Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 01/10/2026A million Black Americans served in WWII. Know who talked a lot about fighting for democracy? They did. 020
Reposted by Ed GitreTej Nagaraja @tejnagaraja.bsky.social · 01/09/2026My new book is out this month! “Troop Movements: Labor, Race, and Global Freedom Struggles in America’s World War II” — by Tejasvi Nagaraja Buy it! Get in touch with me — if you have any ideas?: * book review * book-tour event * assigning it to teach * interview or podcast Thanks — Stay tuned! 15123
Reposted by Ed GitreMass Observation Archive @massobsarchive.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Exciting news (well we think so)! We are looking for new people to regularly contribute to our archive! We accept applications from anyone based in the UK who has an interest in sending us their thoughts and opinions about life in the UK. #Skystorians massobs.org.uk/write-for-th...massobs.org.ukWrite for the archive - Mass Observation ArchiveWriting for Mass Observation You can apply to write for the archive here. Current Observers If you are one of our current Observers you may find our handbook for new Observers helpful. This has all th... 15862
Reposted by Ed GitreRobert Greene II @robgreeneii.bsky.social · 31/08/2026Please enjoy this piece I wrote for @currentaffairs.bsky.social about the history of defending Black history, and the lessons it offers today: www.currentaffairs.org/news/black-h...currentaffairs.orgHow to Defend Black HistorySince the era of Reconstruction, Black historians have always fought to defend the truth against white supremacist mythology. In the second Trump administration, we must again. 01910
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 08/09/2026If you've not read the "Federal Relations Strategy Quarterly Report" prepared for the AHA by Thorn Run Partners you really ought to. I found it an illuminating if also bracing read. 🗃️chronicle.brightspotcdn.com 031
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 14/08/2026“Amateurs talk strategy. Professionals talk logistics," General Omar Bradley is said to have observed. 000
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 14/08/2026This is very true, though our history shows that White folks can go too far themselves. Violent White resistance to any form of integration in the 1940s backfired, ultimately, making it all but impossible for the federal gov't to continue supporting Jim Crow. White supremacists don't always win. 010
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 10/08/2026I recently learned that FDR's administration also used tax incentives on high corporate taxes to achieve policy aims, using amortization to underwrite the staggering expansion of physical facilities needed to prepare for and wage WWII. 100
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 07/08/2026The accumulation of failures, I would add, is making a full-scale ground invasion all the more improbable. There was lots of chatter in MAGA circles about reviving a draft. Tellingly, not anymore. 011
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 23/07/2026Definitely problems. More to the story, to be sure. Also in 1944, US v. Mitchell dropped. radar.auctr.edu/voting-restr...radar.auctr.edu 010
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 22/07/2026True. Still WWII provides a counterpoint. The service vote in '42 was negligible, est. 0.5% of the eligible vote. MS Sen. Eastland rightly viewed the military absentee ballot plan in '44 a threat to white supremacy in the South. In the pres. election 2.8 million service votes were cast that year. 🗃️ 120
Reposted by Ed GitreAndrew J. Huebner @andrewhuebner.bsky.social · 17/07/2026www.cambridge.org/core/books/c... So our Cambridge History of War and Society is out and available! My co-editor Jennifer Keene and I are so appreciative of all our authors—see list in the image. We’re very proud of this volume and it’s because of all the incredible scholars who contributed. 1207
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 13/07/2026Time hasn't run out quite yet. www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...federalregister.govRegulation for Federal Financial AssistanceThe Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposes to revise the Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance to improve government- wide policies and requirements related to the management of grants, co... 000
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 29/06/2026Congratulations 🎊 @zooniverse.bsky.social on reachng this monumental milestone! 030
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 06/05/2026How is it possible that Klein, a connoisseur of liberalism, just discovered the concept of civic virtue? He does likes reducing liberalism to libertarianism, though. I had to stop listening. 050
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 03/05/2026Despite my feelings about the @nytimes.com, this is refreshing perspective on the animalistic impulses juicing America's techno-military imperialism. Thank you @scottsandage.bsky.social for spreading the word. Jackson is again in fine form. 011
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 30/04/2026"LEDO, ASSAI, INDIA-1st It Robert F. Higgins of Newton Highland, Texas, voting officer for the QM battalion (Mob) delivering federal ballots to men of that battalion, while S/Sgt Dennis Smith of Jacksonville, Florida casts his vote. (U.S. Signal Corps Photo from Bureau of Public Relations) 11-10-44" 000
Reposted by Ed GitreHistory of Social Science @histsocialscience.bsky.social · 17/04/2026See the new issue of History of Social Science, just published! Half the articles are free, including @brad.bolman.com’s account of Bruno Latour’s blocked appointment at the Institute for Advanced Study and Chas Camic’s short bio of Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class muse.jhu.edu/issue/56614muse.jhu.eduProject MUSE - History of Social Science-Volume 2, Number 1, Winter 2026 155
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 17/04/2026Listen to this episode. I am biased, but judge for yourself. 000
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 14/04/2026I'm so pleased our article on combat stress in WWII is now out, using data from americansoldierww2.org. One key finding: 62% of surveyed combat veterans in the Pacific Theater exhibited enough psychological distress that they would have been disqualified from induction. doi.org/10.1177/2156... 010
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 07/04/2026Does World War II -- the "lessons," the institutions, the commitments, the sacrifices, the people who served, endured and died--matter anymore? 000
Reposted by Ed GitreJason A. Higgins, Ph.D @jasonhiggins.bsky.social · 07/04/2026This guy steals all Nixon’s ideas. His threats are straight out of the Nixon’s “Madman Theory.” It did not work with Vietnam. It will not work with Iran. It’s like none of the lessons from the past 60 years of American war are ever learned. 1164
