Unpack the news coming out of Venezuela with expert-informed resources that focus on history and fundamental foreign policy concepts.
People celebrate after the U.S. struck Venezuela and captured its President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, in Santiago, Chile on January 3, 2026.
Given the uncertainty surrounding Venezuela, it is important to present this moment in foreign policy in a nonpartisan, fact-based manner to encourage students to think critically and form their own opinions.
In this blog, you’ll find three ways to incorporate this topic into your teaching by
viewing events through a historical lens;
focusing on fundamental concepts of foreign policy; and
conducting a hypothetical simulation on the foreign policy tool of intelligence and covert action.
A Summary of the Past Decade in Venezuela
Venezuela has been struggling for years. Once South America’s wealthiest country, Venezuela’s economy collapsed in 2014 under President Nicolás Maduro due to expensive social policies, corruption, and overreliance on oil exports. The legitimacy of Maduro’s role as president has been called into question numerous times because of fraudulent elections and arrests of opposition leaders.
For almost two decades, the United States has imposed sanctions on Venezuela for a variety of reasons, including for lack of cooperation on counterterrorism and anti-narcotics efforts, as well as human rights violations. Under the Biden Administration, some sanctions were rolled back in an effort to curb energy prices and help the Venezuelan people. However, after Maduro’s government claimed victory in the 2024 election despite evidence that the opposition won the majority of votes, the tide changed again. Within the first year of his second term, President Trump began deploying a significant military presence off the coast of Venezuela, escalating tensions.
History of U.S. Foreign Policy in South and Latin America
The U.S. has been involved in Latin America almost as long as the United States has existed as a country. The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 declared that European nations should not interfere in the region, as it was in the United States’ sphere of influence. President Theodore Roosevelt went further than his contemporaries, announcing through the Roosevelt Corollary that the United States would intervene in countries in the region. These two declarations set the stage for decades of intervention aimed at advancing U.S. interests.
A 1905 political cartoon by Louis Dalrymple depicts Uncle Sam straddling the Americas while wielding a big stick labeled “Monroe Doctrine.” Source: Bettmann Archive via Getty Images
From the Spanish-American War to supporting an armed insurrection to creating the Panama Canal, the U.S. became increasingly involved in Latin America as it sought to establish itself as a global power. There were a few years when the U.S. attempted to prioritize a more diplomatic approach in the region and focused on fostering democracy and developing local economies.
The Cold War quickly saw a return to U.S. interventionism. During this period, the United States and the Soviet Union supported opposing governments worldwide to promote their ideologies, exploited local politics for economic advantage, and brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. Some of the governments that the U.S. supported to achieve its goals were violent, oppressive, and often inflicted lasting harm on their populations.
The U.S. operation to capture Maduro could signal a return to the kind of interventionism that defined previous decades of U.S. involvement in Latin America.
Foreign Policy Concepts Relevant to Venezuela
With a range of perspectives on what has occurred in Venezuela over the past few days, understanding fundamental foreign policy concepts can help students form their own conclusions.
Discussions about Saturday’s operation have centered on several core foundational concepts in international relations, including sovereignty, international law, and the authorization of force. Use CFR Education resources to help your students understand the basics before they consider whether they believe the concepts apply in this situation.
In principle, sovereignty means countries get to control what happens inside their borders and shouldn’t interfere within other countries. However, as with most things, established principles don’t always hold true. Countries occasionally violate other countries’ sovereignty to varying degrees – sometimes for humanitarian reasons, and sometimes to pursue economic or security goals.
The concept of sovereignty has become increasingly complicated in a more interconnected world, where many of today’s most pressing issues do not respect geographic boundaries. What does sovereignty look like when greenhouse gasemissions, viruses, and information ignore borders? While sovereignty serves as a central organizing principle at the heart of modern international relations, there are few clear rules or procedures for determining who is entitled to form a sovereign country or what constitutes a violation of sovereignty.
As with sovereignty, international law has helped maintain order by setting standards that other countries and domestic publics alike can use to hold governments accountable. Some types of international law are codified in the form of treaties and formalized agreements. Other international law is customary, comprising international obligations that arise from established international practices rather than from formal written treaties.
The United Nations (UN) Charter prohibits the use of military force, except in two cases: self-defense and instances where the UN Security Council authorizes the use of force. If war does break out, international humanitarian law encompasses a set of rules that aim to mitigate the conflict’s impact on civilians. These principles are codified in the Geneva Conventions of 1949, which 196 countries have ratified.
Primary Source Tip: Have your students read Article 2(4) in Chapter I of the UN Charter and discuss the extent to which it leaves room for interpretation regarding the use of military force and self-defense.
According to the Constitution, Congress has the exclusive power to declare war. It also empowers Congress to authorize military force without having to declare war, as Congress did—among other times—in Afghanistan and Iraq in the early 2000s. While Congress can greenlight military force, the president serves as the commander-in-chief of the military and has discretion over how it performs its duties. Presidents have used this authority to deploy the country’s armed forces, conduct intelligence, and carry out covert operations.
In 1973, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution to ensure that presidents can act effectively in a military context by acting unilaterally for specific periods of time before obtaining congressional approval. However, past presidents of both parties have violated the War Powers Resolution without facing action from Congress.
Primary Source Tip: Have your students read Article I, Section 8, and Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution before reading the CFR Education piece to see how these Sections of the Constitution have evolved over time. Then ask them to discuss whether they see Venezuela as representing continuity or change in the evolving way in which presidents pursue American interests.
Hypothetical Scenarios
It can be challenging to understand the foreign policy forces at play in Venezuela while also keeping up with the constant news updates. You can drive home the relevant issues of intelligence and covert action without having to refer back to the news for policy changes with one of the hypothetical situations in CFR Education’s simulations library.
In the simulation below, students are put in the shoes of the National Security Council (NSC) to advise the president on deciding whether to use covert action as a tool of foreign policy. After conducting the simulation, ask students to reflect: What is this tool suitable for? Does it fulfill its stated goals? What are the pros and cons of employing covert action? Do students see similarities or differences between the hypothetical simulation and the events this past weekend in Venezuela?
Teach the Headlines with CFR Education
Rapidly changing global affairs can be challenging to understand, which is why it is essential to scaffold these events for your students by studying history, principles of foreign policy, and simulations that model global situations.
You can rely on CFR Education for nonpartisan resources that will help you tackle this situation as well as the other global events heading our way.
Newsletter to teach today’s most pressing global issues!
Engaging High School Students in Global Civic Education Lessons in U.S. History
The relationship between the individual and the state is present in every country, society, and civilization. Relevant questions about individual liberty, civic engagement, government authority, equality and justice, and protection are important for every demographic group in the population. In your teaching of World History, consider the examples and questions provided below that should be familiar to students in the history of the United States with application to the experiences of others around the world.
