Today, Peter Berkowitz suggests that to uphold free speech and national security, the Trump administration should recalibrate its approach to its feud with Harvard; Paul E. Peterson examines the 100-year legacy of the Pierce v. Society of Sisters Supreme Court ruling; Valentin Bolotnyy and Becky Staiger share findings from research with coauthors on whether abortion bans are impacting choices by OBGYNs on where to practice medicine; Elizabeth Economy explains China’s vision for an alternative world order; and Matthew Turpin evaluates why US-China trade talks appear to have stalled out for now.
Revitalizing American Institutions
In his weekly column for RealClearPolitics, Senior Fellow Peter Berkowitz argues that “the White House’s remedies to Harvard’s censoring and indoctrination clash with free-speech imperatives and risk turning Harvard, with its shameful record of stifling dissent from progressive orthodoxy, into a free-speech martyr.” Berkowitz highlights key arguments made by critics of the administration’s current approach, published in a May letter in the Chronicle of Higher Education. The letter alleged First Amendment issues with the federal government’s seeking to audit and mandate viewpoint diversity as well as its ordering the cessation of “all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.” As Berkowitz notes, “The First Amendment protects ‘programs that merely aim to teach “diversity, equity, and inclusion” viewpoints.’” The piece also considers the possible national security harms from ceasing federal funding of high-tech research at Harvard and elsewhere. Read more here.
In a piece for his Substack The Modern Federalist, Senior Fellow Paul E. Peterson reviews the legacy of the landmark 1925 Supreme Court decision Pierce v. Society of Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. The Court held that parents have “the right to send their children to a private school.” Peterson notes the history of opposition to private schooling in the state of Oregon, where the case originated, and that opposition’s connection to anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic activism by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. Peterson suggests that the Pierce decision was an important milestone on the way to today’s “robust, tripartite system of school choice—private, charter, and homeschool,” even as it didn’t resolve key questions around school funding and homeschooling. Peterson’s Substack post draws from a recent feature-length piece on the Pierce case’s legacy that he authored for Education Next. Read more here.
US Healthcare Policy
In an op-ed at The Hill summarizing recent research they published with coauthors at JAMA Network Open, Valentin Bolotnyy and Becky Staiger find “no evidence” of “an exodus of obstetrician-gynecologist physicians from states with abortion bans.” The authors show that the percentages of obstetrician-gynecologists still practicing since 2022 in states with restrictive and with more permissive abortion laws are “statistically indistinguishable.” Considering why the narrative of OBGYNs leaving and avoiding states with abortion bans has become so popular, the authors posit that “different reporters have interviewed the same small handful of 15 or so physicians who left states with bans,” which, along with survey data from physicians, has been used to paint a portrait of doctors “fleeing states with bans.” “But it just isn’t true,” say Bolotnyy and Staiger. Read more here.
Confronting and Competing with China
A recent episode of Policy Storiesfeaturing Senior Fellow Elizabeth Economy reveals how China is trying to reshape the world order to its own advantage. Through the Belt and Road Initiative, along with other global initiatives, Xi Jinping looks to diminish western influence and recast the international order into one dominated by Chinese principles and influence. As Economy explains, China offers an alternative vision that resonates with many non-Western nations seeking greater sovereignty and influence in global affairs. To counter this, Economy suggests, the United States must offer its own positive vision for change through strengthening global partnerships, reforming international institutions, and demonstrating that democratic societies provide the best path to prosperity. Watch here.
In his latest weekly China Articlesnewsletter, Visiting Fellow Matthew Turpin opens by asking why “the interim deal that American and PRC trade negotiators worked out in Geneva [in May] has collapsed.” For one, “The PRC refused to ease the export controls on rare earths and other critical minerals and magnets, which stood to disrupt manufacturing in the United States,” and the Trump administration came to believe that China was “purposefully dragging its feet” to harm the US economy. Turpin also considers the role of the “TACO [Trump Always Chickens Out] Trade” meme narrative suggesting that Trump, in negotiations, often backs down before his counterparts; as well as the impact of a recent ruling from the US Court of International Trade limiting the president’s use of emergency powers to impose tariffs. As Turpin concludes, all three developments likely had an impact on trade talks failing, as “important geopolitical developments are almost always multi-causal.” Read more here.
Explore Hoover Library & Archives Collections
The Hoover Institution’s propaganda collections are unrivaled in the world, encompassing an extensive poster collection and large holdings of Communist Party literature (Soviet, Chinese, and other), plus sound recordings and film footage. These collections allow researchers to study the technical progression of propaganda from early and crude images through contemporary professional multimedia presentations. Hoover’s related holdings in psychological warfare also provide excellent source material for research into 20th century military psychological operations. Explore the collection here.
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