American History Expert Talks on the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election
There is probably no better qualified British commentator on modern American history and politics than Professor Tony Badger. Until his retirement in 2014 he was Paul Mellon Professor of American History and Master of Clare College at the University of Cambridge. Since 2014 he has been Professor of American History at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne. He is the immediate Past President of the national Historical Association, in which honorary role he toured the length and breadth of the country addressing branch meetings of H.A. members. (The nearest H.A. branches are in Bath and Bournemouth). As a small, independent society, The S&DHS is privileged to welcome Tony to his first live speaking engagement since the onset of the pandemic in 2020.
The title of Tony’s talk is “The 2020 American Presidential Election in Historical Perspective.” This takes place in Shaftesbury Town Hall at 7.30p.m. on Tuesday 05 October, 2021, and is free to S&DHS members but also open to non-members on payment of £5 at the door. Seats may be reserved in advance by contacting us. This was originally scheduled for October 2020, a month before the Election, but subsequent events such as the Storming of the Capitol in January and the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in August, may make the subject even more relevant.
“The lecture (Tony says) seeks to explain how an outsider like Trump could get elected in 2016 and how, in spite of a chaotic administration and a devastating virus, he could be highly competitive in 2020. What does it say about the polarisation of American society that so many Republicans continue to believe that the 2020 election was stolen? Why did Trump refuse to accept defeat? What was his role in inciting the Capitol riot?”
Professor Badger is the Teulon Porter Memorial Lecturer for 2021. Noel Teulon Porter was one of the driving forces behind the foundation of The Shaftesbury & District Historical Society in 1946. The full lecture programme for 2021-22 can be found by clicking here
