Tag Archives: US History

NH “Loyalty” Bill Bans Teaching “Negative” US History

The Concord Monitor reports: Just one year after New Hampshire legislators first introduced a bill that banned the teaching or discussion of “divisive concepts” like systemic racism, another bill will be debated this legislative session that would take those restrictions further. The proposed bill, HB 1255, is titled “An Act Relative to Teachers’ Loyalty,’ and seeks to ban public school …

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43% Of GOP Voters Oppose Teaching History Of Racism

The Hill reports: Forty-three percent of Republican respondents in a new poll say that they oppose schools teaching about the “history of racism.” The Monmouth University poll released Wednesday found that 43 percent of survey takers that identified as Republicans said that they are against the teaching of historical racism in public schools, as opposed to only 5 percent of …

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Former President Jimmy Carter Marks 97th Birthday

ABC News reports: Ex-President Jimmy Carter, the oldest former U.S. chief executive ever, will quietly mark his 97th birthday at home in southwest Georgia on Friday, an aide said. Slowed by age in recent years and keeping a low profile during the coronavirus pandemic, Carter doesn’t plan on any public appearances, said press secretary Deanna Congelio. Workers at the Jimmy …

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AL To Purge Racist Language From State Constitution

The Birmingham News reports: An advisory panel for a voter-approved effort to make changes to the 120-year-old Alabama Constitution is studying three sections that had racist language or racist intent. The Committee on the Recompilation of the Constitution held a public hearing at the State House on Friday. The committee did not make recommendations because it is still receiving public …

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CA Parole Panel Approves Release Of RFK’s Assassin

The Washington Post reports: A California parole board panel on Friday voted in favor of Sirhan B. Sirhan’s request for release from prison on parole, 53 years after he was arrested and convicted of the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, finding that he was no longer a threat to society, according to Sirhan’s brother, one of Kennedy’s sons and …

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Biden Robot Debuts At Disney’s Hall Of Presidents

The Orlando Sentinel reports: The Hall of Presidents has reopened at Walt Disney World with President Joe Biden front and center at the Magic Kingdom attraction. Biden’s animatronic is seen reciting the presidential oath of office as his 44 predecessors look on. “I, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. … ” the short spiel begins. Biden recorded the words in the White …

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Historians Rank Trump As Fourth-Worst President

The Hill reports: Former President Trump is the fourth lowest ranking U.S. president, according to C-SPAN’s 2021 President Historians Survey. C-SPAN’s survey, first conducted in 2000, includes 142 historians, professors and other professional observers of the presidency who gave all former presidents a score from one to 10 in multiple different leadership characteristics. The results are then averaged to tabulate …

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120 GOP Reps Vote To Keep Confederate Statues

CBS News reports: The House on Tuesday approved legislation to remove statues of Confederate officials from the U.S. Capitol, as well as a bust of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, who wrote the Supreme Court’s infamous Dred Scott decision in 1857 that ruled Black people were not entitled to citizenship. The legislation passed with a vote of 285 to 120, …

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States Scramble To Shut Offices For Juneteenth Holiday

CNN reports: States across the country are scrambling to close their government offices Friday after President Joe Biden signed legislation establishing Juneteenth as a US federal holiday. While June 19 — which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States — falls on a Saturday this year, governors across the country announced in quick succession a range of plans …

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Biden Signs Bill Making Juneteenth A Federal Holiday

The Washington Post reports: President Biden, having returned to the White House from his first trip abroad as president, plans Thursday to sign into law a bill creating a federal holiday to commemorate Juneteenth, the day marking the end of slavery in Texas. Because June 19 falls on a Saturday this year, most federal employees will get this Friday off. …

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Senate Unanimously Passes Bill For Juneteenth Holiday

The Washington Post reports: The Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed a measure that would establish a federal holiday for Juneteenth, the day that marks the end of slavery in the United States. The bill now heads to the Democratic-led House, where it is likely to be approved, although the timing remains uncertain. Unanimous Senate passage of the bill was an …

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Biden To Mark Anniversary Of Tulsa Race Massacre

The Washington Post reports: Biden plans to travel to Oklahoma on Tuesday to mark the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the ravaging of a once-prosperous Black business district and neighborhood by a White mob that stands as one of the worst episodes of racial violence in U.S. history. In addition to delivering an address, Biden is scheduled to …

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Internet Buzzes Over Odd Photo Of Bidens And Carters

The Washington Post reports: On first glance, the photograph seems typical enough. President Biden and first lady Jill Biden kneel beside their predecessors in the White House, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, during a trip to Georgia last week. But look closer at the image — a snapshot of two Democratic leaders with a decades-long alliance — and something appears to …

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Live Video: President Biden’s First Address To Congress

CNN reports: A highly engaged writer, President Biden has spent hours debating the language and themes of his speech with his team, according to people familiar with his preparation. He has also consulted with members of his family. He has reviewed drafts and sent back handwritten revisions in the margins, along with dictating portions of his speech during writing sessions …

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Biden’s Speech To Congress To Feature Many Firsts

The Washington Post reports: Biden’s speech, to be delivered on the eve of his 100th day in office, will look very different from past presidential speeches, with no guests, no designated survivor and fewer than half of lawmakers allowed to attend in person. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the first lady will attend but will not be surrounded …

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BREAKING: Former VP Walter Mondale Dies At Age 93

The Washington Post reports: Walter F. Mondale, the former Democratic senator and vice president whose unusually candid and forward-looking bid for the pinnacle of American politics was blocked by President Ronald Reagan’s landslide reelection victory in 1984, died April 19 at his home in Minneapolis. He was 93. Family friend and spokeswoman Kathy Tunheim announced the death but did not …

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National Portrait Gallery To Get Painting Of Trump

The Washingtonian reports: When the National Portrait Gallery reopens in the coming months, there will be a new face greeting visitors in the America’s Presidents gallery: that of Donald J. Trump. The permanent exhibit has a painting of every former commander-in-chief, so the inclusion of a Trump portrait isn’t a surprise. But that likeness won’t be Trump’s official portrait—the specially …

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Watergate Mastermind G. Gordon Liddy Dies At 90

NBC News reports: G. Gordon Liddy, the political operative who supervised the Watergate burglary, which brought down President Richard Nixon, died Tuesday, his family said. He was 90. Liddy’s family said in a statement that he died Tuesday morning at his daughter’s home in Mount Vernon, Virginia. His son, James, said that the cause was not related to Covid-19, and …

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Smithsonian Acquires Vial From First US Vaccine Dose

The Associated Press reports: The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History has acquired the vial that contained the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine administered in the United States as part of its plans to document the global pandemic and “this extraordinary period we were going through.” The acquisition, along with other materials related to that first vaccine dose, was announced …

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Dem Bill Would Honor RBG With Capitol Hill Monument

ABC News reports: Democratic lawmakers have offered legislation to build a monument on Capitol Hill to honor Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who became a liberal icon during her years on the high court and died in September. The House bill was sponsored by Rep. Lois Frankel (Fla.) along with Reps. ackie Speier (Calif.), Brenda Lawrence (Mich.), Veronica Escobar …

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