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Harry Truman

  • SOURCE: Washington Post
    8/10/2020

    History’s Lessons For Joe Biden

    The anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the circumstances of Roosevelt's failing health should be reminders of the significance of Joe Biden's choice, even beyond the campaign.

  • 8/9/2020

    Unconditional Surrender: The Domestic Politics of Victory in the Pacific

    by Marc Gallicchio

    The terms on which the United States pressed Japan for surrender were shaped by American domestic politics; New Deal Democrats and their liberal allies succeeded in convincing Harry Truman that it was necessary to dramatically rebuild Japan's society along more social-democratic lines. 

  • 8/9/2020

    Did the Atomic Bomb End the Pacific War? – Part II

    by Paul Ham

    Japan's surrender was hastened by imminent invasion by the Soviet Red Army, a crippling US naval blockade and conventional bombing, and a diplomatic promise to protect the Japanese Emperor from execution, argues Paul Ham. Granting undue credit to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki excuses atrocity. 

  • 8/2/2020

    Did the Atomic Bomb End the Pacific War? – Part I

    by Paul Ham

    Many people, including historians, believe that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused Japan's unconditional surrender, saved a million American lives, and was the least morally repellent way to end World War II. Paul Ham contends that none of this is true. 

  • SOURCE: Letters from an American
    3/21/2020

    Letters from an American: March 21, 2020

    by Heather Cox Richardson

    Recent stories suggest that those currently in power feel it is their right, and maybe their duty, to run the country in their own interest, ignoring-- or suppressing-- dissent.

  • SOURCE: Wired
    9-3-17

    The Secret History of FEMA

    FEMA was the result of Jimmy Carter’s efforts to restore some primacy to civil defense planning, bringing it back into the spotlight after years of diminishing budgets.