Recently Published

A Stimulus Isn't Enough to Fix this Economy, But Here are Three Ideas that Might

by Judith Stein

The political oxygen in the United States today is consumed by issues that have nothing to do with reducing the 9.1 percent unemployment rate.  Everyone talks about the priority of creating jobs, and President Obama promises another speech on jobs after Labor Day.  But through most of the year, Republicans fixated on cutting spending, while Obama and many Democrats accepted the notion that the deficit was the main issue facing the nation.  Jobs are an afterthought, a political obligation, not a central ingredient of recovery.  Well-meaning pundits offer work sharing (where companies, instead of laying off employees, reduce hours and pay, with government making up the difference), infrastructure banks, public works, and many other good ideas.  Any one of these policies will become a lot more possible if attached to a larger narrative about what went wrong and what’s to be done.

The Flight from Justice: Historian Gerald Steinacher on How Nazis Fled Europe after World War II

by Robin Lindley

At the end of the Second World War, thousands of Nazi Party members, war criminals and collaborators fled Europe and escaped arrest and prosecution for their role in war crimes including genocide.  Perpetrators such as leading Holocaust planner Adolf Eichmann and Auschwitz’s “Angel of Death” Dr. Josef Mengele were on the run after the defeat of Germany in 1945.  They eluded justice with the assistance of sympathizers as well as the knowing or inadvertent aid of overwhelmed and imperfect humanitarian, religious and political institutions.

The Delicious Irony of the Federal Government Memorializing MLK

by Jo Freedman

In all the celebrations going on this week over the (now-delayed) dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial, few have noted the irony that Dr. King was often at odds with the federal government, as well as a lot of state governments.  Only fifteen months after Dr. King’s famous speech at the August 28, 1963 march and rally, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover told a group of women reporters that Dr. King was "the most notorious liar in the country."  This came in reaction to newspaper reports of a mild criticism by Dr. King of the FBI’s handling of civil rights complaints in the South.Indeed it was that very march that convinced Hoover that Dr. King and the civil rights movement were serious threats to his America.  He shifted the Bureau’s policy from observing the movement, while providing information on it to local law enforcement in the South, into actively undermining it.  Dr. King was his primary target.  At Hoover’s direction, the FBI not only harassed Dr. King, but did not even warn him when it knew of threats on his life.

MLK Would Be Against the Wars Today

by William Loren Katz

It has taken a hurricane to postpone the dedication of the long-awaited monument to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Washington over the weekend—the first time a man who is not a president, not awhite man and not a war leader has been so honored on the Mall.   But how will Dr. King be presented to the American public and remembered by children?  One clear viewpoint was offered this January 13 when the Pentagon commemorated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with an address by Jeh C. Johnson, the Defense Department’s general counsel.In the final year of his life King became an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War, Johnson frankly told a packed auditorium of Defense Department officials.  However, Johnson hastily added, today’s wars are not out of line with the iconic Nobel Peace Prize winner’s teachings.  “I believe that if Dr. King were alive today, he would recognize that we live in a complicated world, and that our nation's military should not and cannot lay down its arms and leave the American people vulnerable to terrorist attack.”Really?

Is an Apology Enough for Genocide?

by Edwin Black

Everyone knows that Nazi Germany designated Jews and others for mass murder. Some know that Hitler's racial ideas were inspired by the early twentieth-century pseudo-scientific American eugenic concepts he studied and adopted.  But few are aware that long before Jews and blacks were targeted by eugenicists, white Virginian Appalachians with dark hair were chosen for extinction.  They were not only targeted by academics, but by Virginia's own state government.  The state perniciously traced their ancestry and, periodically, agents rounded them up and dispatched them to sterilization mills.More than twenty-seven states joined the shameful decades-long campaign.  Virginia led in developing the legal concepts and merciless enforcement that propelled eugenics into the annals of genocide.

Three Lessons in Emergency Management from Someone Who Did It Well

by Utpal Sandesara and Thomas Wooten

One of the most famous images from Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath lacks any of the visual tropes typically associated with the disaster.  No roofs protrude from a sea of water, and no lines of beleaguered survivors wait in vain for help to arrive.  Yet in its own way, the photograph conveys one of the tragedy’s strongest truths.  A commander-in-chief, bathed in warm sunlight and swaddled in the luxury of his leather-upholstered cabin, peers out the window as his jet takes a low pass over the City that Care Forgot.

The American Family Association Says that the Nazis were Gay—The GOP Needs to Distance Itself from that Craziness

by Jonathan Zimmerman

All of the Republican presidential candidates say that gay people should be prohibited from getting married.  But Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association says that gay people helped bring Nazism to Germany.

The American Family Association Says that the Nazis were Gay—The GOP Needs to Distance Itself from that Craziness

by Jonathan Zimmerman

All of the Republican presidential candidates say that gay people should be prohibited from getting married.  But Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association says that gay people helped bring Nazism to Germany.

