Gil Troy

Gil Troy is a professor of history at McGill University. His latest book — his tenth — is The Age of Clinton: America in the 1990s .

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• 
  Jul 13, 2017
  

  How the Great Yankee Wife Swap Scandalized—and Changed—America

  by Gil Troy

  Like most baseball trades, the Great Yankee Wife Swap of 1973 had its winners and its losers.
  

• 
  Jun 2, 2017
  

  The Rabbi Who Captured a Town Alone

  by Gil Troy

  Shlomo Goren was the Israeli Army’s first chief rabbi—and in one of Israel’s defining moments gave it the spiritual strength to reverse what looked to be a devastating loss.
  

• 
  May 4, 2017
  

  Ed Murrow and Marlene Dietrich's Secret Affair

  by Gil Troy

  This was no mere fling between Airhead Beauty and Brainiac Beast, but it did place Murrow in a long line of brilliant men who fell for Dietrich.

   

  

• 
  Apr 23, 2017
  

  The Ivanka Trump of the 19th Century

  by Gil Troy

  She played hostess for the president most often accused of being gay—and used technology to become world famous.
  

• 
  Mar 26, 2017
  

  When Nixon Floated—Then Gaslit—the First Female Supreme Court Candidate

  by Gil Troy

  The notorious president came close to naming a woman to the Supreme Court, sneering: ‘One thing about the woman conservative. These bastards can’t vote against her.’
  

• 
  Mar 16, 2017
  

  The Jew Who Changed Football Forever

  by Gil Troy

  There would have been no Tom Brady or Johnny Unitas if it hadn’t been for one determined son of Orthodox Jews from Cleveland, Ohio.
  

• 
  Feb 21, 2017
  

  The Progressive Attorney General Who Raided Immigrants—And Paid the Price

  by Gil Troy

  A. Mitchell Palmer had reached the peak of American politics, but his indiscriminate pursuit of terrorists backfired.
  

• 
  Feb 12, 2017
  

  The Most Patriotic Act of Treason in American History?

  by Gil Troy

  As President Nixon’s list of enemies grew long and his grip on reality fragile, one prominent member of his government prepared the military to commit treason.
  

• 
  Feb 5, 2017
  

  She Was the Steve Bannon of the Great Depression

  by Gil Troy

  Elizabeth Dilling screeched ‘America First!’, oozed hatred, and inspired Sinclair Lewis. In the era that saw the rapid rise of populists, she became famous on the back of hatred for minorities, Jews, and foreigners.
  

• 
  Jan 26, 2017
  

  Trump Needs some Sage Rabbinic Advice

  by Gil Troy

  These aren't predictions, but caveats for responsible leaders in a treacherous world, during unstable times, facing a boorish president.
  

• 
  Jan 22, 2017
  

  TRUMP’S TRASHY TRANSITION IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

  by Gil Troy

  Trump keeps doubling-down, playing to his core, refusing to stretch. The result was a trashy transition, a polarizing inauguration, and a new president who has yet to appear presidential.
  

• 
  Jan 22, 2017
  

  When Nixon’s Henchmen Plotted to Assassinate a Journalist with LSD

  by Gil Troy

  For those who think the future of press freedom is facing unprecedented challenges, a reminder of the time Nixon aides hatched a plot to kill a troublesome journalist.
  

• 
  Jan 20, 2017
  

  An Inauguration Day Plea to Democrats: Stop Moping, Trump Won

  by Gil Troy

  Democrats should remember the civics lectures they gave Donald Trump about accepting election results when they expected to would win, and stop moping.
  

• 
  Jan 19, 2017
  

  The ‘Daddy King’ of the Civil Rights Movement

  by Gil Troy

  Decades before Martin Luther King Jr. altered American history, Martin Luther King Sr.—Daddy King, as he called himself—fought injustice deep in the South.
  

• 
  Jan 19, 2017
  

  An Inaugural Prayer: Stretch Yourself as Person and President – to Stretch us too…

  by Gil Troy

  Although I am no theologian, America desperately needs inaugural prayers. Here is the benediction I would offer, if invited to Donald Trump’s Swearing-in (and no, I wouldn’t boycott – Democrats should remember all the civics lectures they gave Trump about respecting the people’s choice when they expected Hillary Clinton to win, and now attend graciously).

   

  

• 
  Jan 8, 2017
  

  The Millionaire Who Took on McCarthy

  by Gil Troy

  William Benton was an advertising icon and wildly successful investor—and with those millions backing him up, he took on the country’s scariest politician.
  

• 
  Jan 1, 2017
  

  The Man Whose Dream Became Israel

  by Gil Troy

  Theodor Herzl was a man with an idea that once seen to fruition would change the world dramatically. But his reasons for creating the modern Zionist movement were never as black and white as people made them out to be.
  

• 
  Dec 19, 2016
  

  When The New York Times Defended Putting a Black Man in the Bronx Zoo

  by Gil Troy

  One of the biggest attractions in New York City in 1906 was none other than an African man bought and placed in a cage with apes.
  

• 
  Dec 15, 2016
  

  A Historian Notes that Bernie Sanders Was ONE Factor in Hillary's Loss and He Gets Hammered?

  by Gil Troy

  Partisans on the left have turned nasty, personal and vicious.
  

• 
  Dec 12, 2016
  

  When John Glenn Saved Ted Williams’s Life

  by Gil Troy

  The baseball great and the legendary astronaut were co-pilots during the Korean War—and Glenn’s cool head saved the Hall of Famer during a tense run-in with the enemy.