John M. Murphy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Difficult to pronounce, synecdoche is the form of rhetoric used by President Trump when he told four Democratic congresswomen of color to “go back” to the “corrupt” countries they came from.
Congress was once the seat of all power on U.S. trade policy.
AP Photo
President Trump has unilaterally raised tariffs and sparked trade wars, all without consulting Congress. A century ago, the roles were reversed.
In this June 2018 photo, U.S. President Donald Trump talks with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a G-7 Summit welcome ceremony in Charlevoix, Québec.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
A presidential visit to Kingston, Ont. -- like the one FDR paid in 1938 -- could once again play a role in bridging relations between Canada and the United States.
Many South Africans have yet to see freedom bear fruit.
EPA/Kim Ludbrook
Russians have been charged with interfering with the 2016 US presidential election. If true, it's not an isolated incident. Twice before, foreign powers tried to influence who won the Oval Office.
What will a divided Congress do over the next two years?
Shutterstock
The new Congress is divided into a GOP Senate and Democratic House. History provides a glimpse of what this could mean: Democrats hold the power to investigate, if not to legislate.
The initial aim of the 1937 Foreign Agents Registration Act was long forgotten: the prosecution of Nazis for interfering with American democracy. But that law is startlingly relevant to the US now.
President Trump says an alliance with Saudi Arabia is necessary, despite evidence the country's crown prince ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Amber Miller, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Today many Americans see universities negatively. But, as the dean of USC Dornsife argues, academia has a unique capacity to solve society's problems. Yes, astrophysicists can help law enforcement.
A bridge built by CCC workers, Shady Lake Recreation Area, Arkansas.
Jerry Turner
On April 5, 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps, a massive relief program that paid young men to plant trees and build parks across the nation. It was money well spent.
Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey appear during a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Dec. 8, 2007.
AP Photo/Paul Sancya
Throughout American history, being a black celebrity has been a political act in and of itself. When viewed through this lens, the transition into politics for someone like Winfrey is more natural.
In Big Bend National Park’s Santa Elena Canyon, the Rio Grande separates the United States (left) from Mexico (right).
Ken Lund
Instead of building a wall on the US-Mexico border, a landscape architect calls for restoring the Rio Grande and turning its course into an international park – an idea first proposed in the 1930s.
Former FBI Director James Comey testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington.
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
Global Scholar at Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC and Hopkins P Breazeale Professor, Manship School of Mass Communications, Louisiana State University