Roundup

Naftali Explores 'Khrushchev's Cold War vs. Eisenhower, JFK [video 66min]

Timothy Naftali details the heated interactions between Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy during the Cold War. In Khrushchev's Cold War: The Inside Story of an American Adversary, the second book he co-authored with Aleksandr Fursenko, the co-authors examine Khrushchev's foreign policy from 1956 to 1962. Naftali is an associate professor at the University of Virginia, where he directs the Presidential Recordings Program and Kremlin Decision-Making Proje

Robert Scott Letter Goes on Display [audio 6min @9:12]

Ninety-five years ago, Robert Scott completed one of the greatest feats of his time: he arrived, on foot, at the South Pole, hoping to raise the Union Jack, and claim a first for Britain. But once he reached the pole, Scott and his four companions found a small tent and a letter left by Roald Amundsen. The Norwegian explorer had beaten them by just a month. And so the already-exhausted party turned around and set off on the months-long return trek to their base on the Antarctic Peninsula. The jo

Napoleon's Cancer [audio 5min @10:21]

Napoleon Bonaparte died in exile on Saint Helena almost 200 years ago. And ever since, there have been any number of theories regarding the cause of his death. The autopsy report at the time cited stomach cancer. But many have speculated that the former French emperor was actually murdered -- with arsenic poisoning having been suggested as the most likely cause. Now, a new investigation into Napoleon's death is challenging those conspiracy theories. Dr. Robert Genta is a professor of pathology a

'Houston' Was FDR's Legendary Lost Cruiser [video 53min]

James Hornfischer chronicles the Pacific battle that destroyed the USS Houston during World War II in his book Ship of Ghosts: The Story of the USS Houston, FDR's Legendary Lost Cruiser, and the Epic Saga of Her Survivors. He explains that former President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s favorite ship was sunk by the Japanese, and the surviving crew members became prisoners-of-war and were forced to work as slave laborers on the Burma-Thai Railway. James Hornfischer is a literary ag

Utah Time Capsule Opened, 50 Years Later [audio 4min]

The University of Utah opened a time capsule containing items from 1957 on Wednesday. The plan almost fell apart because no one could remember its exact location, but a sonar scan found the sealed copper box. Jenny Brundin reports from member station KUER in Salt Lake City.

Iron Curtain Goes Wild [audio 30min]

Writer, historian and television presenter Neil Oliver walks the Iron Curtain from Trieste on the Adriatic to Lubeck on the Baltic. The minefields and barbed wire are being transformed into the world's longest nature reserve, but Neil finds that the old tensions are still fresh in many minds.

'A Savage War' Interview [audio 6min]

Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Alistaire Horne, author of A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962. President Bush is reportedly reading the book to learn more about counter-insurgency tactics.

Some SMU Profs Balk at Hosting Bush Library [audio 4min]

When he leaves office, President Bush intends to house his presidential library at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. But, as Catherine Cuellar of member station KERA reports, some professors at the school don't want the institution associated with a president who led the country into the Iraq war.

Histories of Burma [audio 21min]

Historian Thant Myint-U is a former U.N. official and a native of Burma. His new book, The River of Lost Footsteps: Histories of Burma -- part memoir, part history -- explores the problems plaguing the country.

Treaty of Rome resulted from UK's refusing 'merger' with France [audio 30min]

Journalist Mike Thomson investigates evidence of a French request in the mid 1950s to merge the nations of Britain and France. The idea, which was first proposed by the anglophile French Prime Minister, Guy Mollet, in September 1956, was rejected by Britain’s Prime Minister, Anthony Eden. At the time it was made, the Suez crisis was escalating, the French economy was in a mess and Britain was seen as a social and economic role model in Paris. Previously secret cabinet papers reveal that, two wee

Cronkite Says Media Played Role in '70s Mideast Peace Process [audio 9min]

Walter Cronkite recalls his own role in what turned out to be a breakthrough in the Middle East. In 1977, when Cronkite was anchor of the CBS Evening News, he helped bring together Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachin Begin, in meetings that laid the groundwork for the 1978 Camp David agreements.

Historian Honey Chronicles MLK's Last Fight [audio 38min]

In his new book, Going Down Jericho Road, historian Michael Honey chronicles the campaign which the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was working on at the time of his death. Honey is a former civil liberties organizer and a professor of ethics, gender and labor studies and American history at the University of Washington, Tacoma.

NPR 'News & Notes' celebrates MLK [audio 60min]

America celebrates the birthday of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. How much do you know about King's life and legacy? Join"News & Notes" host Farai Chideya and her guests as they look back on his accomplishments and explore how he might see America today. Guests include Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco, professor of Globalization and Education at New York University; Callie Crossley, cultural commentator on the television show Beat the Press; and Robert George, editorial writer for th

New Addition to Martin Luther King's Legacy [audio 8min]

In 1965, a Rabbi named Max Nussbaum asked Martin Luther King Jr. to address his congregation at the Temple Israel in Hollywood. Nussbaum was not only active in the civil rights movement, but he also made his name as a rabbi in Berlin by using the pulpit to rail against the injustices of Nazi Germany. King accepted Nussbaum's invitation, and his sermon was recorded onto an old-fashioned reel-to-reel audiotape. The tape was then forgotten, lost in a pile of the rabbi's other audiotapes and papers.

MLK Papers Go on Display [audio 3min]

A collection of papers belonging to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. go on display at the Atlanta History Center Monday, on the national holiday honoring the civil rights leader. The papers include the draft of a famous speech from 1967 condemning the Vietnam War. Report by Kathy Lohr.

A Lesson in History: Resettling Refugees of Vietnam [audio 6min]

In 1975, President Gerald Ford set up an interagency task force that resettled 130,000 refugees from South Vietnam after the fall of Saigon. Julia Taft was the head of President Ford's Inter-Agency Task Force on Indochinese Refugee resettlement. Report by Debbie Elliott.

Power, Prescience of King's 'Mountaintop' Speech [8min]

Of all the speeches that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave in his lifetime, "I Have a Dream" is probably the most famous. But his "Mountaintop" speech, delivered extemporaneously the night before his death, is startling in its power and prescience. We hear excerpts from the speech, along with commentary by the Rev. Samuel "Billy" Kyles, a Memphis minister who was with King that night.

No Traces of CPA's $8.8bn Cash Given to New Iraqi Government[40min]

Mark Gregory investigates what happened to the $50 billion invested in rebuilding Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Many Iraqis claim that the essentials of life remain worse than they were under UN sanctions, with domestic power output and oil production scarcely above prewar levels. Mark is international business reporter for the BBC World Service. He uncovers a story of corruption and mismanagement, plaguing efforts to rebuild a shattered nation.

Vaclav Havel at 70: A 'Fairy Tale Story' [5min]

Vaclav Havel, the dissident Czech playwright who became president of his country after the Velvet Revolution and the demise of the Soviet Union, reflects on his eventful life and times.

Hitler Comedy No Laughing Matter for Germans [5min]

A new German movie about Adolf Hitler opened this week. It's the first mainstream German film to make fun of the Nazi leader. And while laughing at Hitler has been a successful form of comedy in the U.S. and Britain, it's been unusual -- if not taboo -- in Germany. As Mein Fuhrer, the Truly Truest Truth about Adolf Hitler begins, it's December 1944. Germany has all but lost World War II. Hitler is depressed and unable to do anything. His propaganda minister organizes a major New Year's Da