Historian Heather Cox Richardson calls present moment the most dangerous in American history

Heather Cox Richardson, professor of history at Boston College, writes the most successful newsletter on Substack, where three million people subscribe to her Letters from an American. She explained how her love of history begin, how her newsletter was born, and how current events can be better understood through the filter of history, at a Thursday event at the Club. 

 In conversation with Club President Emily Wilkinson, Richardson emphasized that, as an historian, she cannot predict the future. But she does see three troubling trends in the present, drawn from her knowledge of the past: 

1. There is an overturning of democratic systems around the world as well as in the U.S. 
2. The party in power here is characterized by misogyny. The rights of women in particular, but also the rights of other groups, are being eroded.
3. There has been an upward movement of wealth since 1981. She reminded the audience that this has echoes of earlier periods in U.S. history, but is different in part because of the rise of new media.

 Richardson noted that she was born Republican and two of her seven books have been about the history of the Republican Party, but she does not take positions in her newsletter. Her objective is to provide “historical context.”  She strives to enable her readers to make their own decisions. 

 A key question from the audience was how the current situation ranks historically.  She describes it as the most dangerous moment in American history.  During the Civil War, she pointed out, the South left the country but today the dissidents have taken over the government and the country. “Had the South not left in 1860, Lincoln would not have been able to govern," she noted.

Asked why she became a professor of history, Richardson recalled that she was assigned to write an essay about the Civil War as a student at Harvard.  She found herself reading through all the issues of the Chicago Tribune leading up to and through that conflict in one marathon sitting.  She realized that the period had come alive for her, and decided that she wanted to make history as real for others as it had become for her.

 The origin of Letters from an American was quite different.  In September, 2019, Richardson was stung by a yellow jacket, and did not have her Epi-Pen at hand.  Because she is highly allergic, she decided to wait before driving from her home in Maine to a teaching job in Boston. At that time, she had a Facebook page and would write weekly entries.  But now she had time to kill.

She knew that Congressman Adam Schiff had just written a letter to the acting director of national intelligence about a whistleblower complaint that was being suppressed. As an historian, she knew that this was the first time a member of Congress had accused a member of the executive branch of violating a specific law. So she wrote about that on September 15, 2019.   Then she made the drive to Boston.  When she arrived, her mailbox was full of letters and comments about what she had written.  She wrote a follow-up piece on September 17 and has been writing almost daily since then.  

 A final audience question was about hope for the future.  Richardson was adamant:  

“It’s not OK to opt out. Push back against authoritarianism with joy. I am tired, but we can’t hide under our desks. Be honest. Do the best you can for the enterprise of humanity. Don’t turn away because today we don’t have a choice.”