American Historical Association:  Pacific Coast Branch (Videos)

This conference was held in Seattle in August 2011.Mom:  The Transformation of MotherhoodRebecca Jo PlantBush's Wars:  Roundtable on Terry Anderson's BookTerry AndersonDavid SchmitzKyle LongleyVietnam

Vietnam: Jessica Elkind

The History News Network recorded this video of Jessica Elkind speaking at the annual meeting of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association on August 13, 2011. In her talk Ms. Elkind discusses recent Vietnamese interpretations of the Vietnam war. She spoke at session 30: "Roundtable: The Never Ending Question: Understanding the Origins of U.S. Intervention in Vietnam."

Vietnam: Matthew Masur

The History News Network recorded this video of Matthew Masur speaking at the annual meeting of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association on August 13, 2011. In his talk he discusses recent changes in interpretations of the Vietnam war. He spoke at session 30: "Roundtable: The Never Ending Question: Understanding the Origins of U.S. Intervention in Vietnam."

Vietnam: David Schmitz

The History News Network recorded this video of David Schmitz speaking at the annual meeting of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association on August 13, 2011. In his talk he discusses recent changes in interpretations of the Vietnam war, focusing on Richard Nixon's war. He spoke at session 30: "Roundtable: The Never Ending Question: Understanding the Origins of U.S. Intervention in Vietnam."

Vietnam: David Anderson

The History News Network recorded this video of David Anderson speaking at the annual meeting of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association on August 13, 2011. In his talk he discusses recent changes in interpretations of the Vietnam war. He spoke at session 30: "Roundtable: The Never Ending Question: Understanding the Origins of U.S. Intervention in Vietnam."

Bush's Wars: Kyle Longley

The History News Network recorded this video of Kyle Longley speaking at the annual meeting of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association on August 13, 2011. He spoke at a roundtable devoted to the discussion of Terry Anderson's book, Bush's Wars (Oxford University Press).

Bush's Wars: David Schmitz

The History News Network recorded this video of David Schmitz speaking at the annual meeting of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association on August 13, 2011. He spoke at a roundtable devoted to the discussion of Terry Anderson's book, Bush's Wars (Oxford University Press).

Bush's Wars: Terry Anderson

The History News Network recorded this video of Terry Anderson speaking at the annual meeting of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association on August 13, 2011.He spoke at a roundtable devoted to the discussion of his book, Bush's Wars (Oxford University Press).

Bill Moyers and Robin Lindley: Continuing the Conversation—The Renowned Journalist on His New Book, His Career, His Brushes with History, and Where We Stand Now

by Robin Lindley

Related Links:  HNN Exclusive: Bill Moyers to Return to TV with a New Series Bill Moyers has been my North Star, in his eloquence, his quiet passion and courage,  and in the way he presents me and millions of others with the ideals of our nation, from our past to our present to our uncertain future.  Always he offers the gift of thoughtfulness and of hope. —Studs Terkel

Neither Bachmann nor Perry is the Serious Candidate the GOP Needs

by Stanley Kutler

Thomas Paine, the celebrated pamphleteer of the American Revolution, never hesitated to speak truth to power, or what he called “Common Sense.” He wrote in 1776 that “there is something absurd in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island.”Imagine the blunt-speaking Paine’s response to today’s political doings. “Absurdity” would have been inadequate to describe his reaction to the recent Iowa straw vote for Republican presidential hopefuls and The New York Times’ anointment of Michele Bachmann as a “serious” candidate, one of the three top contenders. Bachmann placed first by less than 200 votes over Ron Paul, who lends enhanced meaning to a “fringe” candidate. The Iowa voters were fed (and wined?) and the various candidates generally paid their registration fees to vote. Where are you, George Carlin, now that we need you?

The UK Riots Show the Bankruptcy of Conservative Policies

by Deepak Tripathi

War came to Britain’s streets two weeks ago in London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol and other urban centers.  The country has seen protests against the Iraq War, against cuts in pensions for local government employees and teachers, and against dramatic increases in student tuition fees.  The events of recent days, however, have been the worst social unrest in a generation.  They've been a reminder of the 1980s, when urban riots shook British society to its core.

Why the Left Needs Its Koch Brothers

by Richard Striner

It’s time for American liberals to pull out their checkbooks and fund a truly powerful campaign that will challenge the Tea Party people and their sponsors.  Challenge them with old-fashioned economic populism.  Two tremendous and headline-grabbing protest marches should be sponsored very soon by the Left—marches of unemployed Americans holding placards and banners emblazoned with a simple slogan:  “Jobs Now.”Our historical tradition of protest marches on Washington began in 1894, when a wealthy and public-spirited man named Jacob Coxey led an “army” of unemployed Civil War veterans to Grover Cleveland’s Washington, demanding a “Good Roads Bill” that would put all the unemployed veterans who saved their country to work building modern America.Nothing happened.