Starting with the advent of the penal laws of late 18th century America, Congress has enacted mandatory minimum sentences for a specific range of crimes. These mandatory minimums force judges to sentence a criminal for a minimum amount of time or severity regardless of the details of the case. In 1790, mandatory minimums existed for crimes like … Read more
A guitar warbles. Helicopter blades thud like a gentle heartbeat. Jim Morrison melodically murmurs, “This is the end,” as trees burst into hypnotic napalm flames. For many people, this opening montage of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, is one of the most searing images of the Vietnam War. The emotional heft of The Doors’ lyrics—irrevocably … Read more
Hitler titled his autobiography Mein Kampf for a reason. In one word, he could crystallize his hate-filled ideological ramblings into a single, identifiable, and compelling concept: battle. Yet phrasing a political philosophy with the rhetoric of battle is not limited to the likes of Hitler. Politicians then and now, respected and unknown, American and foreign, have … Read more
Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) is currently serving her second term. Previously, Shaheen served in the New Hampshire Senate and as New Hampshire’s governor. She is the only woman to have been elected both a governor and a U.S. senator. Harvard Political Review: Currently, there are 20 women, two African Americans, one Asian American, and three Hispanic … Read more
Will the Black Lives Matter movement succeed? The entire country waits with bated breath to hear that question answered. And although pundits and protestors alike have compared Black Lives Matter to the civil rights movement generally in order to evaluate and predict the future of the contemporary demonstrations, a specific branch of that earlier campaign … Read more
Last Thursday’s peace deal, hammered out by French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, was designed to restore a fragile ceasefire to war-torn eastern Ukraine. Yet as soon as it was inked, pundits and commentators began to doubt its longevity, as rebels repudiated portions of … Read more
Earlier this month, The New York Times published a critical piece about red carpet ceremonies. The article called out the sexism of judging women based on their looks rather than their accomplishments, the offensiveness of putting stars on parade, and the banality of asking questions like “Who are you wearing?” It cited E!’s Mani Cam—a … Read more
Of the 6,700 undergraduates studying at Harvard at any given time, less than 300 study abroad term-time. When compared to other universities like Syracuse, where a third of the student body takes time off to study abroad during the school year, this is a surprisingly low number. Across the United States, the popularity and … Read more
With the 2016 presidential election only two years away, GOP party leaders have begun the search for a formidable Republican candidate. After considering candidates that would have popularity equal to that of likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, the GOP announced its support for Taylor Swift. “We have the utmost confidence that Ms. Swift will easily … Read more
Brandon Stanton’s blog, Humans of New York (HONY), started out as an unassuming personal project to capture New York’s larger-than-life characters. Five years later, Stanton has garnered 12 million viewers, launched a United Nations-sponsored photography tour and snagged a meeting with President Obama. On his recent visit to Harvard University, HPR journalist Mattea Mrkusic sat down with Stanton to discuss his personal … Read more