Martin Di Caro

History As It Happens: The controversial origins of ROTC

Today the Reserve Officers' Training Corps is considered an important pillar of the U.S. military establishment, but its prosaic presence obscures its controversial birth. Once upon a time, many Americans feared "Prussianism."

October 18, 2021

History As It Happens: How the U.S. got mired in the Middle East

It is easy to forget that for most of the country's history there was no U.S. military presence in the Middle East. It needs to be that way again, says Andrew Bacevich.

October 13, 2021

History As It Happens: The Quad

The possibility of war over Taiwan's unresolved fate, an impasse dating to 1949, is overshadowing the development of the Biden administration's soft power approach to confronting China's economic coercion in the Indo-Pacific.

October 11, 2021

History As It Happens: The many faces of Columbus

As another Columbus Day approaches, the legacy of the Genoese navigator remains as controversial as ever.

October 6, 2021

History As It Happens: Our first scourge

A historian explains how colonists, the enslaved, and Native Americans dealt with the decade-defining smallpox epidemic of the 1770s.

October 4, 2021

History As It Happens: Ignoring Eisenhower

Sixty years ago Eisenhower warned the nation about the dangers of the "military-industrial complex." We ignored him, and correcting course seems close to impossible.

September 29, 2021

History As It Happens: America’s longest war

Fifty years after Richard Nixon declared drug use "public enemy number one" and decades after Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No," the disastrous war on drugs carries on with no end in sight.

September 27, 2021

History As It Happens: Forgetting the Holocaust

Knowledge of the Holocaust among adults and young people is superficial. Experts say the fading memory is not unrelated to a resurgence of anti-Semitism in the U.S. and Europe.

September 22, 2021

History As It Happens: Who was Osama bin Laden?

Peter Bergen, leading authority on al-Qaeda and international jihad, explains the purpose of his new book, "The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden."

September 20, 2021

History As It Happens: Vaccine mandates — and resistance — are the norm

Beginning with General Washington's requirement to inoculate the Continental Army against smallpox, vaccine mandates have been the norm -- because they work.

September 15, 2021

History As It Happens: The Supremes

Critics are accusing the Supreme Court of excessive partisanship and ideological rigidity. The court "has always been ideological," says one expert.

September 13, 2021

History As It Happens: The hubris of post-9/11 foreign policy

The Global War on Terror produced a string of intractable calamities, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives and costing U.S. taxpayers trillions of dollars. It is a story of colossal failure with tragic consequences.

September 8, 2021

History As It Happens: Afghanistan and the law of unintended consequences

The U.S., working with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, helped turn Afghanistan into a cradle of international jihadism four decades ago, a decision that continues to haunt Washington to this day.

September 6, 2021

History As It Happens: Forever war, but no peace movement

Formidable peace movements used to challenge U.S. interventionism, from World War I to Vietnam. So why has antiwar activism almost disappeared at a time of permanent war?

September 1, 2021

History As It Happens: Here comes Labor Day. Where are the unions?

A labor historian explains why union membership has dramatically declined, as income inequality worsens and global behemoths fight attempts at organizing.

August 30, 2021

History As It Happens: Understanding Jefferson

The confounding founder's complicated legacy continues to command our attention. Why Thomas Jefferson remains as relevant as ever.

August 25, 2021

History As It Happens: Arab Spring, 10 years on

The uprisings that rippled across the Greater Middle East in 2011 did not lead to fundamental change, but the story is not over yet.

August 23, 2021

History As It Happens: Embracing defeat

The chaos in Afghanistan is an opportunity to question the fundamental assumptions underlying U.S. interventionism after decades of "forever war."

August 18, 2021

History As It Happens: Charlottesville says goodbye to the Confederacy

Four summers after white nationalists and neo-Nazis marched on Charlottesville, the Confederate statues that they sought to defend were quietly removed. Is this racial progress?

August 16, 2021