Rifted Moments

May 11, 1961: How JFK Quietly Escalated the Vietnam War On May 11, 1961, a well-dressed man with perfect hair and a haunted conscience signed off on a quiet little thing—just 400 Special Forces troops and 100 military advisers to South Vietnam. “A modest step,” he might’ve called it. But as history tends to do, Read more

On This Day in American Politics: Mandela’s Moment and Washington’s Reckoning On May 10, 1994, Nelson Mandela was sworn in as South Africa’s first Black president—an iconic moment celebrated around the world. In America, the inauguration triggered both reflection and discomfort, as U.S. politicians confronted their own history of ambivalence toward apartheid. What did it Read more

May 9, 1961: Newton Minow’s Vast Wasteland Speech FCC Chairman Newton Minow Calls Television “A Vast Wasteland” On May 9, 1961, Newton Minow, the newly appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, delivered a now-iconic speech to the National Association of Broadcasters. In it, he condemned television programming as a “vast wasteland,” criticizing its obsession Read more

May 8, 1973: Watergate Hearings Begin, Exposing a Presidency in Crisis On May 8, 1973, the United States Senate opened the Watergate hearings, transforming a political scandal into a national spectacle. What began as a seemingly minor burglary at the Democratic National Committee headquarters evolved into a sweeping investigation that would expose corruption at the Read more

May 7, 1945: Nazi Germany Surrenders to End World War II in Europe On this day in 1945, silence fell across war-ravaged Europe as Nazi Germany formally surrendered to the Allied forces in Reims, France. The agreement, signed by General Alfred Jodl and accepted by General Eisenhower, ended six brutal years of warfare on the Read more

The Chinese Exclusion Act: When America Made Racism Law On May 6, 1882, the United States enacted the Chinese Exclusion Act, marking the first time immigration was restricted based solely on race and nationality. Signed into law by President Chester A. Arthur, the act suspended Chinese labor immigration for ten years and denied Chinese residents Read more

May 4, 2006: The Surveillance Rift On this day in 2006, President George W. Bush nominated Air Force General Michael Hayden—architect of the NSA’s warrantless surveillance program—to lead the CIA. The move sparked intense national debate, pitting national security against constitutional rights. At the heart of it was a question no agency dared answer plainly: Read more

May Day! When Protest Met Force On May 3, 1971, tens of thousands of antiwar demonstrators flooded Washington, D.C. with a promise that sounded less like protest and more like ultimatum: “If the government won’t stop the war, we’ll stop the government.” They came to disrupt daily life in the capital, to force attention onto Read more

On This Day: May 1 — The Spy Who Fell from the Sky May 1, 1960, wasn’t just another page on the calendar — it was a turning point in Cold War paranoia. A U.S. spy plane soared too high and fell too fast, shattering the illusion of diplomacy mid-flight. For a moment, the world Read more

On This Day: The Fall of Saigon April 30, 1975 — A city falls, and with it, the illusion of American permanence. As chopper blades thrashed the humid sky, Saigon’s final breath was drowned in silence, smoke, and the sound of retreat. The Last Flight Out In the early morning hours, American helicopters scrambled across Read more