Brian Resnick

Brian Resnick

Online Editor

Brian Resnick is an online editor at National Journal. Before joining, Brian spent a year at The Atlantic as a fellow, where he produced content and wrote for TheAtlantic.com. In addition to The Atlantic, his writing has been featured in Popular Mechanics and The News Journal, Delaware's main daily newspaper. Brian graduated cum laude from the University of Delaware in 2011 with a B.A. in psychology. In college, he served as a managing editor for the student newspaper, The Review, and received the E.A Nickerson award for excellence in journalism. He comes from Long Island, New York.

Brian Resnick's Latest Posts

100 Years After Death, 2 Civil War Veterans Are Finally Laid to Rest

By Brian Resnick
It doesn't matter if your unclaimed remains collect dust in a funeral home for decades. If you're a veteran, the Missing in America Project will find you for a proper burial. Read More »

What Makes a Lady 'Iron'?

By Brian Resnick
Six things to know about Park Geun-hye, South Korea's tough first female president. Read More »

Why We Defend Terrorists

By Brian Resnick
What is it like speaking up for those accused of horrendous crimes? Five attorneys who have stood by bomb plotters, detainees, and murderers explain. Read More »

Is There Such Thing as Too Much Evidence?

By Brian Resnick
Assembling the case against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev won't be as simple as it appears from the news. Read More »

Can Talk Radio, Again, Derail Immigration Reform? Probably Not.

By Brian Resnick
What happens when 46 conservative hosts broadcast from one D.C. hotel. Read More »

When Everyone's an Investigator: How Technology Aided The Boston Marathon Manhunt

By Brian Resnick
Advances have completely changed the nature of a mass public crime scene. Read More »

Pete Williams' Reporting Philosophy, And Why He's Getting Boston Right

By Brian Resnick
In a recent interview, the longtime NBC justice correspondent summed up his reporting approach: "The essence of journalism is the process of selection." Read More »

With All the Focus on Boston, Here Are the Stories You Missed This Week

By Brian Resnick
Infant mortality is down, Margaret Thatcher is buried, and other stories overlooked in a dramatic news cycle. Read More »

The Boston Marathon Bombers Were Probably Caught on Camera

By Brian Resnick
And they can be found. But as the 2005 investigation of the London subway bombing shows, it will take no small effort. Read More »

A Brief History of Terrorism in the United States

By Brian Resnick
Terrorism in the United States has many roots. There are “homegrown” incidents, and there are attacks that originate from abroad. Read More »

How to Trick Partisans Into Jumping the Aisle

By Brian Resnick
Tell them it was their idea. Read More »

The Hottest Book Drop in Town: Behind the Scenes at Today's Budget Release

By Brian Resnick
Here's one intern right of passage: Collect 90-lbs of fiscal outlines for the bosses. Read More »

Behold! The Cherry Blossom

By Brian Resnick
If you don't understand the appeal of D.C.'s famous blooms, you will after seeing these photos. Read More »

Margaret Thatcher, Bond Girl?

By Brian Resnick
For better or worse, Thatcher has been depicted as a character in dozens of movies and television shows. Read More »

Wondering What Is Happening in North Korea? Here's Your Cheat Sheet.

By Brian Resnick
A timeline of the latest escalations Read More »

No Wonder Why Claims With Veterans Affairs Take Several Hundred Days to Process

By Brian Resnick
Part of the problem is that while the number of claims keeps growing, 97 percent are kept in stacks upon stacks of paper files. Read More »

Obama's Moonshot—Map the Human Brain

By Brian Resnick
The Apollo Missions and Human Genome Project were hugely beneficial to society. Will a cell-by-cell map of the brain do the same? Read More »

Memorials Are Awful. Long Live Memorials!

