Steven M. Gillon
Steven M. Gillon is a senior fellow at the Miller Center at the University of Virginia and a professor of history at the University of Oklahoma. He has authored numerous books on American history, including America's Reluctant Prince: The Life of John F. Kennedy, Jr. and The Pact: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich and the Rivalry that Changed America.
Articles From This Author
Inside RFK's Funeral Train: How His Final Journey Helped a Nation Grieve
On June 8, 1968, a 21-car train carried the body of slain New York senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy from New York’s Penn Station to Washington D.C.’s Union Station. Before airplanes and the interstate highway system, the train was a defining feature of the ...read more
This Train Station is Poised to Help Detroit Get Back on Track
In 1913, when it opened its doors to passengers, the 18-story, 500,000 square-foot Michigan Central Station was the tallest rail station in the world. But it was more then just a transportation hub; the station, with vaulted ceilings and marble floors, represented Detroit’s ...read more
Why the 1967 Kerner Report on Urban Riots Suppressed Its Own Expert Findings
What causes racial riots? In recent years, especially following the disturbances that erupted in Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore, Maryland following the police-involved deaths of Michael Brown and Freddie Gray, pundits and editorial writers have offered many different ...read more
The Revolution That Was 1968
Two assassinations, a bloody war, violent protests, racial unrest, colorful hippies, a celebration of sex and rebellion, and John Lennon’s countercultural anthem, “Revolution”—1968 had them all. It was the year that shattered the fragile consensus that had shaped American society ...read more
How a Little-Known ’60s Congressman Unwittingly Upended U.S. Immigration
Debates over immigration policy have assumed center stage in Washington and have even contributed to a government shutdown. President Donald Trump and his conservative allies want to put an end to “chain migration” that he says allows “truly evil” people into the United States. ...read more
Why Populism in America is a Double-Edged Sword
In the closing days of 2017, President Donald Trump scored his sole major legislative victory by pushing through Congress a sweeping tax cut. Every objective analysis of the new legislation has found that it overwhelmingly benefits wealthy people and corporations—and adds more ...read more
Why the Public Stopped Believing the Government about JFK’s Murder
The ongoing media frenzy over the release of documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy highlights the public fascination with JFK and his death, all these years later. Do the documents add to our understanding of the assassination, the motives of the ...read more
Lee Harvey Oswald: Plan, Chaos or Conspiracy?
While the police converged on the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas and doctors at Parkland Hospital began working on the mortally wounded President in Emergency Room No. 1, Lee Harvey Oswald was briskly walking the seven blocks from the depository to the bus stop at Elm ...read more