These civic activities are designed to present civics in a global context as civic education happens in every country. The design is flexible regarding using one of the activities, allowing students to explore multiple activities in groups, and as a lesson for a substitute teacher. The lessons are free, although a donation to the New Jersey Council for the Social Studies is greatly appreciated. www.njcss.org
Era 13 Postwar United States: Civil Rights and Social Change (1945 to early 1970s)
The postwar era marked the rise of America as a world power. The new world order established alliance and economic agreements that have led to unprecedented economic growth. However, this period also marks divisions between countries with democratic institutions, authoritarian governments following the ideology of Marxist communism, and developing countries with issues of poverty, disease, debt, and human rights abuses. The United States faced issues or racial segregation, a shrinking middle class, and the expansion of costly federal government programs and a large defense budget causing its national debt to increase. Technology and the media influenced social changes.
Activity #1: Federalism: Dixiecrats in the United States and the Swiss Cantons
Dixiecrats and the Authority of State Government in the United States
The principle of federalism is valued in the way the people of the United States govern themselves. There is a fine line between the division of powers between the states and the national government. The Tenth Amendment specifically protects the powers of the 50 states, and the Ninth Amendment protects the powers of individual citizens. The powers of the national government are carefully defined and limited.
“The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” (Ninth Amendment)
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” (Tenth Amendment)
“The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” (Article 2, Section 2)
“He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.” (Article 2, Section 3)
The Dixiecrats perceived the legislation passed by the national government (Congress and President Truman) to integrate American society as a threat to their liberty and authority as independent states. In the 1948 presidential election, Southern Democrats walked out of the Democratic National Convention because they disagreed with its civil rights platform. They formed a new political party with South Carolina’s Governor Strom Thurmond as their party’s presidential nominee. Their objective was to deny or ‘nullify’ laws passed by the national government to integrate schools and modes of transportation. Individual states wanted to continue with the 1896 “separate but equal” decision from the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson.
In 1798, Congress passed, and President John Adams signed into law, the Alien and Sedition Acts. The acts outraged Thomas Jefferson and Kentucky declared the Alien and Sedition Acts unconstitutional and “altogether void and of no force” in the state of Kentucky.
Kentucky held that our Constitution was a “compact” among the states that delegated a set of limited powers to the federal government. This meant that “every state” had the power to “nullify of their own authority” any violation of the Constitution. In 1832, South Carolina declared the Tariff of 1832 was unconstitutional, “null, void, and no law” because they disproportionately burdened southern states.
“This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.” (Article 6)
Switzerland’s Government
Switzerland is governed under a federal system at three levels: the Confederation, the 26 cantons and the 2,131 communes. The Swiss Confederation of States and its current boundaries were agreed to in 1815 and its current constitution was adopted in 1848. Switzerland has a direct democracy with citizens voting on decisions at all political levels. Switzerland is governed by the Federal Council of seven members representing the different political parties and are elected by the two-house assembly or parliament. whose decisions are made by consensus. Switzerland has a two-house assembly, the National Council is the lower house and represents the people. The upper house is the Council of States and represents the individual cantons. Switzerland also has ten political parties. The powers of cantons include education, culture, healthcare, welfare, law enforcement, taxation, and voting. Cantons have their own constitutions, parliaments, and courts, which are aligned with the federal constitution.
An example of a conflict in Switzerland that challenged the authority of the individual cantons is the city of Moutier with a population of 7,500 in the canton of Bern. Since 1957, the Moutier committee wanted to secede from the canton of Bern and join the canton of Jura. The majority of people in Bern have voted to keep Moutier within its jurisdiction. Four out of the seven Jura districts narrowly rejected forming a new district. The three northern, majority Roman Catholic, districts voted in favor of a new district.
Since 2013, there have been peaceful protests and at times vandalism. The people of Moutier voted to join the Jura canton making it the second largest town in the canton of Jura. Although a majority, 51%, of the people voted to join, the government and people of Bern declared their vote to be invalid because some people voted whose residency could not be confirmed. There have been nine referendums in the past 70 years with the population voting to secede and join the Canton of Jura in 2021. The change to the canton of Jura took effect on January 1, 2026, granting Moutier the right to secede from one canton and join another.
Questions:
Should the national government of the United States be able to enforce common laws for holidays, the economy, schools, transportation, public health, and the environment in all 50 states and territories?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the federal system of power between the individual states and the national government in the United States?
Does the Swiss government model have any advantages or disadvantages over the structure of government in the United States?
What would be the best way to resolve the conflict with the population of Moutier?
Will the decision allowing Moutier to secede establish a precedent for future towns or cities to secede in Switzerland?
Activity #2: Elementary and Secondary Education Act and Canadian Aid to Schools
Education is primarily a state and local responsibility in the United States. About 92% of the money for elementary and secondary education comes from local taxes and money from the individual states. The role of the federal government in education dates back to 1867 when Congress wanted information on teachers and how students learn. Over time this led to land-grant colleges and vocational schools After World War 2, the federal government enacted the “GI Bill” to provide college and vocational education to returning veterans.
In response to the Soviet launch of a satellite, Sputnik, into space in 1957, Congress passed the National Defense Education Act to provide funds for teachers in the areas of mathematics, science, world languages, and area studies to enable us to compete with the Soviet Union. Perhaps the most significant legislation to increase federal funds for schools came in response to the passage of civil rights laws in the 1960s and 1970s and the Great Society programs to reduce poverty. In 1980, Congress established the Department of Education as a position in the president’s Cabinet. In 2025, the Department of Education’s staff and budget was significantly reduced. The Department of Education before 2025 supported 50 million students in 98,000 public schools and 32,000 private schools. They also provided grants, loans, and work-study programs to 12 million students in colleges and vocational training programs. In addition, they administered $150 billion in loans.
The purpose of federal funds in the United States is to provide equality for disadvantaged students and to improve academic achievement. This is monitored through state assessments based on learning standards. Unfortunately, some states lowered their expectations for student achievement to qualify for the federal funds and the federal government is currently investigating fraud in how federal dollars are being spent.
In the United States, federal funds are designated for after school instruction, English language acquisition, preschools, nutrition, literacy, teaching American history and civics, charter, and magnet schools.
School Financing in Canada
School funding in Canada is primarily a responsibility of provincial and territorial governments. The federal government contributes money to ensure an equal education for its significant indigenous population. Most funding is from Canada’s 10 provinces. Some provinces provide public funding to private, charter, and religious schools.
The government of Canada views education as a public good from which everyone in society benefits. Education prepares students for jobs, higher education, lowers crime, and reduces poverty. Employers also benefit as educated workers are more productive leading to higher profits for businesses. The only province to fully embrace school choice is Alberta. Canadians fear that school choice may lead wealthier Canadians to benefit from independent, parochial, charter, or magnet schools and this would leave marginalized populations at a disadvantage. Equality and equity are two principles that Canadians value.
According to U.S. News & World Report, the United States is ranked #1 and Canada is ranked #4 in the world in education.
Questions:
Should local communities, states or provinces, or the national government decide the curriculum and funding for public schools?
To what extent should public tax dollars be used to support private or religious schools?
What is the best way to ensure an equal and equitable education for all students?
Should public tax dollars be used for extracurricular activities and sports in schools?
Do you consider education to be a public good that benefits all of society or is it a private good that benefits individual students?
