History As It Happens

Keep the narrative flow going! Subscribe now for ad-free listening, bonus content, and access to the entire catalog of 500 episodes. After Donald Trump was first elected in 2016, Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism became a surprise bestseller. Arendt, who died in 1975, became a sort of prophet for the liberal "Resistance" based on her insights into lying and politics and the origins of fascism. Today, as President Trump acts with increasing authoritarianism and corruption, Arendt is still frequently quoted, but she's not the star she once was on the American left. Why? Yale historian and law professor Samuel Moyn discusses the uses and abuses of Hannah Arendt, one of the twentieth century's towering philosophers. Further reading: You Have Misunderstood the Relevance of Hannah Arendt by Samuel Moyn, Prospect (2020) Men in Dark Times by Rebecca Panovka, Harper's (2021) Lying in Politics: Hannah Arendt on Deception, Self-Deception, and the Psychology of Defactualization by Maria Popova, The Marginalian Big Racket Man by Martin Jay for Verso Books (2023)

Keep the narrative flow going! Subscribe now for ad-free listening, bonus content, and access to the entire catalog of 500 episodes. The Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani is the favorite to be elected New York City's mayor next month. He is an inheritor of a largely forgotten municipal socialist tradition in America, one in which dozens of cities and towns were once governed by men dedicated to improving the lives of the working class, reforming government, and beating back public corruption. In this episode, the eminent labor historian Shelton Stromquist takes us back to a bygone era when cities faced dramatic problems and voters elected socialists to solve them. Further reading: Claiming the City: A Global History of Workers' Fight for Municipal Socialism by Shelton Stromquist

Subscribe now to listen to the entire episode. Americans' trust in the news media has plummeted to the lowest point since pollsters began tracking the data. Across the political spectrum, people have little confidence that the traditional powerhouses -- major newspapers along with TV and radio networks -- are giving it to them straight. In this episode, the accomplished newsman Greg Jarrett, who spent more than 50 years covering big stories in the U.S. and overseas, says news outlets' self-inflicted errors and a broken business model are largely to blame.

Keep the narrative flow going! Subscribe for ad-free listening, bonus content, and access to the entire catalog of 500 episodes. Out of the destruction of war and disgrace of Nazism, a new (West) Germany emerged after 1945. It was democratic, prosperous, and peaceful. Another caesura occurred in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, East and West. This was 'the end of history.' But history came back with a vengeance. In 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. In this episode, historian Jeremi Suri explains why Germans today fear rearmament and militarism may imperil their way of life. Jeremi Suri is the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He hosts 'This is Democracy' podcast and writes the 'Democracy of Hope' Substack. Further reading: The Revenge of History in Europe by Jeremi Suri (Democracy of Hope)

Keep the narrative flow going! Subscribe for ad-free listening, bonus content, and access to the entire catalog of 500 episodes. Major changes are afoot in the Middle East, but there are continuities with the past. One is Russian influence in Syria. Moscow remains involved in this country on the Mediterranean, although the civil war is over and a former jihadist is president in Damascus, a man who led the revolt that toppled Vladimir Putin's client. In this episode, analyst Hanna Notte explains the enduring nature of Russia-Syria ties and why other regional powers are trying to exploit Moscow's reduced presence in the country. Hanna Notte is an expert in Russian foreign policy, the Middle East, and arms control and nonproliferation at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Recommended reading: Russia Isn't Done With Syria by Hanna Notte in Foreign Affairs, the official publication of the Council on Foreign Relations (no paywall) Subscribe at https://historyasithappens.supercast.com/

Keep the narrative flow going! Subscribe now for ad-free listening and to get bonus content. The story of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is violent, full of sorrow, and littered with missed opportunities for lasting peace. The origins of the peace process might be traced to the late 1960s, when an American spy made his first clandestine contacts with the PLO. In this episode, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author Kai Bird says Robert Ames had a vision for Palestinian self-determination. Ronald Reagan saw an opportunity to realize it, even as invasion, war, and terrorism swallowed Lebanon in 1982-83. Lebanon was the country where Bob Ames would lose his life, the country he tried to save. Recommended reading: The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames by Kai Bird

