Books
How the “System” Survived Civil War
– National Review, August 17, 1973, 902.Book review of A More Perfect Union by Harold M. Hyman.
Thinking About the City
– Commentary, October 1973; reprinted in Walter Berns, In Defense of Liberal Democracy (Regnery Gateway, 1984).Excerpt: Cities express an ambivalence in the American soul: we like cities and wish to live in them—or at least to visit them—but we also dislike cities and wish to avoid them, and… More
The American Presidency: Statesmanship and Constitutionalism in Balance
– Imprimis, Hillsdale College, January 1983. Reprinted in Educating for Liberty: The Best of Imprimis, 1972–2002, Douglas A. Jeffrey, ed. (Hillsdale, MI: Hillsdale College Press, 2002).Excerpt: America today is in need of leadership of the sort provided in the past by our greatest presidents, presidents whom we mean to honor and praise when we denominate them… More
Lincoln at Gettysburg
– Commentary, November 1992.Excerpt: Garry Wills has a lot of interesting things to say about the Gettysburg Address, and especially about the occasion on which it was delivered. We learn, for example, that far from… More
What D-Day Message from Clinton?
– Washington Times, May 22, 1994.Excerpt: On April 19, Bill Clinton spoke to a group of high school students at an MTV Forum, the 24-hour music video channel on which he was to share time with (as The Washington Post put… More
The Great Emancipator
– Commentary, January 1996.Excerpt: David Herbert Donald, a distinguished historian of the South and a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for biography, is the Charles Warren Professor Emeritus of American History… More
On Patriotism
– Bradley Lecture, American Enterprise Institute, September 16, 1996.Excerpt: Patriotism means love of country (patria, in the Latin) and implies a readiness to sacrifice for it, to fight for it, perhaps even to give one’s life for it. In the traditional,… More
Examining the Qualities That Make for Leadership
– Washington Times, September 22, 1996.Excerpt: According to its publishers, “Hail to the Chief” is “essential reading for anyone concerned with the state of the Presidency – both its past and its… More
Covering Their Eyes With Parted Fingers
– New York Times, April 4, 1998.Excerpt: I’ll confess I despise Bill Clinton and have for a long time, and I can’t get enough of this and my wife is disgusted with me. She doesn’t like Bill Clinton, but… More
Revisiting States’ Rights Controversy at the Wrong Time, with Altered History
– Washington Times, October 15, 2000; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: Forrest McDonald is a reputable scholar. Early-American historians especially are indebted to him, not only f or his important study of the formation of the republic, and his… More
Making Patriots
– University of Chicago Press, 2001; paperback edition, 2002.Although Samuel Johnson once remarked that “patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels,” over the course of the history of the United States we have seen our share of heroes:… More
Walter Berns on C-SPAN Booknotes
– Interview with Walter Berns on his book Making Patriots by Brian Lamb, Booknotes, C-SPAN, August 19, 2001.Excerpt: BRIAN LAMB, HOST: Walter Berns, where did you get the idea of writing a book called Making Patriots? Professor WALTER BERNS (Author, Making Patriots): Where did I get the idea? I… More
Interview with Walter Berns
– Peter and Helen Evans, RenewAmerica, August 4, 2004.Excerpt: Helen: Let’s talk about your book, Making Patriots. What do you think the alternative to waving the flag at our Independence Day celebrations would be for that person? In… More
Walter Berns, 2005 National Humanities Medalist
– Cynthia Barnes, National Endowment for the Humanities, January 2005.Excerpt: As a boy in 1920s Chicago, Walter Berns watched survivors of the Indian Wars march down Michigan Avenue during the Memorial Day parade. At school, he memorized the Gettysburg… More
Patriotism and Multiculturalism
– The Many Faces of Patriotism, Philip Abbott, ed. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), 3–14.In the decades following the end of the Cold War, scholars turned their attention to reevaluating patriotism. Many saw both its ability to serve as a cohesive force and its desirability as… More
Lincoln at Two Hundred: Why We Still Read the Sixteenth President
– American Enterprise Institute, 2009.Excerpt: More has been written about Abraham Lincoln than of any other president or, for that matter, any other American; the amount is prodigious: no fewer than 16,000 books and goodness… More