By Brian Resnick
All monument designs have their haters. The controversy over the Eisenhower tribute will blow over, eventually.   Read More »

The First Days of the Iraq War, as Seen Through National Journal Correspondents

By Brian Resnick
Journalists were getting a sense of how this invasion would (for better or worse) begin to define the decade and the Bush presidency. Read More »

D.C. Landmarks Under Construction

By Brian Resnick
The Washington Monument, the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, and other D.C. iconic structures in states of assembly. Read More »

The Weird Time Warp of the George W. Bush White House Website

By Brian Resnick
Step back in time to a era where the Affordable Care Act was a laughable dream, when No Child Left behind was touted by the White House, when Barack Obama was not president of the United States. Read More »

Joe Biden Finally Tells Us What It's Really Like to Be Joe Biden

By and Brian Resnick
If there's one thing Joe Biden knows, it's how to oblige the Internet. Read More »

Obama's Pope Francis Challenge: Appoint a New Ambassador to the Vatican

By Brian Resnick
How that appointment might come to define the U.S.-papal relationship. Read More »

Pope Francis, Need Some Public-Relations Help? Here's Advice from America’s Political Consultants

By Brian Resnick and
American political consultants have advice for the new pope. Read More »

Those National Debt Clocks on Congressional Websites Are Wrong

By Brian Resnick
An analysis of 56 debt clocks found 16 different figures. Read More »

Steven Tyler and Snooki Have Something In Common: Pieces of State Legislation Named After Them

By Brian Resnick
The commotion that surrounds celebrities can provoke governing bodies to action. Read More »

Where Have All the Babies Gone?

By Brian Resnick
Are declining birth rates the ultimate sign of pessimism in the economy? Read More »

325 Members of the Army Killed Themselves Last Year. Sorting Out Why Is No Easy Task.

By Brian Resnick
Combat experience is not strongly associated with suicide. So how can we account for the Army's "epidemic"? Read More »

Will Rand Paul Break the Filibuster Record?

By Brian Resnick
The Kentucky Senator wonders "are you just going to drop a hellfire missile on Jane Fonda?" as he questions the Administration's ethics on drone issues. Read More »

Who Has Obama Chosen For His 2nd-Term Administration? A Visual Guide

By Brian Resnick
Your cheat sheet to the president's appointments Read More »

What Is a Gene And How Does it Apply to the Law? The Supreme Court Still Doesn't Know.

By Brian Resnick
DNA was  discovered 60 years ago this week, and since then it's been muddling up the legal system. Read More »

What the White House Looks Like Completely Gutted

By Brian Resnick
In the late '40s, the executive mansion was in a condemnable state. To save it, everything had to go. Read More »

What the National Mall Looked Like 150 Years Ago (And Now)

By Brian Resnick
In the days of Lincoln, the capital city was a sparsely adorned swamp. Read More »

The Oddest Pairings of Senators By State

By Ben Terris and Brian Resnick
How could one state elect such wildly different legislators? Read More »

Can You Tell These Senators Apart?

By Ben Terris and Brian Resnick
National Journal 's 2012 Vote Ratings barely could. Read More »

Lyndon B. Johnson Was Kind of Clingy

By Brian Resnick
A recently released archive of LBJ love letters demonstrates the future president's need for constant affection. Read More »

Can Universal Preschool Solve All Our Problems?

By Brian Resnick
During the State of the Union, President Obama said "study after study" proves preschool gives kids a lifelong advantage. So what are these studies? Read More »

American Catholics Overwhelmingly Approve of Pope Benedict–And Other Handy Statistics

By Brian Resnick
There are 77.7 million Catholics in the U.S. What do we know about them? Read More »

What's a Skutnik and Why Is One Sitting Next to Michelle Obama at the State of the Union?

By Brian Resnick
To the cynical, they’re stagecraft. To presidents, they’re the State of the Union Incarnate. Read More »

President Obama's Cabinet Turnover Is Just About Average

By Brian Resnick
Despite some high-profile departures, the administration's turnover is nothing surprising. Heck, only one secretary lasted eight years with George W. Bush. Read More »

How a Martyr Makes a Law

By Brian Resnick
The death of Internet activist Aaron Swartz is propelling a change to a computer law written before there was an Internet. Read More »

Tracking the Ups and Downs of Hillary Clinton's 2 Decades in the Public Eye

By Brian Resnick and Ben Terris
A timeline of the outgoing Secretary's public opinion polling Read More »

Did You Know Hillary Clinton Won A Grammy?

By Brian Resnick
Yup; she won one back in 1997 for the audio version of her book It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us. Read More »

A Boy Scout Rebel Who Accepted Gays in 1992 Is About to Be Vindicated

By Brian Resnick
21 years ago, Scoutmaster Michael Cahn made a bold challenge to the Scouts' orthodoxy. Now, the change he called for could be happening. Read More »
DEMOGRAPHICS

Who Are the 11 Million Undocumented Immigrants?

