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Fulgencio Batista, Andrés Domingo, and Richard Nixon drinking together.

The CIA Trained Fulgencio Batista’s Torturers in Cuba

The Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities, known for its blood-spattered record of torture and political killings, was backed by the CIA.
by Ramona Wadi via Jacobin on August 14, 2025
Spooking the Censors

Spooking the Censors

In the 1950s, the CIA funded efforts to smuggle great works of literature into the Eastern Bloc.
by Michael O'Donnell via Los Angeles Review of Books on August 13, 2025
Elon Musk wields a 'chainsaw for bureaucracy' on stage before speaking at CPAC.

Beyond Markets: A Conversation with Quinn Slobodian

How the New Right emerged from neoliberalism’s inner split.
by Quinn Slobodian, James Duesterberg via The Point on August 5, 2025
Joseph McCarthy

Joseph McCarthy’s War on Voice of America

A largely forgotten campaign of harassment and persecution from the 1950s that still echoes today.
by Daniel Golden via Columbia Journalism Review on August 4, 2025
Mike Davis

The Marxism of Mike Davis

On the life, influences, and “sophisticated yet lucid brand of Marxism” of the late, great writer.
by Nelson Lichtenstein via Jacobin on July 31, 2025
John F. Kennedy waves to a cameraman a crowd of supporters in Los Angeles in 1960.
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To Bounce Back, Democrats Need a New John F. Kennedy Moment

JFK's presidential win in 1960 offers a guide for how Democrats can rebound in 2025.
by Bruce W. Dearstyne via Made By History on July 23, 2025
Leslie Groves and J. Robert Oppenheimer at Los Alamos in 1942.

General Groves Invented the Atomic Bomb, Not Oppenheimer

Gen. Leslie Groves promoted Oppenheimer as the atomic bomb's inventor to craft a propaganda narrative, obscuring the true creators and moral implications.
by Peder Anker via Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on July 21, 2025

For Decades, a Treaty Contained the Threat of Nuclear Weapons. Now That’s All at Risk.

Trump did not create this situation, but he has accelerated its centrifugal forces.
by Fred Kaplan via Slate on July 17, 2025

Why America Got a Warfare State, Not a Welfare State

How FDR invented national security, and why Democrats need to move on from it.
by Samuel Moyn via The New Republic on June 26, 2025
South Korean soldiers walking through a trench of dead bodies.

The Moral Distortions of the Official Korean War Narrative

June 25 marks the 75th anniversary of the start of the Korean War. But the truth is that the US was a willing partner in mass murder across the peninsula.
by Grace M. Cho via The Nation on June 24, 2025
Donald Trump shakes the hand of a border patrol officer while a line of others waits to meet him.

State of Exception

National security governance, then and now.
by David Klion via The Drift on June 24, 2025
William F. Buckley during a press interview in Buenos Aires, Argentina, circa 1970s. (Alamy)

Steering Right

Sam Tanenhaus’s biography of William F. Buckley has certain limitations, but it captures the character of conservatism’s founding father.
by John O. McGinnis via Law & Liberty on June 19, 2025
H.A. Smith is sworn in as a first witness at a HUAC hearing.

American Hysteria

Red Scare can be read as solid history of the years it depicts—and chilling prophecy of the years to come.
by Maurice Isserman via Democracy Journal on June 18, 2025
AFL-CIO president Lane Kirkland stands behind a podium speaking into an array of microphones.

When US Labor Backed US Imperialism

After the successful purges of leftists from unions, US labor leaders were enlisted by government officials to join in their global imperialist operations.
by Micah Uetricht, Jeff Schuhrke via Jacobin on May 26, 2025
A train in the Texas countryside.

The Secret ‘White Trains’ That Carried Nuclear Weapons Around the U.S.