Abraham Lincoln at Two Hundred
– Audio lecture, American Enterprise Institute, February 9, 2009.Abraham Lincoln was the greatest of our presidents. He saved the Union, which made it possible for him to free the slaves. But he did more than this; without him we probably would have had… More
Why America Celebrates Lincoln
– Wall Street Journal, February 17, 2009.Excerpt: Abraham Lincoln did great things, greater than anything done by Woodrow Wilson or Franklin Roosevelt. He freed the slaves and saved the Union, and because he saved the Union he was… More
Walter Berns and the Constitution: A Celebration of the Constitution, with Opening Remarks by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
– Panel discussion of Walter Berns' scholarship, hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, September 20, 2011.In mid-September 2011, as part of AEI’s Program on American Citizenship, we celebrated Constitution Day (September 17), the day thirty-nine members of the Constitutional Convention signed… More
Walter Berns, Teacher and Patriot by Leon Kass
– Leon R. Kass, The American, September 27, 2011.Excerpt: It is absolutely fitting and proper to honor Walter Berns in connection with Constitution Day. The U.S. Constitution, and the underlying ideas and ideals of… More
Walter Berns and Leon Kass on Stephen Spielberg’s “Lincoln”
– Discussion with Walter Berns and Leon Kass, hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, December 20, 2012.At a discussion hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, What So Proudly We Hail editor Leon R. Kass and Walter Berns (professor emeritus, Georgetown University) discussed Steven… More
Essays
How the “System” Survived Civil War
– National Review, August 17, 1973, 902.Book review of A More Perfect Union by Harold M. Hyman.
Thinking About the City
– Commentary, October 1973; reprinted in Walter Berns, In Defense of Liberal Democracy (Regnery Gateway, 1984).Excerpt: Cities express an ambivalence in the American soul: we like cities and wish to live in them—or at least to visit them—but we also dislike cities and wish to avoid them, and… More
The American Presidency: Statesmanship and Constitutionalism in Balance
– Imprimis, Hillsdale College, January 1983. Reprinted in Educating for Liberty: The Best of Imprimis, 1972–2002, Douglas A. Jeffrey, ed. (Hillsdale, MI: Hillsdale College Press, 2002).Excerpt: America today is in need of leadership of the sort provided in the past by our greatest presidents, presidents whom we mean to honor and praise when we denominate them… More
Lincoln at Gettysburg
– Commentary, November 1992.Excerpt: Garry Wills has a lot of interesting things to say about the Gettysburg Address, and especially about the occasion on which it was delivered. We learn, for example, that far from… More
What D-Day Message from Clinton?
– Washington Times, May 22, 1994.Excerpt: On April 19, Bill Clinton spoke to a group of high school students at an MTV Forum, the 24-hour music video channel on which he was to share time with (as The Washington Post put… More
The Great Emancipator
– Commentary, January 1996.Excerpt: David Herbert Donald, a distinguished historian of the South and a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for biography, is the Charles Warren Professor Emeritus of American History… More
On Patriotism
– Bradley Lecture, American Enterprise Institute, September 16, 1996.Excerpt: Patriotism means love of country (patria, in the Latin) and implies a readiness to sacrifice for it, to fight for it, perhaps even to give one’s life for it. In the traditional,… More
Examining the Qualities That Make for Leadership
– Washington Times, September 22, 1996.Excerpt: According to its publishers, “Hail to the Chief” is “essential reading for anyone concerned with the state of the Presidency – both its past and its… More
Covering Their Eyes With Parted Fingers
– New York Times, April 4, 1998.Excerpt: I’ll confess I despise Bill Clinton and have for a long time, and I can’t get enough of this and my wife is disgusted with me. She doesn’t like Bill Clinton, but… More
Revisiting States’ Rights Controversy at the Wrong Time, with Altered History
– Washington Times, October 15, 2000; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: Forrest McDonald is a reputable scholar. Early-American historians especially are indebted to him, not only f or his important study of the formation of the republic, and his… More
Making Patriots
