How America Broke Up With the Democratic Party

By Thom Hartmann / Independent Media Institute Dec 17, 2019 Like a partner who wants to repair a damaged relationship, Democrats must return to core principles and stay faithful to them. Dig deeper ( 14 Min. Read )

Yes, Our Health System Is Broken, but Broken Systems Can Be Fixed

By Bill Moyers / Moyers and Company Jul 31, 2017 Watching the failure of another GOP effort to deprive millions of their medical care, I recalled a very different scenario under then-President Lyndon B. Johnson. Dig deeper ( 12 Min. Read )

Tonkin at 50: One of Those Times America Lied to Go to War

Peter Z. Scheer / Truthdig Aug 5, 2014 The Vietnam War began in earnest 50 years ago this Monday, when two U.S. ships off the coast of Vietnam began shooting at ghosts. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

All the Presidents’ Bankers: The Hidden Alliances That Drive American Power

BLANK May 7, 2014 In this excerpt from her best-selling new book, Nomi Prins writes about the period during the administration of Lyndon Johnson when bankers began to move away from the president as they saw their global ambitions hemmed in by the Vietnam War. Dig deeper ( 12 Min. Read )

Obama and the Johnson Legacy: Recollecting the Great Society

Staff / Truthdig Apr 12, 2014 President Obama appeared in Austin, Texas, on Thursday night to deliver that rarest of speeches: a tribute to a former president, Lyndon Baines Johnson, whose administration still remains in controversy. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

LBJ’s Way

E.J. Dionne Jr. / Truthdig Apr 12, 2014 The Johnson comeback brings with it a new appreciation of the durability of the reforms enacted on his watch. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Gentlemen, Sharpen Your Spears

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Jun 20, 2012 Those who prize civility over frank talk or success in politics may be disheartened to learn that attack ads of the type President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have begun to fling at each other are as old as the republic itself, and as New York magazine columnist Frank Rich says, they’re absolutely essential for effective politics. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Robert Caro, LBJ and the Pursuit of Power

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Jun 12, 2012 Robert Caro has so far spent 36 years writing the saga of Lyndon Johnson -- more time than the ambitious Texan spent climbing from Congress to the White House. Caro just released his fourth installment, “The Passage of Power,” which chronicles Johnson’s exit from a strong position in the Senate into the relative powerlessness of the vice presidency. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

History Tells Us Not to Dismiss a Democratic Challenge to Obama

William Pfaff / Truthdig Dec 21, 2011 A week ago, the publisher of Harper's Magazine wrote that President Barack Obama, through expedient political compromises, has lost the moral authority that an American president must command, and therefore has lost his right to a second presidential term. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

What the Country Needs Is a New New Deal

Staff / Truthdig Sep 8, 2011 For $300 billion the president could do something truly different -- he could eliminate unemployment altogether. Dig deeper ( 8 Min. Read )

Who Wants to Go Back to the ’50s?

Bill Boyarsky / Truthdig Aug 5, 2011 Obama's Eisenhower nostalgia is troubling. That was half a century ago—before the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and federal aid to education. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Jonathan Alter: Health Care Puts Obama in FDR’s League

Staff / Truthdig May 27, 2010 Newsweek senior editor and columnist Jonathan Alter talks about his new book, "The Promise: President Obama, Year One," and why "Just by getting health care through [Barack Obama is] now standing alone with Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson in terms of domestic achievement"The Newsweek columnist says, "Just by getting health care through ". Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )