History As It Happens

This is the first episode in a 3-part series marking the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

The Trump administration's overtures to the Kremlin will spur negotiations to end Europe's largest war since 1945. The early signs do not bode well for Ukraine's interests. President Trump seems to believe Ukraine started the war and that its president Volodymyr Zelensky is a dictator. American leaders may be confused, but the guests in this episode understand the deep historical origins of today's conflict. Historians Michael Kimmage and Serhii Plokhy delve into the continuum of Russian imperialism from the days of the tsars to the USSR to the Putin autocracy. They also consider the role of contingency and the agency of Ukrainians, who since 1991 have sought to escape Moscow's shadow.

Recommended reading:

Collisions: The Origins of the War in Ukraine and the New Global Instability by Michael Kimmage

The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History by Serhii Plokhy

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.

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The minds of America's 18th-century founders concentrated on what was necessary to sustain a new republic after breaking with monarchy. The republic required civic virtue and disinterestedness on the part of its public officials. Republican virtue was an elitist idea that did not trust ordinary people with the reins of power, but it still has something to teach us. The new Trump administration is testing the boundaries of the law and challenging the separation of powers. In this episode, the eminent historian Joseph Ellis explains why the concept of virtue was integral to the American founding and whether the republic can survive today when so many citizens turn a blind eye to official corruption while subscribing to outrageous conspiracy theories.

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.

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With President Donald Trump bent on initiating a trade war by hiking tariffs on imports from major trading partners such as China, Mexico, and Canada, an infamous piece of legislation passed in 1930 is piquing Americans' curiosity. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act imposed the highest duties in U.S. history on roughly one-fourth of all imports. It contributed to a steep falloff in global trade and exacerbated the Great Depression. Just when world commerce needed stimulation, many countries erected tariff barriers, often in retaliation for Smoot-Hawley. In this episode, economic historian Phillip Magness of the Independent Institute delves into the reasons why U.S. leaders once believed high tariffs were beneficial and how the executive branch obtained broad power to manipulate tariffs in the decades since.

Further reading:

FDR's Speech To Congress on Foreign Trade (1934)

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.

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President Donald Trump is threatening to cut off aid to Jordan and Egypt if they do not submit to his outrageous demand to take in the Palestinians he hopes to forcibly displace from Gaza. Forced population transfers and denying people the right to return to their land are violations of international law. The president's idea of emptying Gaza of Palestinians, so the U.S. can take over the Gaza Strip and redevelop it, ignores important history. Palestinians who were once driven into Jordan after 1967 turned that country into a base to attack Israel, leading to a civil war in Amman in 1970. Trump is also repeating the mistake of the Abraham Accords, the diplomatic breakthrough of his first term. In this episode, scholar Khaled Elgindy breaks down Trump's Gaza proposal and delves into the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Further reading:

The Fallacy of the Abraham Accords by Khaled Elgindy in Foreign Affairs.

Blindspot: America and the Palestinians, from Balfour to Trump by Khaled Elgindy

Hamas' Victory, Gaza's Defeat by Ihab Hassan in Liberties

Jordan on the Edge: Pressures From the War in Gaza by Annelle Sheline (Quincy Institute)

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.

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In his inaugural address in Jan. 1989, President George Bush said, "For a new breeze is blowing, and a world refreshed by freedom seems reborn; for in man's heart, if not in fact, the day of the dictator is over." Indeed, with the Cold War winding down, it seemed the world was entering a new era. Within a generation, the number of democratic states would surpass the number of authoritarian regimes for the first time. However, the freedom spring did not last very long, and today democracy is in retreat. What happened? No statesman today would declare dictatorship a thing of the past. In this episode, historian Jeffrey Engel takes us back to the optimism of '89 and discusses the challenges that were immediately ahead of the U.S. when Bush heralded the end of the totalitarian era.

