Professor and author Michael Oren looks at the history of relations between the U.S. and the Middle East, beginning in 1785 with the Barbary Wars and continuing to the present day.
The lecture audio is also available as a mp3 file.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon John Kelly speaks on the historical background that has led to and grounds the current situations in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon and the U.S.'s involvement in the Middle East. He looks at what possible courses the U.S. could take now.
Audio and video options are available.
Professor Pauline Maier discusses her experiences teaching U.S. history at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), from the American Revolution to the current events in Iraq.
Professors John W. Dower and Charles S. Maier contrast previous U.S. foreign policy events and relations with the current situation in Iraq, focusing on the U.S. occupation of Japan following World War II and the Marshall Plan designed to stop the spread of Communism in Western Europe.
Professors Robert E. Looney and Executive Director of the Center for International Studies at MIT John Tirman discuss the economy of Iraq, including its past state, its current condition, and the possibilities for its future development. They examine the U.S.'s plans for economic reform in Iraq and their effects so far, and project that past and current conditions will lead to instability and further conflict in the country.
Professor Alan Wolfe discusses the role of religion in U.S. politics, particularly in the present day. He argues that the "current Christian revival" in the U.S. is not having a negative, "fundamentalist" effect on U.S. government as a whole.
Professors Lawrence J. Vale, Thomas Kochan, and J. Phillip Thompson discuss issues related to the destruction of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina and the recovery of New Orleans. Vale looks at past urban disasters and how these cities have changed and recovered; Kochan contrasts Franklin D. Roosevelt's response to Pearl Harbor with Bush's to Katrina; and Thompson looks at racial tension in New Orleans, prior to and after the hurricane.
Digitized versions of 20 volumes of Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, spanning from 1992 to 2004, are presented on this website.
Materials include papers and speeches issued by the Office of the Press Secretary during the terms of William J. Clinton (17 volumes, 19932001), in addition to two volumes pertaining to George H. W. Bush for 1992, and four volumes for George W. Bush (January 20June 30, 2004). The documents, including addresses, statements, letters, and interviews with the press, are compiled by the Office of the Federal Register and published in chronological order.
Also included are appendices with daily schedules and meetings, nominations to the Senate, proclamations, executive orders, and photographic portfolios. Users may access multiple volumes by keyword searches and separate volumes by title of document, type, subject matter, and personal names.
Professor and author Noam Chomsky discusses the current "War on Terrorism" in the context of earlier perceptions of terrorism and national threat, including the Cold War and World War II.
The link provides direct access to the video, as no visual webpage exists as a gateway.
Harvey Sicherman, President of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, looks at the current war in Iraq; and asks what relationship it has with the War on Terrorism. He outlines previous presidential stands on terrorism, which largely ideologically opposed terrorism, but did not take direct, open action against it—contrasting them with Bush's active declaration of war against terrorism. Sicherman argues that the war in Iraq functions as an extension of the war on terrorism and of previous U.S. policy in the Middle East.
Video and audio options are available.