When the Supreme Court ruled that President Obama's sweeping overhaul of the nation's health care system was constitutional, about the only thing critics and supporters could agree on was the historic importance of the legislation itself. But if history is any guide, there will be one other inescapable truth: The...

While researching my new book, Pearl Harbor: FDR Leads the Nation Into War, I came across circumstantial evidence that FDR was treated on December 7, 1941, and perhaps on a regular basis throughout much of his presidency, with cocaine.

I came across the discovery by accident. A review of...

As we approach the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, it is useful to reflect on the qualities of presidential leadership that Franklin Roosevelt demonstrated in the critical hours after the assault. Those qualities are the central focus of my new book, Pearl Harbor: FDR Leads the...

A recent surge in the polls has brought added scrutiny to the presidential ambitions of Newt Gingrich. While Republican primary voters seem to be willing to give the former House Speaker a second look, he remains a long shot to win the nomination.

But what would a Gingrich presidency...

A recently declassified secret service document details the extraordinary steps taken to protect President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the hours after the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941.

The document, written by Mike Reilly, head of the presidential protection detail, is revealed in my new book, Pearl Harbor: FDR...

As we approach another anniversary of that fateful day in Dallas, it is useful to reassess the role that Lyndon Johnson played in the critical 24 hours after the assassination. As I argue in my book, The Kennedy Assassination: 24 Hours After, history has not been fair to LBJ.

Democrats are still absorbing the electoral drubbing they suffered at the polls this week. As the New York Times reported, nearly every congressional district in America voted more Republican in 2010 than in 2008. Republicans rode a wave of well-financed and carefully orchestrated (but no less genuine) public anger at...

Exactly when did doctors give up their efforts to save Kennedy's life? And when did Lyndon Johnson learn that JFK was dead? These are the central questions that need to be addressed in understanding the transfer of power on November 22, 1963. The questions may be obvious; the answers are...

This month will mark the 46th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. A recently declassified oral history by Brigadier General Godfrey McHugh, President Kennedy's military aide on the Dallas trip, sheds new light on the critical hours after the shooting. McHugh makes startling claims about Lyndon Johnson's...

A few years ago, while doing research for my book, The Pact: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and the Rivalry that Defined a Generation, I asked President Clinton to highlight his differences with Speaker Gingrich. "If you want to understand the differences between me and Newt you have to go back...

The angry tone of this year's primary season reminds us of the deep partisan differences dividing the nation. Whether its Iraq or the economy, the two parties are far apart and show no signs of compromise. The moderate middle has disappeared.

There was a brief moment,...