Shannon Bow O'Brien, The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts
Donald Trump’s lawsuit to stop the release to Congress of potentially embarrassing or incriminating documents puts the National Archives in the middle of an old legal conflict.
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks during a congressional committee hearing on the withdrawal of American troops Afghanistan.
(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool)
This summer’s disintegration of the Afghan government and continuing political turmoil in Iraq provide valuable lessons for the U.S. and its mission to impose democracy on the rest of the world.
In the early 1960s, Barry Goldwater, a Republican U.S. senator from Arizona, called for the GOP to adopt racist principles.
AP Photo/Henry Burroughs
For much of the country’s history, the Republican Party was the party of Lincoln and racial equality, and the Democratic Party backed Jim Crow laws and white supremacy. The two parties switched.
It was the day the US realised it was fighting a different kind of war.
America’s political leaders rushed the nation into war just weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, just like ancient Greeks and Romans did in response to similar traumatic events.
David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images
Ancient Athenians and Romans also let shared mass tragedies propel justifications for going to war – even when it wasn’t clear what that violence would solve.
Heading for the exit.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
Following the completion of the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, Neta Crawford, the co-director of the Costs of War Project, reflects on 7,268 days of American involvement in the conflict.
U.S. soldiers stand guard along the perimeter of the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. Hundreds of Western nationals and Afghan workers have been flown to safety since the Taliban reasserted control over the country, but still in hiding are Afghans who tried to build a fledgling democracy.
(AP Photo/Shekib Rahmani)
The Vietnam War was the defining issue for Joe Biden’s generation. His botched withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan could be the defining act of his presidency.
A handover ceremony as U.S. troops prepare to leave Afghanistan.
Afghan Ministry of Defense Press Office via AP
There is much at stake as the US withdraws troops from Afghanistan. A political philosopher explains why the US cannot escape the moral consequences of its actions.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, is visible as President Joe Biden holds a virtual meeting with the Mexican president at the White House in March 2021.
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
What do Biden’s first 100 days in office mean for the next four years in terms of foreign policy? There are already some clues — but questions too.
Close colleagues: a British soldier with an Afghani translator after a suicide attack on a convoy of Western troops in Kabul, 2007.
REUTERS/Desmond Boylan
Western governments have a very poor record when it comes to looking after those foreign nationals who have risked their lives for them.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, standing at center and facing left just above the eagle, takes the presidential oath of office for the third time in 1941.
FDR Presidential Library and Museum via Flickr
Only one president has done so – Franklin Delano Roosevelt – but others considered it, and even tried.
The White House never provided the National Archives with an official transcript of what Trump said at this rally in Louisville, Kentucky, on March 20, 2017.
John Minchillo/AP Photo
Shannon Bow O'Brien, The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts
All presidents must deposit transcriptions of their public statements with the National Archives. But in the case of Donald Trump, there’s something missing.
A president’s reputation is safer when he’s in the Oval Office rather than giving a press conference.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Donald Trump’s ticket to the White House was a coarse version of populism. Will his successors in the GOP be different – or simply present a more polished version of his antagonistic rhetoric?
President-elect Joe Biden speaks about the COVID-19 pandemic in Wilmington, Del., on Jan. 14, 2021.
(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
The debate about the U.S. Electoral College pits those who think the president should be chosen via popular vote versus those who believe the interests of small and large states must be balanced.
Former President George W. Bush, left, with James A. Baker III at the 2018 funeral of George H.W. Bush.
AP Pool
James Baker, the high-powered lawyer chosen by George W. Bush to lead his fight over the contested 2000 election, delivered victory. A new book reveals three crucial reasons why.
For nearly six decades, journalist Alistair Cooke provided the BBC’s English-speaking audiences around the world with insights into US culture and politics.
PA/PA Archive/PA Images
The veteran British journalist explained America to English-speaking listeners around the world.
Trump falsely declaring a win in the early hours of Nov. 4, 2020, the day after the US election, as ballot counting continued in Pennsylvania and other battleground states.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Five of the six disputed presidential elections in US history were resolved and the country moved on – but one ended in civil war. What will happen if the 2020 election is contested?
Presidential pollsters in the US have had some embarrassing failures. Here’s a catalog of those miscalls, from the scholar who literally wrote the book on them.
Trump has refused to say he will accept the outcome of the upcoming election.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Five of the six contested presidential elections in U.S. history were resolved and the country moved on – one ended in civil war. What will happen if the upcoming election is contested?