Experts in the News | Miller Center

The Next Front in the Statue Wars

The fight over statues – a proxy war over who we are as a nation and a people – has spilled over into 2018. In South Carolina, two state legislators have pre-filed a bill to create a monument to the state's "forgotten heroes," the black veterans who fought to preserve the Confederacy. One small problem: There weren't any.

Nicole Hemmer

Trump's medical exam will disappoint critics. Here's why

"If it comes out rosy and positive, but does not contain a lot of information, people will still have the same doubts about him," said Barbara Perry, director of Presidential Studies at the University of Virginia's Miller Center. She also pointed out that the exams of Trump's predecessors George W. Bush and Obama declared them "fit for duty." "If that phase doesn't appear, then people will say, 'Is he not fit for office? Why didn't the doctor say that?' That may work against him that you have this precedent," Perry said.

Barbara Perry

True believers

From the bars of Queens to the Senate office buildings, Nixon's supporters stood with him long after it was clear his hands were dirty. How did they rationalize their position? And what, finally, made them waver? In the fifth episode of Slow Burn, Leon Neyfakh looks at the diehards who stuck with Nixon to the very end.

Nicole Hemmer

History for the headlines

On this episode, Brian, Ed, Joanne and Nathan look back at the stories we produced in 2017. Topics include fake news, the opioid crisis, and the August 12th white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.

Brian Balogh

Was 2017 the Craziest Year in U.S. Political History?

No year can compete with 2017 in terms of the volume and pace of news. But in terms of chaos, 1920 would be a solid competitor.

Nicole Hemmer

The Constitution's blooper reel

In the course of writing the Constitution, the framers got a lot right, which is why, despite a civil war and any number of political crises, it survives as the longest-lasting written plan of government in the world, at 229 years. Still, in celebrating the document, we also need to be honest: It’s far from perfect.

Michael Nelson