History As It Happens

This is the second episode in a three-episode series about "Oppenheimer" and the historical debates raised by the blockbuster film. When Robert Oppenheimer accepted the job to lead the top-secret Manhattan Project, he and his fellow physicists expected any bomb would be used against Nazi Germany. But by the time the A-bomb was ready in late July 1945, Hitler was dead and Germany had surrendered. Some scientists questioned whether it was necessary to use "the gadget" against Japan, whose weakened military and industrial capacities could no longer project power across the Pacific. Christopher Nolan's cinematic masterpiece has revived interest in this contentious debate: could the Second World War had been won without destroying Hiroshima and Nagasaki? In this episode, eminent historian David M. Kennedy discusses the difficult circumstances of August 1945. For Americans who look back on it as "the good war," the destruction of Japan may raise uncomfortable moral and ethical questions. Note: Audio excerpts of the "Oppenheimer" film are courtesy Universal Pictures. The source for Harry Truman's speeches is the Miller Center at the University of Virginia.

This is the first episode in a three-episode series about "Oppenheimer" and the historical debates raised by the blockbuster film. On November 16, 1945, Robert Oppenheimer delivered an address to the American Philosophical Society about the changed world ushered in by a "most terrible weapon." The father of the atomic bomb cautioned his audience at the University of Pennsylvania that international cooperation was necessary to avoid future use of hundreds if not thousands of bombs in aggressive war. But Oppenheimer did not express regret – neither in 1945 nor for the rest of his life – about leading the A-bomb project to its successful completion. Yet he was haunted by its use against "an essentially defeated enemy." The complicated scientist was brought to life on the big screen by actor Cillian Murphy in director Christopher Nolan's cinematic masterpiece, "Oppenheimer." In this episode, national security analyst and arms control expert Joe Cirincione discusses the enduring consequences of the discovery of nuclear fission in 1939 and of the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction capable of destroying human life. Note: Audio excerpts of the "Oppenheimer" film and of director Christopher Nolan are courtesy Universal Pictures.

A single sentence in Florida's new K-12 social studies curriculum caused a political uproar: "Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit." People on the left say Florida, under Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, is trying to teach kids that Black people benefited from slavery. People on the right are defending the new standards. But what's omitted from -- or downplayed in -- the African American history section is a far more important problem. The Florida standards almost entirely ignore the centrality of property rights in enslavement. There's no mention of proslavery ideology. The role of racism, while not ignored, may not be sufficiently emphasized. In this episode, historian Bob Hall widens our perspective to understand the complexities of racial slavery in North America.

A new exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery is compelling its viewers to reflect on the roots of U.S. hegemony. "1898: Imperial Visions and Revisions" is a superbly presented and thought-provoking collection of portraits, paintings, political cartoons, old newspaper clippings, and other artifacts that tell the story of overseas expansion through the eyes of Americans and the people over which they would rule, after defeating Spain in a short war, in Puerto Rico, Guam, Cuba, and the Philippines. Congress annexed Hawaii against the will of Hawaiians the same year. At a time when the U.S. role in the world is subject to considerable debate, the exhibit -- co-curated by Kate LeMay and Taina Caragol -- confronts us with the controversial origins of America's global reach. Did you know an Anti-Imperialist League, whose members included Mark Twain and Andrew Carnegie, protested U.S. domination of overseas territory?

In 2023 labor is striking back. In a resurgence of labor militancy after decades of dormancy, tens of thousands of American workers are walking off their jobs as they demand better pay, conditions, protections, and dignity from their employers -- from Hollywood to hotels. In this episode, Michael Kazin, a distinguished historian of social movements at Georgetown University, discusses the long fight for economic rights that is central to American labor history. Unions existed before the Great Depression and New Deal, but it was not until the cataclysms of the 1930s that industrial workers in steel and autos achieved recognition of their right to organize, framing their demands in language that would fit today's conflicts.

On today's geopolitical chessboard, most eyes are watching Eastern Europe or the Indo-Pacific. Somewhat unnoticed is what's happening in Cuba. Russia has turned to an old ally for help in its "clash with the West." Beginning early this year, high-level Russian officials began visiting Cuba to deepen economic, military, and diplomatic ties with the Communist island. In this episode, historian Jeremi Suri discusses why Russia intends to use Cuba as a counter-balance to U.S. support for Ukraine, drawing parallels to the Cold War relationship between Cuba and the Soviet Union. As they did in the early 1960s, both nations today see an interest in cooperating against the U.S. But unlike the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, today's Russian military assistance to Cuba should not be viewed as an existential threat but rather as a realpolitik ploy to antagonize Washington, Suri says.

Historian Alexis Coe wants you to read George Washington's Farewell Address. She's been reading it repeatedly, and describes it as a "shockingly modern document." Coe, whose short biography of our first president, "You Never Forget Your First," was a best-seller, says Washington's warnings about factionalism and despotism have burning relevance for our current times. In this episode, Coe talks about why our foremost founding father warned posterity about the "dangers of party" to national unity.

Thursday, July 27, marks the seventieth anniversary of the Korean War armistice. It ended three years (1950-1953) of brutal combat between North Korea and its Communist allies, namely Mao's China, on one side, and South Korea, the U.S., and more than a dozen allies fighting under the U.N. banner on the other. It was an armistice, not a peace treaty. And to this day real peace remains a distant possibility. In this episode, The Washington Times' reporters Guy Taylor and Andrew Salmon discuss why North Korea remains an isolated, unpredictable, nuclear-armed country while South Korea is a flourishing democracy and an important American ally in Asia.

In his concurring opinion supporting the majority ruling striking down race-based affirmative action in college admissions, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas argued for a race-neutral reading of historical efforts to remediate the effects of slavery and racism. In his view, the formerly enslaved "freedmen," who were supposed to be cared for under the Freedmen's Bureau established after the Civil War, was formally a "race-neutral category." Thomas has spent his judicial career arguing the Fourteenth Amendment bars any form of race-conscious policymaking, and he has taken a narrow view of the rights protected under the amendment's clauses. Does he have his history right? The eminent historian of the Reconstruction era Eric Foner joins the conversation.

There's been talk of Ukraine possibly joining NATO since the early years of post-Cold War Europe, but it never happened. And the allies aren't quite ready to go ahead with membership now, as evidenced by their vaguely-worded commitment issued at the Vilnius summit "to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the Alliance when Allies agree and conditions are met." From the moment the post-Soviet world started coming into view, when and where NATO should expand has aggravated relations between the U.S. and Moscow. When it came to Ukraine, the country got the worst of both worlds: it was left on the wrong side of Europe's dividing line and Russian leaders were angered by the mere idea of Ukraine entering NATO. In this episode, historian Jeffrey Engel discusses the origins of today's debate about Ukraine's future, whose circumstances could compel the U.S. and its European allies into direct conflict with Russia.