To what extent should public tax dollars be used to support college and vocational education after completing elementary and secondary education?
Activity #3: Segregation by Race in the United States and by Religion in India
De facto Racial Residential Segregation in the United States
The United States ended racial segregation with the Brown v. Board of Education v. Topeka, Kansas decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. However, the United States continues to be a place of segregation, not integration. Residential segregation exists through our zip codes and neighborhoods. Although our laws prohibit discrimination, differences in land use policies, wealth and income, contribute to what is called de facto racial residential segregation. Neighborhoods determine the quality of schools, public safety, quality of drinking water, opportunities for employment, strategies of law enforcement, rates of incarceration, and life expectancy.
A study by the University of California (Source) found that more than 80 percent of metropolitan areas were more segregated in 2019 than in 1990. In 2025, the United States government effectively ended support for DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programs. Racial residential segregation is difficult to address when resources are not equally available to all communities. The Kerner Commission wrote in its 1968 report that integration is “the only course which explicitly seeks to achieve a single nation” rather than a dual or permanently divided society.
Table 3: Top 10 Most Segregated Metropolitan Statistical Areas (2019, Minimum 200,000 people)
Segregation Rank
Metro
1
New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA
2
Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI
3
Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI
4
Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI
5
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL
6
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA
7
Trenton-Ewing, NJ
8
Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH
9
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
10 (tied)
Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX
10 (tied)
New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA
Religious Segregation in India
India ended the caste system in 1947 and yet many Indians live in religiously segregated areas. One of the reasons for this segregation is that friendship circles are often part of the religious community and marriages are within the same faith community. People in southern India are most likely to live in integrated neighborhoods. Indians with a college degree are more accepting of people from other faiths living in their neighborhoods than those with less education.
Very few Indians say they are married to someone with a different religion. Almost all married people (99%) reported that their spouse shared their religion. This applies to Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Buddhists.
Indians generally marry within same religion
Religion, especially members of the Hindu faith, is closely connected with views on politics and national identity. Hindus make up 80% of India’s population. A Pew Research study found that 36% of Hindus would not be willing to live near a Muslim, and 31% say they would not want a Christian living in their neighborhood. Jains are even more likely to express such views:. 54% of people who identify with the Jainist faith would not accept a Muslim as a neighbor, and 47% say the same about Christians. People who identify as Buddhist tend to be the most accepting of people from other faith traditions. Eight-in-ten Buddhists in India say they would accept a Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Sikh or Jain as a neighbor.
Members of both large and small religious groups mostly keep friendships within religious lines
And Indians who live in the Central region of the country are more inclined than people in other regions to say it is very important to stop people from marrying outside of their religion. Among Hindus in the Central region, for instance, 82% say stopping the interreligious marriage of Hindu women is very important, compared with 67% of Hindus nationally. Among Muslims in the region, nearly all (96%) see it as crucial to stop Muslim women from marrying outside the faith, versus 80% of Muslims nationally.
The religious segregation also impacts the quality of education and employment. Muslim student enrollment is dropping. Some states in India are banning religious instruction even though it is protected by the national constitution.
Questions:
Are there common factors (geographic, social, economic, racial, educational, religious, etc.) causing different kinds of segregation in Indian and the United States?
How can countries best establish a social system of equality and integration?
Is segregation present in your school or community?
How do countries/societies unite or define their identity?
Is the problem of segregation about the same, more severe, less severe in India or the United States?
Activity #4: The Great Society Programs and The Marshall Plan for Europe
The Great Society Program in the United States
In 1965, according to the U.S. Census, the poverty rate in the United States was 13.3%. In 2024, it was 10.6%. However, poverty rates often provide mixed data because of inflation, income levels, race, and age. For examples in 1965 45% of the population in South Carolina was below the poverty line and in 2024 the poverty rate for Hispanic (15%), Black Americans (18.4%), and Native Americans (19.3%) is significantly higher than 10.6%. The definition is further complicated by the difference between absolute poverty (below an income of $31,200 for a four-person household) and relative poverty (the quality of life for people in a neighborhood or community).
Social Security and Medicare are for senior citizens who are eligible at age 65 for Medicare and age 67 for Social Security. There are 83 million people, including children, receiving Medicaid, about 25% of the population. The program is offered by the states and the services provided depend on the state. An average estimate for eligibility is an income that is about 140 percent above the federal poverty level ($30,000 for a family of two in New Jersey, as of 2026). In New Jersey, Medicaid costs about 23% of the state’s budget. Approximately 25% of the residents in New Jesey receive Medicaid at an average cost of $2,600 per enrollee. Amounts vary and are higher for families with children and pregnant women.
According to the Congressional Research Services, mandatory spending was only 30% of the federal budget. Today, it is 60%. Medicare and Medicaid together cost nearly $1 trillion annually. Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, are the main contributors to our national debt, which is now over $40 trillion (or roughly $59,000 per citizen). According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, Medicare provides health insurance coverage to 68 million Americans. Funding for Medicare is from government contributions, payroll tax revenues, and premiums paid by beneficiaries. Medicare spending is currently about 13.5% of the federal budget or roughly $1.1 trillion. The average cost is $17,000 per enrollee with a $12 billion shortfall in 2023, about $1,300 per enrollee. The administration of President Trump cut some of the Medicaid programs in 2025 and is negotiating lower prescription drug costs to reduce this shortfall. An aging population and higher health care costs are factors that are expected to continue. Even with these Great Society programs, poverty among the elderly is significantly high. According to USA Today,
“Based on the official measure, which is a simple calculation based on pretax cash income compared with a national threshold, the percentage of seniors in poverty rose to 9.9% last year from 9.7% in 2023, data showed. Using the more comprehensive supplemental measure, which includes noncash government benefits, accounts for taxes and essential expenses like medical care and work-related costs, and adjusts thresholds for regional differences in housing costs, senior poverty rose to 15% from 14.2% − and marked the highest poverty level among all age groups.”
Although these programs are not cost effective and are withdrawing funds from the Trust Fund, they are considered transfer payments because the money is spent at the local and state level which generates income and GDP growth in the economy. They are often referred to as entitlement programs because they were passed by Congress and have been in effect for 90 years (Social Security) and 60 years (Medicaid and Medicare) and revised and expanded over time.
Marshall Plan
In June 1947, Secretary of State George Marshall, announced the U.S. plan to give economic aid to Europe. The offer was made to all of Europe, including the U.S. wartime enemies and the communist countries of Eastern Europe. Sixteen European countries responded by cooperating on a plan that was accepted by the United States. The United States appropriated $13.6 billion (equivalent to $190 billion in 2026 money) was provided. By 1950, the economies of the participating countries returned to their prewar levels.
The Marshall Plan required the countries to stabilize their currency, reduce public spending, import goods from the United States and increase their exports to the United States. There were clear expectations that benefited the economy of the United States. The Marshall Plan established the U.S. as a dominant economic power, promoted open trade and prevented the return of economic depression. It was critical in forming NATO and a closer relationship between the United States and Europe.
Questions:
Given the fact that the Great Society programs of Medicaid and Medicare are not cost effective and that the poverty rate for people over the age of 65 has increased, should the United States continue with these programs?