– University of Chicago Press, 2001; paperback edition, 2002.Although Samuel Johnson once remarked that “patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels,” over the course of the history of the United States we have seen our share of heroes:… More
Walter Berns on C-SPAN Booknotes
– Interview with Walter Berns on his book Making Patriots by Brian Lamb, Booknotes, C-SPAN, August 19, 2001.Excerpt: BRIAN LAMB, HOST: Walter Berns, where did you get the idea of writing a book called Making Patriots? Professor WALTER BERNS (Author, Making Patriots): Where did I get the idea? I… More
Interview with Walter Berns
– Peter and Helen Evans, RenewAmerica, August 4, 2004.Excerpt: Helen: Let’s talk about your book, Making Patriots. What do you think the alternative to waving the flag at our Independence Day celebrations would be for that person? In… More
Walter Berns, 2005 National Humanities Medalist
– Cynthia Barnes, National Endowment for the Humanities, January 2005.Excerpt: As a boy in 1920s Chicago, Walter Berns watched survivors of the Indian Wars march down Michigan Avenue during the Memorial Day parade. At school, he memorized the Gettysburg… More
Patriotism and Multiculturalism
– The Many Faces of Patriotism, Philip Abbott, ed. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), 3–14.In the decades following the end of the Cold War, scholars turned their attention to reevaluating patriotism. Many saw both its ability to serve as a cohesive force and its desirability as… More
Lincoln at Two Hundred: Why We Still Read the Sixteenth President
– American Enterprise Institute, 2009.Excerpt: More has been written about Abraham Lincoln than of any other president or, for that matter, any other American; the amount is prodigious: no fewer than 16,000 books and goodness… More
Abraham Lincoln at Two Hundred
– Audio lecture, American Enterprise Institute, February 9, 2009.Abraham Lincoln was the greatest of our presidents. He saved the Union, which made it possible for him to free the slaves. But he did more than this; without him we probably would have had… More
Why America Celebrates Lincoln
– Wall Street Journal, February 17, 2009.Excerpt: Abraham Lincoln did great things, greater than anything done by Woodrow Wilson or Franklin Roosevelt. He freed the slaves and saved the Union, and because he saved the Union he was… More
Walter Berns and the Constitution: A Celebration of the Constitution, with Opening Remarks by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
– Panel discussion of Walter Berns' scholarship, hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, September 20, 2011.In mid-September 2011, as part of AEI’s Program on American Citizenship, we celebrated Constitution Day (September 17), the day thirty-nine members of the Constitutional Convention signed… More
Walter Berns, Teacher and Patriot by Leon Kass
– Leon R. Kass, The American, September 27, 2011.Excerpt: It is absolutely fitting and proper to honor Walter Berns in connection with Constitution Day. The U.S. Constitution, and the underlying ideas and ideals of… More
Walter Berns and Leon Kass on Stephen Spielberg’s “Lincoln”
– Discussion with Walter Berns and Leon Kass, hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, December 20, 2012.At a discussion hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, What So Proudly We Hail editor Leon R. Kass and Walter Berns (professor emeritus, Georgetown University) discussed Steven… More
Commentary
How the “System” Survived Civil War
– National Review, August 17, 1973, 902.Book review of A More Perfect Union by Harold M. Hyman.
Thinking About the City
– Commentary, October 1973; reprinted in Walter Berns, In Defense of Liberal Democracy (Regnery Gateway, 1984).Excerpt: Cities express an ambivalence in the American soul: we like cities and wish to live in them—or at least to visit them—but we also dislike cities and wish to avoid them, and… More
The American Presidency: Statesmanship and Constitutionalism in Balance
– Imprimis, Hillsdale College, January 1983. Reprinted in Educating for Liberty: The Best of Imprimis, 1972–2002, Douglas A. Jeffrey, ed. (Hillsdale, MI: Hillsdale College Press, 2002).Excerpt: America today is in need of leadership of the sort provided in the past by our greatest presidents, presidents whom we mean to honor and praise when we denominate them… More
Lincoln at Gettysburg
– Commentary, November 1992.Excerpt: Garry Wills has a lot of interesting things to say about the Gettysburg Address, and especially about the occasion on which it was delivered. We learn, for example, that far from… More
What D-Day Message from Clinton?
