A Political Era Is Reborn

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/15/opinion/letters/progressivism-politics.html

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To the Editor:

“The First Post-Reagan Presidency,” by Michelle Goldberg (column, Jan. 31), cites the work of a Yale political scientist, Stephen Skowronek, in which he says he has calculated that every 40 to 60 years there is a fresh transformative presidency in America.

My grandfather Arthur Schlesinger Sr. and my father, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., conceived of a similar theory proposing that cycles of American history alternate between public purpose and private interest, every 30 years or so. Like Professor Skowronek, they did not see their theory “as a skeleton key to history,” but, like Mr. Skowronek, really as a way of understanding how U.S. history evolves.

Both concepts suggest that we are now entering a new progressive era.

Stephen SchlesingerNew YorkThe writer is a fellow at the Century Foundation.

To the Editor:

Re “Let’s Become More Divided,” by Dwight Garner (Sunday Review, Jan. 31):

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who read collections of quotations like this one and those who don’t.

Louis PhillipsNew York

To the Editor:

Dwight Garner left out the biggest one. There are two kinds of people in the world: those who believe that there are two kinds of people and those who don’t.

J. Victor SternNewton, Mass.

To the Editor:

Dwight Garner featured great quotes dividing the world in different halves, but didn’t include one of my favorites.

There are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who think in binary terms and those who don’t.

Bob MohlNeuilly sur Seine, France