A vital journey to April 1945 with historian Craig Shirley

NEWS AND OPINION:

Presidential historian and Ronald Reagan biographer Craig Shirley has a significant new book arriving Tuesday titled “April 1945: The Hinge of History.”

It is his companion book to “December 1941: The Month that Changed America and Saved the World,” published in 2013. Both books focus in meticulous detail on the state of America during World War II and lend insight to the nation’s role in the world.

“In April 1945, life-altering events happened. The old order was dying, and a new America was being built,” Mr. Shirley wrote — and he does not overlook the ghastly toll of war, the fast-moving culture plus the stalwart spirit, ingenuity and iron will of Americans who were in the thick of it all.

The two books represent the “alpha and omega” of that pivotal era, the author said.

At 528 pages, “April 1945” is a hefty but buoyant read — loaded with details and insight. It’s got plenty of fans as well.

Newt Gingrich, Fox News host Laura Ingraham, broadcast host Mark Levin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham, Newsmax Media CEO Christopher Ruddy and John Heubusch, executive director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, are among those who have publicly praised the new book.

“It was a meanness of times, but it was also a kindness of times. It was a blending. It was an ending. And it was a beginning. The great Winston Churchill was famous for saying, ‘Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.’ Such was April 1945,” the author wrote.

The new book was published by Thomas Nelson. The indefatigable Mr. Shirley — also the author of four distinct biographies of Reagan — is at work on yet another book about the 40th president, along with an examination of the Donald Trump presidency titled “American Prometheus.”

ANOTHER MEDIA FAILURE

The news media is catching blame for actually dividing the nation.

“The Big Media have once again received flunking grades for their own subpar performance in covering the news. But if it bothers them, it sure doesn’t show,” reported Terry Jones, editor-in-chief of Issues & Insights — which conducted its own poll on the matter.

“We asked what responsibility the media bear for the nation’s current high level of political and cultural polarization, a continuing theme in our own recent polls and outside studies,” Mr. Jones wrote.

“Americans, to be blunt, are not feeling very charitable toward the media. The numbers are pretty shocking. Three-quarters (74%) believe the country is divided and only 21% think it is united. According to the poll chart, 78% of those who believe the country is divided believe the media is ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ to blame for the current polarization of American public discourse. Only 17% said ‘not very’ or ‘not at all,’” he said.

The Issues & Insight/TIPP poll of 1,355 U.S. adults was conducted Feb. 2-5 and released Sunday.

PREACHY AND JUDGMENTAL

Uh-oh. The Democratic Party frets that voters in important battleground states now think the party itself is “preachy,” “judgmental” and “focused on culture wars” — this according to a new report from Politico, which obtained access to some internal — and damning — documents.

Democratic messages don’t counter Republican attacks very well, and fail to demonstrate that Democrats themselves “fully understand and care about stressors in people’s lives,” the report said.

It’s a lot more than that, says one close observer.

“Sorry Democrats, your problem isn’t messaging. The voters know the difference between specious talking points and effective policies,” wrote David Catron, an American Spectator columnist, in response to the Politico findings.

“The Democratic emphasis on better messaging rather than better policies is not merely a bad campaign strategy, it’s an insult to the collective intelligence of the electorate,” Mr. Catron said.

“It assumes voters can’t remember what President Biden and the Democratic leadership promised them during the 2020 election, that parents can’t tell when politicians are putting the interests of their big donors before the wellbeing of their children, that consumers can’t calculate how much more they are paying for food and fuel than they were paying a year ago. It assumes that most Americans are idiots. This attitude has become the defining characteristic of the Democratic Party. Thus, the voters are about to send them — well — an unmistakable message,” Mr. Catron warned.

IVY-COVERED HALLS

Of interest to parents, politicians and students: Grant Suneson, a senior editor at Wall Street 24/7, has assembled a list titled “The 25 Most Liberal Colleges In America.”

It’s based on information from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics — and findings from student surveys determining their “personal political leanings” conducted by Niche, a Pittsburgh-based research group.

Without further ado, here are the top-25 most liberal colleges in the U.S.:

American University in the nation’s most liberal college — followed by the University of Vermont, University of California-Santa Cruz, Northwestern University, Northeastern University, Mount Holyoke College, Ramapo College of New Jersey, CUNY Hunter College, University of Oregon and Adelphi University to round out the top-10.

Boston University is next, followed by West Chester University of Pennsylvania, Portland State University, Northeastern Illinois University, New York University, Howard University, Fayetteville State University, Miami Dade College, University of California-Riverside. California State University-East Bay, Stony Brook University, Denison University, Vassar College, University of California-Berkeley and Occidental College.

POLL DU JOUR

• 72% of U.S adults disapprove of the way President Biden is handling inflation; 63% disapprove of the way he is handling crime.

• 63% disapprove of how he is handling the economy; 62% disapprove of the president’s handling of “issues of police and policing.”

• 61% disapprove of his handling of immigration, 58% disapprove of his handling of “the situation with Russia and Ukraine.”

• 55% disapprove of his handling of race relations.

SOURCE: A CBS News poll of 2,494 U.S. adults conducted Feb. 15-18.

• Helpful information to jharper@washingtontimes.com.