– Washington Times, May 22, 1994.Excerpt: On April 19, Bill Clinton spoke to a group of high school students at an MTV Forum, the 24-hour music video channel on which he was to share time with (as The Washington Post put… More
The Great Emancipator
– Commentary, January 1996.Excerpt: David Herbert Donald, a distinguished historian of the South and a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for biography, is the Charles Warren Professor Emeritus of American History… More
On Patriotism
– Bradley Lecture, American Enterprise Institute, September 16, 1996.Excerpt: Patriotism means love of country (patria, in the Latin) and implies a readiness to sacrifice for it, to fight for it, perhaps even to give one’s life for it. In the traditional,… More
Examining the Qualities That Make for Leadership
– Washington Times, September 22, 1996.Excerpt: According to its publishers, “Hail to the Chief” is “essential reading for anyone concerned with the state of the Presidency – both its past and its… More
Covering Their Eyes With Parted Fingers
– New York Times, April 4, 1998.Excerpt: I’ll confess I despise Bill Clinton and have for a long time, and I can’t get enough of this and my wife is disgusted with me. She doesn’t like Bill Clinton, but… More
Revisiting States’ Rights Controversy at the Wrong Time, with Altered History
– Washington Times, October 15, 2000; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: Forrest McDonald is a reputable scholar. Early-American historians especially are indebted to him, not only f or his important study of the formation of the republic, and his… More
Making Patriots
– University of Chicago Press, 2001; paperback edition, 2002.Although Samuel Johnson once remarked that “patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels,” over the course of the history of the United States we have seen our share of heroes:… More
Walter Berns on C-SPAN Booknotes
– Interview with Walter Berns on his book Making Patriots by Brian Lamb, Booknotes, C-SPAN, August 19, 2001.Excerpt: BRIAN LAMB, HOST: Walter Berns, where did you get the idea of writing a book called Making Patriots? Professor WALTER BERNS (Author, Making Patriots): Where did I get the idea? I… More
Interview with Walter Berns
– Peter and Helen Evans, RenewAmerica, August 4, 2004.Excerpt: Helen: Let’s talk about your book, Making Patriots. What do you think the alternative to waving the flag at our Independence Day celebrations would be for that person? In… More
Walter Berns, 2005 National Humanities Medalist
– Cynthia Barnes, National Endowment for the Humanities, January 2005.Excerpt: As a boy in 1920s Chicago, Walter Berns watched survivors of the Indian Wars march down Michigan Avenue during the Memorial Day parade. At school, he memorized the Gettysburg… More
Patriotism and Multiculturalism
– The Many Faces of Patriotism, Philip Abbott, ed. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), 3–14.In the decades following the end of the Cold War, scholars turned their attention to reevaluating patriotism. Many saw both its ability to serve as a cohesive force and its desirability as… More
Lincoln at Two Hundred: Why We Still Read the Sixteenth President
– American Enterprise Institute, 2009.Excerpt: More has been written about Abraham Lincoln than of any other president or, for that matter, any other American; the amount is prodigious: no fewer than 16,000 books and goodness… More
Abraham Lincoln at Two Hundred
– Audio lecture, American Enterprise Institute, February 9, 2009.Abraham Lincoln was the greatest of our presidents. He saved the Union, which made it possible for him to free the slaves. But he did more than this; without him we probably would have had… More
Why America Celebrates Lincoln
– Wall Street Journal, February 17, 2009.Excerpt: Abraham Lincoln did great things, greater than anything done by Woodrow Wilson or Franklin Roosevelt. He freed the slaves and saved the Union, and because he saved the Union he was… More
Walter Berns and the Constitution: A Celebration of the Constitution, with Opening Remarks by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
– Panel discussion of Walter Berns' scholarship, hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, September 20, 2011.In mid-September 2011, as part of AEI’s Program on American Citizenship, we celebrated Constitution Day (September 17), the day thirty-nine members of the Constitutional Convention signed… More
Walter Berns, Teacher and Patriot by Leon Kass
– Leon R. Kass, The American, September 27, 2011.Excerpt: It is absolutely fitting and proper to honor Walter Berns in connection with Constitution Day. The U.S. Constitution, and the underlying ideas and ideals of… More
Walter Berns and Leon Kass on Stephen Spielberg’s “Lincoln”
– Discussion with Walter Berns and Leon Kass, hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, December 20, 2012.At a discussion hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, What So Proudly We Hail editor Leon R. Kass and Walter Berns (professor emeritus, Georgetown University) discussed Steven… More
Multimedia
How the “System” Survived Civil War
– National Review, August 17, 1973, 902.Book review of A More Perfect Union by Harold M. Hyman.
