May 11, 1961: How JFK Quietly Escalated the Vietnam War
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,…
Mandela’s Moment and Washington’s Reckoning
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…
FCC Chairman Calls Television “A Vast Wasteland”
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…
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