By Brian Resnick
With the announcement of bipartisan legislation that would allow a pathway to citizenship for undocumented residents, the number 11 million becomes important. That's the most commonly cited estimate of the number of illegal reside...

Read More »

There Are 11 Million Undocumented Immigrants. So Who Are They?

By Brian Resnick
The population is more than just a number. Here's what we know about them. Read More »

Why Google Flu Trends Will Not Replace the CDC Anytime Soon

By Brian Resnick
The search giant's software has the uncanny ability to assess the severity of an outbreak. But this year, the data is off-the-charts. What's going on? Read More »
WHITE HOUSE

What Were the Accomplishments of James Buchanan, the Worst President Ever?

By Brian Resnick
According to Nate Silver, he's the 43rd-greatest president. So what did he do? Read More »

This New York Times Reporter Was NOT IMPRESSED With Lincoln’s Second Inaugural

By Brian Resnick
With mud, crowds, and a drunk vice president, Lincoln's speech was really the only redeeming part of the day (provided that you could hear it). Read More »

How The Onion's 'Diamond' Joe Biden Took on a Life of His Own

By Brian Resnick
America's favorite fake veep: He's your drunk, dirty uncle who washes his car shirtless and doesn't do what he's told. Is he anything like the real thing? Read More »

Historic Inauguration Images: Lincoln, Suffragists, Missiles, Michael Jackson, and More!

By Brian Resnick
Grand pageants surrounding the oath of office are nothing new. Read More »

In the Center of the Gun-Control Debate, a Father of a Convicted School-Shooting Conspirator

By Brian Resnick
In 2008, Joseph Nee was convicted of plotting a school shooting. Today, his father might have influenced the future of gun control. Read More »

Who Wants a 300-lb. Steel Romney Sign? This Guy.

By Brian Resnick
Don McDowell is now the proud owner of a hunk of campaign history. Read More »

Why Senator Jay Rockefeller's Retirement Is a Big Deal

By Brian Resnick
A synopsis of the long-tenured senator's career. Read More »

Why Obama’s Gender Diversity Problem Isn’t Surprising

By Brian Resnick
Women in the beltway still feel the city is a boys' club. Read More »

Sign Your Name Like Jack Lew!

By Brian Resnick
Wonder what your signature would look like if you wrote like Jack Lew? The Internet provides the answer. Read More »

Why Doesn't Nancy Pelosi Have an Oil Painting? John Boehner Has One.

By Brian Resnick
A primer on how a representative gets immortalized on canvas. Read More »
CAMPAIGN JUNK

Want a 300-lb. Piece of Romney Memorabilia? It's Free, But You'll Have to Haul It.

By Brian Resnick
What can you do with a 300-pound steel slab, formed in the shaped of Iowa, and emblazoned with Mitt Romney's "Believe in America" memo? Read More »
ESPIONAGE

Who Is John Brennan, Obama's Choice to Succeed David Petraeus at the CIA?

By Brian Resnick
Here’s what to know about about the lastest figure to participate in the national-security shuffle. Read More »
THE CABINET

Who is Chuck Hagel and Why Is He Being Nominated as Defense Secretary?

By Brian Resnick
Hagel is no easy choice for Obama. Read More »
ROBOTICS

When a Robot Signs a Bill: A Brief History of the Autopen

By Brian Resnick
While serving as 3rd president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson discovered a piece of technology that he could simply not live without. Read More »
ANALYSIS

How To Make Sense of America's Wildly Different, Confusing Patchwork of Gun Control Laws

By Brian Resnick
The right to bear arms exists everywhere, but how arms are controlled and disseminated varies widely across the country. Read More »
DOMESTIC POLICY

As Sad as It Is, Don't Expect Today's Shooting to Change Minds on Gun Control

By Brian Resnick
Public perception of guns and gun control doesn't change much after mass tragedies. Read More »
BUDGET

What Are the Offers on the Fiscal Cliff?

