Blog posts on Wessagussett Press are written by Doug Smock unless otherwise indicated. If you want to read the full post, click Read More. If you would like to receive alerts on new posts, enter your email in the subscribe button.
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Today’s announcement by Donald Trump of a proposed steel mill in southeastern Iowa puts the American steel industry back into play as a national political football—its most prominent role in national politics since the 1960s. What was most interesting about the announcement was how much it left unsaid. It echoed earlier Trump claims that proved…
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Perhaps no period of American history has been taught—or remembered—more inaccurately than Reconstruction, the post-Civil War effort to restore the Southern states and determine the status of four million formerly enslaved people. For much of the twentieth century, the dominant interpretation came from William A. Dunning, a Columbia University historian whose work reflected conservative White…
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The Civil War did not end in 1865. In fact, it is still being fought as a battle over collective memory. Very basic facts about the war remain in dispute, even in college classrooms. What caused the conflict? Why did soldiers fight? Did states have a legal right to secede? Was Abraham Lincoln really opposed…
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The short answer is yes, but the story is complicated. For generations, American schoolchildren learned about the westward movement as an almost inevitable procession: pioneers crossed the Appalachians, a heroic Daniel Boone opened Kentucky, settlers moved into Ohio, and wagon trains packed with brave families crossed the Plains. Indians were usually in the story, but…
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American empire-building followed closely after the United States secured its independence. Burdened by Revolutionary War debt, the new government treated Native land as both a source of public revenue and an opportunity for private enrichment. Land-hungry settlers and speculators—including prominent government officials—pressed relentlessly for access to territory inhabited and governed by Native nations. By the…
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The Mexican-American War (1846–1848) is commonly taught as a story of American expansion and military brilliance. General Winfield Scott landed at Veracruz and marched more than 200 miles inland to capture Mexico City. That is certainly true, but history is often whitewashed through omission and emphasis rather than fabrication. The most frequently remembered fact about…
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The problem with the teaching of racial history in the United States today is often one of omission rather than outright fabrication. Efforts by President Donald Trump and some states are clearly focused on accelerating that tendency. The uncomfortable parts of American history are not necessarily denied; they are minimized, softened or simply left out.…
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The traditional story we learn about the Constitution emphasizes brilliant Founders creating a democratic government based on the ideals of Enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke and Montesquieu. There is plenty of truth in that interpretation. But there is another story. The Constitution was also shaped by debt, taxes, class conflict, enslavement of human beings,…
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The teaching of American history—whether in schools or through museums such as the Smithsonian—is under attack, caught in one of the most intense battles in decades over how we tell our national story. In March 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” Trump argued that institutions…
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My dad displayed no military insignia on his car. He didn’t wear Army shirts or military caps. He didn’t fly American flags from his car windows. He never appeared in a parade or talked about his military service—except to me. He told me that if I ever joined the Army, he’d disown me. When World…
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From Israel’s creation in 1948 through the end of the Eisenhower administration in January 1961, it was United States policy to provide it political and economic support, but not significant military arms. Starting in 1954, France supplied Israel with advanced weapons, particularly combat aircraft, and provided the technology that enabled Israel to build its nuclear…
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The Civil War is a powerful, brooding presence in the writings of William Faulkner. In book after book, tragic characters are trapped in the past by both staggering defeat in the Civil War and the treatment of Blacks—what Faulkner portrayed as a curse upon the South. In Requiem for a Nun, one character famously says:…
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