The Presidential Greatness Project, led by Professors Brandon Rottinghaus and Justin Vaughn, is a research effort that evaluates U.S. presidents through the lens of expert scholars in the field of presidential politics. Every few years, these scholars weigh in on which presidents exemplify greatness based on their leadership, historical significance, and legacy. In 2024, not surprisingly, Abraham Lincoln still holds...

I first heard about John Gilbert Winant several years ago in Concord, New Hampshire, while I was teaching a class on ethics. My co-captain, Professor Stephen Ambra, spoke admiringly of the three-term Republican governor of the state. However, the most compelling part of Winant’s story unfolded during his time abroad, serving as the U.S. Ambassador to England. In 1941, Democrat...

On this anniversary of 9/11, let’s take a moment to remember those we lost and honor the heroes who ran toward danger. It was a day that tested so many who put their lives on the line to save others and brought out the best in us—courage, compassion, duty, and a sense of unity that crossed all divides. As we...

In 63 BCE, Rome was facing an internal crisis that threatened to destroy the Republic. Roman senator Lucius Sergius Catilina, known as Catiline, was conspiring to overthrow the government. With the help of a coalition of the discontented, his plan included violent uprisings and the assassination of several leading senators and political figures, including Cicero, Rome’s famed philosopher and statesman....

Legend has it that a man once approached the Jewish sage Hillel the Elder with a challenge: if he could sum up the principles of Judaism in a single sentence, the man would convert. Hillel responded, “What is hateful to thee, do not unto thy fellow man: this is the whole of the law; the rest is commentary.” Hillel’s words...

In the midst of relentless hyper-partisanship and division, I wondered what Abraham Lincoln’s take would be. Here’s what he might have said. “America can be likened to a magnificent tapestry,” he said, “with each individual thread contributing to the overall fabric of our nation. No single thread holds more power than another. If our citizens come together with unwavering faith...

After the unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, Franklin Roosevelt declared, “No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.” Eighty years ago, hours before the D-Day invasion, Allied General Dwight D. Eisenhower issued his Order of the Day. “Soldiers, Sailors,...

She’s called the Statue of Freedom, not to be confused with the Statue of Liberty which rests on Liberty Island in New York’s Bay. She stands 19 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs 15,000 pounds. She wears a helmet composed of an eagle’s head and feathers. Her right-hand rests on a sheathed sword as she holds a shield and laurel...

While the Gettysburg Address is one of the most remembered and well-regarded, it was not Lincoln’s greatest speech. His second inaugural address was far superior and can be viewed as a prophecy for today’s divided nation: “On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought...

“Duty is ours. Results are God’s.”—John Quincy Adams In 1806, after a series of attacks by Britain on American ships carrying goods, Massachusetts Senator John Quincy Adams and his colleagues were outraged. American sailors were being captured and “impressed” into the King’s navy. When the American frigate Chesapeake was fired upon by a British ship, Adams was so incensed he...