History As It Happens

For half a century, the Cold War defined global politics. Contested by two superpowers with opposing ideologies and interests, it touched nearly every part of the globe. It threatened nuclear war, and brought incalculable devastation to its battlefields – from Korea to Vietnam to Afghanistan and beyond. Could all the tension and violence have been avoided? Did the U.S. triumph or did the Soviet Union surrender? Where can we find Cold War continuities as the world unravels today? In this episode, historians Vladislav Zubok and Sergey Radchenko address these questions, which remain as relevant as ever, 30 years after the end of the Cold War. This episode was inspired by Zubok's new book (see below). Recommended reading: The World of the Cold War, 1945-1991 by Vladislav Zubok (2025) To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power by Sergey Radchenko (2024) Zubok teaches history at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Radchenko teaches history at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. They were born in the Soviet Union.

Has Haiti passed the point of no return? Nearly 5,000 people have been killed in gang violence since last October, according to the U.N. Gangs control an estimated 90 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, as a Kenya-led security mission remains undermanned and outgunned. Government services are collapsing, and people are desperate for food. The country hasn't had a president since 2021. There is little appetite among Western nations for a major intervention to restore order in a country where the U.S. once invaded with relative frequency. Those days are history. In this episode, retired diplomat Keith Mines explains why Haiti appears to be trapped in an eternal crisis. Keith Mines recently retired after a 38-year career in public service, spanning the U.S. Army Special Forces, the Foreign Service, and as Vice President for Latin America at the U.S. Institute of Peace, where he managed programs in Haiti and chaired the Haiti Working Group in Washington. He served in Haiti from 1995-1997. He is the author of Why Nation-Building Matters: Political Consolidation, Building Security Forces, and Economic Development in Failed and Fragile States.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has contended with five U.S. presidents, from Bill Clinton in 2000 to Donald Trump today. Each American leader had the stated aim of improving U.S.-Russian relations by the time he left office. None truly succeeded. Why? In this episode, Jeffrey Engel and David Kramer examine the past 25 years of structural causes and the internal processes within Russia that contributed to the conflict. Historian Jeffrey Engel is the founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University. David J. Kramer is the executive director of the George W. Bush Institute and is a leading expert on Russia and Ukraine. He worked in the U.S. State Department during the eight years of Bush's presidency.

One hundred years ago, in July 1925, a high school teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, was arrested for teaching evolution. John Scopes' guilt was never in doubt, but his sensational trial was the center of national attention, pitting modernists against traditionalists, the defenders of Darwin's science against Christian fundamentalists. In this episode, historian Michael Kazin recounts what happened inside the courtroom and why it still matters. The culture wars of the early twentieth century echo in our society today, as the Democratic Party has lost rural America. Further reading: The Trial of the Century is 100. Its Lessons Could Save the Democrats by Michael Kazin (New York Times) A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan by Michael Kazin (2006)

Is President Donald Trump augmenting or undermining the sources of American power? Trade wars against U.S. allies, an immigration crackdown, and slashing the federal workforce are but three ways the administration's approach to exercising power could ultimately erode it. In this episode, renowned political theorist Robert Keohane argues that "the continuation of Trump's current foreign policy would weaken the United States and accelerate the erosion of the international order that since World War II has served so many countries well." Is this the end of the American Century? Or was it already dead and buried? Recommended reading: The End of the Long American Century by Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye in Foreign Affairs, the official publication of the Council on Foreign Relations Joseph Nye, a scholar, strategist, and public servant, died on May 6, 2025.

President Trump's executive order to restore "truth and sanity to American history" targets esteemed institutions such as the Smithsonian and the National Park Service. It accuses them of promoting "a divisive ideology that reconstrued America's promotion of liberty as fundamentally flawed." In this episode, historian Kevin Levin, who writes the Civil War Memory newsletter on Substack, explains what changes visitors might see at revered battlefields like Gettysburg National Military Park, the site of the largest battle of the American Civil War. Further reading: National Park Service Directed to Implement Trump's Executive Order by Kevin Levin (Substack)

This is a story about the unintended consequences of U.S. military interventionism. In 2011, President Obama decided to get involved in Libya's civil war. The U.S. and its NATO allies bombed Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi's forces in the name of protecting civilians who had risen against his regime in the early months of the Arab Spring. What began as a humanitarian intervention in March turned into a regime change operation, as Gadhafi was captured and murdered by rebels in October. President Trump's move to bomb Iran without consulting Congress evoked memories of Obama's mistakes, although Trump has, for now, managed to avoid escalation. In this episode, historian Jeremi Suri tells us what led Obama to change his mind and seek Gadhafi's ouster, a lesson in the dangers of unchecked executive war powers. Jeremi Suri is a historian at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He writes Democracy of Hope newsletter on Substack. He also co-hosts This Is Democracy podcast.

The Democratic Party controls none of the three branches of government, has no apparent leader, and is deeply unpopular. An NBC News poll says only 27 percent of registered voters have a positive view of the party. This is not the first time the Democrats have faced irrelevancy. At the onset of the 1992 presidential campaign, Republicans were confident of a fourth consecutive victory, having defeated Democrats Carter, Mondale, and Dukakis in humiliating fashion. But a Southern governor emerged to lead the party out of the wilderness and back to the White House. What can Bill Clinton's success teach Democrats today? In this episode, the eminent political historian Sean Wilentz explains how Clinton once reinvented liberal politics for a new age. Recommended reading: The Age of Reagan by Sean Wilentz

Eighty years ago, during the final weeks of the worst war ever fought, the United Nations Charter was signed in late June 1945, outlawing aggression and upholding universal human rights. World leaders agreed a legal edifice was necessary for the peaceful arbitration of disputes and protection of civilians after the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis and Imperial Japan. Today, however, the world is aflame in war and genocide, and some experts say international law is close to dead. In this episode, Adil Ahmad Haque, an expert on the rules and ethics of war, tells us why the rules-based order is breaking apart. Adil Haque is a distinguished professor of law at Rutgers Law School. Further reading: Law and Morality at War by Adil Haque

On April Fool's Day, members of Elon Musk's government dismantling team known as DOGE showed up at the downtown Washington offices of the Wilson Center for International Scholars with grave news. It was not an April Fool's Day prank; they were there to shut it down and fire everyone. The Wilson Center was the home of the Kennan Institute along with a library of some 30,000 books. In this episode, the institute's former director, the historian Michael Kimmage, tells us what's at stake when the government destroys a center of knowledge making, and why our society "must save the books." This exclusive interview was recorded on June 20. Recommended reading: We Must Save the Books by Michael Kimmage in Liberties