Can We Celebrate Democracy as It Hangs in the Wind?

A special archive edition of the Hive [View in your browser]( | [Update your preferences](newsletter=vf) [Vanity Fair Hive logo image]( Can We Celebrate Democracy as It Hangs in the Wind? Happy Fourth of July. It may seem like a strange moment to celebrate democracy, what with democracy itself hanging in the balance this election cycle. But as Vanity Fair has chronicled over the years, preserving the American experiment has never been an easy task. It was tested greatly during Watergate, which remade the public’s conception of government corruption, as Michael Beschloss [recounted]( for the magazine in 1992. The costs of capitalism, too, have left their scars, as we saw decades ago with Marie Brenner’s 1989 [feature]( on Michael Milken, Wall Street’s infamous junk bond fraudster. But few have revealed the defects of democracy more powerfully than Julian Assange, whose legal saga, as [covered]( in 2011 by Sarah Ellison, finally came to an end last week, reminding us of the devastating consequences of America’s military misadventures abroad. The country has come a long way since then—and yet still has a lot of growing to do. After all, the long shadow of white supremacy, as Jeff Sharlet [reported]( in 2020, continues to loom over the GOP, thanks in large part to Donald Trump. For some, the former president’s demagoguery has even brought back fears of a civil war, which, James Pogue recently [wrote](, is fueling a new movement of fringe frontierism that harkens back to ideas of freedom from days past. Thanks for reading. [How Nixon Came In From the Cold]( By [Michael Beschloss]( [With vintage Nixonian audacity, the disgraced former president has completed his political rehabilitation just in time for the 20th anniversary of Watergate.]( [Read more button](   [Michael Milken, the Man Who Fell to Earth]( By [Marie Brenner]( [Milken revolutionized Wall Street, creating the instant billionaires of the ’80s—including himself. Now he faces a criminal trial, and possibly prison.]( [Read more button](   [The Man Who Spilled the Secrets]( By [Sarah Ellison]( [The collaboration between WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the web’s notorious information anarchist, and some of the world’s most respected news organizations began at The Guardian, a nearly 200-year-old British paper.]( [Read more button](   [The Second Coming]( By [Jeff Sharlet]( [The president’s campaign rallies—part tent revival, part Roman colosseum—feature a bizarre gospel of numerology, tweetology, and white supremacy.]( [Read more button](   [West of Eden]( By [James Pogue]( [Out of the fringe right, a new vision of the old frontier is rising—off the grid, back to the land, “protecting” an American dream that they believe to be their own.]( [Read more button](   Get on the list Subscribe to our Hollywood newsletter for your essential industry and awards-season news, every day. [Sign Up Now](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn](   This e-mail was sent to you by The Hive. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, vanityfair@newsletter.vf.com, to your address book. View our [Privacy Policy]( [Unsubscribe]( Sent from Condé Nast, 1 World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007 Copyright © 2024 Condé Nast