Participant Info

First Name
Mary
Last Name
Michelmore
Affiliation
Washington and Lee University
Website URL
www.wlu.edu
Keywords
taxes, welfare state, 20th century U.S. History, political history, social policy, fiscal policy
Additional Contact Information

Personal Info

Photo
About Me

Molly C. Michelmore is an Associate Professor of History at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. She is the current Head of that department. Her work investigates the relationship between tax and spending policy and politics in the 20th century United States. A former Congressional staffer and fellow at the Miller Center for Public Affairs, Michelmore’s first book, Tax and Spend: Welfare, Taxes and the Limits of American Liberalism, was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2012. Her work has appeared in scholarly journals, as well as more popular venues. Her current project analyzes how various groups – including white homeowners, African American parents and activists, women, the LGBTQ+ community, immigrants and nationalist groups – have used their status as taxpayers to make claims on the state.

Recent Publications

Tax and Spend, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012

“What Have You Done for Me Lately,” Journal of Policy History 2012

“Creating the Marriage Tax Penalty,” Journal of Women’s History, 2018

The U.S. In World War II: A History with Documents, Hackett, 2018

Media Coverage
Country Focus
United States
Expertise by Geography
Expertise by Chronology
20th century
Expertise by Topic
Economic History, Government, Law, Politics, World War II