Further reading:

When the World Seemed New: George H. W. Bush and the End of the Cold War by Jeffrey Engel

How Do Dictatorships Survive in the 21st Century? by the Carnegie Corporation

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.

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Both major political parties claim to be the true champions of the working class at a time when excessive concentrations of wealth and power are eroding the foundations of American democracy. Unions are not a reality for most workers, especially in the private sector where the unionization rate is about 6 percent. So it is no surprise that worker solidarity -- a collective sense that working-class people have a shared interest in fighting for a greater share of the wealth and more control over their working lives -- is at a low point. In this episode, Georgetown University historian Michael Kazin traces the rise and fall of worker solidarity in America.

Further reading:

What It Took To Win: A History of the Democratic Party by Michael Kazin

Structure and Solidarity by Leo Casey in Dissent (article)

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.

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President Trump wants to end birthright citizenship as part of his multifront campaign to close American society to foreigners. A federal judge has temporarily blocked his executive order attempting to abolish part of the Constitution -- Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment. The case may ultimately reach the Supreme Court, more than 150 years after the states ratified the transformative amendment that "transcended race and region, it challenged legal discrimination throughout the nation, and changed and broadened the meaning of freedom for all Americans," in the words of eminent historian Eric Foner. In this episode, Foner delves into the origins of this enduring American conflict over rights and citizenship.

Recommended reading:

Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution 1863-1877 by Eric Foner (book)

A Look Back at the Wong Kim Ark Decision by Scott Bomboy of the National Constitution Center (article)

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.

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Israel's destruction of Gaza has caused a rift among Holocaust historians and genocide scholars. They're at odds with one another over what to call it. Is it genocide? Another category of war crime? Or are Israel's actions justified under international law? In this episode, historian Dirk Moses, an expert on genocide studies and international relations, delves into the history of the genocide concept and why over the past 80 years it's been unhelpful in defining, preventing, or punishing the destruction of nations.

Further reading:

dirkmoses.com for relevant articles and reviews

The Problems of Genocide: Permanent Security and the Language of Transgression by Dirk Moses (book)

The Gaza Genocide in Five Crises By Ernesto Verdeja (article)

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.

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Jimmy Carter (1924-2024) was hailed as an exemplary leader on human rights whose presidency was ruined by crises outside his control, none worse than the hostage crisis in Iran. This favorable view elides critical events that took place during the years before the U.S. embassy was seized in Tehran in Nov. 1979. President Carter acted like the previous presidents he had criticized. He embraced the brutal Shah of Iran, sold him weapons, and stuck with him to the very end. Then the Carter administration avoided making contact with Iran's new revolutionary, Islamist leaders headed by the Ayatollah Khomeini. What if Carter had made different moves? Would U.S.-Iran relations be different today? In this episode, historian and Eurasia Group senior analyst Gregory Brew delves into the Cold War origins of the U.S.-Iran relationship and why Jimmy Carter made a human rights exception for the Shah.

Further reading:

The Struggle For Iran: Oil, Autocracy, and the Cold War, 1951 to 1954 by Gregory Brew and David S. Painter

America and Iran: A History, 1720 to the Present by John Ghazvinian

Further listening:

Operation Ajax (podcast featuring interview w/ Gregory Brew)

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.

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Democrat Joseph R. Biden's very long political career is now over. The man first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972 reached the pinnacle of power at 78 years old when he defeated Republican Donald Trump in 2020. Biden made saving democracy against the Trump threat a leitmotif of his administration. Yet, Biden's missteps -- none worse than his decision to seek a second term -- were largely responsible for Trump's return to power. What will endure from Biden's vision? From his legislative accomplishments or foreign policy decision-making? In this episode, historian Jeremi Suri begins to assess the former president's single term in the White House.

Further reading:

Biden Attacked the Oligarchs -- Too Little, Too Late by Jeremi Suri, Democracy of Hope on Substack

Great Power Politics (Bidenomics) by Adam Tooze, London Review

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.

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