What should the United States or the individual states do to lower the poverty rate among people over the age of 65?
Does the United States have a legal (constitutional) or moral responsibility to provide supplemental or full health care for its citizens, legal residents, and/or undocumented immigrants?
Was the Marshall Plan worth the investment by the United States?
What factors contributed to the success of the Marshall Plan?
Would a ‘Marshall Plan” to support the rebuilding of a sustainable infrastructure based on renewable energy be effective and accomplish similar outcomes within three to five years?
Engaging High School Students in Global Civic Education Lessons in U.S. History
The relationship between the individual and the state is present in every country, society, and civilization. Relevant questions about individual liberty, civic engagement, government authority, equality and justice, and protection are important for every demographic group in the population. In your teaching of World History, consider the examples and questions provided below that should be familiar to students in the history of the United States with application to the experiences of others around the world.
These civic activities are designed to present civics in a global context as civic education happens in every country. The design is flexible regarding using one of the activities, allowing students to explore multiple activities in groups, and as a lesson for a substitute teacher. The lessons are free, although a donation to the New Jersey Council for the Social Studies is greatly appreciated. www.njcss.org
Era 12 Postwar United States: Cold War (1945 to early 1970s)
The middle of the 20th century marks the zenith of American power in the world. Following World War 2, international organizations were established to maintain a stable world order. The United States developed alliances to counter the threat of communism and authoritarian governments. The cost of the arms race and role as ‘global policeman’ was costly for the government of the United States and as a result its defense of democracy and human rights faced criticisms from its elected representatives and people.
Activity #1: Bay of Pigs Invasion and Crimean Peninsula Invasion
In 1959, Fidel Castro came to power in an armed revolt that overthrew Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. The U.S. government distrusted Castro and was wary of his relationship with Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union. President Eisenhower approved the training of a small army for an assault landing and guerilla warfare. The success of the plan depended on the Cuban population joining the invaders.
On April 17, 1961 the Cuban-exile invasion force landed at beaches along the Bay of Pigs and immediately came under heavy fire. Within 24 hours, about 1,200 members of the invasion force surrendered, and more than 100 were killed. The Bay of Pigs invasion was a disaster for the United States and President Kennedy.
In 2014, Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine. Russia annexed Ukraine but the international community did not support or recognize the actions of Russia. Since 2014, Russia has tightened its grip on Crimea. It has transformed the occupied Ukrainian peninsula into a military base, utilizing it for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Crimea currently serves as an important logistical hub for the Russian military, acting as an airbase and naval base while playing a key role in the resupply of the Russian army in Ukraine.
Did the United States have a right to overthrow an unelected ruler in Cuba who supported the Soviet Union?
To what extent does geography, national security, or economic stability justify actions of large sovereign states interfering in domestic affairs in smaller states?
Why did the international community fail to challenge Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014?
Why does Russia want territory in Crimea and Ukraine?
How can the international community best address the situation in Ukraine?
If the international community accepts Russia’s illegal annexation of territory in a neighboring state, does this allow or encourage other countries to annex territories. (i.e. China, United States, etc.)
Activity #2: Human Rights Issues and Asylum Policies
As Americans enjoyed their new prosperity and role as the leader of the free world, there were voices for equality from women, African Americans, and people of color. The US also embraced global responsibilities and the threat posed by the expansion of communism.
Most Americans believe that freedom is a fundamental human right. In the post-World War 2 era, The United States found that the cost of defending democracy and human rights was expensive and difficult. In the first quarter of the 21st century, the United States experienced a state sponsored terririst attack on New York City and Washington D.C., threats of international terrorism, a divided Congress, unprecedented national debt, and conflicts in the Middle East. In 2025, there were 59 violent conflicts in the world. The interests of Russia and China are in conflict with the interests of the United States to defend democratic values and institutions and human rights.
The United States has not ratified the following international agreements on human rights:
International Criminal Court
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance
Mine Ban Treaty
Convention on Cluster Munitions
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture
Before 1950, the United States had no stated policy on asylum. However, between 1933-1945, about 200,000 refugees fleeing the violence of war, immigrated to the United States. The American people were opposed to changing the National Origins Quota System enacted in 1924.
The 1952 McCarran-Walter Act was passed over President Truman’s veto. It continues to serve as the basis of our immigration laws and policies.
“The bill would continue, practically without change, the national origins quota system, which was enacted, into law in 1924, and put into effect in 1929. This quota system—always based upon assumptions at variance with our American ideals—is long since out of date and more than ever unrealistic in the face of present world conditions.
This system hinders us in dealing with current immigration problems, and is a constant handicap in the conduct of our foreign relations.”
In 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act (Hart-Celler Act) eliminated the quota system that was part of the McCarran-Walter Act. The Act opened immigration to people of different racial and ethnic populations, especially Asians and Africans, it continued the quotas for Mexicans and Hispanic populations and favored visas for skilled workers over agricultural or domestic workers.
According to the UN refugee agency, a record-breaking 3.6 million new individual asylum applications were registered worldwide in 2023 with most new asylum claims made by nationals of Afghanistan, Colombia, Sudan, Syria, and Venezuela. At the close of 2023, 6.9 million asylum seekers worldwide still had pending asylum claims.
In the United States in 2023, nearly half of all asylum approvals were for people fleeing Afghanistan, China, El Salvador, and Venezuela from violence, poverty, and political upheaval.
Questions:
Why has the United States refused to support international laws on human rights and crimes against humanity since World War 2?
Is there evidence that the United States violates the human rights of some of its own citizens?
Why have the American people reflected a restrictive immigration policy over time, even for refugees facing death or abuse in their home country?
Who should be granted asylum in the United States?
Activity #3: The Deportation of People for Their Political Views
In the years after World War 2, especially after Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech in 1946, the United States feared a global domination of communism. This belief gained popularity after China became communist in 1949. The current administration of President Trump is identifying the Democratic party with Marxist-Leninist ideology or progressive ideas for universal health care, helping students to repay college loans, raising the minimum wage, labor unions, and deporting immigrants with legal visas and some who are not documented.
This has a ‘chilling effect’ on people, especially educators and college professors who teach about communism and Marxist socialism. It is important to understand the historical perspective over time regarding how the government of the United States has responded to situations which have called for a change in our government through elections and the violent overthrow of our Constitution and democratic institutions.
Historical Context
Congress has the power to protect the Government of the United States from armed rebellion. The Insurrection Act of 1807 combined a series of statues to protect the United States from angry citizens following the Embargo Act. The issue for debate is when does the protection of free speech regarding criticism of government policies and organizing plans to change government policies or elected leaders become a matter permitting the government to use military force to protect itself.
The Posse Comitatus Act forbids the U.S. military, including federal armed forces and National Guard from enforcing civil law. The reason for this is to protect the First Amendment rights of citizens to express their beliefs. The Stafford Act (1988) permits the use of the military in times of natural disasters or public health epidemics.