Thinking About the City
– Commentary, October 1973; reprinted in Walter Berns, In Defense of Liberal Democracy (Regnery Gateway, 1984).Excerpt: Cities express an ambivalence in the American soul: we like cities and wish to live in them—or at least to visit them—but we also dislike cities and wish to avoid them, and… More
The American Presidency: Statesmanship and Constitutionalism in Balance
– Imprimis, Hillsdale College, January 1983. Reprinted in Educating for Liberty: The Best of Imprimis, 1972–2002, Douglas A. Jeffrey, ed. (Hillsdale, MI: Hillsdale College Press, 2002).Excerpt: America today is in need of leadership of the sort provided in the past by our greatest presidents, presidents whom we mean to honor and praise when we denominate them… More
Lincoln at Gettysburg
– Commentary, November 1992.Excerpt: Garry Wills has a lot of interesting things to say about the Gettysburg Address, and especially about the occasion on which it was delivered. We learn, for example, that far from… More
What D-Day Message from Clinton?
– Washington Times, May 22, 1994.Excerpt: On April 19, Bill Clinton spoke to a group of high school students at an MTV Forum, the 24-hour music video channel on which he was to share time with (as The Washington Post put… More
The Great Emancipator
– Commentary, January 1996.Excerpt: David Herbert Donald, a distinguished historian of the South and a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for biography, is the Charles Warren Professor Emeritus of American History… More
On Patriotism
– Bradley Lecture, American Enterprise Institute, September 16, 1996.Excerpt: Patriotism means love of country (patria, in the Latin) and implies a readiness to sacrifice for it, to fight for it, perhaps even to give one’s life for it. In the traditional,… More
Examining the Qualities That Make for Leadership
– Washington Times, September 22, 1996.Excerpt: According to its publishers, “Hail to the Chief” is “essential reading for anyone concerned with the state of the Presidency – both its past and its… More
Covering Their Eyes With Parted Fingers
– New York Times, April 4, 1998.Excerpt: I’ll confess I despise Bill Clinton and have for a long time, and I can’t get enough of this and my wife is disgusted with me. She doesn’t like Bill Clinton, but… More
Revisiting States’ Rights Controversy at the Wrong Time, with Altered History
– Washington Times, October 15, 2000; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: Forrest McDonald is a reputable scholar. Early-American historians especially are indebted to him, not only f or his important study of the formation of the republic, and his… More
Making Patriots
– University of Chicago Press, 2001; paperback edition, 2002.Although Samuel Johnson once remarked that “patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels,” over the course of the history of the United States we have seen our share of heroes:… More
Walter Berns on C-SPAN Booknotes
– Interview with Walter Berns on his book Making Patriots by Brian Lamb, Booknotes, C-SPAN, August 19, 2001.Excerpt: BRIAN LAMB, HOST: Walter Berns, where did you get the idea of writing a book called Making Patriots? Professor WALTER BERNS (Author, Making Patriots): Where did I get the idea? I… More
Interview with Walter Berns
– Peter and Helen Evans, RenewAmerica, August 4, 2004.Excerpt: Helen: Let’s talk about your book, Making Patriots. What do you think the alternative to waving the flag at our Independence Day celebrations would be for that person? In… More
Walter Berns, 2005 National Humanities Medalist
