News of the Organization

History and September 11

New OAH Committee on Intellectual Integrity

Historians' Amicus Brief Plays Role in Supreme Court Case

Organizations File Amicus Brief in Support of Schrecker FOIA Suit

Nash Receives NPS Award

Temple University Press has recently published History and September 11th, based on the September 2002 issue of the Journal of American History. Examining topics such as American nationalism, U.S. foreign policy, Islam, and anti-Americanism throughout history, as well as paying attention to America's relation to the rest of the world, the issue's contributors attempt to put the tragedy of September 11 into historical context. Collectively, the essays comment on the tendency to see the events of September 11 as simply an isolated battle between good and evil.

History and September 11th, edited by Joanne Meyerowitz, concludes with a collection of primary source documents such as speeches, articles, and book excerpts. This section includes such items as Islamist Sayyid Qutb's Milestones, 1960; President George W. Bush's Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People, 20 September 2001; and Osama bin Laden's Speech on September 11th Attacks, 7 October 2001.

"This book represents an impressive, important, and timely mobilization of historians," said Tom Bender, Professor of History, New York University, and editor of Rethinking American History in a Global Age. Its contributors "usefully address the national and international historical meanings [of] the terrible event of 9-11 and the challenges its aftermath poses for American domestic and foreign policies. These essays and documents provide essential material for discussion, whether in the classroom or in the larger public realm."

To request an examination copy or to purchase, contact the press at 1-800-621-2736 or visit <http://www.temple.edu/tempress>.

"Recent, highly publicized allegations of professional misconduct. . . have provoked controversy and fostered confusion in the historical profession and beyond," begins the charge to the new OAH Ad Hoc Committee on Intellectual Integrity. Created by the OAH Executive Board at its spring 2003 meeting in Memphis, the committee will help the organization formulate guidelines for responding to issues of professional ethics involving honesty and integrity. President Jacquelyn Hall has appointed Karen Halttunen, University of California, Davis, as chair, along with Richard Blackett, Vanderbilt University, Laura Edwards, Duke University, OAH Past President Michael Kammen, Cornell University, Kate Torrey, University of North Carolina Press, and Sandra Treadway, Library of Virginia. The committee's charge also recognizes that the AHA Council's decision in May 2003 to no longer adjudicate complaints of professional misconduct has altered the playing field and makes more urgent the consideration of appropriate ways to deal with violations of accepted standards within the discipline of history. The committee will submit its report at the fall 2004 executive board meeting. OAH members with suggestions or concerns about intellectual integrity are encouraged to contact the or the committee members individually.

On 26 June 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down Lawrence v. Texas, a decision that declared state antisodomy laws unconstitutional. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion which attacked the societal presumptions and legal reasoning behind the 1986 decision Bowers v. Hardwick, a previous case where the Court had endorsed Georgia's anti-sodomy law. Kennedy's opinion, found for the plaintiffs--two gay men arrested by Texas officials under provisions of the Texas Homosexual Conduct Law--and focused heavily on the historical impact of sodomy and sodomy laws. A close reading of Kennedy's opinion reveals that much of the language was intellectually influenced by an amicus brief submitted to the Court by several historians in January 2003 (see "Historians File Amicus Brief in Texas Sodomy Case," NCH Washington Update, 23 January 2003).

Lawyers for the plaintiffs originally approached University of Chicago historian George Chauncey to see if he would prepare the amicus brief. Chauncey assembled a larger group of academics and intellectuals, including OAH members John D'Emilio, Estelle B. Freedman, Nancy F. Cott, and Linda K. Kerber. When asked by the NCH about the impact that the historians' brief had on the recent decision, D'Emilio stated that in "reading Kennedy's decision, I was impressed--and enormously gratified--that he incorporated so much of this historical reasoning and evidence into [his] argument . . . history matters!"

Of further importance to the court's ruling was D'Emilio's 1997 book, Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America, which he coauthored with fellow OAH member and Stanford historian, Estelle Freedman. Justice Kennedy quoted from the book in the majority opinion, stating, "Far from possessing 'ancient roots,' American laws targeting same-sex couples did not develop until the last third of the twentieth century." This argument attacked the 1986 decision, which stated that proscriptions against sodomy have existed since ancient times.

On 24 June 2003, the National Coalition for History, along with the Organization of American Historians, American Historical Association, American Studies Association, Association for Documentary Editing, Society of American Historians, and several other groups, filed an amicus brief in the case Schrecker v. U.S. Department of Justice. The brief supports history professor Ellen Schrecker, of Yeshiva University, who is the plaintiff/appellant in an action against the U.S. Department of Justice. The case is being heard in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and centers on a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made by Schrecker to the Department of Justice for information on individuals investigated by the FBI during the McCarthy era. The Bureau withheld names from those files asserting the personal privacy exemption. The key issues are whether the names should be released and if the privacy concerns have expired or diminished over time due to the probable death of the anonymous persons.

The brief contains several main points supportive of the appellant. The first is that the FBI "improperly presumes the individuals in 50-year old records are still alive" and that the FBI did not take an active approach in determining the status of the individuals. Secondly, the brief argues that "the department's practice of withholding names unless there is proof an individual is dead or was born more than one hundred years ago has no basis" in law. Professor Schrecker's case is expected to be argued sometime in the fall.

--Bruce Craig

On 17 April 2003, former OAH president Gary Nash received a special award from the National Park Service (NPS), in recognition of his longstanding efforts to ensure that the park service fulfills its mission of presenting high-quality historical scholarship throughout the nation's parks. In presenting the award to Professor Nash, NPS chief historian Dwight Pitcaithley cited Nash's role in forging the relationship between NPS and OAH as a primary reason for the honor. Since 1994, OAH has had a cooperative agreement with NPS, through which the two organizations collaborate on historical projects benefitting national park sites. Nash, who served as OAH president from 1994 to 1995, was instrumental in formalizing the relationship between the two organizations, established an OAH committee to assist in the execution of the agreement, and served as chair of this committee for eight years, stepping down at the 2003 OAH annual meeting in Memphis.

The award was presented to Nash at the conclusion of his keynote address, "For Whom Will the Liberty Bell Toll? From Controversy to Consensus," given to an enthusiastic crowd at the George Wright Society annual meeting in San Diego. In this speech Nash reflected on the recent controversy surrounding renovations at Independence National Park. As originally proposed, the park's new interpretive plan did not have any provision for acknowledging the history of the slaves who worked for George Washington while he inhabited the executive mansion in Philadelphia. Through the efforts of Nash, community activists, and NPS staff, this plan was eventually modified so that public memory of the enslaved will not be lost.

After receiving the award, Nash signed copies of his latest book, Landmarks of the American Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2003), which includes discussions of numerous NPS sites.