U.S. Naval Academy History Professor Wayne Hsieh examines the Generalship of Robert E. Lee.  This class is part of a course called, "The American Way of War."

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Robert E. Lee was a conflicted man when he stood before the Virginia House of Delegates in 1861 to accept command of the state’s military forces. Exactly 150 years later, historian Gary Gallagher spoke on the same spot about Lee’s resignation from the U.S. Army and his competing loyalties--between his country and that of Virginia.

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Author and University of Pennsylvania history professor Stephanie McCurry speaks about her book, “Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South.” She says the South sowed the seeds of its demise in creating a regime that excluded white women and slaves, who together comprised a majority of the population. 

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This week on The Civil War, historians and professors discuss Confederate officer Edward Porter Alexander’s memoir, “Fighting for the Confederacy,” which he wrote in the 1890s about his wartime experiences and observations.

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The battle of Bull Run took place on July 21, 1861 and was one of the main topics of this year’s annual summer conference hosted by the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College.

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Historian Peter Carmichael is a specialist on the Civil War and Southern history. He is currently the Director of the Civil War Institute and teaches history at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. In this week’s class, Professor Carmichael looks at the complexity of the Confederate soldier.

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President Reagan called on Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" in this address at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin on June 12, 1987.

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Fifty years ago on June 26, 1963, President John F. Kennedy spoke in Berlin on the differences between free and Communist systems, famously stating that as a free man he took pride in the words “Ich bin ein Berliner.”

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This June marks the 50th Anniversary of two of President John F. Kennedy’s most memorable speeches. On June 10th 1963, JFK delivered the commencement address at American University known as his “Peace Speech.” He called for high-level negotiations with the Soviet Union, a nuclear test ban treaty and an end to the Cold War.  On June 26th 1963, President Kennedy took a harder line in West Berlin, famously stating that as a free man he took pride in the words “Ich bin ein Berliner.” This is a discussion from the Kennedy Presidential Library about the significance and lasting influence of these two addresses.

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