Archive Extra: American Ideals

The Obama Movement • America in the King Years • Al Sharpton’s Battle [View in your browser]( | [Update your preferences](newsletter=vf) [Vanity Fair]( Archive Extra: American Ideals U.S. history has never felt less distant, as the deeds and misdeeds of men immortalized on monuments are reassessed daily. Declarations of “Black Lives Matter” have forced urgent conversations about the nation’s past—like why the racist Confederacy is still honored and whether America truly lives up to the ideals penned on parchment more than two centuries ago. For Independence Day, we’re digging through the Vanity Fair archives to look back at the country’s highs and lows, from the election of [the first Black president]( to questions of justice at [Guantánamo Bay](. We revisit profiles of civil rights leader [Al Sharpton](, who recently eulogized George Floyd, and actor and playwright [Lin-Manuel Miranda](, who hits the small screen today with the Disney+ release of Hamilton, a musical transporting viewers back to when America was young, scrappy, and hungry. [Enter Obama]( By [Maureen Orth]( [As America thrilled to the inauguration of its 44th president and a new first lady, the West Wing was filling with a kaleidoscopic army of policy aces, whiz kids, and veteran advisers, all focused on the long-haul, no-drama work to which Barack has called them. These are the civilian front lines of “We the People,” photographed by Annie Leibovitz for the following pages. Maureen Orth assesses a moment, a White House, and a movement.]( [Image]( [The Hive 1]( [Guantánamo Bay on Trial]( By [David Rose]( [At Guantánamo Bay, or “Gitmo,” the U.S. naval base in Cuba, some 660 alleged al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorists have been indefinitely detained without hearings. Now the Supreme Court is joining the debate over their legal status, and some of the military’s own lawyers are opposing the tribunal process scheduled to begin early in 2004. Investigating the cases of three apparently innocent prisoners—and discovering that some of Gitmo’s toughest critics are inside the Pentagon—David Rose wonders if the camp may be a graver threat to what America stands for than the terror it is meant to contain.]( [Read More]( [The Hive 2]( [Al Sharpton, Revisited]( By [Suzanna Andrews]( [The Reverend Al Sharpton has been many things to many people: a firebrand, an opportunist, an inspiration, a joke. Today, with race once again roiling America’s conscience, he is arguably the country’s most influential civil rights leader. As Sharpton reflects on his five-decade battle, the presidential election, his role as a political power broker, and the controversies he can’t shake, Suzanna Andrews learns about the anger that created and nearly consumed him.]( [Read More]( [The Hive 3]( [Supercalifragilistic Lin-Manuel Miranda!]( By [Bruce Handy]( [He sings! He dances! He writes Tony-winning musicals and Oscar-nominated scores! And now he’s starring in Mary Poppins Returns! As Bruce Handy writes, there’s no such thing as just a spoonful of...]( [Read More]( [The Hive 4]( [Hearts on Fire]( By [Taylor Branch]( [Following the Kennedy assassination, as Lyndon Johnson rallied his forces behind a historic civil rights bill, Martin Luther King Jr.’s battle for equality gathered strength across the South. In an excerpt from Pillar of Fire, the follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize–winning Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch re-creates the drama of the struggle and the spirits of its warriors: FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, the blueblood firebrand Mary Peabody, and a courageous seamstress, Georgia Reed, who carried its greatest hopes.]( [Read More]( [(image) Condé Nast Spotlight | The breaking news and top stories everyone is talking about. All in one place. From the editors of Vogue, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wired, Architectural Digest and more. READ 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 © 2020 Condé Nast