Dr. Bernhardt has written and published numerous articles and book chapters on the press coverage of wars (Mexican-American War, Spanish-American War, World War I, and Afghan War) and crime cases (including the Lizzie Borden murders and Lindbergh kidnapping) in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, examining how historical ideas about gender, race, and class shaped the presentation of these types of events. His most recent research examines the ways in which the U.S. press used images of wartime atrocities against women and children from 1898 to the present to encourage and justify U.S. intervention in wars. The claim that the ensuing intervention was for humanitarian reasons redefined other motives and objectives the United States had for entering the conflicts and suggested U.S. actions served the grander purpose of protecting civilization from barbarism. He has presented his research at major conferences and universities, including the Popular Culture/American Culture Association Conference, National Women’s Studies Association Conference, Organization of American Historians Conference, McGill University, and Oxford University.
