How individuals interpret the justifications for historical war can have a large effect on how they see modern warfare. In the social studies classroom, particularly in the U.S. context, so much of what educators focus on in regard to war are the events of World War II. This focus on the Second World War is understandable. However, it could also…

While educating international students is celebrated as a means of promoting mutual understanding among nations, American higher education has always been entangled with geopolitics. This essay focuses on Tang Tsou, the Chinese scholar who came to the United States as a student in 1941, eventually becoming the nation's leading China expert and…

Historians of American foreign relations are continuing to expand the ways in which they approach the Cold War. The range of perspectives has evolved thanks to the influence of emerging fields and new emphases in history. The end of the Cold War revealed the many ways in which the conflict was a protracted global war. But it also brought a renewed…

Teaching economics at the preK-12 level has always been one of the most difficult aspects of social studies education notes C. Frederick Risinger, yet, throughout his teaching career economic issues and events were the drivers of most historical, political, and sociological trends and topics and even human slavery was driven and maintained by…

On May 1, 2011, a group of U.S. soldiers boarded helicopters at a base in Afghanistan, hoping to find a man named Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden, the leader of the al Qaeda terrorist network, was responsible for a number of terrorist attacks around the world, including those of September 11, 2001, that killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States.…

This essay is based on the author's talk at the FPRI Wachman Center's History Institute for Teachers on "What Students Need to Know about America's Wars, Part 2: 1920-Present," held May 2-3, 2009. Observing that the Vietnam War was the longest and most contested conflict in American history and that it called into question many…

History has placed the stamp of approval on the publication of the Pentagon Papers, the top-secret history of the Vietnam War. If WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange is another Daniel Ellsberg, then it is possible the website's disclosures will be viewed over time as similarly in the public interest. A classroom discussion on the release of…

This essay is based on the author's presentation at the Wachman Center's July 26-27, 2008 history institute, co-sponsored and hosted by the Cantigny First Division Foundation of the McCormick Tribune Foundation. For Europeans, World War I remains the epochal event of the twentieth century. For Americans, the war falls between two much larger and…

On September 29-30, 2007, FPRI's Marvin Wachman Fund for International Education presented a weekend of discussion on "Teaching Military History: Why and How" for 35 teachers from 22 states across the country. The institute was held at the First Division Museum in Wheaton, Illinois and co-sponsored by the Cantigny First Division Foundation.…

Provides background and events leading up to the Korean War. Elaborates by examining President Truman's, Secretary of State Acheson's, and General MacArthur's views about the conflict. (BSR)

Representative Usher Burdick, who sat between 1949-1959, contributed to the isolationist label given to North Dakota. This Republican politician, not enthusiastic about U.S. participation in the Korean War, eagerly lambasted foreign aid during the Truman-Eisenhower years. Above all, the congressman attracted attention during the postwar period for…

Historian Robin W. Winks'"Clock and Gown" recounts the Yale Library Project of 1942 and the prominent roles Yale University scholars have played in United States intelligence efforts since World War II. (MSE)

Maintaining that baseball presents a view of American society in microcosm, this article reviews the Cold War history of American baseball, showing how the statements and concerns of the players and managers reflected popular values of that era. (JDH)

From the Soviet perspective arms control agreements merely hold the United States in check while the Soviets, who don't feel bound by such agreements, obtain military advantages. The United States must move quickly to redress the strategic military balance that now favors the Soviets. We must emphasize areas like space. (RM)

A poll of historians on their views about the nature of history, definitions of ideology, war causation, international relations, and U.S. foreign and military policy showed that all historians think in ideological patterns. However, no meaningful correlations were found between specific ideologies and specific historical theories. (RM)