Section 252 the Insurrection Act allows the president to deploy troops without a request from the state and provides the authority to send in troops against the state’s wishes to enforce the laws of the United States or to suppress rebellion. President Eisenhower used this power to enforce the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to desegregate the public schools in Little Rock, AK. In 1992, the governor of California requested President George H.W. Bush to send troops to control the rioting in Los Angeles following the acquittal of four white police officers on the beating of Rodney King. Section 253 allows the president to suppress domestic violence, a conspiracy to overthrow the government, or an insurrection. John Brown’s raid in 1859 and the Civil War are examples.
The Smith Act was passed in 1940 making it a crime for any person knowingly or willfully to advocate the overthrow or destruction of the Government of the United States by force or violence. This Act led to the arrest of leaders of the Communist Party who were advocating to overthrow the government of the United States by force.
In 1951, the Court ruled in a 6-2 decision that the conviction of Eugene Dennis of conspiring and organizing for the overthrow and destruction of the United States government by force and violence under provisions of the Smith Act. In 1967, the decision was overturned by the Brandenburg v. Ohio when the Supreme Court held that “mere advocacy” of violence was protected speech.
In New York, the Feinberg Law banned from the teaching of the violent overthrow of the government of the United States. Several other states adopted similar measures. When a group of teachers and parents challenged this law, the Supreme Court upheld it in Adler v. Board of Education of the City of New York, (1952) In 1967, another Supreme Court overturned the Adler decision.
Questions:
If the Declaration of Independence states the right of people to dissent and overthrow an unjust government, should school teachers be allowed to teach this to young students?
“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
2. Why do you think the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Dennis and Adler decisions years later? Do these reversals have a strong foundation in American law?
3. Is it possible to use the Smith Act and the Insurrection Act to bring about a change in government that would embrace a more authoritarian government and a less democratic one?
4. How can the Smith Act and Insurrection Act be abolished? Should they be abolished?
5. What is the biggest threat facing the United States in the future? (natural disaster, political violence, artificial intelligence, public health emergency, economic crisis, etc.) Will the best solutions to this threat come from the Executive, Legislative, or Judicial branch of our government?
Activity #4: The Return of Veterans from World War 2 in the United States and Japan
Japan officially surrendered on September 2, 1945. More than 400,000 Americans, and an estimated 65 million people worldwide, died during the war. After the surrender, the repatriation of the soldiers to their home country began. Refugees also began to return to their homes. The return of the soldiers to Japan, Soviet Union, European countries, and the United States was very different. In this activity, you will compare the return of 7 million soldiers to Japan and the United States. The United States had 16 million soldiers in uniform and 8 million of them were overseas. Operation Magic Carpet was the program to transport Japan’s soldiers to their homeland. There were also millions of Korean and Chinese civilians the Japanese used as slave labor during the war who needed to be repatriated.
Japan’s navy and merchant marine navy had been destroyed during the war. The carriers Hosho and Katsuragi, the destroyer, Yoizuki, and the passenger ship, Hikawa Maru, were able to transport some Japanese soldiers. The United States, Soviet Union, and England used their ships to bring 6.6 million Japanese soldiers back to Japan. The Japanese government designated 18 ports to receive their soldiers. The U.S. role was completed by the end of 1947. The Soviet Union’s role continued through 1957. The port of Maizuru was the largest port.
The Japanese soldiers were sprayed with the chemical DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro-ethane) to kill fleas and lice. At the time, DDT was considered a ‘safe’ chemical but in 1972 it was known to be harmful. Welcome towers were erected where citizens welcomed the retuning soldiers.
The United States also used Nisei interpreters during the years after the surrender of Japan (1945-1952) to prosecute Japan’s military leaders for war crimes, detect subversive activities and help with the drafting of Japan’s new constitution.
Most cities and homes in Japan were destroyed as a result of the war and the destruction of the two atomic bombs. Almost every family experienced the death of a loved one and they did not have a proper burial or the return of their personal belongings (sword, identification, notebooks, clothing, etc.) The new government in Japan changed the family structure which encouraged marriage and children.
The Return of Soldiers to the United States
The return of veterans to the United States began in 1944, shortly after D-Day. The government instituted a point system based on battles for the return home after the war ended and the GI Bill, which provided for education and vocational training, credit towards loans, one year of unemployment compensation, and counseling. The purpose of the GI Bill was to avoid the high unemployment and inflation that followed World War I.
“Veterans Prepare for Your Future thru Educational Training, Consult Your Nearest Office of the Veterans Administration,” n.d. Courtesy of NARA, 44-PA-2262, NAID
The repatriation of American soldiers was very successful and the income taxes from their wages paid back the cost of the GI Bill within the first few years. Veterans also purchased new homes which also increased the GDP. Similar benefits were provided to American soldiers who served in Korea and Vietnam. New car sales also quadrupled in the first ten years following World War 2 and by 1960 about 75 percent of American households owned a car.
Questions:
Why did the United States spend millions of dollars to repatriate Japanese soldiers to Japan after the surrender and why did our government pay for the inoculations and transportation of Korean and Chinese from Taiwan?
What would the post-war years in Japan be like without the financial and technical assistance of the United States and the Allied Powers?
As a member of Congress, would you have supported the GI Bill in 1944 knowing that the national debt of the United States was 120% above our GDP?
Was it fair to provide ships to transport Japanese soldiers home before all of the American soldiers were repatriated?
Should the United States have done more (or less) to repatriate the soldiers from Japan?
In August 2025, worried that WOKE educators from higher paying unionized states might move to Oklahoma to take jobs as teachers, Oklahoma implemented an “America-First Assessment” for new teachers. The assessment, created by the PragerU, a conservative group that is definitely not a university, was dropped three months later by a new state education superintendent.
As a WOKE teacher educator from a WOKE state with almost fifty years of teaching experience and indoctrination, I was interested to see if I could pass the “America-First Assessment” and qualify to teach in Oklahoma. But not to worry, it is much easier than the test immigrants take to become United States citizens, the New York State Teacher Certification Exam, and the United States History Regents Exam for 11th grade students in New York State.
A reporter for the Oklahoma Voice took the online test and intentionally picked the most ridiculous choices. It turns out that when you got a wrong answer, the test allowed you to try again and again until you picked the choice they wanted so it was impossible to fail. It makes you wonder about the poor quality of teaching and learning in the Sooner State.
The test has a number of questions about defining sex but no questions about Oklahoma history. Teachers don’t have to know about the Trail of Tears forcing East Coast Native American tribes onto Oklahoma Territory reservations or race riots that destroyed the Tulsa African American community.
Don’t be nervous. I highlighted the answers Oklahoma wants you to pick to prove you aren’t WOKE.