Subscribe now to listen to the entire episode. The massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890, when U.S. troops butchered at least 150 Lakota men, women, and children, is rightfully remembered as a moral stain on American history. So why is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defending the soldiers who participated in it? Nineteen soldiers of the 7th Cavalry received the Medal of Honor after Wounded Knee. Hegseth says they will keep their medals after an expert panel, appointed under the Biden administration, reviewed their cases. Hegseth has not released the panel's report to the public. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Alan Taylor tells us what happened at Wounded Knee, and what's at stake as the Trump administration tries to rewrite history. Subcribe: https://historyasithappens.supercast.com/

Subscribe to skip ads, get bonus content, and access the entire podcast catalog of 500 episodes. Ideas cannot be killed, but movements come and go. Some 40 years after it emerged during the first Palestinian uprising, Hamas may be about to leave the scene, its crusade of violently resisting Israel having led to ruin in Gaza. In this episode, Nathan Brown, an expert on Hamas and Middle East politics, explores the movement's origins and its uncertain future, as well as what comes next for Palestinian nationalism. Subcribe: https://historyasithappens.supercast.com/ Recommended reading: The One-State Reality: What is Israel/Palestine? by Nathan Brown (co-editor)

Subscribe now to skip ads, get bonus content, and access the entire podcast catalog of 500 episodes. The Trump administration is seeking regime change in Venezuela as top officials accuse that country's president, Nicolás Maduro, of helming an international drug cartel. President Trump boasts about blowing up the boats of alleged Venezuelan drug runners in the Caribbean, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio is reportedly shaping an aggressive strategy to oust Maduro. This does not square with the administration's supposed isolationism, but the U.S. has never been isolationist when it comes to the Western Hemisphere. In this episode, historian Alexander Aviña traces the long, violent pattern of American interventionism in Latin America. Coincidentally, Theodore Roosevelt announced his corollary to the Monroe Doctrine after an international incident involving Venezuela in 1902. Support the podcast at https://historyasithappens.supercast.com/

Subscribe now to listen to this entire episode and get more bonus content - without ads! Moldova's parliamentary elections drew international attention because of Russian meddling aimed at subverting the outcome. The incumbent pro-EU party prevailed anyway, winning an absolute majority. This keeps Moldova on track to join the European Union, although Moscow remains miffed by countries in its historical "sphere of influence" moving toward the West. We check in with Veronica Anghel, an expert on EU integration at the European University Institute. She joins us from Brussels. Subscribe: https://historyasithappens.supercast.com/

Subscribe now to skip ads, get bonus content, and access the entire podcast catalog of 500 episodes. Sudan's civil war, genocide, and famine continue to go mostly unnoticed in the United States. This is even though millions of people are being brutalized, murdered, raped, or displaced in a conflict where there are no good sides, and where democracy is not on the line. In this episode, Tufts University scholar Alex de Waal, one of the world's foremost experts on Sudan and the Horn of Africa, explains why peace and justice are distant possibilities in Sudan's third civil war since its 1956 independence. Further reading: Lineages of Genocide in Sudan by Alex de Waal (Journal of Genocide Research)

Subscribe now to skip ads, get bonus content, and access the entire podcast catalog of 500 episodes. *** Where does the question of Israel's right to exist come from? At the moment of Israel's independence in 1948, its Arab neighbors rejected its statehood. Today, Israel's defenders say the Jewish state must be allowed to defend itself from Hamas to ensure its survival. In this episode, political scientist Ian Lustick says the question is a category error. Rather than focusing on the state, people may ask whether they have "a duty to respect and defer to the decisions Israeli governments make" under the Zionist regime that has existed since '48. Support the podcast at https://historyasithappens.supercast.com/ Further reading: The Question of Israel's Right to Exist is a Red Herring by Ian Lustick (Foreign Policy)

