Oblivion in the Age of Trump
History As It Happens
Does the historical concept of oblivion offer a way out of our ruptured political life? "For centuries, legislative acts of oblivion were declared in times when betrayal, war, and tyranny had usurped and undermined the very foundations of law; when a household or nation had been torn apart, its citizens pitted against one another; when identifying, investigating, trying, and sentencing every single guilty party threatened to redouble the harm, to further fracture already divided societies," writes the scholar Linda Kinstler. In this episode, Kinstler delves into the history of oblivion as well...
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We Have Met the Enemy
History As It Happens
The United States' most-wanted jihadist in Afghanistan is trying to portray himself as a pragmatic diplomat. Washington doesn't seem to be interested. Sirajuddin Haqqani has the blood of many U.S. soldiers and Afghan civilians on his hands. While the U.S. views him as an enemy, the CIA once handsomely supported his father Jalaluddin Haqqani in the war against the Soviets in the 1980s. The elder Haqqani was close to bin Laden in the years before the Haqqani network would violently resist U.S. invaders -- after the al-Qaeda strikes on 9/11/2001. Ah, Afghanistan, where the past is not even past....
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Understanding the Rise of Hitler
History As It Happens
Donald Trump's election victory probably means Hitler comparisons won't go away, even if they make little sense. Still, there are lessons to learn from the collapse of the Weimar Republic in 1933, the year Adolf Hitler was levered into power by conservative elites who wrongly assumed that they could control the "Bohemian corporal." The question is which lessons are the right lessons? In this episode, historian Christian Goeschel of the University of Manchester explains how Hitler achieved power in Germany to avoid facile comparisons to the America of 2024. Our problems today bear little...
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NAFTA's Long Shadow
History As It Happens
When it was ratified more than 30 years ago, the North American Free Trade Agreement was hailed as a decision "that will permit us to create an economic order in the world that will promote more growth, more equality, better preservation of the environment, and a greater possibility of world peace," according to President Bill Clinton. Today, NAFTA is toxic, and populist anger at the multilateral free trade regime of the post-Cold War era is redefining global politics. In this episode, Dan Kaufman, a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine, tells us how NAFTA destroyed the working...
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American Democracy
History As It Happens
It's Election Day in America and the survival of liberal democracy is said to be on the ballot. What does this mean? Has the United States ever been a democracy where all enjoy political freedom and economic rights? In this episode, historians Sean Wilentz and James Oakes delve into the history of political conflict in America, the progress and regress of democracy and liberty, a story of liberalism competing and coexisting with illiberalism. Recommended reading: by Sean Wilentz by James Oakes
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Election of 2016
History As It Happens
**New episode! History As It Happens has returned!** This is the eighth and final episode in a monthly series examining influential elections in U.S. history. The most recent episode, Election of 2008, was published on Sept 17. As the Obama presidency ended, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was the obvious frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. As for the Republicans, 17 candidates vied for the top spot. As the election year unfolded, few "informed observers" believed the New York real estate developer-turned-reality TV star Donald Trump had a chance. They were all wrong. Not only...
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Best of HAIH: Election of 1980
History As It Happens
This episode was first published on March 4, 2024. Original show notes: The embattled incumbent expressed anguish over soulless materialism. The optimistic challenger promised Americans they could overcome any and all problems. The election of 1980 pitted Democrat Jimmy Carter against Republican Ronald Reagan as Americans struggled with stagflation at home and crises abroad. Reagan's victory marked a sea change in U.S. politics, tilting the political landscape to the right. Reagan crusaded against big government and Soviet Communism. If the incumbent looked impotent in the face of these vexing...
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Best of HAIH: Origins of Russia's War in Ukraine
History As It Happens
This episode was first published on Feb. 22, 2024 as part of a series marking the second anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Original show notes: In every war, there is a battle over its origins. In this episode, historians Michael Kimmage and Mark Galeotti discuss Kimmage's new book, "Collisions," which seeks to explain why the excessive optimism of the early 1990s about Russia's path toward democracy and market economics never materialized. Moreover, Kimmage's narrative explains what led to each major collision between Russia and Ukraine; Russia and Europe; and Russia and the larger...
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Best of HAIH: 1948
History As It Happens
This episode was first published on Oct. 24, 2023. Original show notes: Today's war between Israel and Hamas has its origins in the unresolved problems caused by the events of 1948. The year that witnessed the creation of an independent Jewish state in the former British mandate of Palestine, is known by Palestinians as the nakba, or catastrophe. Internecine violence intensified in 1947 as the U.N. weighed partitioning Palestine into two independent states, one Jewish and one Arab. Then five neighboring Arab countries invaded the new state of Israel immediately after David Ben-Gurion...
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Best of HAIH: Slavery and the Constitution
History As It Happens
This episode was first published on April 12, 2022. Original show notes: Was the Constitution pro- or anti-slavery? Maybe that is the wrong question to ask, even though it remains the question at the heart of public discourse about the founding generation. In this episode, Sean Wilentz and James Oakes -- two major scholars of eighteenth and nineteenth century America -- argue the Constitution was a contested document that marked the beginning of a political conflict over the future of slavery and, therefore, the nature of American democracy. They reject race-centered interpretations...
info_outlineThis is the sixth episode in an occasional series examining influential elections in U.S. history. The most recent episode, Election of 2000, was published on July 11.
If you believe American society has never been as politically polarized as it is now, you may not be familiar with the late 1790s. Federalists and Republicans viciously attacked each other, trading accusations of frittering away the Constitution and imperiling the legacy of the American Revolution. The incumbent president John Adams was beset by a crisis with France verging on war. His vice president, Thomas Jefferson, was the leader of the political opposition. In this episode, historian Alan Taylor takes us back to a crazy time: the XYZ Affair, the Alien and Sedition Acts, and Aaron Burr! The election of 1800 had to be decided in the House of Representatives amid scheming to deny Jefferson the presidency. Jefferson's victory brought on the first peaceful transfer of power in the new republic, an important tradition that lasted until the election of 2020.