Bernard A. Weisberger
Bernard A. Weisberger, distinguished former history professor of Wayne State University and the Universities of Chicago and Rochester, was the associate editor of American Heritage from 1970 to 1972. He recently authored When Chicago Ruled Baseball: The Cubs-White Sox World Series of 1906 (William Morrow 2006), and has also written Reporters for the Union, a study of Civil War newspapermen.
Articles by this Contributor
September 1993
The sad lessons of 1919 are eloquent about today’s endlessly wretched situation in the Balkans
October 1993
First Ladies have been under fire ever since Albert Gallatin called Abigail Adams “Mrs. President”
November 1993
Terrorists armed with high explosives have been busy on our shores lately. America has weathered such attacks before.
December 1993
“Ten thousand River Commissions,” wrote Mark Twain, “cannot tame that lawless stream.” But James Eads came close.
February/March 1994
They had the perfect remedy for the bloated bureaucracy: the civil service
February/March 1994
It’s a politician’s bromide—and it also happens to be a profound truth. No war, no national crisis, has left a greater impress on the American psyche than the successive waves of new arrivals that quite literally built the country. Now that arguments against immigration are rising again, it is well to remember that every single one of them has been heard before.

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Why do we need a national nonprofit membership society for American history?
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“Save America’s Treasures” has been totally eliminated—the largest Federal program supporting preservation of such treasures as the original Star Spangled Banner and George Washington’s tent.
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65% of Americans don’t know what happened at the Constitutional Convention, according to a recent survey by Newsweek.
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The “Teaching American History” grants—the largest Federal program supporting history education—have been completely eliminated.
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Visits to the Top 20 Civil War battlefields have dropped in half from 1970 to 2009 according to official National Park Service statistics.
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40% of Americans can’t identify whom we fought in World War II, according to a recent survey by Newsweek.
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A quarter of Americans believe Congress shares power over U.S. foreign policy with the United Nations, according to a recent Annenberg survey.
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“There is little that is more important for an American citizen to know than the history and traditions of his country,” John F. Kennedy wrote in American Heritage.
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The “We the People Program,” which touched some 30 million students and 90,000 teachers over 25 years, has been completely eliminated.
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Two-thirds of Americans could not correctly name Yorktown as the last major military action of the American Revolution, according to a recent national Gallup survey.
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The National Heritage Areas and Scenic Byways program, the only major Federal program encouraging visits to historic places, has been completely eliminated in Congressional committee.




