The National History Center of the American Historical Association provides a venue in the nation's capital for all who care about the human past to make history an essential part of public conversations about current events and the shared futures of the United States and the wider world.
What Should We Do With Confederate Monuments?
At the National History Center’s briefing on the history of Civil War monuments, congressional staffers engaged with historians about the Confederate monument controversy. Historians talked about the context in which Civil War monuments were constructed and what they came to symbolize.
If you missed the event, you can view a recording in C-SPAN’s video library. And, you can check out Director Dane Kennedy’s blog post on the briefing “What Should We Do With Confederate Monuments?”
Is Civilian Control of the Military Eroding?
President Trump’s appointment of military generals to powerful positions usually held by civilians has prompted concern that civilian control of the military is eroding. Our latest Congressional briefing brought several prominent historians to Capitol Hill to provide perspectives on this subject. You can view a recording of this event in our video library. Center director Dane Kennedy recently recapped the event for the AHA Today blog, and hiss summary can be found here.
The Impossible Presidency with Jeremi Suri
At the Wm. Roger Louis Lecture, Jeremi Suri addressed the Washington History Seminar about his work The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office. In this talk, he delivered a new history of the American presidency from the founding era to the present day, arguing that the early successes of the office created dangerous temptations and unrealistic expectations for recent leaders. You can view a recording of the event here, in our Video Library.