What Biden can still learn from presidents who dropped out

Plus: Lily Gladstone's historic Oscar nomination |

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By Made by History / Produced by Olivia B. Waxman Joe Biden had a good night in New Hampshire on Tuesday, winning an overwhelming victory in the Democratic primary without even being on the ballot or campaigning. Yet, that probably won’t quell demand among some Democrats for him to step aside given his low approval ratings and his age. But, as Luke Nichter explains in Made by History, anyone calling for that outcome would likely have a while to wait. After all, it was only at the very last moment possible that Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson, two other Democratic presidents with roots in the Senate like Biden, tossed in the towel. Both men were convinced that their reelection prospects were deeply imperiled, but they waited to avoid looking like they were acting in response to success by challengers and to avoid being lame ducks. While such delay is good for an incumbent president, it can hurt his party, as it deprives other candidates of the time necessary to build a campaign infrastructure and fundraise.

HISTORY ON TIME.COM Americans Used to Care More About Israel Dividing the U.S. From Its U.N. Allies By Sean T. Byrnes / Made by History Americans have been isolated at the U.N. on Israel for a half century — but that used to prompt fierce debate. Read More » Where Lily Gladstone Fits in the History of Indigenous Representation at the Oscars By Olivia B. Waxman The history of indigenous representation at the Oscars. Read More » What's Behind the 'Race Hustler' Accusations By James West / Made by History Commentators have often accused Black activists of seeking to profit from the struggle for civil rights. Here's why the idea has such power. Read More » To Understand Trump’s Appeal, Look to the History of Alabama Politics By Ashley Steenson / Made by History The transformation of Alabama politics in the 1960s and 1970s reflected the rise of a new version of Republicanism that Trump has perfected. Read More » The Story Behind the Photo of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X’s Only Meeting By Olivia B. Waxman Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X met just once, a moment depicted in the series 'Genius: MLK/X' Read More »

FROM THE TIME VAULT This week in 1995: Rush Limbaugh KIMBERLY BUTLER The Jan. 23, 1995, cover of TIME “E-mail and other tech talk may be the third, fourth or nth wave of the future, but old-fashioned radio is true hyperdemocracy. Very hyper. Like the backyard savants, barroom agitators and soapbox spellbinders of an earlier era, Limbaugh & Co. bring intimacy and urgency to an impersonal age.” Read More » This week in 2009: Barack Obama PORTRAIT BY C.F. PAYNE FOR TIME The Jan. 26, 2009, cover of TIME “For the first time in decades, a President will enter office at the spearhead of a social movement he created. The exact size can be measured in various ways. He controls a 13 million--name email list, which is nearly the size of the NRA and the AFL-CIO combined. Three million people have given him money; 2 million have created profiles on Obama's social-networking site. More than 1.2 million volunteered for the campaign, which has trained about 20,000 in the business of community organizing.” Read More » This week in 2013: Chris Christie MARCO GROB FOR TIME The Jan. 21, 2013, cover of TIME “The past three months have transformed a man who was already on virtually everyone’s short list for 2016 into something else entirely. In mid-October, Christie was bogged down in tedious wrangling with the state assembly and reading about the various Democrats eager to steal his job. Then came Sandy. Arriving with ghoulish timing just before Halloween, it was the worst storm to hit New Jersey in a century.” Read More »

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