Subscribe to listen to this entire episode. Free expression as a First Amendment right and cultural value is under assault in America. Yes, there's a hurricane of partisan hypocrisy concerning who can say what and when. But the battles over this cherished right are as old as the republic. The uproar over Jimmy Kimmel is merely the latest chapter. The veteran First Amendment litigator Bob Corn-Revere, now the chief counsel of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), is here to clear up the confusion. Subscribe at historyasithappens.supercast.com Further reading: Everyone's a Free Speech Hypocrite by FIRE's Greg Lukianoff (New York Times) FIRE's College Free Speech Rankings

Want to skip ads? Subscribe now.  A U.N. commission reported that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, provoking denials and denunciations from Israel's government and its U.S. supporters. What explains the endless wrangling over a term coined by Raphael Lemkin to define the crime of national destruction, even as Israeli officials openly express their intent to make Gaza uninhabitable? In this episode, scholars Dirk Moses and Sonia Boulos argue that the search for answers must begin in 1948. Further reading: Education After Gaza After Education After Auschwitz by Dirk Moses (Berlin Review) The “G Word,” Liberal Israeli Elites, and the Prospect of Decolonization by Sonia Boulos (Journal of Genocide Research)

Subscribe now to skip ads, get subscriber-only bonus episodes, and access the entire podcast catalog. If the ties that bind the republic are disintegrating, imperiling the survival of American democracy, there may be something to learn from the collapse of a European polity 100 years ago. The Weimar Republic was eviscerated by hyper-polarization, national traumas, and economic shocks, leading to the rise of Adolf Hitler. Is this the right place to look? In this episode, David Abraham, an expert in European history and political economy, tells us where this trendy analogy is effective and where it falls short. Further reading: The Collapse of the Weimar Republic by David Abraham

Enjoy this free bonus episode! Subscribe now to skip ads, get access to the entire podcast catalog, and listen to future subscriber-only bonus episodes. A month after the world's eyes were fixed on the Alaska summit, the Russia-Ukraine War is no closer to concluding. U.S. diplomacy has come up empty. Moscow is escalating air attacks on Ukrainian civilians. Russian drones have violated NATO airspace. Is a collapse possible along the front lines? What are Putin's aims three and a half years after launching his war of aggression? Historian Mark Galeotti of Mayak Intelligence answers these questions and more.

Subscribe now to skip ads, receive access to the entire podcast catalog, and listen to subscriber-only bonus episodes! A group of Palestinians whose families were uprooted from their ancestral homelands in 1948 has filed a legal petition with the British government. The petition is seeking an apology and reparations for British support of Zionist immigration, starting with the Balfour Declaration of 1917. The Palestinian petitioners say Britain unlawfully acted as an occupying power, giving itself the authority to rule the territory without a legal basis; and Palestinians were subject to a widespread pattern of murder, torture, and persecution under British rule. In this episode, international legal expert Victor Kattan delves into whether today's catastrophic war in Gaza has its origins in imperial decisions made more than 100 years ago. Further reading: Britain Owes Palestine (website) Gaza is a direct result of Balfour (Middle East Eye) Subscribe to the podcast: historyasithappens.com    

Support History As It Happens! Enjoy ad-free listening and exclusive bonus episodes by subscribing today at https://historyasithappens.supercast.com/ Listen to this 4-minute episode for news about new episodes starting Tuesday, Sept. 16, and the value of becoming a History As It Happens supporter.

Note: Following this episode, History As It Happens will be on hiatus. Stay updated on the podcast's status by subscribing (free) to our newsletter on Substack. This is the final episode in a 5-part series marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in August 1945. When the Second World War began, few expected the United States would emerge six years later as an unrivaled military and economic power at the head of a new world order built upon the graves of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Eighty years on, U.S. hegemony and the key global institutions for peace and free commerce are under severe pressure. In this episode, historian David M. Kennedy explores the origins of America's global age. Recommended reading: Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War by David M. Kennedy

