Historian, Hayes Chair @OhioState Mershon Ctr Carnegie Fellow 6 Books: Ideology in US Foreign Relations, Rethinking American Grand Strategy, Promise & Peril. Isolationism, Internationalism, Globalization. ⚾️
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Not only were they scalding milk, they were also boiling or cooking most things to well done to prevent gastrointestinal issues. Why? Because gastro issues were a common cause of death. Bad water, bad food, and disease were all primary causes of death. Hence the safety regs now getting tossed out
📣We have kicked off todays US Foreign Policy Working Group annual conference @ucl.ac.uk Our first two panels of the day: -U.S. Hegemony and the Changing World Order is chaired by @cmcknichols.bsky.social -Strategic Cultures and Identity in US Foreign Policy is chaired by @usempire.bsky.social
🎉It has been a day of vibrant discussions here at the US Foreign Policy Working Group annual conference! 🔑We close the day with a key note from @cmcknichols.bsky.social which provides an insightful overview into the current state of American foreign policy and the history behind it.
Check out @renatakeller.bsky.social Fate of the Americas, it is great, really important as it represents the first hemispheric history of the Cuban Missile Crisis! 🗃️ @uncpress.bsky.social #UNCPress #InterConnections @shafrhistorians.bsky.social @slaslatam.bsky.social uncpress.org/978146968943...
YAY! Congratulations!
Chinese military's technological acumen, research & development, production were all on display in that military parade. Whether or not they can integrate new technologies effectively is a crucial question, but no matter what, they are risen major military-tech power w/clear deterrence capacity.
All bad. But that this means cutting all funding for international education and foreign language is such a disaster for US international education broadly define, research, US diplomacy. Put simply: these cuts undermine longterm US national security.
If you're in London on Friday September 5th, at University College London dive into United States Foreign Policy in a Post-Unipolar World. I'm honored to keynote on the timely topic of American Unilateralism. @mybisa.bsky.social #BISA @ucl.ac.uk #UCL 🗃️ www.bisa.ac.uk/members/work...
Exactly! Great advice.
As students in grades 6-12 start school, I hope some of them are thinking about their National History Day projects. Here are some suggestions for making a compelling project. 🗃️ historyprofessor.org/miscellaneou...
Here’s today’s thread once more for the evening crowd. Please reshare to get all this great work to all the folks, thanks! @hcrichardson.bsky.social 🗃️
National Security as concept & as practice is far from timeless | Its creation transformed the meaning of defense + the role of the federal gov't. See Total Defense: The New Deal and the Invention of National Security by Andrew Preston Harvard University Press🗃️ www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...
And critically, "It was a mutation with enormous consequences for non-Americans on the receiving end of “total defense,” too."
"As he shows, the words “national security” had barely passed American lips before the 1930s, & the “catchy new term” did not “describe existing policies of national defense." Rather, it emerged when it did because Americans needed 'to describe a totally new way of thinking about national defense.'”
"Preston starts by pushing back at the idea that “national security” is a necessary fixture of American thinking, either because it is an eternal problem of states or because it dates to deep in the mist of the country’s history."
Our fearless leader @herberthistory.bsky.social is still on fire duty so that leaves hosting duty to me this week! See you tonight at 7 CT for historians at the movies #HATM watching SWING KIDS on Prime. 🗃️
Been meaning to read this piece by @samuelmoyn.bsky.social, digging in now re: a tangent of a project of mine on American #unilateralism, worth a look for sure 🗃️
Thrilled to be celebrating Prof Joe Parrott Sept 4 with a book launch event for his book Dream the Size of Freedom: How African Liberation Mobilized New Left Internationalism (Penn Press, 2025) in the International History Seminar @mershoncenter.bsky.social 🗃️ mershoncenter.osu.edu/events/inter...
Opinion There's money to feed Ohio's online students lunch. They shouldn't be going hungry Ohio public eschool students are not eligible for free or reduced lunch programs, despite meeting income requirements. by Traci Woodard www.dispatch.com/story/opinio...
Kent State University students, wearing all black, marched across campus Wednesday, holding a “funeral” for the now-shuttered LGBTQ+ Center, Women's Center and Multicultural Center that they say state legislators killed with Senate Bill 1. by Conor Morris www.ideastream.org/education/20...
