AMERICAN HERITAGE

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.

How the Cherry Blossoms Came to Washington

by Edwin S. Grosvenor

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.

Reconsidering Jimmy Carter

by Kai Bird

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.

Bank Failures: As American as Apple Pie

by John Steele Gordon

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

Classic Essays from Our Archives

The Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson, by Herbert Hoover

The future President, who was an aide to Wilson, describes how the Allies bickered at the peace talks after World War I.

Remembering Gen. Patton, by John Eisenhower

Ike's son, who served under Patton, shares his memories of "Ol' Blood and Guts"

American Heritage: History around the web

Growing Up Colored, by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

The noted writer and educator recalls his boyhood in the West Virginia town of Piedmont.

A Yankee Among the War Lords, by Barbara Tuchman

The first of a three-part series on the Gen. "Vinegar Joe" Stillwell in China, by the Pulitzer Prize winning historian

The Man of the Century, by Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

Of all the Allied leaders, argues FDR's biographer, only Roosevelt saw clearly the shape of the new world order.

My Time in the Horse-Drawn Artillery, by Dean Acheson

The former Secretary of State recalls his time as a "driver" in the Army before World War I.

Today in History

18th amendment ratified

Nebraska becomes the 36th state to ratify the Eighteenth Amendment, establishing prohibition in the United States. The ban on alcohol would go into effect a year later, on January 20, 1920.
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General Halleck born

Union General Henry Halleck is born in Westernville, New York. Halleck, nicknamed "Old Brains", served as general-in-chief of the Union Army for two years but frequently quarreled with other generals such as George McClellan. Halleck oversaw the total war campaigns waged by Generals Grant and Sherman in the last years of the Civil War.
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Pendleton Civil Service Act

President Chester A. Arthur signs the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act into law, instituting the largest civil service reform in American history. Following the assassination of President Garfield in 1881, Arthur became a major proponent of a merit-based bureaucracy.
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