Experts in the News | Miller Center

What Americans Think About Presidential Scandals Like the Stormy Daniels Story Has Changed. But Not How You’d Expect

The reasons for keeping a lid on presidents’ personal lives were many. For one thing, some of the predominantly male political journalists could be seen as hypocrites if they made a big deal out of presidents’ affairs. “Many of the men in the White House press corps were carrying on dalliances of their own, so if they went public with the President, there would be blowback, and their wives would find out,” says Barbara Perry, the Director of Presidential Studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs, who spoke to TIME as part of a new presidential-history partnership between TIME History and the Miller Center.

Barbara Perry

Author Discussion on Presidents and DARPA

John Farrell, Richard Nixon, Will Hitchcock, The Age of Eisenhower, and Sharon Weinberger, The Imagineers of War, talked about the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Dwight Eisenhower. This event was part of the Virginia Festival of the Book held in Charlottesville.

William Hitchcock

More Voters See Chaos Unfolding in Trump’s Administration, Polling Shows

Chris Lu, who served as White House Cabinet secretary from 2009-2013 and is now a senior fellow at the University of Virginia Miller Center, said in a Monday phone interview that although turnover is common at this point in any president’s tenure, changes are happening frequently enough in this administration to call into question how Trump’s aides and Cabinet secretaries will handle future crises.

Chris Lu

Alabama lawmakers won't tackle statewide solutions to sheriff food funds

"It's astounding that Alabama would allow laws and practices associated with the most horrible nightmares of its past to remain in active use today," said Douglas Blackmon, author of the 2009 Pultizer Prize-winning book "Slavery by Another Name," which explores forced labor of imprisoned black men after the Civil War.

Douglas Blackmon

The Republican President who really made America great

How does Ike's disciplined approach stack up against Trump's chaos theory? Ike's discipline made midcentury America into a global powerhouse. Trump's chaos threatens to leave it weakened and adrift.

William Hitchcock

Senior White House staff signed nondisclosure agreements at Trump's request

"We did not use nondisclosure agreements in the Obama White House because we worked for a president who believed in transparency and the First Amendment," said Chris Lu, who served as Obama's White House Cabinet secretary.

Chris Lu