Reflecting on what a life well lived means. Happy in parenthood. On this day, missing some of my most beloved ones, who helped to make so much of who and what I am today ... ❤️
Petition: ohiostudentassociation.org/take-action?...
Wore my black, taught my students... great day!
#SB1BLACKOUT
Honored to be a part of this first-ever @shgape.bsky.social Conference, in Chicago in June 2026, check it out, apply, attend, present, discuss!🗃️
Call for submissions! SHGAPE's Presidents' Book Prize is awarded for the best book treating any aspect of US #history, 1865-1920s. Must be author’s 2nd or subsequent scholarly book. Deadline is Oct 31. Full details: www.shgape.org/prizes-award... #Skystorians #HistorySky #GildedAge #ProgressiveEra
Funding opportunity! The SHGAPE #ResearchGrant awards $1,500 to one recipient. Any US #history topic, 1865-1920s. Limited to advanced PhD students, independent scholars, & contingent faculty who are SHGAPE members. Deadline is Oct 31. Full details: shgape.org/prizes-award... #Skystorians #HistorySky
This CFP looks so good. The program committee includes @pastpunditry.bsky.social @gauthamrao.bsky.social @rachelshelden.bsky.social & other luminaries. Via @legalhistoryblog.bsky.social legalhistoryblog.blogspot.com/2025/08/cfp-...
Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations @shafrhistorians.bsky.social Summer Institute at The Ohio State University @mershoncenter.bsky.social on "strategic cultures" June 2026, advanced PhD students & early career scholars all welcome, please apply -> CFP: www.shafr.org/index.php?op...
But ... What If the Political Pendulum Doesn’t Swing Back? newrepublic.com/article/1975... via @newrepublic.com
Historians are being routinely punched in the head regarding current events. We see patterns. BIG scary patterns. But…our historically informed gut instinct is hard to transplant. I’ll keep trying. More on the Revolution soon…
We are fighting about what we want the US to be. Five years ago, I wrote this article on how history—real-life fact based history—can help in the crisis of now. It’s even MORE relevant today. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
The gift link didn’t work last time. Hopefully it does this time… www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
🗃️📷📸
AHA member David Blight (Yale Univ.) was interviewed on CNN about the sweeping review of the Smithsonian ordered by President Trump. “They want to try to roll back about 60–70 years of historical scholarship. . . . They call it ‘wokeness.’ We call it good history.” 🗃️
The AHA has signed on to the @acls1919.bsky.social’s Statement Regarding the White House Review of Smithsonian Institution Museums. The review “supersedes the oversight of professional scholars and makes the museums tools of the presidential administration.” 🗃️
Lincoln Heritage Museum responds to Trump. More of this, please. 🗃️
Where's the "more speech" we were promised?
US foreign policy in the post-unipolar world?! Come on out in London at UCL on September 5th! Honored to be chairing and commenting, plus providing a keynote talk on the timely topic of the past and present of American unilateralism. 🗃️
Wow, what a great book and lineup!
A fabulous @warontherocks.bsky.social piece by James Graham Wilson about the release of new FRUS volume National Security Policy, 1985–1988. As he notes, the declassified docs empower readers to interpret the Reagan administration's Strategic Defense Initiative & modernization of strategic forces 🗃️
JOB: History of South Asia at Baruch College ("priority will go to scholars specializing in the premodern to early modern periods")🗃️
Come to think of it, when I arrived on campus in 2022 and the fall semester was ramping up I recall seeing chalked welcome to Buckeye Nation signs and friendly words and smiley faces from campus orgs and groups ... And then there's Woody Hayes' final chalk thoughts, saved for yrs, never erased!
Oh no, wow!
Guatemala’s Historical Archive of the National Police, "long associated with the struggle for transitional justice and historical memory" has become "a casualty of intense government hostility," suffering from drastically reduced funding & restrictions on public access, per @nsarchive.bsky.social 🗃️
I mean, as someone who spends a lot of time on the OSU campus and other campuses too, there's little political chalking, most of it is for things like bake sales to support worthy causes, campus groups, for nonpartisan civic engagement ... what is going on with these blanket limitations to speech?
Are you a professor who was involved in DEI prior to SB 1? It could be a DEI office, center, or even being an advisor to a student group. There is research being conducted about the changing landscape in places like Ohio. If you are willing to participate, please send a message to sara@ocaaup.org.
