Harry S. Truman

American leaders called the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki our 'least abhorrent choice,' but there were alternatives to the nuclear attacks.

The president didn’t want to go too far on civil rights in 1948, fearing it would cost him reelection. But an obscure mayor changed the race — and his party.

We can’t blame Joe McCarthy for this one. (Though he was a fan.)

His approval rating hit historic lows, his party was fractious, crises were everywhere. But Truman rescued his presidency, and his legacy.

In the Cold War, North Korean Communists invaded South Korea. President Truman’s decision to intervene had consequences that shape the world today.

Failures inspire distrust of pollsters and calls for more shoe-leather reporting. But by the next election, we always come running back.

A new biography of Joseph McCarthy does not reckon with the devastating effects of anti-communism.

As we mine the 1940s for alternate visions of international order, we must not presume that the US remains the benevolent center of global politics.

On the 75th anniversary of the A-bomb, a Japanese-American writer speaks to one of the last living survivors.

McCarthy never sent a single “subversive” to jail, but, decades later, the spirit of his conspiracy-mongering endures.

The untold story of the ideological realignment that upended the nation.

The United States must devise a program that addresses the root causes of migration.

The Korean War upended the constitutional balance of war powers. It has been cited by presidents ever since.

Many on both sides are worried about the party’s leftward swing. They say it’s a deviation from the mainstream. It’s not.

Liberal Democrats sidestepped Congress to bring free trade to the U.S. Now, Trump is able to do the same thing to destroy it.

In an effort to awaken Americans to their own history, the Truman Administration conceived of a moving museum.

Other presidents used their anger for a purpose — Trump just rages blindly.

What to know before equating "fire and fury" to the "rain of ruin."

Trump’s transgender ban restarts the debate about the relation between military service and social policy.

A brief review of history.