David Boaz: Libertarianism Is the Intellectual Core of Liberalism
How Vietnam, Watergate, and stagflation supercharged the libertarian movement.
Richard Nixon
Libertarian History/Philosophy
Jennifer Burns: Why Milton Friedman Matters More Than Ever
The biographer of the Nobel laureate says he made us "free to choose" in areas far beyond economics.
Jennifer Burns on Milton Friedman's Legacy
Was Milton Friedman the most important libertarian of them all?
Review: White House Plumbers Delivers an Amusing Take on Watergate
This retelling of the Nixon scandal is more in the style of Leslie Nielsen than Robert Redford.
The Best of Reason: The DEA at 50
For five decades, drugs have been winning the war on drugs.
How Hippies Saved the Fourth Amendment
The Nixon administration did everything it could to curb antiwar activism. Then the courts said it had gone too far.
The Battlefields of Cable
How cable TV transformed politics—and how politics transformed cable TV
After 50 Years, the DEA Is Still Losing the War on Drugs
For five decades, the agency has destroyed countless lives while targeting Americans for personal choices and peaceful transactions.
The Real Political Scandal Is That Too Many Documents Are Classified
Many Democrats and Republicans were outraged when Trump and Biden respectively were found with classified documents. But both sides are missing the point.
Biden May Dream of 6 More Years, but His Three Closest Comps Never Got There
What we can learn from the State of the Union addresses by Jimmy Carter in 1979, Richard Nixon in 1971, and JFK in 1963
What the 1970s Can Teach Us About Today's Inflationary Politics
Inflation is a problem for politicians. Unfortunately for them, it's not a problem they know how to solve.
50 Years Later, the Motive Behind Watergate Remains Clouded
Despite the abundance of transcripts, FBI reports, and memoirs from those involved, we still know more about the cover-up than we do about the infamous political scandal.
50 Years After Nixon's Commission Said Cops Should Stop Busting Pot Users, the Federal Ban Remains Unchanged
But 37 states allow medical or recreational use, and arrests are falling.
'Fear Is the Tool of Totalitarians': Ron Paul on War, Money, and the Libertarian Moment
The former Texas congressman and presidential candidate says his goal was to get people to think about freedom.
Price Controls Were a Disaster in the 1970s. They Would Be a Disaster Today, Too.
The idea would benefit central planners and grow the ranks of bureaucrats while making the poor even poorer.
Don't Blame 'Greedy Corporations' for Inflation. Blame the Government.
"Greed is constant. If it's greed, how do we explain prices falling?"
Governments Love a Media Cartel—As Long as They're in Control
Friday A/V Club: Some people are against concentrated media power. Some just want to bend it to their will.
City Building and Black Power
That time a civil rights activist teamed up with Richard Nixon to build a black-run town in rural North Carolina
50 Years Into the War on Drugs, Drugs Are Winning
Plus: The federal government gets a jump-start on celebrating Juneteenth, the masks come off in California, and more...
G. Gordon Liddy: The Hollywood Years
Friday A/V Club: How a Watergate burglar spent the '80s
Nixon May Be Trump's 'Law and Order' Model, but He Was Smarter on Crime
He did not overpromise, and he had the good sense to stop talking about a country beset by violence when he ran for a second term.
How Protests Over George Floyd's Death and Police Brutality Could Help Trump Win Reelection
Princeton political scientist Omar Wasow says violent protests helped Richard Nixon win the presidency in 1968.
Violent Protests in 1968 Helped Elect Richard Nixon. Will Today's Protests Help Trump?
Princeton's Omar Wasow talks about the complicated effects of civil rights demonstrations, police brutality, and racial fears on public policy.
How 3 Past Presidents Dealt With Scandal During Their State of the Union Addresses
From Clinton's cockiness to Reagan's contrition to Nixon's defiance, three different models for Donald Trump
Ken Starr, Who Led Clinton's Partisan Impeachment, Says Impeachment Should Be 'Powerfully Bipartisan'
He also likens impeachment to "domestic war."
How the Drug War Destroyed a Hippie Paradise in Kathmandu
Nixon's pursuit of draft-dodgers and pot smokers fueled the communist ideology it was trying to contain
Bill Weld: The Next Gene McCarthy or the Next Pete McCloskey?
Richard Nixon faced a primary challenger in 1972...and he squashed him like a bug.
1972: The Year That Made 2018 Seem Sane
Richard Nixon's battle with Timothy Leary puts today's culture wars to shame.
Richard Nixon Probably Would Not Have Been Saved by Fox News
The 37th president used the then-stronger tools of media regulation to manipulate the far more centralized 1970s news industry in ways that Donald Trump can only fantasize about.
What Can Richard Nixon—and Warren Harding!—Teach Us About Donald Trump's State of the Union Address?
Some surprising insights and historical curiosities from past presidents at their one-year marks
'Worse Than Watergate' Is Worse Than Watergate
The rhetorical war over the Justice Department's Trump/Russia investigation is beating a dead metaphor.
The Vietnam War Is the Key to Understanding Today's America: Q&A with Filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick
Their 18-hour miniseries looks at one of the most divisive, painful, and poorly understood episodes in American history.
The Indestructible Idea of the Basic Income
Is this the only policy proposal Tom Paine, Huey Long, Milton Friedman, Timothy Leary, and Sam Altman can agree on?
Donald Trump, Who Promised Repeatedly to Release His Tax Returns, Definitely Won't Release His Tax Returns
Even Nixon released his taxes while under audit.
Roger Stone Says Libertarians Should Support Trump Because He's Anti-Drug War and Pro-LGBT Rights
"I'm a Nixon guy," but the drug war "was Nixon's greatest mistake," Stone tells Reason.
Friday A/V Club: This Is What It Looks Like When a Political Party Splits
Republicans for Lyndon Johnson, Democrats for Richard Nixon, and the prospect of a Republicans-for-Clinton campaign
The Anarchist Who Became President
Which occupant of the Oval Office flirted with anti-authoritarian ideas in his youth?
A Nixon Aide's Secret Archive
The man who revealed the White House taping system has some more revelations.
Spies, Lies, and the Underground
A new book shines some light on the violent radicals of the 1970s but misses their biggest impact on American politics.
A Christian Libertarian Take on the McKinney Swimming Pool Outrage
"The cop with the girl under his knees does not see her as himself, which she is."
Suspicious Minds in the 1970s
Rick Perlstein's new book shows the strange '70s interplay of skepticism and nostalgia.