First the OSU Administration removed amplified sound last year while tightening and limiting time and space regulations to curtail (non-sports) gatherings/protests/etc. ... Now chalking has been forbidden on campus for students at Ohio State. What will be next? www.nbc4i.com/news/local-n...
So when we think of this era these sorts of ends and foreclosures and attacks on expertise and public service are worth considering, because most likely this will come back to haunt others ... and us all. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/08...
Wait, Cuomo is the Trump candidate? Not at all sure that is good in NY, says this born and raised NY'er ... And that is ... positive?? according to Cuomo in seeking help since he already lost the primary. After scandal + loss. In NYC & state?! ... no thanks. Hmmm ... www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/n...
Can you imagine focusing on "how bad slavery was"?
So when we think of this era these sorts of ends and foreclosures and attacks on expertise and public service are worth considering, because most likely this will come back to haunt others ... and us all. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/08...
Who needs science, what has it ever done for human beings or even nation states, amirite?
And these are just SOME of the lingering questions. Which is an acute reminder of what historically bad diplomacy + summitry this seems to have been...better versions include groundwork laid by subordinates, clear talking points, asks + leverage, red lines, provisional compromises, & much more...🗃️
I know, right? Gordon Gee!
Love this too much not to add here...
There's just no room for chalking at OSU. And as for that competition with Michigan... I guess free speech there also will have to suffer?
He's back, back again ... in a consulting role split across three units: Gordon Gee. www.dispatch.com/story/news/l...
Guess. Who. Is. Back?? At THE Ohio State University...
I don’t like the phrasing the spokesperson used. The clip was about repealing the 19th Amendment, which bars states from turning away potential voters due to their sex. The statement is about women’s right to vote. There’s a lot of room there to think states should decide if women can vote. 🗃️
Recommending @shgape.bsky.social. Take a look at the Society for Historians of the Gilded Age & Progressive Era (SHGAPE). Awards, grants, amazing research + publication opportunities, including the Journal of the Gilded Age & Progressive Era-now a conference in summer 2026 in Chicago🗃️ www.shgape.org
At this campus, apparently, students and others can tape or mark over "M's" on university signage with impunity (ahem, in service of the rivalry with that university up north, Michigan!), but they can't chalk about a bake sale much less a meeting, movie, or politics. Make sense to you?
OSU spokesman in here makes no effort to defend the chalking ban on the merits and blandly asserts, “The Ohio State University is committed to protecting free speech and expression on our campuses” - no, you aren’t! That’s a lie. You’re going to fine and punish students for their free expression!
Come on! No chalking at all at a public university? Ridiculous.
The OAH has joined organizations nationwide in calling for action to support NPS sites and a full, honest, approach to our collective history. 📜 Find out how you can make a difference: ow.ly/7HLL50WG6vL
Summit time begins 3pm ET - where will the hardline with Russia on Ukraine go? And what might be the effects on US-Russian and other relations elsewhere? @foreignpolicy.com
🗃️ Excited about @shgape.bsky.social first stand-alone conference. If anyone wants to collaborate on a panel idea, please reach out. Maybe a panel on the 1920s and how to frame it within the Progressive Era. "Long(er) Progressive Era" "Last Gasp of Progressivism" "Progressive Era's Aftershocks"
Ha! Love it.
It will surprise almost no one closely following higher education that between state & federal attacks, a demographic dip (w/fewer college age people in the US), & uni + college (in)actions, in many places higher ed is cutting + shifting toward austerity www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/u...
“Ohio State faculty said the school is not doing enough to protect students and staff amid legislative changes, calling out President Ted Carter for remarks made in a recent interview. ‘The compliant posture of the current administration…threatened academic freedom,’” @osuaaup.bsky.social said.
More coverage of @osuaaup.bsky.social’s statement about the lack of leadership from Ohio State University administrators in the face of the massive national and local attacks on higher education and academic freedom
What?! No it was not but really should been much more major news...
Cbus Dispatch (sub) "OSU President Ted Carter said ... on the CBS "Face the Nation" program that the university is better positioned than some of its peers under the Trump administration... Some Ohio State faculty members, however, criticized Carter's statements." www.dispatch.com/story/news/e...
