The history of the Vietnam War is invariably delineated by historians as a continuum of escalating involvement from the administrations of Eisenhower through Nixon. This essay by Prof. Norwood challenges that notion by demonstrating how the vision of John F. Kennedy was consistently and vehemently opposed to conventional warfare there.

Was the hero of Jim Douglass' book murdered in 1968?

Read the review of Hugh Turley & David Martin, The Martyrdom of Thomas Merton, by Edward Curtin

Written and produced
by Len Osanic & Jeff Carter

Episode 9 is now available.

Jim DiEugenio carefully takes apart and corrects another misguided and misinformed attempt by Paul Street to characterize JFK as economically anti-progressive, complicit with southern racists, and a militarist abroad.

Once again, the factual basis of Chomsky's statements is allowed to go unchecked by his interviewers, as Jim DiEugenio demonstrates in yet another critique of his praxis of historical elision and distortion.

Michael Le Flem elucidates the terrible power play that engulfed Congo and took the life of Patrice Lumumba with it. With the newest information, he shows us how a democratically elected, constitutional government was wrecked by Belgium and the CIA before it got off the ground.

The strength of the book lies in the tracing of the Oswald files through the CIA under Angleton’s dominion. No book on Angleton has done this before. And that is certainly a commendable achievement. Hopefully, this will become a staple of future Angleton scholarship, writes Jim DiEugenio.

Read the 3-part article by Patrick Martin at the World Socialist Web Site

CounterPunch  is at times a valuable journal. But apparently they cannot outgrow the legacy of Alec Cockburn. What he represented on Kennedy and Vietnam was a gross distortion of historical fact, which is a shame when it’s done by the Left as well as the Right, laments Jim DiEugenio.

Michael Le Flem finds this brief book on one of the most important figures in the history of United States psychological warfare and propaganda, Time-Life managing director C.D. Jackson, an engaging, nuanced and timely addition to Cold War historiography.