In August 1945, a nondescript thirty-seven year old woman entered the FBI office in New Haven, Connecticut. It was, or should have been, a momentous occasion. The Second World War was finally ending, with Germany obliterated and occupied and Imperial … Continue reading How We Got Here: Elizabeth Bentley, Queen of the Red Scare

On February 4, 1919 the Seattle Union Record, a union publication printed by Harry Ault, issued an explosive call to Seattle’s workers. After months of agitation and tensions, it summoned the city’s workers to perform something virtually unknown in the … Continue reading How We Got Here: Revolution Comes to Seattle

Like most politicians, William Warren Scranton disclaimed interest in politics. “I never intended to make public political life a career,” he said, shortly after stepping down as Governor of Pennsylvania in 1967. But Scranton was that rare politician whose reluctance … Continue reading How We Got Here: William Warren Scranton and the Principled Timidity of Moderate Republicans

When Orlando Letelier awoke on September 11, 1973, he was Minister of Defense in a democratic Chile. By nightfall, he was a prisoner and his country a dictatorship. A red-haired, chain-smoking economist and diplomat who’d spent two years as Ambassador … Continue reading How We Got Here: The Wrath of Pinochet

Hi, everyone. Sam here. Chris didn’t put up a HWGH this week, and in light of recent events, y’all clearly need a pick-me-up, so here’s part of a never-published manuscript I wrote many years ago called The Night Was Spent that suddenly seems … Continue reading How We Got Here: “A Nonexistent Piece of the Future”

Hi, everyone. Sam here. Chris didn’t put up a HWGH this week, and in light of recent events, y’all clearly need a pick-me-up, so here’s part of a never-published manuscript I wrote many years ago called The Night Was Spent that suddenly seems … Continue reading How We Got Here: “Change We Can Believe In”

Hi, everyone. Sam here. Chris didn’t put up a HWGH this week, and in light of recent events, y’all clearly need a pick-me-up, so here’s part of a never-published manuscript I wrote many years ago called The Night Was Spent that suddenly seems … Continue reading How We Got Here: “The Revolution Starts Now”

On April 30, 1973, Richard Nixon announced a shocking political purge. As the Watergate scandal spiraled beyond Nixon’s control, he forced the resignations of his two closest aides, H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, beleaguered Attorney General Richard Kleindienst, and (less … Continue reading How We Got Here: The Saturday Night Massacre

Part Six in a series; see Parts One, Two, Three, Four and Five Franklin Roosevelt fumbled his reelection mandate with a disastrous second term. Starting in 1935, the Supreme Court struck down many of his programs, particularly the National Recovery … Continue reading How We Got Here: The Trials of Sedition

Part Five in a series; see Parts One, Two, Three and Four.  Meyer Lansky had every reason to despise fascism. His family had survived pogroms in Tsarist Russia before emigrating to America; Lansky, as a youth in Manhattan, earned his … Continue reading How We Got Here: The Gentle Art of Nazi Punching

Part Four in a series; see Parts One, Two and Three. After Franklin Roosevelt’s reelection, his opponents grew more hysterical and conspiracy-minded. Father Coughlin, abandoning most pretenses of progressivism, now branded Roosevelt’s programs the “Jew Deal,” reproduced Joseph Goebbels’ propaganda … Continue reading How We Got Here: The Mad Legions of America

Part Three in a series; see Parts One and Two.  During the 1932 election, Franklin Roosevelt ranked Huey Long as one of the two most dangerous men in America (the other being Douglas MacArthur). As Governor, then Senator from Louisiana, … Continue reading How We Got Here: Little Foxes in Search of a Führer

Part Two in a series; see Part One here. Throughout Herbert Hoover’s reign, corporate America constantly assured the public that economic recovery lay right around the corner. “The fact that we have let nature take its course may augur well … Continue reading How We Got Here: Business Plots

Part One of a projected series on the American far right during the Depression and New Deal. Besides inline citations, a bibliographic essay will be provided in the final article. On July 28, 1932, Washington saw the nadir of the Great … Continue reading How We Got Here: March of the Khaki Shirts

Like many American presidents, Woodrow Wilson harbored contradictory impulses. He enacted progressive economic and labor reforms while racially segregating the Federal government. He spoke stirringly about spreading democracy abroad while suppressing civil liberties and arresting dissidents at home. He advocated … Continue reading How We Got Here: Appointment at Veracruz

Throughout the spring of 1850, New Orleans and other southern ports bustled with activity. Two sailing vessels and two ships were purchased and outfitted; a force of about 500 armed men began organizing throughout the Mississippi Valley, awaiting signals to … Continue reading How We Got Here: Narciso Lopez Dreams of Cuba

On June 20, 1949, Paul Robeson gave a speech at the so-called Paris Peace Conference, sponsored by the USSR. The American actor and singer, a leading black activist, was long associated with progressive causes, yet emerged from World War II … Continue reading How We Got Here: Paul Robeson’s Road to Peekskill

Picture the opening of a John Buchan or Ian Fleming thriller: an American general, languishing on inglorious reserve duty, is summoned across country without notice, then arrives at a train station where he’s contacted by a strange man wearing a … Continue reading How We Got Here: General Graves and the Siberian Shuffle

In the summer of 1918, American doughboys finally joined the desperate battles raging in France during World War I’s climactic days. Meanwhile, the 339th Infantry waited across the English Channel to join them. Dubbed “Detroit’s Own,” the 339th consisted of … Continue reading How We Got Here: American Polar Bears Meet the Bolsheviks

May 4, 1970 saw America’s tensions over the Vietnam War explode into violence. Shortly after Richard Nixon authorized an American “incursion” into Cambodia, thus expanding the war he’d pledged to end, backlash erupted on college campuses across the country. Unexpectedly, … Continue reading How We Got Here: The Hard Hats Strike Back

Note: Didn’t have time to research my planned subject this week; here, then, is a post combining two of my old blog posts on everyone’s favorite President.  Richard Nixon took office with a bold strategy to end the Vietnam War. … Continue reading How We Got Here: The State Department and the Madman