Kevin M. Kruse
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Kevin Michael Kruse (born 1972) is an American historian and a professor of history at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
. His research interests include the political, social, and urban/suburban history of 20th-century America, with a particular focus on the making of modern
conservatism Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...
. Outside of academia, Kruse has attracted substantial attention and following for his
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
threads where he provides historical context and applies historical research to current political events.


Early life and education

Kruse was born in
Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of ...
, to a
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
middle-class family; his father was an accountant, and he has three siblings. He moved with his family to
Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
,
Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
, where he attended
Montgomery Bell Academy Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA) is a preparatory day school for boys in grades 7 through 12 in Nashville, Tennessee. History MBA was established in 1867 in the aftermath of the American Civil War. It is the successor to two schools: the Western Mi ...
. Kruse graduated
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
with a bachelors degree in history. He received his master's and PhD degrees from
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
. He wrote his PhD dissertation on
white flight White flight or white exodus is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the United States. They refer ...
in
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
.


Career

In 2000, Kruse joined the faculty of the
Princeton University Department of History Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...
. In 2019, Kruse was awarded the
Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
in General Nonfiction by the
John Simon Guggenheim Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim John Simon Guggenheim (December 30, 1867 – November 2, 1941) was an American businessman, politician and philanthropist. Life Born in Philadelphi ...
to support archival research for his next book, ''The Division: John Doar, the Justice Department, and the Civil Rights Movement.'' In May 2020, Kruse was elected to the
Society of American Historians The Society of American Historians, founded in 1939, encourages and honors literary distinction in the writing of history and biography about American topics. The approximately 300 members include professional historians, independent scholars, jou ...
.


Books

In addition to authoring the books listed below, Kruse has co-edited four books, ''Fog of War: The Second World War and the Civil Rights Movement'', ''Spaces of the Modern City: Imaginaries, Politics and Everyday Life'', ''The New Suburban History'', and ''Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past''. He also contributed a chapter to ''The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story''.


''White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism''

In 2005, Kruse wrote ''White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism'', which explores the links between the resistance to
desegregation Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...
and the rise of modern conservatism. The book won the 2007 Francis B. Simkins Award for best first book by an author in the field of
southern history The history of the Southern United States spans back thousand of years to the first evidence of human occupation. The Paleo-Indians were the first peoples to inhabit the Americas and what would become the Southern United States. By the time Eu ...
from the
Southern Historical Association The Southern Historical Association is a professional academic organization of historians focusing on the history of the Southern United States. It was organized on November 2, 1934. Its objectives are the promotion of interest and research in Sou ...
and the 2007 Malcolm and Muriel Barrow Bell Award for the best book on Georgia History from the
Georgia Historical Society The Georgia Historical Society (GHS) is a statewide historical society in Georgia. Headquartered in Savannah, Georgia, GHS is one of the oldest historical organizations in the United States. Since 1839, the society has collected, examined, and ta ...
. It was also co-winner of the 2007 Best Book Award in Urban Politics from the Urban Politics Section of the
American Political Science Association The American Political Science Association (APSA) is a professional association of political science students and scholars in the United States. Founded in 1903 in the Tilton Memorial Library (now Tilton Hall) of Tulane University in New Orleans, ...
. Historian Allison Dorsey wrote in ''
The American Historical Review ''The American Historical Review'' is a quarterly academic history journal and the official publication of the American Historical Association. It targets readers interested in all periods and facets of history and has often been described as the ...
'' that the book is "well-researched, persuasively argued" and "a brilliant analysis of race, class, and politics". Historian Amanda I. Seligman wrote in the journal ''Urban History'' (
CUP A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...
) that the book provides an "important contribution to the scholarship on the political significance of cities and suburbs in the late twentieth-century United States" pointing its greatest strength in "its reading of the subtleties of local and national politics" but criticized "Kruse's identification of Atlanta as the originator of
modern conservatism Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
" as exaggerated.


