60th Anniversary Issue
Features
A bold dream to connect the Hudson to the Great Lakes by canal created a transportation revolution
In one momentous decision, Robert E. Lee spared the United States years of divisive violence
Critical decisions by the Chief Justice saved the Supreme Court’s independence—and made possible its wide-ranging role today
A magazine reporter covered the first American deaths in Vietnam, unaware that the soon-to-explode war would mark America’s awakening to maturity
Although a draw, the fight between the Monitor and Virginia decisively ushered in the modern era
Only by luck and happenstance did Britain’s first permanent settlement in the New World survive
Forty seven years ago, the president wrote for American Heritage that the study of history is no mere pastime but the means by which a nation establishes its sense of identity and purpose
During demonstrations in Birmingham, Martin Luther King Jr. took perhaps the most fateful decision made during the civil rights era
A diminutive, persuasive Virginian hijacked the Constitutional Convention and forced the moderates to accept a national government with vastly expanded powers
Spain’s attack on Fort Caroline and brutal slaughter of its inhabitants ended France’s colonial interests on the East Coast
More than a million children participated in the Salk poliomyelitis vaccine trials of 1954, the largest public health experiment in American History
The British seize Manhattan from the Dutch—and alter the trajectory of North American history
In 1917, fed up with the inaction of conservative suffragists, Alice Paul decided on the unorthodox strategy of pressuring the president directly
A Great Lakes Indian rebellion against the British changed the balance forever between Indian and colonist
Practical rather than idealistic reasons pushed President Kennedy to challenge America to land a man on the moon within the decade
Only hours after being sworn in, Lincoln faced the most momentous decision in presidential history
In only minutes, Union guns at Gettysburg silenced the Confederacy's bold invasion of the North
Banker J. P. Morgan rescued the dollar and bailed out the nation
After Watson tweaked a transmitter reed, Bell invented the telephone
Badly disguised as Indians, a rowdy group of patriotic vandals kicked a revolution into motion
World War I marked the first time that U.S. soldiers would sail east to decide a major European war
The telegraph was an even more dramatic innovation in its day than the Internet
While lauded for their 1903 flight, the Wright brothers were not convinced of their airplane’s reliability to sustain long, controlled flights until October 1905
Lincoln’s bid for reelection in 1864 faced serious challenges from a popular opponent and a nation weary of war
Civil War Chronicles
Lincoln’s oration at New York’s Cooper Union showed that the prairie lawyer could play in the...
Departments
Book Reviews
Editor’s Letter
Key to Cover Illustration
Letters to the Editor
Reflections
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American Association for State and Local 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.