This is the fourth episode in a 5-part series marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in August 1945. Before 1947, the United States did not have peacetime intelligence-gathering agencies such as the CIA. Foreign policy was formulated on an informal basis. Even during the Second World War, interservice cooperation was voluntary in the U.S. military. The Army and Navy had to compete for resources in the absence of a unified command structure. All this changed in 1947 with the passage of the National Security Act by large bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate. Its enduring importance cannot be overstated. In this episode, historian Daniel Bessner of the American Prestige podcast, an expert on U.S. foreign policy, delves into the origins of this permanent, expensive, and often dangerous structure. Further listening: American Prestige co-hosted by Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison

This is the third episode in a 5-part series marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in August 1945. In 1942, the Japanese seemed unstoppable in the Pacific, and the Germans steamrolled toward Stalingrad. Their victories proved ephemeral. And, in defeat, the Axis powers took millions of innocent people with them. This human drama is captured in historian Peter Fritzsche's new book, 1942, which bridges the gap between memory and history. Common American memories of righteous victory obscure the complexities, for this war was many wars in one. There were wars of national liberation, waged by people who'd been subjugated by the British and French Empires. And the U.S. was at war with itself, fielding a segregated army while throwing Japanese-American citizens into concentration camps. Recommended reading: 1942: When World War II Engulfed the Globe by Peter Fritzsche

This is the second episode in a 5-part series marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in August 1945. Most wars do not end in total victory. They usually end at the negotiating table after years of indecisive combat. What made the Second World War different? Was the Allied formula of unconditional surrender counter-productive? In this episode, acclaimed war historian and podcaster James Holland breaks down the arguments for and against unconditional surrender, concluding that FDR made the right call at the Casablanca Conference in 1943. The Axis powers of Germany and Japan bore the responsibility for prolonging the war to the bitter end, taking millions of lives with them. Further reading/listening: Victory '45: The End of War in Eight Surrenders by James Holland and Al Murray WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk

This is the first episode in a 5-part series marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in August 1945. No individual bore more responsibility for plunging Europe into another world war than Adolf Hitler, who was obsessed with reversing Germany's defeat in 1918 and getting rid of all the Jews within his reach, remaking the racial map of Eurasia in the process. Eighty years after his death, Hitler's horrendous legacy continues to influence global politics, shaping our reactions to, or justifications for, war and cruelty. In this episode, the eminent military historian Antony Beevor discusses how Hitler was able to convince other statesmen he was a man of peace before he sent Europe to the depths of hell. Recommended reading: The Second World War by Antony Beevor

Since 1945, has there been an antiwar U.S. president? Is it even possible to be an antiwar president when one has at his disposal history's most powerful war machine and is expected to maintain American primacy? President Donald Trump began his second term promising peace in the world, but after six months, the structures of empire and his unforced errors as a negotiator have thwarted progress. In this episode, historian Stephen Wertheim breaks down why the ideology of primacy impedes a more restrained U.S. foreign policy. Recommended reading:  Trump is a Situational Man in a Structural Bind by Stephen Wertheim (New York Times) Wertheim is a senior fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is the author of Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of U.S. Global Supremacy.  

For half a century, the Cold War defined global politics. Contested by two superpowers with opposing ideologies and interests, it touched nearly every part of the globe. It threatened nuclear war, and brought incalculable devastation to its battlefields – from Korea to Vietnam to Afghanistan and beyond. Could all the tension and violence have been avoided? Did the U.S. triumph or did the Soviet Union surrender? Where can we find Cold War continuities as the world unravels today? In this episode, historians Vladislav Zubok and Sergey Radchenko address these questions, which remain as relevant as ever, 30 years after the end of the Cold War. This episode was inspired by Zubok's new book (see below). Recommended reading: The World of the Cold War, 1945-1991 by Vladislav Zubok (2025) To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power by Sergey Radchenko (2024) Zubok teaches history at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Radchenko teaches history at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. They were born in the Soviet Union.          

