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Daniel Ellsberg speaking to the press.

Daniel Ellsberg’s Life Beyond the Pentagon Papers

After revealing the government’s lies about Vietnam, Ellsberg spent six decades as an anti-nuclear activist, getting arrested in civil-disobedience protests.
Miles Davis, Howard McGhee, and unknown pianist. NYC, September 1947.

On Menand’s "The Free World" and Dinerstein’s "The Origins of Cool in Postwar America"

Two differing explorations of post-WWII culture, politics, and ideals.
A 1938 poster from the Women’s Field Army of the American Society for the Control of Cancer.

Should We Abandon the Idea That Cancer Is Something To ‘Fight’?

Is the century-old battle metaphor doing more harm than good to doctors and patients alike?
A hammer is shown breaking several chunks of the earth into smaller pieces. In the background, black space.

The Wonderful Death of a State

For market radicals and neo-Confederates, secession is the path to a world that’s socially divided but economically integrated—separate but global.
Exhibit

Vietnam in American Memory

America's involvement in Vietnam remains a contested historical landscape: how should the conflict be remembered, and who has the right to tell the stories?

Image of an AR-15

The Gun that Divides a Nation

The AR-15 thrives in times of tension and tragedy. This is how it came to dominate the marketplace – and loom so large in the American psyche.
Crowd in the Senate chamber.

Mass Destruction

Real democratic participation in foreign policy is almost unimaginable today—but this wasn’t always the case.
Richard Nixon discusses Vietnam with National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and Deputy National Security Advisor Al Haig at Camp David, 1972.
partner

The "Madman Theory" Was Quintessential Nixon

The rash ruse was central to Nixon’s strategy to fight the Cold War, and can also tell us a good deal about the famously elusive ex-president himself.
Nini Nguyen and a Bahn Mi sandwich.

How the Vietnamese Made Their Mark on Cajun Cuisine

Top Chef contestant Nini Nguyen shares the history of the Viet diaspora and how two cultures combined to create a whole new delicious Southern flavor.
A phot taken by Corkey Lee of an Asian woman dressed as the Statue of Liberty in front of a diamond store with a Statue of Liberty mural.

Corky Lee and the Work of Seeing

Lee's life and work suggested that Asian American identity did not possess—and did not need—any underlying reality beyond solidarity.
Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson at his desk in November 1957.

When Lyndon B. Johnson Chose the Middle Ground on Civil Rights—and Disappointed Everyone

Always a dealmaker, then-senator LBJ negotiated with segregationists to pass a bill that cautiously advanced racial equality.
President Truman in the Oval Office after presenting three Korean War veterans with the Medal of Honor.

When History Becomes Precedent in the OLC

Official decisions about military intervention and executive power are often based on outdated historical interpretations.
DDT being sprayed at Jones Beach in New York in 1945.

The Problem With Silent Spring Environmentalism

A new history of the environmental movement places too much emphasis on famous figures like Rachel Carson and shies away from confronting failures.
Crowd gathering on the National Mall to protest Nixon.

How World War II Pacifists Laid the Foundation for Future Struggles

The unconventional origins of the modern antiwar movement.
Frank Shakespeare in 1968.

Frank Shakespeare, Nixon TV Guru Who Redefined Political Ads, Dies At 97

Mr. Shakespeare's team oversaw ads and on-air events that reflected the rising power of television as a political tool.
Illustration of a fist smashing a tiny blue academic building.

The 50-Year War on Higher Education

To understand today’s political battles, you need to know how they began.
A line of G.I. Joe action figures, in various military-style uniforms as well as scuba gear.

How G.I. Joe Jump-Started the Action Figure Craze

In the late 1970s, smaller 'Star Wars' action figures took over.
Picture of four men holding a model B-52 plane, in front of backdrop of two aircrafts.

The B-52 Was Designed In A Hotel Room Over One Weekend (And Will Probably Fly For 100 Years)

The B-52’s prolific service career spans not only decades and conflicts, but eras of aviation.
Store window selling shirts and ties mentioning the "Nixon Squeeze"

The Burglaries Were Never the Story

The historical insights of one era have been lost to the journalistic instincts of another.
Collage of of Stewart Brand peeking out from behind the earth.

Stewart Brand’s Dubious Futurism

What did the creator of the Whole Earth Catalog stand for?
Yoko Ono looking pensive.

Yoko Ono’s Art of Defiance

Before she met John Lennon, she was a significant figure in avant-garde circles and had created masterpieces. Did celebrity deprive her of her due as an artist?
"Napalm Girl" Photo from Vietnam War

Myths Distort the Reality Behind a Horrific Photo of the Vietnam War and Exaggerate Its Impact

The ‘Napalm Girl’ photo is much more than powerful evidence of war’s indiscriminate effects on civilians.
When Tom Cruise starred in Top Gun in 1986, it wasn’t just a box office bonanza — it was a boon to the US military. Paramount Pictures

Hollywood and the Pentagon: A Love Story

For the Pentagon, films like "Top Gun: Maverick" are more than just a movie.
Richard Nixon, Pat Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Betty Ford walking away from White House

Regime Change, American Style

A new book about Watergate is the first to stress how much we still do not know many of the basic facts about the burglary at its center.
Crowd gathers at the Memorial Amphitheater, circa 1920-1950.

Flowers of Remembrance Day: Inaugurating a New Tradition at Arlington National Cemetery

Decorating graves with flowers, from a Civil War grassroots ritual of remembrance to a national tradition honoring all military dead.
After his shooting, a hospitalized Wallace holds up a newspaper touting his victories in the Maryland and Michigan Democratic presidential primaries.

How a Failed Assassination Attempt Pushed George Wallace to Reconsider His Segregationist Views

Fifty years ago, a fame-seeker shot the polarizing politician five times, paralyzing him from the waist down.
Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, and Barack Obama walking together

How to Tell the History of the Democrats

What connection does the party of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson have to the party of Barack Obama and Kamala Harris?
Illustration of Asian woman surrounded by flowers

Sex, Death, and Empire: The Roots of Violence Against Asian Women

The line from America’s earliest empire in the Philippines to Japan, Korea, Vietnam—and anti-Asian violence at home—is straight, clear, and written in blood.
US military pilots operating Predator drones from the ground control station.

The Forgotten Crime of War Itself

A new book argues that efforts to humanize war with smarter weaponry have obscured the task of making peace the first goal of foreign policy.
McGeorge Bundy with Lyndon Johnson in 1967

American Mandarins

David Halberstam’s title The Best and the Brightest was steeped in irony. Did these presidential advisers earn it?
Two giant pandas eating bamboo

A Chinese Cigarette Tin Launched D.C.’s 50-year Love Affair With Pandas

Fifty years ago, first lady Pat Nixon admired a tin of Chinese cigarettes. Then China sent the U.S. a pair of giant pandas.

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