1. According to the Supreme Court cases Meyer v. Nebraska (1923) and Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925), who has the ultimate right to direct a child’s education? a. The Superintendent of Schools b. The parents c. The Board of Education d. The federal Department of Education
2. What is the fundamental biological distinction between males and females? a. Height and weight b. Blood type c. Personal preference d. Chromosomes and reproductive anatomy
3. How is a child’s biological sex typically identified? a. Parental affirmation of child’s preference b. Personal feelings c. Visual anatomical observation and chromosomes d. Online registration
4. Which chromosome pair determines biological sex in humans? a. AA/BB b. XX/XY c. RH/AB d. XE/XQ
5. Why is the distinction between male and female considered important in areas like sports and privacy? a. For equity in minority communities b. To preserve fairness, safety and integrity for both sexes c. To increase participation in sports d. To enhance the self-esteem of transgender children
6. Should teachers be allowed to express their own political viewpoints in the classroom In order to persuade the students to adopt their point of view? a. Yes, teachers have freedom of speech, too, which does not stop at the classroom door b. No, once you become a teacher, your freedom of speech in and out of the classroom is restricted c. Yes, sometimes – when the issue includes civil rights or social justice d. No, the classroom is not an appropriate venue for political activism
7. What did the Supreme Court rule in the 2025 case of Mahmoud v. Taylor? a. Gender-affirming medical procedures are allowed in America b. Students must recite the Pledge of Allegiance in schools c. Religious schools must hire non-religious staff d. Public schools cannot require participation in LGBTQ-themed instruction without a parental opt-out
8. What are the first three words of the U.S. Constitution? a. In God We Trust b. We the People c. Life, Liberty, Happiness d. The United States
9. Why is freedom of religion important to America’s identity? a. It protects religious choice from government control b. It makes Christianity the national religion c. It bans all forms of public worship d. It limits religious teaching in the public square
10. What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress? a. The House of Lords and The House of Commons b. The judiciary and the Senate c. The Executive and the Legislative d. The Senate and the House of Representatives
11. How many total U.S. senators are there? a. 435 b. 535 c. 100 d. 50
12. Why do some states have more representatives than others? a. Representation is allocated by population b. They cover a larger geographic area c. They have held statehood for a longer period d. The number is determined by Congress
13. What is the primary responsibility of the president’s Cabinet? a. Approve Supreme Court justices b. Pass legislation c. Sign executive orders d. Advise the president
14. Who signs bills into law? a. The vice president b. The chief justice c. The president d. The speaker of the house
15. What is the highest court in the United States? a. The Federal Court b. The Court of Appeals c. The District Court d. The Supreme Court
16. In the United States, which of the following is a responsibility reserved only for citizens? a. Serve on a jury b. Own a home c. Pay taxes d. Possess a driver’s license
17. Which of the following are explicitly listed in the Bill of Rights? a. Freedom of speech and religion b. Voting and public education c. Reproductive rights and healthcare d. Freedom from data collection and surveillance
18. Which right does the Second Amendment protect? a. The right to hunt and fish b. The right to arm the military c. The right to restrict certain kinds of speech d. The right to keep and bear arms
19. What is the supreme law of the United States? a. Presidential Executive Orders b. Laws passed by Congress and signed by the president c. Laws passed by state legislatures and signed by state governors d. The Constitution
20. Who wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence? a. John Adams b. Thomas Jefferson c. John Hancock d. Thomas Paine
21. When was the Declaration of Independence adopted? a. July 4, 1778 b. July 4, 1787 c. July 4, 1776 d. July 4, 1619
22. What was the primary reason the colonists fought the British? a. To resist expansion of the British Empire b. To maintain slavery c. To resist taxation without representation d. To resist forced military service
23. Who were the first three U.S. presidents? a. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton b. George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson c. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison d. George Washington, John Adams, Abraham Lincoln
24. Who is called the “Father of Our Country”? a. Benjamin Franklin b. Abraham Lincoln c. Martin Luther King Jr. d. George Washington
25. What did the Emancipation Proclamation do? a. Ended Prohibition b. Freed Confederate generals c. Freed the slaves in the North d. Ended slavery in the rebelling Confederate states
26. What was Abraham Lincoln’s primary reason for waging the Civil War? a. To preserve states’ rights b. To abolish slavery c. To preserve the Union d. To end the Union
27. What cause is Martin Luther King Jr. best known for? a. Advocating for segregation b. Advocating for the abolition of slavery c. Advocating for diversity, equity and inclusion d. Advocating for racial equality under the law
28. How did the Cold War end? a. The U.S. prevailed in the Cuban Missile Crisis b. Russia invaded and occupied Ukraine c. The Soviet Union Collapsed d. The U.S., the European Union, and the Soviet Union signed a peace treaty
29. Who was president during the Great Depression and WWII? a. Woodrow Wilson b. Harry S. Truman c. Franklin D. Roosevelt d. Theodore Roosevelt
30. What is the name of the national anthem? a. “The Star-Spangled Banner” b. “America the Beautiful” c. “This Land is Your Land” d. “God Bless America”
31. Why are there thirteen stripes on the American flag? a. One for each signer of the Declaration of Independence b. To honor the Thirteenth Amendment c. To commemorate America’s fallen soldiers d. To symbolize the original colonies
32. Which national holiday honors those who died while serving in the U.S. military? a. Armistice Day b. Memorial Day c. Veterans Day d. Flag Day
33. Which of the following is a phrase from the Pledge of Allegiance? a. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness b. Of, by and for the people c. One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all d. One nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all
34. From what does the United States government derive its power? a. The Supreme Court b. The people c. The president
Proven Climate Solutions: Leading Voices on How to Accelerate Change
Edited by BF Nagy
Reviewed by Hank Bitten, NJCSS Executive Director
Our world made a monumental change during the Industrial Revolution when homes and buildings converted from wood-burning fireplaces to coal and oil furnaces allowing for heat and hot water. This change came 4,000 years after the invention of fire and revolutionized the way people live. Eventually, it brought electricity and light into their homes. Every aspect of home life became more efficient than it had been when people split wood for fireplaces.
Around 1950 the world converted to natural gas. As a young boy I shoveled coal into the two furnaces in our basement around 6:00 a.m. each morning. In 1957, I remember the backhoes and tractors digging up our Paterson, N.J. street to install natural gas lines. By 1970, most areas of New Jersey were using natural gas for heating and cooking. This change took about 20 years.
By 2,000, we began to realize that combustion engines and fossil fuels were harming our environment and were a cause of respiratory and cancer-related deaths. We understood that “natural” gas was not natural because the release of methane was even more harmful than the soot and smoke from coal and oil. We began to look for new sources of energy in solar, wind, nuclear, biomass, geothermal, tidal, and hydrogen.
From the perspective of a social studies educator, our students need to focus on the solutions to these problems. Proven Climate Solutions includes nineteen concise chapters that take less than ten minutes to read. Each chapter provides a solution on the technology, economics, and empirical examples of how and where they are working. For teachers who use classroom debates or a simulated congress, the chapters in the book provide information on the advantages of solar and wind over every other source of renewable energy!
