Trusted Writing on History, Travel, and American Culture Since 1949
February 2023
Editor's Note: David O. Stewart has published five books of American history, including studies of Presidents George Washington, James Madison, and Andrew Johnson, and is a frequent contributor to American Heritage. His fifth historical novel, The Burning Land, is due this spring and follows the Civil War and postwar experience of a soldier in the 20th Maine Infantry regiment. While we do not typically publish footnotes, we have included them for this essay to help readers and future researchers.
Editor’s Note: Kai Bird won a Pulitzer Prize for American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. He adapted the following essay from his most recent book, The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter.
Jimmy Carter was perhaps our most enigmatic president. He is often celebrated for what he achieved in his four-decade-long post-presidency. Conservatives and liberals alike accord him the accolade of “the best ex-presi dent.” But most citizens and the punditocracy routinely label his a “failed” presidency, ostensibly because he failed to win reelection.
Editor's Note: Linda Hirshman is a lawyer, cultural historian, and author of several books. Portions of the following essay appear in her latest work, The Color of Abolition: How a Printer, a Prophet, and a Contessa Moved a Nation, which chronicles the fascinating alliance between the abolitionists Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, and Maria Weston Chapman.
