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The Political Force Behind Zionism

A new book traces the rise of the Israel lobby and the challenges it has faced as global criticism of Israel has intensified.
The signing of the Alaska Purchase Agreement on March 30, 1867.

Russia’s First Secret Influence Campaign: Convincing the U.S. to Buy Alaska

Russia has been peddling influence for a long time, using a playbook that it still uses today.
Senator Robert Menendez walking into court
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The Long, Sordid History of Foreign Government Lobbying

The many strategies foreign governments have used to shape American policy in their favor.
Indochina Peace Campaign organizers hanging out in Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda's backyard in Santa Monica, California, in 1974.

Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda, Capitol Hill Antiwar Lobbyists

In 1974, after years of grinding war in Vietnam had exhausted most of the antiwar movement, Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda came up with a new strategy.
Illustration of Robert Greenstein holding his glasses

How One Man Quietly Stitched the American Safety Net Over Four Decades

Robert Greenstein isn’t a household name. But his career lobbying for the poor has changed the lives of millions of Americans.
Hundred dollar bills.

Anatomy of the War on Women: How the Koch Brothers are Funding the Anti-Choice Agenda

Three years ago, a Supreme Court case, the U.S. Census, and anti-Obama backlash set the course for the assault on women's fundamental freedoms.
Statue of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln Wasn't Born an Abolitionist, He Became One

We live in polarized times when freedom is threatened but this Juneteenth we should remind ourselves that we have overcome far worse.

The Meaning of Kony 2012

The Kony 2012 campaign pioneered a new form of online activism — one that served empire more than the people it claimed to help.
Nancy Pelosi standing next to a sign that says "Protecting America's Health Care."

UnitedHealthcare’s Decades-Long Fight to Block Reform

UnitedHealthcare, the health insurer whose CEO was murdered, has spent decades fighting and winning political battles to maintain the for-profit health system.
Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennet

The Frenemies Who Fought to Bring Birth Control to the U.S.

Though Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett shared a mission, they took very different approaches. Their rivalry was political, sometimes even personal.
People holding signs for Trump and for deportation, in front of an American Flag.

How Immigration Became a Lightning Rod in American Politics

Anti-immigrant think tanks and advocacy groups operated on the margins until Trump became president. Now they have molded not only the GOP but also Democrats.
The Executive Board of UCAPAWA in 1937.

Challenging the New Deal’s “Contemptible Neglect”

In the midst of the Great Depression, one CIO union used the new administrative state to influence legislation on behalf of people considered outcasts.
Electric taxis, cars driven like carriages, moving through the streets of Manhattan in 1898.

On This Day in 1899, a Car Fatally Struck a Pedestrian for the First Time in American History

Henry Hale Bliss’ death presaged the battle between the 20th-century automobile lobby and walkers in U.S. cities.
James Dobson speaking in front of a sign for his organization, Focus on the Family.
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The Surprising Roots of James Dobson's Political Power

The evangelical psychologist gained influence with millions of families through decades of parenting advice focused on strict discipline.
John Wayne plays Genghis Khan in "The Conqueror" (1956)

The John Wayne Flop Linked to High Cancer Rates

"The Conqueror" was filmed downwind of a nuclear test site. A new documentary tells the story of the fatal film set, and the community affected.
University of Michigan women’s basketball team, 1977
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This Is Standby Alert

The history of the battle to keep Title IX out of college sports.
Demonstrators show support for Palestine.

How the ADL’s Anti-Palestinian Advocacy Helped Shape U.S. Terror Laws

Long before 9/11, Zionist groups like the Anti-Defamation League lobbied for counterterror legislation that singled out Palestinians.
Illustration of immigrants on a boat looking at the Statue of Liberty

Birth of A National Immigration Policy

Until the Civil War, regulating immigration to the US was left to individual states. That changed with Emancipation and the legal end of slavery.
Percy Sutton, Flo Kennedy, and another Black reproduction activist.

How Black Leaders Formed the Reproductive Justice Movement

Before the end of Black History Month, we should remember some of the leaders who shaped the movement in the years before Roe v. Wade.
Palestinian Arab women and children in Israel, 1949

American Jews Have Fought for Palestinian Rights Since Israel Was Born

My research shows that this tradition runs deep.
Members of the National Woman's Party prepare to lobby their senators and congressmen to vote for the Equal Rights Amendment, ca. 1923.

Equal Rights Amendment Was Introduced 100 Years Ago — and Still Waits

America’s feminists felt confident when the Equal Rights Amendment was put before Congress 100 years ago this week. For a century, it’s failed to be enacted.

The War on Ecoterror

Environmental radicalism, left and right.
Nurses attend to patients in rows of hospital beds.

In 19th-Century Philadelphia, Female Medical Students Lobbied Hard for Mutual Aid

In a century-long tradition, students at the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania came together in solidarity to combat illness among their members.
Coke bottle littering a beach.

How Coke Killed the Refillable Bottle

Coke knew their plastic would trash the planet…and did it anyway.
Tom Scully, stethescopes, and money.

Patient Zero

Tom Scully is as responsible as anyone for the way health care in America works today.
J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Oppenheimer, Nullified and Vindicated

The inventor of the atomic bomb, the subject of Christopher Nolan’s new film, was the chief celebrity victim of the national trauma known as McCarthyism.
20th century American political cartoon depicting the goals of organized employer associations.

Employer Organizing: The Importance of Hobnobbing

The focus of labor history is often—unsurprisingly—workers’ organizations and what has made them thrive or languish. But employers organized, too.
Mountain with both living and dead trees.
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Did Montana Violate Its Residents’ Right To a Clean Environment?

A new lawsuit builds on 50 years of history in environmental activism.
Cartoon of Henry Kissinger blowing out birthday candles on a cake depicting his criminal legacy.

Henry Kissinger, War Criminal—Still at Large at 100

We now know a great deal about the crimes he committed while in office. But we know little about his four decades with Kissinger Associates.
Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas leading Washington Post editors on a hike along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, as part of his campaign to prevent the construction of a highway along its route, Maryland, 1954.

The Frontier Justice

William O. Douglas was a strong advocate of conservation, but as a Supreme Court justice his involvement in such issues was often ethically questionable.

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