An example of factual information for a classroom debate is in the chapter, “Opportunity Costs and Distractions” by BF Nagy, editor of this book. Here are some examples:
“In 2022, massive leaks of oil in Thailand, Peru, Ecuador, and Nigeria led to explosions, fatalities, fires, and extensive water pollution.” (Page 50)
“The world’s biggest tanker containing 1.1 million barrels of oil began leaking after being abandoned in the Red Sea near Yemen by a Chevron subsidiary.” (Page 50)
“In 2023, Massachusetts state regulators denied a permit modification that would allow discharge of more than one million gallons of toxic wastewater into cape Code Bay.” (Page 50)
“Nuclear power costs about $180 per megawatt/hour compared with $50 for wind and $60 for solar.” (Page 51)
“Just two generations ago, in 1979, the United States built the Runit Dome in the Marshall Islands. Below an eighteen-inch concrete cap, they stored 111,000 cubic yards of radioactive debris from twelve years of nuclear tests. It is already cracking and leaking into the sea.” (Page 52)
The chapter on VPP (Virtual Power Plants) fascinated me because I had never heard about them. As I learned more about the need to use a decentralized electric grid and the technology that is making this feasible, I realized the connections for students in their lessons on the Industrial Revolution and the efficiency of how VPP and DERs (Distributed Energy Resources) are making a difference in our economy and environment. In addition, they foster community engagement and shared resources.
The information on artificial intelligence in constructing pre-fab housing units, passive house designs meeting low carbon standards, virtual power plants, and the recent research on battery technology will engage students in thinking ten years into the future. The possibilities of airplanes and homes powered by batteries is transformative in the ways we are currently conditioned to think about travel, energy, and home heating systems.
“Sendero Verde means ‘green path’ and is among the signature achievements of two brilliant women: engineer Lois A. from Steven Winter Associates and architect Deborah M. from Handel Architects.
The duo designed Sendero Verde within the confines of an affordable housing budget, and their companies also collaborated on The House, a twenty-six story passive house certified student residence for Cornell University’s tech school on New York’s Roosevelt Island. Another of their projects is the massive fifty-three story Winthrop Center in Boston, which in the early 2020s, was considered the biggest passive house office project in the world.” (Page 110)
“The House” Cornell University’s Student Residence using a Passive House design.
Teachers who use an interdisciplinary approach will find helpful research on the new carbon sinks being formed as the ice caps are melting. These polar foodwebs are helpful as deforestation has reduced the amount of carbon being absorbed by rainforests. The information on biodiversity and the impact of how our planet is adapting to a warmer climate with melting ice is an area of research that students should find interesting.
“Less than half of all carbon captured by polar phytoplankton or macro algae is stored in foodwebs, and nearly all the rest is recycled into the water column by bacteria in what is termed the microbial loop (rotting). Vast numbers and biomass of water column (pelagic) zooplankton, such as copepods or krill, which are shrimp-like crustaceans, store much of this carbon.” (Page 136)
Perhaps the most informative chapter in this book is titled “Circular Food Systems: Feeding the Urban World” because it identifies small innovative companies that are implementing important solutions. Examples for students to research include the White Moustache Yogurt Company, Back of the Yards Algae Sciences, Spare Foods Company, LivinGreen, Evergrain, TripleWin, and Portland Pet Center. When I was a 16-year-old high school student, my Earth Science teacher’s lesson about the impact of the end of civilization as we knew it with the birth of the 3 billionth person had a lasting impact on me. In just ten years, the world’s population will be 9 billion and in 2050 it will likely be 10 billion. As the population increases, the urban density will also increase from 55 percent today to 63 percent by 2050 and provide an urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Solutions are needed!
Year
Population
Net Change
Density (P/Km²)
2025
8,231,613,070
69,640,498
55
2026
8,300,678,395
69,065,325
56
2027
8,369,094,344
68,415,949
56
2028
8,436,618,886
67,524,542
57
2029
8,503,285,323
66,666,437
57
2030
8,569,124,911
65,839,588
58
Students need to understand how hydroponic agriculture and circular food systems can sustain life on our planet in the future. Our current dependence on rice, wheat, soybeans, and corn contribute significant amounts of carbon and methane into our atmosphere through their production and distribution. The current agricultural revolution needs to produce food in urban areas and reduce food waste. Source
“The food system we have in place today, one we have nurtured for a half-century and that produces some 43 percent of the world’s calorie supply, is itself in jeopardy due to the growing climate crisis, rising temperatures and prolonged droughts are withering crops; frequent floods are destroying them. The reliance on intensive farming practices such as tilling and heavy fertilizer and pesticide use robs the soils of their productivity, jeopardizing yields necessary to continue feeding rising populations.” (Page 150)
An important thread throughout this book is that proven climate solutions are likely to be local. Heating and electric power will be de-centralized, food production will be on urban rooftops and in parks, and transportation will be redesigned. The school curriculum needs to include case studies from urban ‘smart’ cities. One suggestion for the next edition of Proven Climate Solutions might be to include information on the importance of recycling clothing.
Men at Work: The Empire State Building and the Untold Story of the Craftsmen Who Built It
by Glenn Kurtz
Reviewed by Dr. Alan Singer, Hofstra University
In this book published by Seven Stories Press, Glenn Kurtz uncovers the identities of the Empire State Building construction workers, made famous by Lewis W. Hine’s legendary portraits. The book features more than 75 photos and other illustrations, some by Hine that have never been previously published. Astonishingly, no list of workmen on this historic landmark was ever compiled. While the names of the owners, architects, and contractors are well known, and Lewis Hine left us indelible images of the workers, their identities—the last generation of workmen still practicing these time-honored trades, have not been identified until author Glenn Kurtz unearthed their individual stories for this book. Drawing on eclectic sources — census, immigration, and union records; contemporary journalism; the personal recollections of their descendants — Kurtz assembles biographies of these workers, providing not only a portrait of the building’s labor force, and a revolutionary re-interpretation of Hine’s world-famous photographs, but also a fundamental reimagining of what made the Empire State Building a fitting symbol for the nation, built as it was at the very height of the Great Depression.
According to Erik Loomis, author of A History of America in Ten Strikes, “Capitalists build nothing. Workers build everything. Glenn Kurtz recovers the stories of the brave men who constructed the Empire State Building masterfully using Lewis Hine’s famous photographs of them. A wonderful book for anyone who cares about the stories of real workers.” Alastair J. Gordon, author of Naked Airport, praises Kurtz for “Working with a minimum of historical data, Kurtz has broken through the urban mythologies and written an insightful social history, not about the capitalist owners, investors, architects or contractors, but about the every day mortals — ironworkers, carpenters, crane operators and other unsung heroes — who actually built the Empire State Building during the height of the Great Depression… a revelatory contribution to the legacy of New York’s built environment.”
Revolutionary New York: 250 Years of Social Change
Edited by Bruce Dearstyne
Reviewed by Dr. Alan Singer, Hofstra University
Revolutionary New York celebrates the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution and the many historical changes that have occurred since, as reflected through the history of the state. This book explores “unfinished revolutions” in the Empire State: the two-and-a-half century struggle to realize the revolution’s ideals and bring increased freedom and opportunities to previously marginalized populations. Itis an Excelsior Edition published by SUNY Press. It includes sixteen essays that explore different aspects of New York State history starting with a chapter on “The Oneida Rebellions, 1763 to 1784.” Editor Bruce Dearstyne provided chapters on the birth of New York State in 1777 and September 11, 2001. There are also chapters on the Erie Canal, slavery in New York State, the Triangle Fire and workplace safety, the Harlem Hellfighters, the struggle by women to win the right to vote, prohibition, the origins of the United Federation of Teachers union, Stonewall, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Jennifer Lemak, Chief Curator of History, New York State Museum, “From Indigenous uprisings and the building of the Erie Canal to suffrage and LGBTQ+ rights, New York State has long been at the forefront of America’s most significant social transformations. This book explores the people, places, and pivotal moments that shaped a more just and inclusive society—revealing how New Yorkers challenged injustice, redefined freedom, and left a lasting impact on our nation.”