By Brian Resnick
Comparing the the Democrat and Republican fiscal cliff plans Read More »
HUMOR

Gee Whiz Dad, a Thanksgiving Without Turkey?! A Lesson From 1951

By Brian Resnick
The Johnsons have some tough news to share with their children. No, they aren't getting a divorce or moving the family away to an unfamiliar location. This year, gulp, there won't be any turkey for Thanksgiving. And their children r...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Top 10 Oddest Facts Related to Jill Kelley, Axis of David Petraeus's Love Pentagon

By Brian Resnick
Jill Kelley's involvement in the Petraeus and Allen scandals gets stranger by the day. Here are the top 10 oddest facts, relevant or not, dug up by the national media about this socialite-turned-whistle-blower.   Read More »

The Rise and Fall of David Petraeus -- TIMELINE

By Brian Resnick
Former CIA director David Petraeus's decades-long and highly praised career took a definitive stumble in November when he resigned from his post due to an affair. How did he rise to his position? Click through to see the string of p...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

How Not to Be a Communist: A 1955 Guide for Students — VIDEO

By Brian Resnick
In an increasingly communist and socialist world, how are the young people of 1950s America supposed to defend their values? This video, preserved in the Prelinger Archives, explains how. Read More »
CONGRESS

Bono Mack and Mack Fail in Election Bids

By Brian Resnick
California Republican Mary Bono Mack has formally conceded her House reelection bid, joining her husband -- also a House member -- in twin defeats that leave them without jobs in Congress.   Read More »
POLITICS

How Elections Ought to Run: An Idealistic Overview From the 1940s

By Brian Resnick
A video from the 1940s takes us through Election Day in Riverton, Calif., where the process of electing a national government is in smooth motion.  Read More »
CAMPAIGN 2012

Can You Spot a Republican (or a Democrat) Just By Looking at One?

By Brian Resnick
Enormous sums of money have been spent on polls, ads, campaigns, and coverage of this year’s dead-even White House contest. There’s even research that tracks and interprets the  candidates’ eye blinks . But what if voter ...

Read More »
ELECTIONS 2012

Obama Targets Early Voters With New Ad

By Brian Resnick
President Obama's campaign is targeting early voters in a new 30-second ad playing in Florida, Iowa, Ohio and Virginia, reiterating four key pieces of its pitch against Mitt Romney. Read More »
WHITE HOUSE

White House: Report of New Tax Cut Proposal 'Not Correct'

By Caren Bohan and Brian Resnick
The White House described as inaccurate a Washington Post report that it is considering a new tax cut proposal that could replace the expiring payroll tax cut. Read More »
CAMPAIGN 2012

Springsteen to Campaign For Obama in Ohio, Iowa

By Brian Resnick
On Thursday, Bruce Springsteen will join former president Bill Clinton at an Obama rally in Parma, Ohio. The campaign announced later that the iconic New Jersey rocker would add another stop that same day in Ames, Iowa. Read More »
ELECTION ANALYSIS

What to Make of the Vice Presidential Debate? 5 Takes

By Brian Resnick
The talking heads and web pundits agree: Thursday’s VP debate was more entertaining and more topically substantial than the first presidential debate. Granted, the bar wasn’t set all that high. Read More »
DEBATES

CHART: Obama Blinks 1,000 More Times Than Romney During Debate

By Brian Resnick
Can we prove, scientifically, that Obama felt more uncomfortable than Mitt Romney on Wednesday? Kind of. Read More »
ELECTION 2012

Obama Raises $181 Million in September

By Brian Resnick
Coming off a harsh debate week, the Obama campaign has something else to cheer about besides the reported drop in unemployment. Obama raised $181 million from 1.8 million donors in September, which campaign manager Jim Messina ca...

Read More »
CAMPAIGN 2012

Making Sense of the Debate -- 6 Takes

By Brian Resnick
Was it a game changer as the Romney camp might hope, or, just a soon-to-be-forgotten blip in the news cycle Read More »
MEDIA

Arthur O. Sulzberger, Former New York Times Publisher, Dies

By Brian Resnick
Former New York Times publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger died today at the age of 86, The New York Times reports . Read More »
ANALYSIS

Obama's 'Hussein' Problem

By Brian Resnick
Reaserchers conducted an experiment to determine if President Obama's middle name affected how subjects perceived whether he was pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian Read More »
ELECTION ANALYSIS

What to Make of Romney's Dip in the Polls? 5 Takes

By Brian Resnick
With seven weeks to go, Mitt Romney is slipping. Or so says the polls . The latest Allstate/ National Journal Heartland Monitor survey has Obama leading Romney 50 percent to 43 percent among likely voters. These voters are feeling...

