When vaccines meet politics

Plus: Vikings and the meaning of "freedom" |

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. SUBSCRIBE to TIME Magazine August 27, 2020 By Lily Rothman As the world looks eagerly to a future in which there is a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, the inoculation conversation has not been limited to the realm of science. In the U.S., where President Trump has repeatedly suggested a vaccine could be available by Election Day in November, the political implications of a vaccine have been inescapable. With that in mind, TIME's Olivia B. Waxman took a look back at another election-year mass-inoculation campaign: the Ford Administration's ill-fated 1976 effort to vaccinate Americans against the swine flu. As she found, the impact of getting something like that wrong can stretch far beyond Election Day. Click here to read more. Here's more of the history that made news this week: HISTORY ON TIME.COM Column: Women's Equality Day and the Fight Beyond Suffrage Fifty years after women's suffrage was inscribed into the U.S. Constitution, the work was unfinished. Today, 50 more years have passed and the same truth remains What Stereotypes About Viking Masculinity Get Wrong Viking-age reality embraced so much more—including fluidity of gender Column: The Idea of 'Freedom' Has Two Different Meanings. Here's Why How two competing definitions of "freedom" evolved over the last 250 years—and why they remain largely unreconcilable Is School Safe Amid COVID-19? Polio Raised That Question Too The sense of powerlessness brought by polio resonates in the era of COVID-19, not least in the way outbreaks can affect schools and parents The History of Infographics During Public Health Crises A wave of statistical enthusiasm, coupled with new technologies, paved the way for infographics in 19th-century Britain FROM THE TIME VAULT Today in 1965: NASA’s Project Gemini “It was scheduled to be the longest space flight on record. It almost became one of the shortest. And the threat to the ambitious mission became doubly dramatic as the fortunes of Gemini 5 oscillated wildly last week between disaster and promise, perfection and near-fatal flaw.’” (Aug. 27, 1965) Read the full story Today in 1945: MacArthur in Japan “Beaten to her knees by air power and sea power—for which Allied ground forces had seized the bases—Japan still had 2,500,000 or more undefeated troops on her own soil, almost as many more on the soil of her conquerors, and a military spirit undimmed by all the woes of war. To enter and occupy such a country, the Allies had need of a man with great experience, great gifts and well-nigh infinite wisdom. Weeks before the actual problem arose, they had chosen General of the Army Douglas MacArthur." (Aug. 27, 1945) Read the full story Today in 1934: Cecil B. DeMille “When William Shakespeare was ready to write the story of Cleopatra, he needed nothing more than pen, ink, paper and his own lively genius. Three centuries later George Bernard Shaw required no more equipment for the same task. But when Paramount put Cecil Blount DeMille to work on this well-worn old tale, that old-time director could not even get started without $750,000, a majority of the unemployed actors in Hollywood, ten crates of real grapes by airmail from South America, an $800 history book and a month of conferences aboard his yacht. Last week, after four more months spent in actual production, the result of Director DeMille's elaborate functionings was placed before the public as Cleopatra.” (Aug. 27, 1934) Read the full story HIGHLIGHTS FROM AROUND THE WEB Suffrage Surprises To mark the centennial of the 19th Amendment, the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative has produced a snappy series of videos on some of the lesser known moments from women’s voting history. Heat Map This New York Times interactive, by Brad Plumer and Nadja Popovich, examines housing policy going back to the 1930s in order to explore why Black neighborhoods in the U.S. are often hotter in the summer than white neighborhoods in the same cities. In Perspective In another one from the New York Times, Alexandra Alter examines how historian Jon Meacham was asked to speak at the Democratic National Convention and what that says about the role of a historian at this moment. Vote of No Confidence AJ Willingham at CNN uses the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment as a moment to jump into the archives, digging up the “most ridiculous” arguments used by those who opposed extending suffrage to women. By the Numbers Pew pollsters recently asked American voters what they think about the importance of acknowledging flaws when talking about U.S. history. Here, Ted Van Green breaks down the results. To Unsubscribe Unsubscribe here if you do not want to receive this newsletter. 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