical. This article Historical Precedents to Netanyahu's Unusual Visit was published 46 days ago in RealClear Politics from the AP. The article’s author is Connie Glass.

Benjamin Netanhayu's March 3 speech to a joint session of the U.S. Congress was controversial but in line with a long list of precedents going back to Marquis de Lafayette in 1824. This article puts the event in its historical context. What matters most, the diplomatic decorum of a such a speech or its substantive importance?

Napoleonic Grand Strategy

This article from just 5 days ago looks at power: how it is acquired and how it is used.  The professor is interested in how Napoleon came from nowhere to become master of most of Europe.

A Gallery of Turner Paintings

by Jack Le Moine

From the latest happenings in things historical. JMW Turner – The Complete Works

Arundel Castle, 1824

CC BY-SA 3.0 image from william-turner.org.

Turner (1775-1851) was one of the great painters in the Romantic Period of art. Many of his works prefigure impressionism. He painted landscapes, famous landmarks, and ships at sea. This site implies that it shows his complete works but the catalog lists only 911 as of this writing. Turner left behind thousands. Still, whatever the explanation is for the discrepancy, 911 is a lot of paintings to browse through.

Look this site up and spend hours in the gallery.

The History Carnival

This is a selection of "best of" blog posts in the field of history.  It has been pumping out a monthly report for twelve years.  Yes, History Moments have gotten in there a few times over the years.  Every month another blogger takes his/her turn hosting the Carnival.  That's why it gets its name - each month it travels around from blog to blog.  

What's your favorite blog post in all of the history blogs for this month?  Notify the leaders of The History Carnival.

Reading The New Asia Observer

by Jack Le Moine

One of the many images from this website.

From the latest happenings in things historical. This post On 14 March in Asian History was published today in The New Asia Observer. The post's author is Jacques De Goldfiem.

He publishes these sets of links each day on his website. In addition, he digests the current news from Asia. Everything Asia every day. I don’t think there’s a better site on Asia – especially one that is published by one man. Outstanding!

The Middle East That Might Have Been

by Jack Le Moine

From the latest happenings in things historical. This article The Middle East That Might Have Been was published 22 days ago in The Atlantic Magazine. The article’s author is Nick Danforth.

World War I has ended; the Ottoman Empire has collapsed. President Woodrow Wilson appoints a team to find out from the people of the Middle East themselves how they wish to be governed. This team travels the region, talking to the people, organizing polls, and generally doing what they can to ascertain the popular will. They send a report to the President. Had that report’s recommendations beef followed, this is a map of how the Middle East would look like.

Move your cursor over the map and see how interactive it is.

Election Campaigning – State of the Art 2014

by Jack Le Moine

More red, more Republican votes;
more blue, more Democratic votes.

CC BY-SA 4.0 image from Wikipedia.

From the latest happenings in things historical. The article How We Won Texas was published 22 days ago in Politico. The article’s author is Dave Carney.

As 2014 passed into history we noticed what worked and what did not in political campaigning. Every election the state of the art changes. This article described
the Texas governor race and the innovative approaches that were taken.

Game Changer in the History Profession

by Jack Le Moine
From the latest happenings in things historical. This January 1, 2015 a partnership of the world’s universities opened up their rare manuscript collections to the general public via the internet. Before January 1, these manuscripts had only been available to scholars with an associated university pass. This event opens up primary source material research in this area to the general public.

This is being done in phases. The initial phase releases manuscripts from the early modern era. The service is free.

Google Books may have some of these titles but for now probably they don’t.

The books are available to the public in text files. PDF files are still only available to University subscribers.

My thanks to Professor John R. Yamamoto-Wilson of Sophia University in Tokyo for bringing this news to everyone’s attention (via LinkedIn).

The University Free Partnership
Professor John’s blog post last year.
The discussion in LinkedIn.  (Basic membership in LinkedIn is free.)

Who are Historians?

by Jack Le Moine

From the latest happenings in the world of history.

This March 1 the Host of the History Carnival will be in Unspoken Assumptions. Last April 17, 2014 she wrote In Defense of Historians. Her essay’s theme is ‘I’m a historian and you’re not.’ I believe that there’s two things wrong with this essay: (1) it fails to address the differences between professional and amateur historians; and (2) it fails to address the underlying causes of the problems professional historians face today.

Hello, my name is Heather and I’m a historian . . .

I have studied history for over ten years. I’ve written about history, researched history, taught history, attended many history conferences, had my work scrutinized and criticized by other historians.

To sum up, she is a historian. She even has a PhD! The essay then goes to it’s first mark: the great unwashed must not criticize the professional.

Michael Grove is not an historian nor is he an expert on the First World War – therefore he has zero right to criticize how historians do their job.

If the reader doesn’t already know who this MG is; the historian doesn't enlighten him. If the reader puzzles at this decision of the historian, consider what right you might have to express your reaction. If you’re not a credentialed professional or if you’re not an expert, is your right 50%, 25%, 10%, or 0%? From the quote above the correct answer to this multiple choice question is zero but one still must wonder how the essayist arrived at that figure? Was it the result of some mathematical calculation or just mere turf war? Like in ‘I’m a historian and you’re not.’

Probe Lands on

From the latest happenings in things historical. The article Ten Years on Titan linked below was published 23 days ago in Slate.  The article's author is Phil Plait.



This article describes a ten year anniversary that it truly historic. On January 15, 2005 a probe landed on the moon of another planet for the first time. The moon wasTitan, the largest moon of Saturn.

The video originated from the probe as it was landing.  Explanatory graphics were added.  For example, the atmosphere on Titan is thick enough that a parachute-assisted landing could be and was made.  The parachute animation gives you an idea what the probe looked like as it was going down.

Why we've Never Lived in Such Peaceful Times as Now

In The World Is Not Falling Apart published by Slate last month on 12/22/14, Steven Pinker and Andrew Mack argue that world violence is at a new low.  We've never had it so good.

All I can say to all of the historical data they present is, huh?  While actual violence may be at historic lows the threats of violence has never been higher. Examples:

• North Korea has scrapped the armistace that ended the Korean war.  
• Jihadists can and have struck at any time and anywhere.
• Iran is moving rapidly towards nuclear weapons.

One could go on.  Historic trends up to now may be down but indications for the future are ominous.

Maps That Will Change Your View of the World

Here are some interesting maps comparing data in new, instructive and novel ways.

From BuzzFeed.

Shared from MI Laboratorio de Ideas.

This map shows the world from millions of years ago.  Tectonic plates move the continents around.  What if today's political boundaries were overlayed onto that age?  Dinosaurs come and get us!

The Reconquest of Spain

This short monograph from the Library of Congress by Charles Julian Bishko is just 33 pages long.  A little more in depth than a blog but less than a full length book.  This is from Volume 3 of the University of Wisconsin's series on the Crusades.

This complements yesterday's post.