Amid escalating partisan battles over American history, three former presidents are joining with historians and other prominent figures from across the political spectrum, in an online history essay series aimed at exploring the resilience of American democracy.
In Pursuit, as the project is called, will kick off on Presidents’ Day next year, with an essay by George W. Bush on George Washington, the only U.S. president who did not represent a political party. The series, which will be freely available on Substack, will run forward chronologically through the other presidents, and include Barack Obama writing on Abraham Lincoln and Bill Clinton on Theodore Roosevelt.
The rest of the authors will be a bipartisan mix, including Chief Justice John Roberts, the Fox News anchor Bret Baier, General Stanley McChrystal and seven Pulitzer Prize-winning historians. There will also be essays on some first ladies, with contributions from Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Michelle Obama.
The project is led by Colleen Shogan, a former archivist of the United States. In an interview, she described it as an attempt to provide accessible, high quality, historical content relating to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence next summer.
Dr. Shogan, who was recruited for the project after being fired from the National Archives by President Trump in February, said it was also a display of faith in the battered ideal of nonpartisan history.
“This is designed not to be partisan, not to be divisive, not to be ideological in any way,” she said. “I think that has been evident from the people we have been able to recruit.”
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The post As Partisans Battle Over History, Former Presidents Try Another Tack appeared first on New York Times.
