Gillian Brockell

Washington, D.C.

Staff writer for Retropolis

Education: Northwestern University, MS in journalism ; University of Texas at Austin, BA in history and English

Gillian Brockell writes for The Washington Post’s history blog, Retropolis. She has worked for The Post since 2013. As a video editor, she was nominated for an Emmy and won an NABJ award for producing the commentary series “TL;DR.” Previously, she was a producer at Federal News Radio and a flight attendant for JetBlue Airways. Her writing has appeared in Cosmopolitan, Fodor’s Travel and The Washington Post Magazine.
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Latest from Gillian Brockell

Trump disqualified for insurrection? Under 14th Amendment, it’s happened before.

Here’s a look at other elected officials disqualified by the same provision the Colorado Supreme Court is citing in removing Donald Trump from the ballot.

December 20, 2023
From left: Sen. Zebulon Vance circa 1875 (Mathew Brady/Library of Congress), former president Donald Trump in Philadelphia in 2023 (Hannah Beier for The Washington Post) and Socialist Rep. Victor Berger, date unknown (Harris and Ewing/Library of Congress).

Trump and Jack Smith are both citing Richard Nixon. Here’s why.

The special counsel and Trump’s lawyers have cited Supreme Court rulings on Nixon and presidential immunity — but two different cases with very different outcomes.

December 14, 2023
President Richard M. Nixon speaks near Orlando at the Associated Press Managing Editors' annual meeting on Nov. 17, 1973. Nixon told the APME, “I am not a crook.”

Kissinger held a sobbing Nixon just before the president resigned

After he decided to resign, Richard Nixon cried in the arms of Henry Kissinger, who died Wednesday, getting down on his knees and wailing, “What have I done?”

November 30, 2023
President Richard M. Nixon, right, and national security adviser Henry Kissinger travel in Air Force One during their voyage to China on Feb. 20, 1972.

Fact-checking ‘The Crown’: Did Dodi propose to Diana the night they died?

The new season of “The Crown” shows Princess Diana rejecting Dodi al-Fayed’s proposal hours before their car crash. But a key detail about the ring doesn’t match reality.

November 25, 2023
Princess Diana arrives at the Palace of Versailles on Nov. 28, 1994, to preside over an international gala for children.

Did Thomas Jefferson hate Thanksgiving?

As president, Thomas Jefferson intentionally axed a long American tradition of thanksgiving.

November 23, 2023
The Thomas Jefferson Memorial.

Before Sam Altman, these founders were ousted from their own empires

OpenAI founder Sam Altman joins an ... interesting ... pantheon of founders ousted from their own organizations.

November 20, 2023
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs gives a speech in 2007.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s marriage was longer than most presidents’ lives

Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, who died Sunday, were married for more than 77 years, longer than more than half of all the U.S. presidents were alive.

November 19, 2023
Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, at the Democratic National Convention at New York's Madison Square Garden in July 1976. Mrs. Carter died Sunday at 96.

Fact-checking ‘The Crown’: Was Dodi al-Fayed engaged when he romanced Diana?

In the new season of “The Crown,” Dodi al-Fayed two-times Princess Diana and an American model and keeps them separated on two adjacent yachts. Did that happen?

November 18, 2023
Khalid Abdalla and Elizabeth Debicki as Dodi al-Fayed and Diana, Princess of Wales, in season six of “The Crown.”

Love letters from the French and Indian War are opened for first time

A cache of love letters from the French and Indian War sat unopened for nearly 265 years. Now the letters to French sailors have finally been revealed.

November 9, 2023
The letters from 1758, before they were opened and read by Renaud Morieux at Britain's National Archives. (Renaud Morieux/National Archives, U.K.)

Flooding D.C. streets and bashing Biden, thousands demand Gaza cease-fire

A broad coalition filled Freedom Plaza and marched to the White House, pressuring politicians for a cease-fire in the Israel-Gaza war and an end to U.S. aid to Israel.

November 4, 2023