Skip to main content

David Brion Davis

April 2023
1min read


Sterling Professor of History, Yale University

Most overrated:

Ronald Reagan. Because he has been so appallingly overrated, he has somehow managed to win two presidential elections. As a result, our system of constitutional democracy has been more seriously threatened, in Irangate, than at any time since the Civil War. Our economy is on the brink of disaster. We’ve been launched on an insane trajectory toward Star Wars. Above all, public life has become so addicted to fantasy and illusion that it may take decades before the nation has restored its sense of priorities.

Most underrated:

John Quincy Adams. Also, George Marshall. Both were patriots in the best sense of the word, brave men with vision and a commitment to the public good, not seekers of celebrity and public adulation.

We hope you enjoy our work.

Please support this 72-year tradition of trusted historical writing and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to American Heritage.

Donate

Stories published from "July/August 1988"

Authored by: Fredric Smoler

VINTAGE 1929
Gallows Humor from the First October Catastrophe

Authored by: The Editors

Two Hundred and Twenty-five Years Ago

Authored by: The Editors

One Hundred and Fifty Years Ago

Authored by: The Editors

One Hundred and Twenty-five Years Ago

Authored by: The Editors

One Hundred Years Ago

Authored by: The Editors

Seventy-five Years Ago

Authored by: The Editors

Twenty-five Years Ago

Authored by: The Editors

Fitz Hugh Lane’s seemingly traditional harbor scenes are now considered pioneering works of a unique artistic movement

Authored by: Edward Hoagland

He lived alone for two years in a small cabin on Walden Pond, but he was neither misanthropic nor solitary. Perhaps more than any other American writer, he can teach us how to live with ourselves.

Authored by: Fredric Smoler

A lifelong student of military history and affairs says that nuclear weapons have made the idea of war absurd. And it is precisely when everyone agrees that war is absurd that one gets started.

Featured Articles

The world’s most prominent actress risked her career by standing up to one of Hollywood’s mega-studios, proving that behind the beauty was also a very savvy businesswoman. 

Rarely has the full story been told about how a famed botanist, a pioneering female journalist, and First Lady Helen Taft battled reluctant bureaucrats to bring Japanese cherry trees to Washington. 

Often thought to have been a weak president, Carter was strong-willed in doing what he thought was right, regardless of expediency or the political fallout.

Why have thousands of U.S. banks failed over the years? The answers are in our history and politics.

In his Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln embodied leading in a time of polarization, political disagreement, and differing understandings of reality.