Has Haiti passed the point of no return? Nearly 5,000 people have been killed in gang violence since last October, according to the U.N. Gangs control an estimated 90 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, as a Kenya-led security mission remains undermanned and outgunned. Government services are collapsing, and people are desperate for food. The country hasn't had a president since 2021. There is little appetite among Western nations for a major intervention to restore order in a country where the U.S. once invaded with relative frequency. Those days are history. In this episode, retired diplomat Keith Mines explains why Haiti appears to be trapped in an eternal crisis. Keith Mines recently retired after a 38-year career in public service, spanning the U.S. Army Special Forces, the Foreign Service, and as Vice President for Latin America at the U.S. Institute of Peace, where he managed programs in Haiti and chaired the Haiti Working Group in Washington. He served in Haiti from 1995-1997. He is the author of Why Nation-Building Matters: Political Consolidation, Building Security Forces, and Economic Development in Failed and Fragile States. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has contended with five U.S. presidents, from Bill Clinton in 2000 to Donald Trump today. Each American leader had the stated aim of improving U.S.-Russian relations by the time he left office. None truly succeeded. Why? In this episode, Jeffrey Engel and David Kramer examine the past 25 years of structural causes and the internal processes within Russia that contributed to the conflict. Historian Jeffrey Engel is the founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University. David J. Kramer is the executive director of the George W. Bush Institute and is a leading expert on Russia and Ukraine. He worked in the U.S. State Department during the eight years of Bush's presidency.

One hundred years ago, in July 1925, a high school teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, was arrested for teaching evolution. John Scopes' guilt was never in doubt, but his sensational trial was the center of national attention, pitting modernists against traditionalists, the defenders of Darwin's science against Christian fundamentalists. In this episode, historian Michael Kazin recounts what happened inside the courtroom and why it still matters. The culture wars of the early twentieth century echo in our society today, as the Democratic Party has lost rural America.  Further reading: The Trial of the Century is 100. Its Lessons Could Save the Democrats by Michael Kazin (New York Times) A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan by Michael Kazin (2006)

Is President Donald Trump augmenting or undermining the sources of American power? Trade wars against U.S. allies, an immigration crackdown, and slashing the federal workforce are but three ways the administration's approach to exercising power could ultimately erode it. In this episode, renowned political theorist Robert Keohane argues that "the continuation of Trump's current foreign policy would weaken the United States and accelerate the erosion of the international order that since World War II has served so many countries well." Is this the end of the American Century? Or was it already dead and buried? Recommended reading: The End of the Long American Century by Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye in Foreign Affairs, the official publication of the Council on Foreign Relations Joseph Nye, a scholar, strategist, and public servant, died on May 6, 2025.

President Trump's executive order to restore "truth and sanity to American history" targets esteemed institutions such as the Smithsonian and the National Park Service. It accuses them of promoting "a divisive ideology that reconstrued America's promotion of liberty as fundamentally flawed." In this episode, historian Kevin Levin, who writes the Civil War Memory newsletter on Substack, explains what changes visitors might see at revered battlefields like Gettysburg National Military Park, the site of the largest battle of the American Civil War. Further reading: National Park Service Directed to Implement Trump's Executive Order by Kevin Levin (Substack) 

This is a story about the unintended consequences of U.S. military interventionism. In 2011, President Obama decided to get involved in Libya's civil war. The U.S. and its NATO allies bombed Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi's forces in the name of protecting civilians who had risen against his regime in the early months of the Arab Spring. What began as a humanitarian intervention in March turned into a regime change operation, as Gadhafi was captured and murdered by rebels in October. President Trump's move to bomb Iran without consulting Congress evoked memories of Obama's mistakes, although Trump has, for now, managed to avoid escalation. In this episode, historian Jeremi Suri tells us what led Obama to change his mind and seek Gadhafi's ouster, a lesson in the dangers of unchecked executive war powers. Jeremi Suri is a historian at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He writes Democracy of Hope newsletter on Substack. He also co-hosts This Is Democracy podcast.

