American History & Presidents

Just when you think it’s impossible to improve on the bar scene in Star Wars, the House of Representatives ends its summer session with a script that would have put Steven Spielberg to shame. Although blows were not exactly exchanged, … Continue reading

Last week Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to target Europe with missiles if the United States deployed components of a limited missile defense system to the Czech Republic and Poland. Maybe I’m being charitable, but perhaps Putin recalls how the … Continue reading

On Monday, June 7, 1982, President Ronald Reagan arrived in Rome to meet with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, a little over a year since both men survived near-fatal assassination attempts. The two shared not only a commonality … Continue reading

Earlier in the week I wrote an article on the contributions of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who died on Monday at the age of 76. I noted that among his most significant achievements was his ability to keep the … Continue reading

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the Washington Times on March 21, 2007. In its recently released Freedom in the World 2007 survey, Freedom House coins a new term for these troubled times: “freedom stagnation.” On every continent, … Continue reading

I tend to avoid the immigration debate, which, for various reasons that agitate some of my conservative friends, does not get me riled up. Nonetheless, in the context of this debate, the Mexican leadership continues to make an outrageous analogy, … Continue reading

From the tragedy of Anna Nicole Smith to the ongoing weird worlds of Madonna, Michael Jackson, Paris Hilton, and Brad and Angelina and Jen—has there ever been a time when Hollywood was normal? Not really. Once upon a time, however, … Continue reading

The new Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Jan. 24 approved a non-binding resolution on the Iraq  war that demonstrated the cowardice, lack of wisdom and political posturing of the Senators who voted for it. The committee’s intention, in Senator Biden’s … Continue reading

As we celebrate Presidents’ Day we have many reasons to be thankful for George Washington. The Virginian was a giant even among the remarkable generation of America’s founders. At 6 feet 2 inches, he physically towered over almost all of … Continue reading

Editor’s Note: A longer version of this article appeared in the December 27 edition of National Review. On the day after Christmas 2006, thirty years after he lost his only presidential bid, Gerald R. Ford, the nation’s 38th president, was … Continue reading

On October 3, 1789 George Washington signed the first Thanksgiving Proclamation of the newly constituted American Republic. He called upon the American people to enjoy “a day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts … Continue reading

Editor’s note: The below remarks were made at a symposium about college and university based think tanks sponsored by The Atlas Economic Research Foundation titled “Preserving the Roots of American Liberty: Pursuing Excellence Through Academic Centers.” The symposium was held at … Continue reading

More bad news for Republicans: As they licked their wounds after a crushing loss in the mid-term elections, another significant election defeat, south of the border, was confirmed: The citizens of Nicaragua  have chosen former Sandinista Marxist dictator Daniel Ortega … Continue reading

The 1960s was nirvana for American liberalism. From the day John F. Kennedy inspired a new generation of Americans to the time that newest of the new generations, my generation now entering our sixties, rebelled against the war in Vietnam, … Continue reading

The current mid-term elections accentuate the massive confusion that exists in the United States  today about the meaning of the phrase “the separation of church and state.”  Many liberals contend the concept requires that religion be completely divorced from government, … Continue reading

Fifty years ago this week Soviet tanks under order from the Kremlin rolled into the Communist bloc nation of Hungary and killed upwards of 30,000 citizens—brutally dashing the aspirations of a reformer named Imre Nagy, and viciously informing the Hungarian … Continue reading

“The aircraft carrier Eisenhower, accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio, guided-missile destroyer USS Ramage, guided-missile destroyer USS Mason and the fast-attack submarine USS Newport News, is, as I write, making its way to the Straits of Hormuz off Iran. … Continue reading