On November 3, 2019, Rep. Ilhan Omar officially endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders' campaign for President of the United States. Though the rally was planned for the University of Minnesota's Northrop Auditorium, organizers moved it to Williams Arena when the number of RSVPs exceeded expectations. On that evening, more than 10,000+ supporters gathered to hear Rep. … Continue reading Polaroid Diary 11/3/19: Sen. Bernie Sanders in Minneapolis, MN
Although I never met Judge Miles Lord, when he passed on December 10, 2016, I attended his memorial service at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in Excelsior, Minnesota. The public filled the pews, and his children and grandchildren shared anecdotes from Lord's long and accomplished life. Afterward, when everyone filed into the cafeteria for lunch, admirers … Continue reading Read my review of “Miles Lord” (2017) in Minnesota History Magazine
On March 30, 2017, I had the great honor and fortune of moderating one of the few 2017 DFL Minneapolis mayoral candidate forums. When my fellow Law Democrats gave me this responsibility, I took it very seriously. Because this was my first time moderating a political forum, I spent weeks revising my opening remarks, researching the candidates, and thinking about how to distinguish our forum from what I derisively call "soft ball." If I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it right, and I'm going to make it count.
Like many people, I'm still wrapping my head around the 2016 election results. And while I've done my fair share of asking, "What happened?" I've (fortunately) moved on to the more-useful question of "Now what are we going to do about it?" To that I'm still working on an answer, but here is something I … Continue reading As an historian, it’s hard to be hopeless
With the presidential candidacy of Donald J. Trump, it shouldn't surprise anyone that there's been a renewed interest in Sinclair Lewis' novel It Can't Happen Here (1935). For those unfamiliar with it, it's about the rise-to-power of a Depression-era demagogue named Sen. "Buzz" Windrip who becomes president with a campaign based on religious zeal, patriotic fervor, and … Continue reading “American Dystopia”: Read My Review of Claire Sprague’s “It Can Happen Here.”
“Only the first ten years matter,” a Minnesota State Prison inmate told John Carter, and "[w]hether or not the first ten years are all that matter, there is no doubt that the first six months are by no means six little drops of time.” It was 1905 and as the 19-year-old Carter listened, he settled … Continue reading John Carter of Minnesota: The “Convict Poet” Who Won His Freedom
On October 30, 2015, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro participated in a Minneapolis forum on affordable housing. With nothing better to do on a Friday morning, I picked up a notebook and decided to play journalist. Enjoy. I first saw Julian Castro as the nation did, the keynote speaker of the … Continue reading Welcome to the Promise Zone: Secretary Julian Castro Visits Minneapolis
On April 15, 1865, lying in a boarding house across the street from Ford's Theater, President Abraham Lincoln died, the victim of an assassin's bullet. What was a week celebrating an end to four years of bloodshed was capstoned by one last tragedy. Though not everyone felt the same way, tens of millions mourned their fallen hero, and in Minnesota as well as elsewhere, this sorrow turned into disbelief, into anger.
Following the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, there was renewed focus on the prevalence of police shootings in the United States. Yet, as was discovered by The Washington Post and scholars everywhere: No federal agency keeps track of this information, and everything the FBI does maintain is limited to raw numbers on "justifiable homicides." … Continue reading The racial breakdown of police involved shootings in Dallas, TX
In March 2013, while writing my undergraduate history thesis on Hubert Humphrey’s role in the 1944 DFL merger, I spoke with University of Minnesota professor emeritus Dr. Hy Berman. As Minnesota’s “unofficial state historian,” I was excited not only to meet him but also discuss his friendship with the former vice president. One topic we spent much time on was Humphrey’s teaching at the University. All uncited quotations come from the transcript of our interview. [Excerpt]: "His office on campus was on the second floor of the Social Science Building — a corner office — and the Secret Service was still … protecting him. When they saw his office, they came to me and said, “That’s unacceptable,” because he was in a corner office, isolated. I said, “Well, that’s the biggest office. We’re going to furnish it nicely,” and they said, “We’re very unhappy.” "That evening I went to the hardware store and bought a rope ladder. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I brought it up the next day, went to the Secret Service guys and said, “This will do: Put it down the window and climb out.”"
Joshua Panduro Preston 