The Democratic Party controls none of the three branches of government, has no apparent leader, and is deeply unpopular. An NBC News poll says only 27 percent of registered voters have a positive view of the party. This is not the first time the Democrats have faced irrelevancy. At the onset of the 1992 presidential campaign, Republicans were confident of a fourth consecutive victory, having defeated Democrats Carter, Mondale, and Dukakis in humiliating fashion. But a Southern governor emerged to lead the party out of the wilderness and back to the White House. What can Bill Clinton's success teach Democrats today? In this episode, the eminent political historian Sean Wilentz explains how Clinton once reinvented liberal politics for a new age. Recommended reading: The Age of Reagan by Sean Wilentz

Eighty years ago, during the final weeks of the worst war ever fought, the United Nations Charter was signed in late June 1945, outlawing aggression and upholding universal human rights. World leaders agreed a legal edifice was necessary for the peaceful arbitration of disputes and protection of civilians after the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis and Imperial Japan. Today, however, the world is aflame in war and genocide, and some experts say international law is close to dead. In this episode, Adil Ahmad Haque, an expert on the rules and ethics of war, tells us what the rules-based order is breaking apart. Further reading: Law and Morality at War by Adil Haque

On April Fool's Day, members of Elon Musk's government dismantling team known as DOGE showed up at the downtown Washington offices of the Wilson Center for International Scholars with grave news. It was not an April Fool's Day prank; they were there to shut it down and fire everyone. The Wilson Center was the home of the Kennan Institute along with a library of some 30,000 books. In this episode, the institute's former director, the historian Michael Kimmage, tells us what's at stake when the government destroys a center of knowledge making, and why our society "must save the books." This exclusive interview was recorded on June 20. Recommended reading: We Must Save the Books by Michael Kimmage in Liberties

Israel and the United States justified their war against Iran on claims that its nuclear program posed an existential threat. Iran had no nuclear weapons, but the nature of its enrichment program exceeds what is necessary for peaceful energy production. An unintended consequence of U.S. and Israeli belligerence, say non-proliferation experts, could be that Iran now secretly races for a bomb. If the lesson here is that the only way to guarantee national security is to obtain nuclear deterrence, other nation-states might also break from the global non-proliferation regime. In this episode, national security analyst and career arms control expert Joe Cirincione takes us inside Iran's program and its implications for the rest of the world. Cirincione is one of a few Americans to have visited Iran's Isfahan uranium enrichment facility. Further reading: Strategy & History newsletter by Joe Cirincione

Note: This episode was recorded hours before President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. Over the decades and in the face of Western pressure not to enrich uranium to weapons-grade levels, the Islamic Republic of Iran has maintained its nuclear program, whose origins predate the ayatollahs' rule. The program has become a potent symbol of nationalism and resistance. On Saturday, the U.S. joined Israel's war and dropped its most destructive bombs on Iranian nuclear labs buried deep underground. In this episode, Eurasia Group senior analyst Gregory Brew tells us why Iran's leaders believe the nuclear program is their key to staying in power and deterring their enemies. Further reading: The Struggle For Iran: Oil, Autocracy, and the Cold War, 1951-1954 by Gregory Brew and David S. Painter 

This episode of History As It Happens was recorded on location at the U.S. Army War College and the Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pa. The Army's 250th birthday was on June 14th. What were the first soldiers of the Continental Army talking about 250 years ago? Where did they gather to share their ideas about war and revolution? To mark the Army's 250th birthday, the curators and craftsmen at the Heritage and Education Center constructed an 18th-century tavern where visitors can imagine the American colonists deciding to break from the crown. It is part of a new exhibit covering two and a half centuries of Army history. In this episode, historian Kate Lemay and curator Molly Bompane tell us about their time-traveling work. Episode artwork by Kaitlin Garman, Education Technician (Outreach), U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center

This episode of History As It Happens was recorded on location at the U.S. Army War College and the Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pa. The Army's 250th birthday was on June 14th. What happens inside a classroom full of colonels and lieutenant colonels? At this institution in rural Pennsylvania, America's future military leaders are learning grand strategy steeped in history, from Thucydides to today's conflicts. In this episode, historians Kate Lemay and Michael Neiberg discuss the way their students are challenged to think about preserving the peace, and how the center's archive brings the past to life. Episode artwork by Kaitlin Garman, Education Technician (Outreach), U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center