– Cynthia Barnes, National Endowment for the Humanities, January 2005.Excerpt: As a boy in 1920s Chicago, Walter Berns watched survivors of the Indian Wars march down Michigan Avenue during the Memorial Day parade. At school, he memorized the Gettysburg… More
Patriotism and Multiculturalism
– The Many Faces of Patriotism, Philip Abbott, ed. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), 3–14.In the decades following the end of the Cold War, scholars turned their attention to reevaluating patriotism. Many saw both its ability to serve as a cohesive force and its desirability as… More
Lincoln at Two Hundred: Why We Still Read the Sixteenth President
– American Enterprise Institute, 2009.Excerpt: More has been written about Abraham Lincoln than of any other president or, for that matter, any other American; the amount is prodigious: no fewer than 16,000 books and goodness… More
Abraham Lincoln at Two Hundred
– Audio lecture, American Enterprise Institute, February 9, 2009.Abraham Lincoln was the greatest of our presidents. He saved the Union, which made it possible for him to free the slaves. But he did more than this; without him we probably would have had… More
Why America Celebrates Lincoln
– Wall Street Journal, February 17, 2009.Excerpt: Abraham Lincoln did great things, greater than anything done by Woodrow Wilson or Franklin Roosevelt. He freed the slaves and saved the Union, and because he saved the Union he was… More
Walter Berns and the Constitution: A Celebration of the Constitution, with Opening Remarks by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
– Panel discussion of Walter Berns' scholarship, hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, September 20, 2011.In mid-September 2011, as part of AEI’s Program on American Citizenship, we celebrated Constitution Day (September 17), the day thirty-nine members of the Constitutional Convention signed… More
Walter Berns, Teacher and Patriot by Leon Kass
– Leon R. Kass, The American, September 27, 2011.Excerpt: It is absolutely fitting and proper to honor Walter Berns in connection with Constitution Day. The U.S. Constitution, and the underlying ideas and ideals of… More
Walter Berns and Leon Kass on Stephen Spielberg’s “Lincoln”
– Discussion with Walter Berns and Leon Kass, hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, December 20, 2012.At a discussion hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, What So Proudly We Hail editor Leon R. Kass and Walter Berns (professor emeritus, Georgetown University) discussed Steven… More
Teaching
How the “System” Survived Civil War
– National Review, August 17, 1973, 902.Book review of A More Perfect Union by Harold M. Hyman.
Thinking About the City
– Commentary, October 1973; reprinted in Walter Berns, In Defense of Liberal Democracy (Regnery Gateway, 1984).Excerpt: Cities express an ambivalence in the American soul: we like cities and wish to live in them—or at least to visit them—but we also dislike cities and wish to avoid them, and… More
The American Presidency: Statesmanship and Constitutionalism in Balance
– Imprimis, Hillsdale College, January 1983. Reprinted in Educating for Liberty: The Best of Imprimis, 1972–2002, Douglas A. Jeffrey, ed. (Hillsdale, MI: Hillsdale College Press, 2002).Excerpt: America today is in need of leadership of the sort provided in the past by our greatest presidents, presidents whom we mean to honor and praise when we denominate them… More
Lincoln at Gettysburg
– Commentary, November 1992.Excerpt: Garry Wills has a lot of interesting things to say about the Gettysburg Address, and especially about the occasion on which it was delivered. We learn, for example, that far from… More
What D-Day Message from Clinton?