Read More »
POLITICS

Climb on the Ike Bandwagon at the 1956 RNC — VIDEO

By Brian Resnick
How's this for headline déjà vu: There's an U.S. president campaigning for reelection and a mob scene in Egypt. See the 1956 newsreel footage.  Read More »

Tornadoes Confirmed in DC Area

By Brian Resnick
The National Weather Service reported a confirmed tornado in the DC area earlier this afternoon. The tornado was spotted near Fairfax, Va. The Weather Service reports "a severe line of storms" currently moving east over the beltwa...

Read More »
WHITE HOUSE

White House Reveals Secret Beer Recipes

By Brian Resnick
Who says the government doesn't process Freedom of Information Act requests in a timely manner? Read More »
ELECTION 2012

Obama Calls Romney's Positions 'Extreme'

By Brian Resnick
In an interview with the Associated Press published on Saturday, President Obama said Mitt Romney has taken up "extreme positions" on issues such as tax cuts, linking his rival to an unpopular Congress. Read More »
CONGRESS

What If Congress Was Dissolved? A Low-Budget Daydream From 1947--VIDEO

By Brian Resnick
Mr. Williams drops off to sleep for a few minutes to find himself confronted with a world in which Congress has been suspended and federal authority dissolved. Read More »
POLITICS

The Truth About Taxes: A Republican Challenge to FDR in 1940 — VIDEO

By Brian Resnick
Has campaign rhetoric changed much in 72 years? Not so much. In 1940, Wendell Willkie challenged FDR's third-term bid by campaigning against New Deal spending that he argued was wasteful — dangerous, even — hemorrhagin...

Read More »
POLITICS

When Do Candidates Choose Their Veeps?

By and Brian Resnick
Click through our timeline to see when previous candidates unveiled their running mates.  Read More »
ENVIRONMENT

Meltdown: July Sets Record for Hottest Month

By Brian Resnick
Another month, another temperature record broken in the United States. Read More »
AGRICULTURE

Voices From the Drought

By Cory Bennett, Brian Resnick and Ryan Morris
Read More »
ELECTION 2012

Rob Portman's Rise to Ohio Senator

By Brian Resnick
A brief political history of the potential vice presidential nominee Read More »
ECONOMY

What Is Capitalism? A Lesson From 1948

By Brian Resnick
A 1948 instructional video shows a group of high schoolers in debate about what free enterprise means, and to what extent it needs to be protected and regulated by the government.  Read More »
VIDEO

Social Security and You -- A 1950s Video Explainer

By Brian Resnick
In 1950, President Truman signed into law amendments to the Social Security Act, which greatly increased the scope of the program. Old age and survivor insurance was extended to 10 million more Americans, and benefits  were mad...

Read More »
POLITICS

July, in Protests--PICTURES

By Brian Resnick
July was hot. Really, really hot . Climatologists are even speculating it will be the  hottest month on record . But even this extreme heat could not stop Americans from expressing their First Amendment rights to gather and pr...

Read More »

A Day in the Life of Washington, 1936

By Brian Resnick
It's 1936, and despite wallowing in the midst of the Great Depression, the city of Washington is bustling. Read More »

Rupert Murdoch Resigns From News International Boards

By Brian Resnick
Rupert Murdoch has resigned from the boards of the News International Group,  The Telegraph  is reporting . UK filings show he has stepped down from the NI Group, Times Newspaper Holdings, and News Corp Investments. He ha...

Read More »
ECONOMY

The 2012 Drought's Impact: A Visual Guide

By Brian Resnick
The impact of severe weather trickles down to the marketplace, shaking up the argicultural economy in the process. Here's a visual summary of the drought's impact across the country. Read More »

What Women (and Men) Say About Gender Equality in Washington

By Brian Resnick
On a recent survey of D.C. professionals, Women were more likely to report gender discrimination in the workplace. Read More »
EDUCATION

When Teachers Overcompensate for Racial Prejudice

By Brian Resnick, The Atlantic
The performance gap between white and minority students is one of the most persisting problems in American education. Since the 1990s, the performance gap, as reported by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, h...

Read More »
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