''One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America''

In 2015, Kruse wrote ''One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America''. Historian
D. G. Hart Darryl G. Hart is a religious and social historian. Hart is Distinguished Associate Professor of History at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan. He previously served as dean of academic affairs at Westminster Seminary California from 200 ...
wrote: "America was founded in 1776, but it was only in 1953, with the inauguration of
Dwight David Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
as the 34th president, that it became a Christian nation. Such is Kevin M. Kruse's thesis and, after reading “One Nation Under God,” it makes perfect sense." Hart concluded that the book "is an important and convincing reminder that the roots of Christian America were cultivated well before the era of the religious right. What it fails to do is to supply much evidence of the subtitle's claim that “Corporate America Invented Christian America”". Historian Axel R. Schäfer reviewing the book in ''
The American Historical Review ''The American Historical Review'' is a quarterly academic history journal and the official publication of the American Historical Association. It targets readers interested in all periods and facets of history and has often been described as the ...
'', wrote that the book is "intriguing and insightful" but stated that "it revels too much in human-interest stories and ''
ad hominem ''Ad hominem'' (), short for ''argumentum ad hominem'' (), refers to several types of arguments, most of which are fallacious. Typically, this term refers to a rhetorical strategy where the speaker attacks the character, motive, or some other ...
'' arguments" and that it's "too focused on the idea that
Christianizing Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...
the nation was a marketing ploy designed by corporate titans who enlisted conservative clergymen in an effort to construct a
Christian libertarianism Christian libertarianism is the synthesis of Christian beliefs with libertarian political philosophy, with a focus on beliefs about free will, human nature, and God-given inalienable rights. As with some other forms of libertarianism, Christi ...
capable of defeating the
New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
". Writing for ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', historian
Michael Kazin Michael Kazin (born June 6, 1948) is an American historian, and professor at Georgetown University. He is co-editor of ''Dissent'' magazine. Early life Kazin was born in New York City in 1948 and was raised in Englewood, New Jersey. He is the so ...
said: "Kruse tells a big and important story about the mingling of religiosity and politics since the 1930s. Still, he oversells his basic premise. Americans easily accepted placing God's name on their currency and in the oath children recite every school day because similar invocations were already routine in public discourse — from the Declaration's reference to the “unalienable Rights” endowed by the “Creator” to the official chaplains who have opened sessions of the House and Senate with a prayer since 1789."


''Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974''

In 2019, Kruse co-authored ''Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974'' with
Julian E. Zelizer Julian Emanuel Zelizer (born 1969) is a professor of political history and an author in the United States at Princeton University. Zelizer has authored or co-authored several books about American political history; his focuses of study are the sec ...
; the book is based on the course that they created together at Princeton University, ''The United States Since 1974''. Michaelangelo Matos, writing for ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', praised the book as "a sharp summation of how we moved from post-New Deal liberalism to an increasingly hard-right philosophy", saying that "its deep detail and taut-as-a-thriller pacing make up for the repetition" of its premise that "from the 1970s on, the United States would seem less and less united with each passing decade”. Barton Swaim, writing for ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', was more critical, saying: "In “Fault Lines,” conservatives are almost invariably the aggressors in the culture wars and so primarily responsible for the widening gulf between Americans of left and right." He concluded, "Messrs. Kruse and Zelizer miss perhaps the most relevant fault line of our time: the line between disdainful elites who equate reality with their own interpretations and everybody else."