– Washington Times, May 22, 1994.Excerpt: On April 19, Bill Clinton spoke to a group of high school students at an MTV Forum, the 24-hour music video channel on which he was to share time with (as The Washington Post put… More
The Great Emancipator
– Commentary, January 1996.Excerpt: David Herbert Donald, a distinguished historian of the South and a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for biography, is the Charles Warren Professor Emeritus of American History… More
On Patriotism
– Bradley Lecture, American Enterprise Institute, September 16, 1996.Excerpt: Patriotism means love of country (patria, in the Latin) and implies a readiness to sacrifice for it, to fight for it, perhaps even to give one’s life for it. In the traditional,… More
Examining the Qualities That Make for Leadership
– Washington Times, September 22, 1996.Excerpt: According to its publishers, “Hail to the Chief” is “essential reading for anyone concerned with the state of the Presidency – both its past and its… More
Covering Their Eyes With Parted Fingers
– New York Times, April 4, 1998.Excerpt: I’ll confess I despise Bill Clinton and have for a long time, and I can’t get enough of this and my wife is disgusted with me. She doesn’t like Bill Clinton, but… More
Revisiting States’ Rights Controversy at the Wrong Time, with Altered History
– Washington Times, October 15, 2000; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: Forrest McDonald is a reputable scholar. Early-American historians especially are indebted to him, not only f or his important study of the formation of the republic, and his… More
Making Patriots
– University of Chicago Press, 2001; paperback edition, 2002.Although Samuel Johnson once remarked that “patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels,” over the course of the history of the United States we have seen our share of heroes:… More
Walter Berns on C-SPAN Booknotes
– Interview with Walter Berns on his book Making Patriots by Brian Lamb, Booknotes, C-SPAN, August 19, 2001.Excerpt: BRIAN LAMB, HOST: Walter Berns, where did you get the idea of writing a book called Making Patriots? Professor WALTER BERNS (Author, Making Patriots): Where did I get the idea? I… More
Interview with Walter Berns
– Peter and Helen Evans, RenewAmerica, August 4, 2004.Excerpt: Helen: Let’s talk about your book, Making Patriots. What do you think the alternative to waving the flag at our Independence Day celebrations would be for that person? In… More
Walter Berns, 2005 National Humanities Medalist
– Cynthia Barnes, National Endowment for the Humanities, January 2005.Excerpt: As a boy in 1920s Chicago, Walter Berns watched survivors of the Indian Wars march down Michigan Avenue during the Memorial Day parade. At school, he memorized the Gettysburg… More
Patriotism and Multiculturalism
– The Many Faces of Patriotism, Philip Abbott, ed. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), 3–14.In the decades following the end of the Cold War, scholars turned their attention to reevaluating patriotism. Many saw both its ability to serve as a cohesive force and its desirability as… More
Lincoln at Two Hundred: Why We Still Read the Sixteenth President
– American Enterprise Institute, 2009.Excerpt: More has been written about Abraham Lincoln than of any other president or, for that matter, any other American; the amount is prodigious: no fewer than 16,000 books and goodness… More
Abraham Lincoln at Two Hundred
– Audio lecture, American Enterprise Institute, February 9, 2009.Abraham Lincoln was the greatest of our presidents. He saved the Union, which made it possible for him to free the slaves. But he did more than this; without him we probably would have had… More
Why America Celebrates Lincoln
– Wall Street Journal, February 17, 2009.Excerpt: Abraham Lincoln did great things, greater than anything done by Woodrow Wilson or Franklin Roosevelt. He freed the slaves and saved the Union, and because he saved the Union he was… More
Walter Berns and the Constitution: A Celebration of the Constitution, with Opening Remarks by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
– Panel discussion of Walter Berns' scholarship, hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, September 20, 2011.In mid-September 2011, as part of AEI’s Program on American Citizenship, we celebrated Constitution Day (September 17), the day thirty-nine members of the Constitutional Convention signed… More
Walter Berns, Teacher and Patriot by Leon Kass
– Leon R. Kass, The American, September 27, 2011.Excerpt: It is absolutely fitting and proper to honor Walter Berns in connection with Constitution Day. The U.S. Constitution, and the underlying ideas and ideals of… More
Walter Berns and Leon Kass on Stephen Spielberg’s “Lincoln”
– Discussion with Walter Berns and Leon Kass, hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, December 20, 2012.At a discussion hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, What So Proudly We Hail editor Leon R. Kass and Walter Berns (professor emeritus, Georgetown University) discussed Steven… More