Resolute Square

Robert S. McElvaine

Author, historian, feminist, and progressive activist

About Robert S. McElvaine

Robert S. McElvaine is Elizabeth Chisholm Professor of Arts & Letters Emeritus at Millsaps College. He is the author of eleven books, including The Great Depression; Eve’s Seed: Biology, the Sexes, and the Course of History; and, most recently, The Times They Were a-Changin’ –1964: The Year the Sixties Arrived and the Battle Lines of Today Were Drawn. He is a winner of the Richard Wright Award for Literary Excellence.

His articles and opinion pieces appear frequently in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Politico, The Nation, Salon, and many others. He has been a guest on programs on NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, NPR, Fox News, Vox, BBC, and others and has lectured across the United States and around the world.

He is currently completing a book with the working title “Diving Beneath the Wreck – and Resurfacing: On the Origins and Consequences of Sexual Inequality.”

Subscribe to his SubStack column at Musings & Amusings of a B-List Writer.

Follow @robertmcelvaine
Latest
“Liberals Go Back to the Flag” 40 Years Later
Robert McElvaine: "Forty years ago, I wrote an essay for the New York Times about how the Democrats needed to take back the symbols of America that the Republicans had seized. We didn’t succeed then, but that’s just what is happening now."
August 29, 2024
Why This Is the Perfect Time for a Two Women Ticket
Adding Gretchen Whitmer as Veep will bring a massive victory for the DEMOCRACY PARTY
July 22, 2024
If All Americans Could Be Made a Jury…
Robert McElvaine writes: "If some way could be devised to get around the tsunami of disinformation from Russians, Trumpsters, and other authoritarians inundating a large fraction of the American citizenry...the mortal danger to the American Experiment in democracy and the rule of law would evaporate."
June 5, 2024
Trump: Whether Women Are People or Property Is States’ Rights Issue
The Founders left it to states to decide whether Black people should be free or enslaved, so Trump appears to advocate letting them decide whether Women should be free or enslaved.
April 11, 2024
Being Emperor Means Never Having To Say You Didn't Win
What's the difference between Nero at HIS Olympics in 67 and Trump at HIS golf course 1,957 years later? Robert McElvaine on losers who declare themselves winners.
March 28, 2024
Progress vs “Push ’Em (Us) Back—Way Back!”
Robert McElvaine highlights the stark contrast between President Biden's SOTU and the opposition party's response and ambitions, “'Take America Back' means take the nation back from women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, non-“Christians,” and so on. Back to the days when the United States was 'a white man’s country.' Back to before the revolutionary changes that took off in 1964.as well as the GOP's dangerous alignment with authoritarianism."
March 14, 2024
A Self-Made-Up Man Defunded, Defanged, and Deranged
Robert McElvaine treats us to an annotated commentary on and translation of Trump’s post-judgment screed.
February 22, 2024
Democrats: Don't "Defend," Go On Offense
Sound advice from Robert McElvaine: "Call Hur’s 'Bombshell' what it is: Bullshit!" Don't miss his debunking of baseless claims surrounding Joe Biden's mental fitness with undeniable facts and accomplishments: Joe Biden tackles the challenges head-on while his predecessor's mental decline remains ignored.
February 15, 2024
How the Court Should Deal with Trump Disqualification
Robert S. McElvaine: "If it wants to uphold the Constitution, the Court really has no choice but to find that Donald J. Trump is ineligible to hold the presidency again. Failure to do so would be a step towards Trump’s stated goal of terminating the Constitution."
February 8, 2024
The Winners In The NH “Republican” Primary: Biden & America
Robert McElvaine writes, "The only way to rid our nation of the flesh-eating bacteria that is Trumpism is for its Loser Leader and the whole party of sycophants to go down to a crushing defeat at the hands of the voters."
January 25, 2024
The Most Precarious Year
Robert McElvaine writes: "The Anti-Republic Party of 2024 not only aligns with foreign autocrats who bitterly oppose the ideals of America; it also aligns with the anti-1776 ideology of the Confederacy." He effectively argues that 2024 is the most consequential election in 160 years.
January 4, 2024
We Need to Persuade the Media to Help Preserve Democracy
Robert McElvaine warns of the risk of a fascist dictatorship replacing American democracy and urges responsible media coverage to save our democracy.
December 7, 2023
A Most Useful New Word for Our Times
The word "idionut" as the 2023 Word of the Year? The term for willfully ignorant and insane individuals or members of extremist cults should enter everyones lexicon.
November 30, 2023
Be Neither “Woke” Nor Asleep. Be Awake
Supporters of democracy have an opportunity to reject both extremes
November 2, 2023
“Once Awake, They Found the Strength of their Majority”
"During these trying times in which one of our major political parties has abandoned the basic principles on which the United States was founded and seceded from the world of fact, on an almost daily basis Heather Cox Richardson brings hope and truth to vast numbers of us," writes Robert McElvaine.
October 19, 2023
Hamas Is Pure Evil. There Is No "But..."
"(Hamas) has no interest in a two-state solution and peaceful coexistence. The only sort of peace they seek is a Carthaginian peace—one of the utter annihilation and slaughter of an entire people," write Robert McElvaine.
October 12, 2023
Today’s Democrats Are Lincoln Republicans
Republicans have long announced (defended) themselves as the "The Party of Lincoln." Prof. Robert McElvaine argues that The Party of Lincoln and today's GOP are centuries apart.
October 5, 2023
It’s Not Blue vs Red; It’s Blue vs Gray
Forget the red vs. blue divide! Robert McElvaine suggests a change in political party colors: grey for Republicans and blue for Democrats. Let's mix things up and add some historical accuracy!
September 27, 2023

Topics

United States of America
United States of America
Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris
Vice president of the United States
Donald Trump indictment
Donald Trump indictment
Some say fever dream. Others say inevitable. We say, no democracy can survive without accountability mete out through the rule of law, and its equal application regardless of status, power, or position. The threat of the GOP's fascistic authoritarian movement increases with the belief that there is no accountability for people at the top.
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade
The overturning of Roe v. Wade through the Dobbs decision by the US SCOTUS marked the first time a Constitutional right had been taken away from American citizens. In the midterms, women and young people showed the GOP what a tremendous blunder that was and made them pay a price at the ballot box.
Donald Trump
Donald Trump
Twice-impeached 45th POTUS and wannabe authoritarian dictator who orchestrated a violent insurrection to overthrow the US Government in order to remain president despite losing re-election to Joseph R. Biden by 7,059,547 votes.
Joe Biden
Joe Biden
President of the United States since 2021
2024 Presidential Election
2024 Presidential Election
The 60th quadrennial presidential election, scheduled for Tuesday, November 5, 2024, is considered to be the most consequential election of our lifetimes where Americans will have the opportunity to protect democracy and democratic norms from extreme right-wing policies, racial violence and growing threat of authoritarianism by Republicans.
Defending Democracy
Defending Democracy
Democracy is under attack. The authoritarian GOP knows they can't win if democracy does, so they attack voting rights and Civil Rights. They are wrong. We are right.