WOSU/NPR "The Ohio State chapter of the American Association of University Professors released a letter on its website this week criticizing Ohio State President Ted Carter's remarks on CBS's "Face The Nation."" www.wosu.org/news/2025-08...
AAUP-OSU Stands for Academic Freedom, what will OSU leadership be doing beyond words in the coming academic year? Worth a read, Ohio State University's AAUP @osuaaup.bsky.social @aaup.org chapter responds to OSU's Ted Carter's appearance on "Face the Nation" www.ohiostateaaup.org/uploads/1/3/...
Kate Masur and Gregory P. Downs write about NPS in #AHAPerspectives: “Our work convinced us of the deep professionalism and curiosity of many NPS officials and of the enormous benefits of working closely with the NPS in the sometimes-painstaking process of changing official interpretations.” 🗃️
Well, I keep getting there for free/not paywalled on different, devices? ... but also let me check on that, thanks. foreignpolicy.com/2025/08/04/a...
My latest in @foreignpolicy.com co-written with @mershoncenter.bsky.social visiting fellow Eda Ayaydin: Deeper U.S. Cooperation With Russia Is Coming in the Arctic The limits of Washington's new hard-line policy toward Russia are becoming visible. #SHAFR 🗃️ foreignpolicy.com/2025/08/04/a...
Who lost the information war with China and what are some of the likely consequences? @semafor.com @semaforben.bsky.social w/a quote from me www.semafor.com/article/08/0...
Fascinating historic predications of the future, mostly dystopian, almost always wrong, but with intriguing insights into expectations, assumptions, values, along with keen insights into the elements that did come to fruition...how their future, our past & present, has played out. Love this genre🗃️
The president removed the BLS chief for declining to support a factually insupportable cheery jobs picture in 1932. 🗃️ erauchway.github.io/posts/stewar...
just registered for @susih.bsky.social 2025 in Detroit! #USIH2025 www.eventbrite.com/e/usih-confe...
It feels like we should be making a bigger deal of “we actually did in fact find a cure for AIDS”
Love it, thanks!
New Deal relief in the territories, 1933 🗃️ erauchway.github.io/posts/relief...
Wow earliest known baseball card, 1865, looks like a great baseball history exhibit at the Library of Congress🗃️ www.loc.gov/exhibitions/...
Thrilled to announce exceptional fall 2025 lineup for the International History Seminar (IHS) @mershoncenter.bsky.social @osuhistory.bsky.social at Ohio State Sept 4 Joe Parrott book panel + launch, Oct 27 Renata Keller, Nov 13 David Glovsky, Dec 4 Molly Wood 🗃️ mershoncenter.osu.edu/research/int...
If you are an advanced PhD student working on US foreign relations or early career scholar in the area, check this out and consider applying to the #SHAFR Summer Institute being hosted by the @mershoncenter.bsky.social at The Ohio State University in June 2026🗃️: mershoncenter.osu.edu/events/socie...
I'd venture to say every historian is always honing that craft, which is why it so damn hard AND not easily outsourced to AI or those without training, those who don't understand or willfully resist disciplinary methods and insights ...
Reading quite frightening national security forecasts on AI in the next five years, timing for takeoff, US-China relations, alignment, data centers, energy use, R&D, coding, hacking, bioweapons, treaties & international politics ... a key takeaway is we need serious international dialogue now.
You are spot on. Also absent here is an understanding of the archive(s), how much data is not available publicly, or only appears in extremely limited ways that won't be useful in training AIs...then, how critical creative lenses of analysis you note are to interpreting + synthesizing that data.
Your Dog and Cat in Wartime🗃️
One basic source of representative democracy on campus is the faculty Senate. So it's telling the DOJ is specifically targeting faculty Senate members. Meanwhile AEI is firmly in the "faculty were asking for it" mode. www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...
Just to reiterate: What this administration is doing right now is orders of magnitude more dangerous for academic freedom and free speech than anything the right has spent the last 30 years complaining about.
Re-upping on favorite Reconstruction books with 🗃️ and @shgape.bsky.social
ha!
ha!
Another semester, another moment to thank that guy from Rice University who made that syllabus maker thing. I love you wcaleb.rice.edu/syllabusmake...
Yes, we're delighted to be doing the one in 2026 Aaaand pleased to announce that the Mershon Center @mershoncenter.bsky.social and OSU are doing it again in 2028!