Person

Clay Risen

Bylines

Before Mahmoud Khalil, There Was Harry Bridges

The U.S. government repeatedly tried to deport the midcentury labor leader over his alleged ties to the Communist Party.

by Clay Risen via The Bulwark on March 24, 2025
Between Existential Fear and Isolationist Exhaustion: The United States on the Eve of the Cold War

Dean Acheson, President Truman’s prim, patrician undersecretary of state, was sitting in his office on February 21, 1947, when he received a visitor.

by Clay Risen via Literary Hub on March 21, 2025
What Happened the Last Time a President Purged the Bureaucracy

The impact can linger not just for years but decades.

by Clay Risen via Politico Magazine on February 6, 2025

Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America

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How the Red Scare Reshaped American Politics

At its height, the political crackdown felt terrifying and all-encompassing. What can we learn from how the movement unfolded—and from how it came to an end?

by Beverly Gage via The New Yorker on March 10, 2025

Black and white photo of workers opening bourbon barrels.

Bourbon Country

Examining the ingredients—time, grain, government regulations—that have made bourbon an enduring national favorite.

by Joseph Conforti, Varsha Venkatasubramanian, Seán S. McKeithan, Albert H. Tillson Jr., Patrick A. Lewis, Jack High, Clayton A. Coppin, Raymond Urban, Richard Mancke via JSTOR Daily on August 3, 2022

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