Twitter threads and public career

Kruse joined
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
in February 2015 at the request of the publisher of ''One Nation Under God''. In September 2015, Kruse posted his first Twitter thread in response to a tweet by
Joe Scarborough Charles Joseph Scarborough (; born April 9, 1963) is an American television host, attorney, political commentator, and former politician who is the co-host of '' Morning Joe'' on MSNBC with his wife Mika Brzezinski. He previously hosted ''Scarbo ...
describing
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
as the "most partisan president ever"; in the thread, Kruse argued that Obama's early years in office "showed bipartisan outreach we have not seen in the modern era before". In July 2018, Kruse posted a Twitter thread naming several
Dixiecrat The States' Rights Democratic Party (whose members are often called the Dixiecrats) was a short-lived segregationist political party in the United States, active primarily in the South. It arose due to a Southern regional split in opposition t ...
s who had switched their political affiliations to the
Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...
in response to a tweeted challenge by right-wing political commentator
Dinesh D'Souza Dinesh Joseph D'Souza (; born April 25, 1961) is an Indian-American right-wing political commentator, author, filmmaker, and conspiracy theorist. He has written over a dozen books, several of them ''New York Times'' best-sellers. In 2012, D' ...
to name the Dixiecrats who switched to the Republican Party in protest of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
's embrace of the
civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
. Later, D'Souza falsely claimed that in the time of
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
, the Republican Party supported protecting the rights of legal immigrants; Kruse responded by noting that there was no distinction between legal and illegal immigrants at the time. Kruse gained additional prominence from these tweets, with his Twitter following growing to 160,000 over the next three months. In 2019 Kruse contributed an article to
The 1619 Project The 1619 Project is a long-form journalism endeavor developed by Nikole Hannah-Jones, writers from ''The New York Times'', and ''The New York Times Magazine'' which "aims to reframe the country's history by placing the consequences of slavery an ...
titled: "A traffic jam in Atlanta would seem to have nothing to do with slavery. But look closer..." (or "How Segregation Caused Your Traffic Jam"). The article discussed how Jim Crow segregation, the building of the highway system in the United States, and opinions on public transit have affected African American communities, particularly in Atlanta and other Southern cities. A slightly modified version was later published as "Traffic" in the 2021 companion volume '' The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story''.


Accusations of plagiarism

In June 2022, Phillip W. Magness (of the
American Institute for Economic Research The American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) is a libertarian think tank located in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1933 by Edward C. Harwood, an economist and investment advisor. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. History ...
) in ''
Reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...
'' accused Kruse of plagiarism in his 2000 doctoral dissertation, his 2005 book ''White Flight'', and other works. In ''
The Daily Princetonian ''The Daily Princetonian'', originally known as ''The Princetonian'' and nicknamed the Prince, is the independent daily student newspaper of Princeton University. Founded on June 14, 1876 as ''The'' ''Princetonian'', it changed its name to ''T ...
'': "Kruse expressed 'surprise' at the allegations and attributed the lack of citations in one instance to an inadvertent oversight." ''The Daily Princetonian'' and ''
The Chronicle of Higher Education ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals (staff members and administrators). A subscription is required to rea ...
'', which discussed the story, both noted past animosity between Magness and Kruse on politically fraught academic matters. In October 2022, both Cornell, where he wrote his dissertation, and Princeton, where he is employed, ultimately determined that these were "citation errors" and did not rise to the level of intentional plagiarism. Cornell found no intent of plagiarism and took no further action in the matter; Princeton's Dean of Faculty wrote that Kruse's citations could have been formatted better, but that the mistakes were "honest" and "the result of careless cutting and pasting" with "no attempt to conceal an intellectual debt." Kruse's primary accuser Magness "responded to the decision with indignation," according to
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
publisher ''
National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...
'', and he posted fresh accusations of plagiarism in other works by Kruse on
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
.


Personal life

Kruse self-identifies as a
liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
, though he has stated that he is "too amenable to compromise and coalition-building to be an avatar of the far left". Kruse and his wife have two children. He is a fan of the
Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...
.


Publications

* ''White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism'' (Princeton University Press, 2005) * ''The New Suburban History'' (University of Chicago Press, 2006), co-edited with
Thomas Sugrue Thomas J. Sugrue (born 1962, Detroit, Michigan) is an American historian of the 20th-century United States at New York University. From 1991 to 2015, he was the David Boies Professor of History and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania and ...
* co-edited with Gyan Prakash, ''Spaces of the Modern City'' (Princeton University Press, 2008), * ''Fog of War: The Second World War and the Civil Rights Movement'' (Oxford University Press, 2012), co-edited with Stephen Tuck * ''One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America'' (Basic Books, 2015) * with
Julian E. Zelizer Julian Emanuel Zelizer (born 1969) is a professor of political history and an author in the United States at Princeton University. Zelizer has authored or co-authored several books about American political history; his focuses of study are the sec ...
, ''Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 2019),


References


External links

*
Faculty profile
at Princeton University {{DEFAULTSORT:Kruse, Kevin 1972 births 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers Contemporary historians Cornell University alumni Historians from Tennessee Historians of the United States Living people Political historians Princeton University faculty University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Urban historians Writers from Nashville, Tennessee American male non-fiction writers