During the Great Depression, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and poet Carl Sandburg posed the question, “What is history but a few Big Names plus People?” Eighty-four years later, the people are instead asking, “What is history but a Big Name?”

For example, consider the Senate’s recent impeachment trial of President Trump. Reports suggest that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was solely responsible for how it unfolded and that he guaranteed the president’s acquittal. According to one characteristic account, the Kentucky Republican “scored a major victory for President Trump … when the Senate rejected two articles of impeachment after a trial that lasted only two weeks.” Another implied that McConnell single-handedly “secured” Trump’s acquittal. The account confidently asserted that “it’s easy to see how the Senate leader has been critical to Mr. Trump’s political survival.”