The New-York Historical Society, founded in 1804, occupies an impressive
building at the corner of Central Park West and Richard Gilder Way. A
compliant city recently renamed 77th Street after Gilder, the  Society's
executive committee co-chair and major funder -- a wealthy New York broker,
ideologue and founder of the right-wing think tank, the Manhattan Institute.
With this honor to Henry Kissinger, the N-Y Historical Society becomes the
overt instrument of the Manhattan Institute's politics.

Many of the historians protesting the honor to Kissinger have spent hours
and weeks (as we have, starting a half century ago) in its magnificent
library, using its invaluable archives. But in recent years we have noticed
a change in the Society's mission. A landmark in this change was the 2004
exhibit on "Alexander Hamilton: The Man Who  Made Modern America," which was
a shallow paean to the values of George W. Bush. Now with the honoring of
Henry Kissinger, the cat is fully out of the bag. With this, the Society
throws away 200 years of distinction, sacrificing its standing, subverting
and junking a major historical institution by politicizing it. While N-YHS
has a right to its politics, there's no doubt that in bestowing this honor
on Kissinger those politics are vile. The trustees of this once-great
Society should resign, leaving Richard Gilder afloat amidst the wreckage
that  he has created. We need a new New-York Historical Society.

Jesse Lemisch, Professor of History Emeritus, John Jay College of
Criminal Justice, City University of New York

Staughton Lynd, Independent Historian