Twelve years ago, few outside Latin America knew of Nayib Bukele, then the young mayor of a small town outside San Salvador. Today, the media-savvy Bukele proudly calls himself the "world's coolest dictator" as president of El Salvador. He and his Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas) party control all the levers of power. His regime has a horrendous human rights record, exemplified by the massive CECOT prison that has room to incarcerate 40,000 people. In April, Bukele was warmly welcomed into the Oval Office by President Trump, who lavishly praised the Latin American autocrat because of, not despite, his dictatorial excesses. In this episode, historian Gema Kloppe-Santamaria explains Bukele's meteoric political rise in a country once ravaged by civil war and gang violence. Gema Kloppe-Santamaria is a sociologist and historian specializing in violence and crime, focusing on Central America and Mexico. She is a Lecturer in Sociology at University College Cork and an Associate Research Professor of Latin American History at George Washington University.

When tracing the origins of today's war and devastation in Gaza, it may be easy to overlook economic inequality in favor of political or ideological explanations. In this episode, political analyst and public opinion expert Dahlia Scheindlin says a chief cause of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the severe poverty of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza, where unemployment was sky high even before the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023. There was a time when Israelis believed peace was necessary for Israel's economy to thrive, and that Palestinian growth could substitute for a Palestinian state. A generation later, Gaza is rubble. Further reading: The Economic Foundation for Peace in Israel and Palestine by Dahlia Scheindlin for The Century Foundation. Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin is a political analyst and a public opinion researcher who has advised on nine electoral campaigns in Israel and worked in 15 other countries over 25 years. She is a Haaretz (English) columnist and a Century International policy fellow. She is the author of The Crooked Timber of Democracy in Israel: Promise Unfulfilled, listed on Foreign Affairs' Best Books of 2024.

Can movies mirror the reality of war? Should war movies be entertaining or horrifying? Today is June 6, the anniversary of the Invasion of Normandy in 1944. Films like The Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan capture the heroism and epic sweep of the D-Day invasion to liberate Western Europe from the Nazis, but what do such films leave out of the story? How do popular movies subtly influence our attitudes toward or perceptions of the past, as individuals and in collective memory? In this episode, historian Kevin Ruane reflects on the educational, entertainment, and political angles of our favorite D-Day films. Kevin Ruane is a By-Fellow of Churchill College, University of Cambridge, a Professor Emeritus of Canterbury Christ Church University, and the Director of the Graham Greene International Festival. He has written and taught on various international topics, including the Second World War, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the Nuclear Age, and postwar European unity and security. His books include Churchill and the Bomb in War and Cold War (2016). Kevin is also a regular contributor to television, radio, and online history programmes, including, most recently, Churchill at War (Netflix), Britain's Nuclear Bomb Scandal (BBC), and The Manhattan Project in Colour (Channel 4, UK).

Trump administration officials say they're considering doing something that's only been done four times in U.S. history: suspend the writ of habeas corpus, a bedrock legal principle ensuring that an individual cannot be imprisoned unlawfully. The reason? President Trump wants his mass deportation scheme to operate faster. To deflect criticism, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has pointed to Abraham Lincoln's decision to suspend habeas corpus during the Civil War. Are the two situations really comparable? In this episode, historian James Oakes, an expert on Lincoln, slavery, and antebellum politics, explains the context of Lincoln's unprecedented use of presidential war powers. Further reading: Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861-1865 by James Oakes

Since Theodore Roosevelt won a Nobel Peace Prize for helping end the Russo-Japanese War, American presidents have sought to mediate the end of conflicts in violent corners of the world. Some succeeded. What can President Donald Trump learn from his predecessors, as he claims to seek peace in Ukraine, the Middle East, and elsewhere? In this episode, historians Jeremi Suri and Jeffrey Engel talk about why wars are easy to start but hard to end, even -- or especially when -- a U.S. president presses his thumb on the scales. Further reading: The Impossible Presidency by Jeremi Suri When The World Seemed New by Jeffrey Engel

