One thing it can do is chronicle how women, from ordinary citizens to Martha Washington, preserved their communities’ past.Â
Lindsay M. Chervinsky
Lindsay M. Chervinsky, Ph.D., is a presidential historian and Executive Director of the George Washington Presidential Library. On March 4-6, 2026, the George Washington Presidential Library hosted the inaugural Women’s Leadership Summit to celebrate women’s role in preserving and sharing American history.
Posted inPolitics
John Adams Faced a January 6 Moment
John Adams’s January 6: The acclaimed new biography of the second president reveals how division, insurrection, and repression threatened the young nation and offers lessons for our time. An excerpt.
Posted inPolitics
From Abigail Adams to Jill Biden, We’ve Been Arguing about First Ladies since 1787
From Abigail Adams to Jill Biden, We’ve Been Arguing about First Ladies since 1787. As the president’s family discusses his future, it’s a good time to remember the important roles first ladies have played and the criticism they’ve often faced.
Posted inPolitics
Trump and the Republican War on the Civil Service
In recent months, Donald Trump’s campaign and conservative action groups have developed a  coordinated strategy  to gut the federal civil service,  effectively returning the United States government to the spoils system of the nineteenth century.  Under this plan, Trump, if returned to office, would issue an executive order called “Schedule F,” which would reclassify the […]
Posted inBooks
How We Mourn Our Presidents
An anticipated new collection shows that when the nation buries a current or former president, it reveals much about America at the moment of their passing.
Posted inPolitics
Easy on the Doomscrolling: Two Years After January 6, There Are Reasons to Be Hopeful
A firm accounting of what happened and prosecution of the perpetrators are part of the good news.
Posted inPolitics
What Joe Biden and LBJ Have in Common
Each saw the expansion of rights as key to their national ambitions, writes a noted historian. For LBJ, it was civil rights; for Biden, it was abortion.
Posted inLaw and Justice
Garland Has to Prosecute Trump for January 6 to Restore Faith in the Justice Department
It’s often said that the attorney general has two goals—keep the DOJ apolitical and prosecute the former president—but the aims, says a noted historian, are complementary and essential.
Posted inBooks
Madeleine Albright’s Fascism Warning Is More Pertinent Than Ever
The anti-abortion, book-banning, and Disney-bashing policies in red states have all the authoritarian hallmarks.
Posted inBooks
The Endless Struggle Between Presidents and the Press
A new study focuses on the relationship between the White House and the media in the years since Woodrow Wilson, but it gives short shrift to the 19th century.
