History As It Happens

• 1775 Independence Days

  The 250th anniversary of the American Revolution's opening battles came and went with little fanfare. Colonial militia engaged British regulars at Lexington and Concord in April 1775. The Revolutionary War was underway. King George III would soon declare the American colonies in open rebellion. Is everyone saving their energy for next year's celebration of the Declaration of Independence? In this episode, historian Lindsay Chervinsky, the executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon, talks about the collapse of royal authority that was evident as early as 1774-75, well before formal independence was declared. The colonies were in a state of virtual independence, marking a transformation in the minds as well as the everyday lives of the American revolutionaries.

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• Defeat in Vietnam: Consequences

  This is the final episode in a three-part series marking the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. America's humiliating defeat in Vietnam, punctuated by images of military helicopters evacuating desperate personnel from the embassy rooftop in Saigon, left deep scars on the country's psyche. It took decades to come to terms with everything that went wrong, although some insisted the U.S. should not have abandoned the South Vietnamese in their hour of need in April 1975. In this episode, historians Jeremi Suri and Jeffrey Engel delve into the enduring consequences of the U.S. debacle in Southeast Asia. Jeremi Suri teaches history at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He hosts "This is Democracy" podcast and writes, with his son, the "Democracy of Hope" newsletter on Substack. Jeffrey A. Engel is the founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University.

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• Defeat in Vietnam: Resistance

  This is the second episode in a three-part series marking the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. The antiwar movement began on the campuses and exploded onto the streets of major cities. Throughout the late 1960s and into the 1970s, millions of Americans opposed their country's military involvement in Vietnam. They marched in massive demonstrations, held silent vigils, and burned draft cards. They pressured government officials to change course before America lost its soul in Vietnam. Were they effective? Historians Paul McBride and Carolyn Eisenberg delve into the genesis of the antiwar movement, its aims, and its achievements -- and compare the activism of a half century ago to today's campus turmoil. Recommended reading: Fire and Rain: Nixon, Kissinger, and the Wars in Southeast Asia by Carolyn Eisenberg, winner of the Bancroft Prize Further listening: Defeat in Vietnam: Origins (Part 1, with historian Fredrik Logevall)

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• Defeat in Vietnam: Origins

  This is the first episode in a three-part series marking the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. Is Vietnam still with us? Does this misbegotten American war still have something to teach? In this episode, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Fredrik Logevall, a preeminent scholar of the long war in Southeast Asia, delves into why U.S. leaders defied their better judgment and plunged the country into a quagmire that would haunt America for generations. The story may begin in 1965, when President Johnson sent the Marines into Da Nang, but the deep origins of the war take us back to 1945. Recommended reading: Choosing War: The Lost Chance for Peace and the Escalation of War in Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall

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• Origins of a Trade War

  Since the 1980s, Donald Trump has been railing against what he calls unfair trade with a focus on Japan and then China. Also during the '80s, President Reagan, remembered as a free trader, was an interventionist when it came to the closed Japanese market. A decade later, Bill Clinton threatened punitive tariffs on Japanese luxury cars. Moreover, the question of what to do about the decline in U.S. manufacturing and living standards has weighed on policymakers and the working class for 40 years. In this episode, historian Nelson Lichtenstein traces the origins of today's backlash to free trade as President Trump tries, with the blunt force instrument of tariffs, to undo global economic arrangements decades in the making. Recommended reading: A Fabulous Failure: The Clinton Presidency and the Transformation of American Capitalism by Nelson Lichtenstein

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