[brianlash]

Historic begins with a hard h consonant sound. The h isn't silent. "A historic" is correct.

With that said, I don't personally have a problem with "an historic." I recognize it as a convention adopted by people whose dialect favors the silent h historic.

[card_zero]

'owever, "an historic" is more historic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-dropping#H-insertion

The silent h is because words like this were originally French. Victorians started pronouncing the h again.

[sandworm101]

The difference in accent in relation to the written word between the old and new world is tied to the geographic and religious histories of the two cultures. North American english strives to mirror spoken and written language, whereas the older cultures in the UK see little problem with such differences.

[card_zero]

In the case of historic, herb, etc., it's the other way round.