For as long as the United States has had nuclear weapons, officials have struggled with how to transport the destructive technology.
by Brianna Nofil via HISTORY on May 25, 2025
Zbigniew Brzezinski

The Coldest Cold Warrior

How a sharp-elbowed Polish academic with an unpronounceable name helped defeat the Soviet Union.
by Eric Edelman via The Bulwark on May 23, 2025
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The History of Government Influence Over Universities

During the Cold War, the government relied on universities for research, but also saw scholars as dangerous.
by Jeffrey Rosario via Made By History on May 20, 2025
A group of men in a bar watching Oliver North testify before Congress.
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How the Iran-Contra Scandal Impacts American Politics Today

The Iran-Contra affair exposed how government officials can ignore democratic norms and practices.
by Alan McPherson via Made By History on May 14, 2025
Picture of Yalta revealed behind torn paper

The Post-World War II System Was Always Fragile

Franklin Roosevelt warned that even in peacetime, America’s obligations to the world would continue.
by Julian E. Zelizer via Foreign Policy on May 12, 2025
Two Vietnamese women mourn their relatives on April 29, 1975, at Bien Hoa military cemetery.

US Defeat in Vietnam Was the Right Outcome for an Unjust War

The US invasion of Vietnam was catastrophic for the Vietnamese people, resulting in millions of deaths. Fifty years ago, the US-backed regime finally collapsed.
by Michael G. Vann via Jacobin on April 30, 2025
Declassified and redacted White House top secret documents.

JFK Files: Revelations from the Covert Operations High Command

Special Group and PFIAB meeting minutes provide dramatic view of CIA operations.
by Peter Kornbluh, Arturo Jimenez-Bacardi via National Security Archive on April 7, 2025
Coretta Scott King sitting in front of a portrait of Martin Luther King Jr.

America Has Gotten Coretta Scott King Wrong

Her ghostwritten autobiography diminishes her, and I found out why.
by Jeanne Theoharis via The Atlantic on April 7, 2025
Bertrand Russell.

‘Vietdamned’

Can a new book rescue Bertrand Russell and Jean-Paul Sartre’s activism from irrelevance?
by Yuan Yi Zhu via History Today on April 4, 2025
George Kennan

The Enigma of George Kennan

An exploration of the contrast between the supreme confidence of Kennan's policy prescriptions and the perpetual turbulence of his inner life.
by Benjamin Nathans via New York Review of Books on April 3, 2025
Joseph McCarthy with a map.
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Joseph McCarthy in Wheeling, West Virginia: Annotated

Senator Joseph McCarthy built his reputation on fear-mongering, smear campaigns, and falsehoods about government employees and their associates.
by Joseph McCarthy, Liz Tracey via JSTOR Daily on March 24, 2025
Black and white Washington DC.

Between Existential Fear and Isolationist Exhaustion: The United States on the Eve of the Cold War

Dean Acheson, President Truman’s prim, patrician undersecretary of state, was sitting in his office on February 21, 1947, when he received a visitor.
by Clay Risen via Literary Hub on March 21, 2025
President John F. Kennedy's motorcade shortly before his assassination in Dallas.

What the New JFK Files Reveal About the CIA’s Secrets

A presidential lawyer and historian combed through the latest document dump so you don’t have to. Here’s what he found.
by James D. Robenalt via The Hive on March 21, 2025
Joe McCarthy pointing to a map, while Joseph Welch looks dismayed.

Like Joe McCarthy, I Enjoy a Good Dossier

Diplomatic relations, domestic repression. Plus: the truth about Joseph Welch, and a bit of family history.
by Tim Barker via Origins of Our Time on March 12, 2025

How the Red Scare Reshaped American Politics

At its height, the political crackdown felt terrifying and all-encompassing. What can we learn from how the movement unfolded—and from how it came to an end?
by Beverly Gage via The New Yorker on March 10, 2025
A group of U.S. Marines crossing a rice paddy in Vietnam.

‘Commonweal’ and the Vietnam War

In 1964, Commonweal supported the Vietnam War. In 1966, the magazine condemned it in blunt, theological terms. What changed?
by Peter Steinfels via Commonweal on February 22, 2025
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