A Historian’s Perspective
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As the nation celebrates 250 years since its founding in a rebellion against imperial rule, many Americans worry that our democracy is now sliding towards authoritarianism. How did we get here?
Bellingham City Club invites members and the public to reflect on this question with Western Washington University historian, Daniel S. Chard. Professor Chard will discuss how since the 1970s, debates over terrorism and national security have led to expansion of the “imperial presidency,” abuses of executive power, and erosions of democratic norms that helped set the stage for the present crisis of American democracy.
Daniel S. Chard is Associate Professor of History at Western Washington University, where he teaches courses on modern U.S. history, the Cold War, and political violence. He is author of Nixon’s War at Home: The FBI, Leftist Guerrillas, and the Origins of Counterterrorism, (University of North Carolina Press, 2021), and co-editor of Science for the People: Documents from America’s Movement of Radical Scientists (University of Massachusetts Press, 2018).