Reposted by Ed GitrePeter Johnston @peterajohnston.bsky.social · 28/03/2026Another great pair of papers from @abbyswhitlock.bsky.social and @edgitre.bsky.social at #SMH2026, on Army Talks and GI Roundtables, and segregation and desegregation in the SWW respectively. 152
Reposted by Ed GitreMayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 17/03/2026Happy St. Patrick's Day, New York. 1008389549564
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 17/03/2026Can someone please start now on a Judt-style updated Postwar if they haven't already? 000
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 17/03/2026Agreed! I think its popularity was and is misinterpreted, thanks in part to Whyte and The Organization Man, as blind acceptance of conformity and loyalty oaths. 010
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 13/03/2026Astute summation from @vermontgmg.bsky.social. "Instead, we have a government that has been repeatedly surprised by the most basic and foreseeable consequences of its own actions." I keep thinking of Eisenhower as well, and of Marshall. 18316
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 13/03/2026The US will pay the price. Some families have paid the ultimate price already. 000
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 13/03/2026Reporting from two weeks ago said that only about half of these expeditionary units were sufficiently prepared to forward deploy.federalnewsnetwork.comMarines looking for levers to pull to improve readiness | Federal News NetworkMarines Corps Lt. Gen. Jay Bargeron said getting its amphibious groups to an 80% readiness rate up from about 50% is a top priority. 000
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 12/03/2026Indeed a lesson hardly if ever learned. Certain WWII British officials urged the carpet bombing of German population centers because, they opined, it would break civilian morale. They asserted this after the German blitz had failed to break the morale of ... you got it... the British populace. 000
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 11/03/2026Another flagged WWII project: "War Heroes: Chinese American Experiences." Why? "This collaboration aims to uplift and recognize the contributions and experiences of Chinese American veterans, which is in line with the principles of DEI." A third project focuses on female service members in the WASP. 010
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 11/03/2026One of the NEH grants I know well, a Library of Virginia WWII digitization project. Why was it flagged DEI? "Digitizing and making discoverable the WWII separation notices can provide accessibility to historical records, promoting inclusivity and diverse perspectives in humanities research." 😠historians.org 110
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 09/03/2026Isn't it more probable that the administration is trying to calm markets? When DOD & State are on the same page, I'll find this more believable. 000
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 08/03/2026With this war, POTUS is breaking decisively with the anti-interventionist America First tradition. Certain movement leaders were convinced at the outset of WWII that wealthy Jewish internationalists were behind the drive to get the US into the war. Hard to imagine how MAGA reconciles this cleavage. 000
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 07/03/2026"GODSPEED"taskandpurpose.comTop officer in Middle East tells US troops 'you will change the course of human history'The top U.S. commander in the Middle East told troops that they were moving from 'deterrence into active combat' ahead of Iran strikes. 000
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 07/03/2026Unconditional surrender = defeat & occupation. No diplomacy. Only military action. This was the Allied plan & objective for WWII Germany & Japan. We are going to need so many body bags. 000
Reposted by Ed GitreChris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 17/02/2026On Presidents’ Day 2026, a 77-year-old federal judge in Philadelphia issued a ruling that blocks the Trump administration’s efforts to take down or otherwise excise information from Independence National Historical Park relating to George Washington’s ownership of slaves. Law Dork:lawdork.comA Presidents' Day lesson from Philadelphia“Each person who visits the President’s House and does not learn of the realities of founding-era slavery receives a false account of this country’s history,“ Judge Cynthia Rufe wrote. 330070
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 16/02/2026So true. Carnegie Foundation funding of Gunnar Myrdal's study of race in the US wasn't a problem until the Supreme Court used it in support of Brown vs Board of Education. 000
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 16/02/2026Recommend looking into the fascinating history of the "Better Baby" movement with books like Annette K. Vance Dorey's Better Baby Contests. 131
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 15/02/2026The most commented on characteristic of the first draft selectees in 1940 was the diversity of ethnicities. The ignorance of US history is remarkable. 010
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 13/02/2026McCarthy-era congressmen accused foundations of being captured by Communists. coxcommitteereport.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/.... They tore into Carnegie for funding Gunnar Myrdal's *An American Dilemma* after the landmark study of race in the US was cited in Brown vs Board. Mellon is in good company.coxcommitteereport.weebly.com 010
Reposted by Ed GitreKevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 05/02/2026I am speechless. "The National Park Service has removed visitor brochures from the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument. Among the anticipated changes? No longer calling his murderer a 'racist.'" 🗃️ mississippitoday.org/2026/02/05/m...mississippitoday.orgMedgar Evers’ killer was a Klansman, but Trump administration says stop calling him a racist - Mississippi TodayAmong anticipated changes to a new visitor brochure for the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument is no longer using "racist" to describe the killer of the civil rights leader. 30851382
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 05/02/2026I was looking forward to reading Shake's book. I find the history of civilian-military relations to be far more lively, overflowing with drama, conflict, politics, passion, and negotiation. 000
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 02/02/2026This is a bit rich, isn't it? Moyn and his crew chastised anyone who dared make a historical comparison of precisely this sort, simply with a different political figure. 020
Ed Gitre @edgitre.bsky.social · 31/01/2026"Observing human behavior confirms that for some among us, the perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human decency. And the rule of law be damned." 000