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Hoover Daily Report | May 4, 2026 · Hoover Daily Report

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  Welcome to "the Hoover Daily Report". Ideas Advancing
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  Freedom. It's Monday, May 4th, twenty twenty six.
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  Today, The New York Times highlights new research from Thomas Dee and coauthors on
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  the impact of cell phone bans in American schools; Michael
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  Auslin
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  relates the Revolutionary War history and movements of the Declaration of
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  Independence; and
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  Rishi Sunak
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  shows how current global conflicts demonstrate the value of Ukraine as an
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  economic and security partner for Western nations.
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  Did Cellphone Bans Work? New Study Finds Mixed Results.
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  The New York Times today covers new research from Senior Fellow Thomas Dee
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  and colleagues that examined whether new cell phone restrictions in US schools
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  boosts test scores. Dee and coauthors found the impact is not an immediate
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  gain. Dee and a team of researchers compared 43,000 middle and high schools
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  across the nation that did or did not enact strict phone policies between 2023
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  and 2025. Looking specifically at schools that brought in lockable “pouches” that
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  allowed kids to maintain possession their phones but not use them during class
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  hours, Dee and coauthors discovered little impact on test scores.
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  “In the first year after adoption, disciplinary incidents increase and
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  student subjective well-being falls, consistent with short-term disruption,”
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  Dee and coauthors wrote. Per the Times article, Dee said “he considered the
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  study an ‘encouraging’ early report on strict cellphone bans. He warned against
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  abandoning a broadly supported policy because test scores did not immediately
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  go up, or because implementation presented disciplinary challenges.”.
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  The Declaration at War, Part I: The Revolutionary War.
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  In a new column for Hoover’s Military History in the News, Research Fellow
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  Michael Auslin traces the story of the Declaration of Independence during and
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  after the Revolutionary War. This “harrowing past,” the eminent historian
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  of the Declaration writes, is “far removed from Independence Day
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  celebrations and the reverential treatment which it has received
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  throughout much of our history.” In the
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  summer of 1776, Auslin says, a calfskin parchment edition of
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  the Declaration “became America’s first top secret document, for the names of the
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  Signers were kept from the British and the public.” As the war progressed, the
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  document undertook an extensive journey around non-British-held regions. The full
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  story of the drafting of the Declaration, the dramatic vote to adopt it, and its
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  printing and signing during the Revolutionary War is told in Auslin’s new
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  book National Treasure: How the Declaration of Independence Made America,
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  the first complete history of America’s founding document, which is released this
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  week.
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  Iran War Shows the Value of Ukraine as an Ally.
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  Writing for The Times (UK), Distinguished Visiting Fellow Rishi Sunak reviews the
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  economic, agricultural, and military potential of Ukraine as that nation
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  continues to repel Russian assaults. Russia “is now losing as many men in a
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  month as it did in [its] whole Afghan war, and its casualties in the past few
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  months have been the worst of the conflict,” Sunak writes. He identifies
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  Ukrainian “ingenuity” in technological innovation as a critical driver of its
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  battlefield success and a prime reason why Ukraine can serve Western nations as
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  “a valuable partner.” Beyond defense, the former
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  UK prime minister finds that Ukraine “combines an educated and entrepreneurial
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  population with significant natural resources.” If postwar Ukraine can
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  attract sufficient international investment and sustain
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  “confidence in the rule of law,” Sunak concludes, it has a high chance of
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  realizing growth and prosperity.
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  Hoover Oral Histories Project Documents Loss, Grief, and Resilience After
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  Afghanistan’s 2021 Collapse.
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  Dozens of accounts from those who lived and fought through the 20-year war
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  against the Taliban have now been compiled by the Hoover Institution
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  Library & Archives and the Hoover Afghanistan Research & Relief Team (HART)
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  in a new oral history project. Led by Halima Kazem, Stanford professor and
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  Hoover oral historian, the project contains filmed statements from leaders
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  of the American and NATO campaign between 2001 and 2021, including Senior Fellow
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  Lt. Gen. (ret.) H.R. McMaster; retired generals Stanley McChrystal and David
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  Petraeus; and senior members of the former Afghan government, including
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  Habiba Sarabi, the first female governor of an Afghan province. Speaking about the
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  importance of the oral history project, McMaster said “it can be heartbreaking”
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  to think back to the losses sustained during the period of US withdrawal and
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  the humiliation for coalition nations and Afghans. “But I think it’s important,
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  because what you really need when you come out of a traumatic experience is a
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  community of people to share those experiences with. It can be cathartic,
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  and it can be therapeutic.”.
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  Antidiscrimination Law Meets AI.
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  “American antidiscrimination law has long rested on three pillars: intent, formal
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  classification, and impact,” notes Senior Fellow Ralph Richard Banks in a
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  newsletter from the Stanford Center for Racial Justice. “In recent years,” Banks
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  continues, “the federal courts and executive branch have accorded primacy to
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  the intent and formal classification standards, while minimizing the relevance
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  of impact.” But with changes to many institutions underway given the
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  capabilities of AI, Banks argues that “the idea of impact will move to the
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  fore.” The Stanford law professor suggests that “technological, economic
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  and social” shifts will warrant “a rethinking of legal norms and
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  frameworks.” Acknowledging uncertainty about the future of antidiscrimination
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  law, he concludes, “The regulatory structures of the past will be
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  increasingly ill-fitted to our AI future.”.
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  Featured from the Hoover Library & Archives: Friedrich von Hayek Papers.
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  The Hoover Institution Library & Archives maintains an online collection of more
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  than 4,500 objects from the life of famed economist and political philosopher
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  Friedrich von Hayek. Items in this collection range from personal
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  correspondence and draft manuscripts to photographs of Hayek and his associates.
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  While some items have restricted access, many other objects in the collection have
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  been digitized and are available to view online.
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  That’s your Hoover Daily Report for Monday, May 4th, twenty twenty six.
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  Each weekday, we bring you research, analysis, and commentary focused on
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  public policy, national security, and the ideas shaping American society and
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  government.
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  The Hoover Institution at Stanford University is grounded in constitutional
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  principles with a commitment to sustaining the safeguards of the American
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  way of life.
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  Thank you for listening.
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  For links to all the articles and interviews mentioned today, visit
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  hoover.org slash, HDR.