An Education: How I Changed My Mind About Schools and Almost Everything Else
by Diane Ravitch
Reviewed by Dr. Alan Singer, Hofstra University
According to Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, “Diane Ravitch’s telling of her remarkable journey — from a child of working-class immigrants to one of the most vital national education treasures and leaders — tells us so much about her unwavering support for public education and its role in our society. That would be beautiful enough, but the second thrill is how she brings her curiosity — an essential trait we nurture in students — to question her own views and change her mind. The result is this clarion call to protect and strengthen public schooling in America as the foundation of our young people — and our democracy. If you care about the future, read this book.”
Diane Ravitch has spent five decades analyzing and advocating for national and state education policies designed to reform and reshape public schools. Her work supporting school choice made her the intellectual darling of the right. But when she renounced school choice as a failure, she was abandoned by many old friends and colleagues. Today she is a champion for public schools, a foe of standardized testing, and proclaims herself to be “woke.” Her latest book, An Education: How I Changed My Mind About Schools and Almost Everything Else is published by Columbia University Press
Ravitch was one of eight children from a Jewish family in Houston, Texas, where she grew up with no television, no air conditioning, and, often, no shoes. In college she met and married a man from a wealthy and connected New York City family, where they lived and raised a family. She began working for a socialist magazine, which led to writing about education and, eventually, a PhD in education history.
Ravitch’s writings favored strengthening and expanding school choice and rigorous testing, ideas that aligned well with conservative donors and think tanks who supported her work and led to positions in the George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations. Meanwhile, a chance encounter at an education conference with a New York City high school social studies teacher, Mary Butz, led to a clandestine romance. Ravitch’s new relationship upended her previous “life of comfort and plenty” and led to her marriage to Mary.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg sought Ravitch’s support and counsel for the changes he and school commissioner Joel Klein instituted during his administration, but it was at this time that Ravitch began to question the results of standardized testing and school choice programs like charter schools. Improved test scores at lauded schools proved illusory and charter schools only seemed to thrive because they were able to weed out the most challenged pupils. Gradually, Ravitch abandoned her long-held views on the power of testing or the promise of choice. She began to write and speak out in favor of saving America’s besieged public schools.
Ravitch’s involvement in education idea and policy have earned her a reputation as education’s best-known living historian and its most controversial figure. An Education is the story of the making, unmaking, and remaking of a public intellectual and a remarkable testament to the importance of a mind open to truth and possibility in a world, she writes, “of masks and artifice”.
Original and deeply researched, The Slow Death of Slavery in Dutch New York: A Cultural, Economic, and Demographic History, 1700–1827 (Cambridge University Press, 2025) provides a new interpretation of Dutch American slavery which challenges many of the traditional assumptions about slavery in New York. With an emphasis on demography and economics, Michael J. Douma shows that slavery in eighteenth-century New York was mostly rural, heavily Dutch, and generally profitable through the cultivation of wheat. Slavery in Dutch New York ultimately died a political death in the nineteenth century, while resistance from enslaved persons, and a gradual turn against slavery in society and in the courts, encouraged its destruction.
This important study is expected to reshape the historiography of slavery in the American North. It joins several recently published works in the same subject area:
Christopher Verga is a social studies teacher at the East River Academy for incarcerated youth on Rikers Island, an instructor of Long Island history and Foundations of American History at Suffolk Community College, and an instructor in Politics of Terrorism at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Nazis of Long Island: Sedition, Espionage and the Plot Against (The History Press,2025) is his seventh book on Long Island History. It is about the American Nazi movement prior to and during World War II and is a timely book because there is a resurgence of Nazi like ideology in the world today. While Verga argues that Long Island, New York was a breeding ground for an “American Reich,” the story as he spells out is much broader encompassing the entire New York metropolitan region in the midst of the Great Depression. New York City and its metropolitan area in this period was also a target for German spies and a center of anti-Nazi resistance.
Long Island in the 1930s was a Republican Party and America First stronghold. Verga attempts to draw connections between them and Nazi sympathizers, but the connection may have been tenuous and certainly dissolved once the United States entered the war.
Like in all the local histories written by Christopher Verga, this book is richly documented and easy to read. The village of Breslau, later renamed Lindenhurst, was originally established as a New York City commuter suburb for German immigrants with beer halls and traditional German festivals. It also had a strong pro-German following before the war. Glen Head, Long Island resident Cornelius Lievense was the American financial manager for German industrialist Fritz Thyssen, who was the financial backer of the early Nazi Party activities in the United States. The Nassau County chapters of the America First Committee in the Five Towns, Freeport, Hicksville and Valley Stream hosted the pro-Nazi members of Congress on speaking tours. In the early spring of 1941, Freeport organized a 1,600-person rally for the committee in the Freeport High School auditorium. Guest speaker Republican Senator Gerald Nye of North Dakota called on the audience to do “all in your power to prevent the proposed assignment of American warships to convoy duty.” He declared that “this is nothing but madness.”
The best known pro-German and pro-Nazi facility on Long Island was Camp Siegfried, operated as a vacation point, for pro-German rallies, and for training Hitler Youth. Camp Siegrfried and the town of Yaphank were considered “a little piece of German soil—a Sudetenland in Amerika—planted on this side of the ocean.” The roads at the camp and in the town were named after high ranking Nazis including Adolf Hitler Street, Joseph Goebbels Street and Hermann Göring Street. During the summer, the Long Island Railroad provided special train service on weekends for visitors to Yaphank and Camp Siegfried. Camp Siegfried’s annual August rally attracted an estimated forty thousand people
Because Long Island was home to Army-Air Force bases and major war industries, it was targeted by Nazi spy rings. The Ludwig ring was the second spy operation discovered in New York. German spies imbedded themselves in Republic Aviation, Grumman, and Brewster factories and the smaller defense plants in the Nassau County Roosevelt Field area like the Sperry Gyroscope Company in Garden City. Shortwave radio and telegram transmission stations on the north shore of Eastern Long Island and in Nassau County sent industrial intelligence to Hamburg, Germany.
During wartime, German prisoners of war were incarcerated on Long Island at Camp Upton, Mason General Hospital in Deer Park, and Mitchel Field in Uniondale. If they died the German prisoners were buried in section 2C of Long Island National Cemetery. The local POW camps had open dorms and prisoners were assigned to work on farms. Camp Upton in Brookhaven with 1,500 POWs was the largest facility on Long Island. Heavyweight boxing champion Joe Lewis was the most famous guard at the Upton POW camp.
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