In the 1860s, the german philologist lazarus geiger proposed that the subdivision of color always follows the same hierarchy. the simplest color lexicons (such as the dugermdani language of new guinea) distinguish only black/dark and white/light. the next color to be given a separate word by cultures is always centered on the red part of the visible spectrum. then, according to geiger, societies will adopt a word corresponding to yellow, then green, then blue. lazarus’s color hierarchy was forgotten until restated in almost the same form in 1969 by brent berlin, an anthropologist, and paul kay, a linguist, when it was hailed as a major discovery in modern linguistics. it showed a universal regularity underlying the apparently arbitrary way language is used:

answer: president kennedy is vowing to protect freedom in this paragraph.

besides the fact that abraham lincoln abolished slavery, and greatly benefit black people, he had a heavy impact of the definition of what democracy was, and should be.

what exactly is the question to this?

during the debate over his landmark energy policy proposal, president jimmy carter failed to consult one of the most powerful senators, louisiana’s russell long, who would have a big say over whether the legislation moved through the upper chamber. this was classic carter. with a strong distaste for congressional politics, the president simply refused to do what most other presidents would consider routine, such as courting key senators. long became so irate with the president that when he was finally invited to a white house dinner, he stood up to ask a question and, before doing so, proceeded to sarcastically introduce himself: “i’m russell long, chairman of the senate finance committee.”

this interaction is a revealing moment in stuart e. eizenstat’s fascinating new history of carter’s presidency. the former peanut farmer from georgia was a president who, according to conventional wisdom, didn’t care much for party politics; nonetheless, in eizenstat’s view, carter’s legacy on domestic and foreign policy has been vastly underappreciated. the author paints carter as a “bold and determined” leader who bravely attacked the challenges of his time. eizenstat goes so far as to argue that carter might very well be the most successful one-term president in american history.