The theories of unrestrained executive power guiding the Trump administration's assault on the administrative state and its attitude toward the federal judiciary draw on a far-right intellectual tradition. The thrust of these ideas is that the president must be able to exercise emergency powers and that neither Congress nor the courts should stand in his way. In this episode, political theorist Damon Linker explains the origins of the ideas driving Trump 2.0. Linker writes Notes From the Middleground newsletter on Substack. Recommended reading: These Thinkers Set the Stage for Trump the All-Powerful by Damon Linker (New York Times)

China is ruled by a Communist Party of 100 million members, a giant pyramid with President Xi Jinping and the Politburo at the top. Yet its economy, the second largest in the world, largely thrives on private enterprise and integration with global capitalism. So what does it mean to be a Chinese Communist today? And what does China under Xi aim to achieve on the international stage? In this episode, historians Sergey Radchenko and Enrico Fardella peel away opaque layers of ideology to get to the heart of China's 21st-century outlook.

Historian Antony Beevor says the world today resembles the Second World War in one important respect: "For decades, it seemed as though the characters of leaders would never again determine the course of events the way they did in World War II. Putin's invasion has changed that, and Trump, taking Putin as a role model, has, too." In this episode, the esteemed war chronicler talks about the unsettling reasons why the post-1945 order is unraveling. Recommended reading: We Are Still Fighting World War II by Antony Beevor for Foreign Affairs, the official publication of the Council on Foreign Relations. The Second World War by Antony Beevor

For four days in early May, India and Pakistan were on the brink of another war over the contested Kashmir, the mountainous territory that has witnessed waves of ferocious violence since partition in 1947. A ceasefire averted major hostilities, but did not establish lasting peace. There has never been a durable peace in Kashmir since India and Pakistan first went to war over its control in October 1947. In this episode, Anatol Lieven of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft traces the origins of one of the world's most intractable conflicts.  Recommended reading: Pakistan: A Hard Country by Anatol Lieven

During the Palestinian people's darkest hour since 1948, as Israel seeks to displace Gazans and potentially annex the West Bank, the Palestinian leadership is absent. The Palestinian Authority is still around, and its president, Mahmoud Abbas, 89, has been in charge without an election for 20 years. However, the authority, which was established in 1994 and was supposed to be temporary, appears irrelevant and powerless. In this episode, Omar Rahman of the Middle East Council on Global Affairs breaks down the Palestinian Authority's many failings when its leadership is needed more than ever.

President Donald Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act during peacetime is unprecedented, a part of his larger effort to portray undocumented immigrants as wicked and threatening as he seeks to deport them en masse. What is not unprecedented is the federal government weaponizing the law to shred constitutional protections and civil liberties. During the Second World War, the administration of Franklin Roosevelt arrested and incarcerated Italians, Germans, and Japanese aliens under the 1798 statute, but also interned roughly 100,000 U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry -- one of the most egregious violations of civil rights in U.S. history. In this episode, the eminent historian David M. Kennedy takes us back to those perilous years and their important parallels to the current crisis. Recommended reading: Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 by David M. Kennedy 

Does history provide us with lessons, or does the past offer warnings about what might happen now based on human tendencies that transcend time and culture? In his new book The Nazi Mind, the historian and filmmaker Laurence Rees studies the Nazi mentalities that produced the most horrendous crimes in history. Beyond high-ranking Nazi officials and SS fanatics, Rees also delves into the attitudes of medical professionals and ordinary Germans who assisted their leaders in barbarous acts. What about the Nazis can help us navigate today's crisis of liberal democracy? Recommended reading: The Nazi Mind: Twelve Warnings From History by Laurence Rees

The 250th anniversary of the American Revolution's opening battles came and went with little fanfare. Colonial militia engaged British regulars at Lexington and Concord in April 1775. The Revolutionary War was underway. King George III would soon declare the American colonies in open rebellion. Is everyone saving their energy for next year's celebration of the Declaration of Independence? In this episode, historian Lindsay Chervinsky, the executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon, talks about the collapse of royal authority that was evident as early as 1774-75, well before formal independence was declared. The colonies were in a state of virtual independence, marking a transformation in the minds as well as the everyday lives of the American revolutionaries.