The Republicans first became prominent under the leadership of our greatest president, Abraham Lincoln, champion of democracy, freedom, and equal rights for all. But today, the party has left Lincoln's ideals far behind, advocating and tolerating policies that are inconsistent with-and therefore compromise-America's constitutional democratic principles. The GOP also has become a cult of personality, no longer a true political party.
How did this happen?
In Republicans: Political Party or Threat to Our Democracy? author Thomas Graham Jr. vividly details the history of the Republican Party and draws insightful parallels between the two major existential crises in our nation's history: the Civil War and the current moment. With anguish for what the GOP has become, but with hope for the future, Graham-who promoted arms limitation and peace as a senior US diplomat for nearly 30 years-shares his vision for a peaceful return to the principles and integrity of great Republican leaders like Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan, and to the stability of the strong two-party system that built our great nation.

Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr. served as a senior US diplomat in every major international arms control and nonproliferation negotiation in which the United States took part from 1970 to 1997. In 1995, he shared with Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala of Sri Lanka, president of the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference, the Trainer Award for Distinction in the Conduct of Diplomacy from Georgetown University. Ambassador Graham has taught at a number of prestigious universities including the University of Virginia School of Law, Georgetown University, the Georgetown University Law Center, Stanford University, the University of Washington, Oregon State University, the University of Tennessee, and Dartmouth University. Ambassador Graham has also written extensively, including some 12 books and nearly 100 articles. His books include Disarmament Sketches: Three Decades of Arms Control and International Law; Unending Crisis: National Security Policy after 9/11; The Alternate Route: Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones; America: The Founders' Vision; and the novels Sapphire: A Tale of the Cold War and On Tyranny and Crisis, the story of an attempted coup in the US. Ambassador Graham's professional website is www.thomasgraham.info.