Recent Stories on

U.S. imperialism and wars

Jacob F. Lee

A page out of the empire’s playbook?

The U.S. is cloaking aggression against Venezuela in the guise of “self-defense,” following a model that is centuries old.

March 5, 2019
Nick Everett

An old Cold Warrior plots regime change

Trump’s special envoy to Venezuela Elliott Abrams has a long history of engineering dirty wars and repression in Latin America.

February 27, 2019
Richard Nixon campaigns in Pennsylvania in July 1968
Lance Selfa

1968: The Nixon backlash and the “silent majority”

What explains the victory of right-wing Republican Richard Nixon in the 1968 presidential election — at the end of a revolutionary year?

November 8, 2018
David Moulton

Standing in solidarity with Yemen

About 150 people attended a rally in San Francisco calling on the U.S. government to end its complicity with Saudi war crimes in Yemen.

November 7, 2018
Chicago police assault antiwar protesters during the 1968 Democratic convention
Lance Selfa

1968: A war on dissent in the streets of Chicago

Fifty years ago, the Democrats were nominating a pro-war presidential candidate—while Chicago police declared war on antiwar protesters.

August 27, 2018
Kim Bullimore

The story of the “forgotten war” in Korea

Though it is barely remembered in the U.S. today, the Korean War in the early 1950s killed millions and left a legacy of violence.

August 22, 2018
Members of SDS lead a demonstration against the Vietnam War
Geoff Bailey

1968: SDS and the revolt of the campuses

The story of Students for a Democratic Society includes some of the high points of the era — and many of the challenges that faced the new left.

July 3, 2018
Eugene V. Debs gives his antiwar speech in Canton, Ohio
Marlene Martin

The speech that made Debs Convict No. 9653

One hundred years ago, Eugene V. Debs gave one of the most famous speeches in the history of the socialist tradition, opposing war and capitalism.

June 15, 2018
Tom Twiss

A speech that resonates 100 years later

Socialists and activists are planning a celebration of the 100th anniversary of Eugene V. Debs’ antiwar speech in Canton, Ohio.

June 4, 2018
Interview: Samuel Farber

The message of the Free Speech Movement

A participant in the Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley in 1964 discusses its lessons for today's struggle for free speech.

March 13, 2018
Tom Bramble

The return of great power rivalry

Two government documents spell it out: The U.S. government is on the warpath against emerging big power rivals China and Russia.

February 8, 2018
A medic treats a wounded U.S. soldier during the Battle of Huế
Eric Ruder

1968: Tet and the watershed in Vietnam

Fifty years ago, an offensive by the armed forces of Vietnamese people fighting for national liberation turned the tide decisively against the U.S. war.

January 30, 2018
Jess Melvin

U.S. complicity in a genocide in Indonesia

Recently released documents provide new and damning evidence of Washington's role in the slaughter of communists in Indonesia.

November 22, 2017
Joe Allen

An epic series with an Achilles’ heel

PBS's series on Vietnam has shortcomings, but it reveals a lot of truth about the war and returns it to its proper place in U.S. history.

October 4, 2017
Readers’ View

What you won’t see on PBS

The Ken Burns documentary series on the U.S. war in Vietnam is off and running, but what's missing is the larger historical context.

September 25, 2017
Tom Bramble

The roots of the nuclear arms race

For decades, the world held its breath as nuclear-armed powers contemplated the annihilation of their rivals--and themselves.

August 15, 2017
Members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War on the march
Eric Ruder

How the movement brought down a president

Trump's crisis-ridden presidency has people asking: What would it take to force him out? The Nixon era shows what it takes to topple a president.

March 7, 2017
Jewish refugees aboard the St. Louis in 1939
Annie Levin

The American tradition of refusing refugees

Donald Trump's ban on Muslim refugees is part of a shameful history that includes U.S. government policies to block European Jews fleeing the Nazis.

January 31, 2017
Obituary: Tom Hayden

Bargaining on a revolution?

Tom Hayden didn't "sell out" when he backed Democrats like Hillary Clinton--it was a natural consequence of his politics.

October 31, 2016
James Plested

Capitalism still breeds war

The Battle of the Somme during the First World War took place 100 years ago, but the scale of carnage is even greater today.

July 28, 2016