A Loss for the Nation

Matt Mahurin

The loss of historian Alan Brinkley, who died last night, is tragic not just for his family — wife Evangeline Morphos & daughter Elly — but for the nation. Alan's towering voice & brilliant writing have been sorely missed in the Age of Trump. He was a longtime contributor (he first wrote for me at the NYT op-ed page back when Ronald Reagan was president, when I called him with an idea comparing Reagan to Calvin Coolidge and he knocked it out of the park), who, with his wife Evangline, became a real friend. Here's one of many pieces he wrote for me that still resonate. This one deftly ties together the early 1930s Bonus Army and Occupy Wall Street.