Author: Reporter

They had watched overnight as the bombardments grew closer, and observed through binoculars as the last U.S. Marines piled into a helicopter on the roof of the embassy to be whisked away from Saigon. So when the reporters who had stayed behind heard the telltale squeak of the rubber sandals worn by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops in the stairs outside The Associated Press office, they weren’t surprised, and braced themselves for possible detention or arrest. But when the two young soldiers who entered showed no signs of malice, the journalists just kept reporting. Offering the men a...

During his adolescence, William Fong’s entire world was contained in San Francisco. But in 1967, over a decade into the Vietnam War, he was drafted. At age 20, he left his home in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood for basic training, and then found himself in Asia for the first time. Anticipating he would be surrounded by American soldiers who were mostly white, Fong grew anxious about being perceived as an enemy combatant. That anxiety only strengthened his conviction and determination to be the best soldier possible, he said. “I wanted to be accepted like anybody else, not necessarily Chinese...

During his two months of occupation in the White House, Donald Trump has embarked on a dizzying teardown of the federal government and attacks on long-standing institutions in an attempt to increase his own autocratic authority. Trump’s actions are not just about consolidating power, they are a deliberate stress test on the resilience of American democracy. By aggressively dismantling legal guardrails, ignoring ethical norms, and challenging institutional independence, he forces the system to either yield to his authority or expend its strength trying to contain him. The tactic is designed to weaken democratic defenses over time, conditioning the public...

As President Donald Trump pushes the historical boundaries of executive power, some of the Democratic Party’s core political institutions are preparing for the possibility that the federal government may soon launch criminal investigations against them. The Democrats’ dominant national fundraising platform, ActBlue, and the party’s largest protest group, Indivisible, are working with their attorneys for just such a scenario, according to officials within both organizations. Trump’s top political allies have suggested both groups should face prosecution. Other Democratic allies are planning for Trump-backed legal crackdowns as well. Wary of antagonizing the president, most prefer to stay anonymous for now....

Fifty years after the fall of Saigon, the Vietnam War remains a defining rupture in American history. Not only in terms of foreign policy and military engagement, but in how it reshaped culture, identity, and public trust. It was the first U.S. conflict to be fully televised, the last fought under conscription, and perhaps the most bitterly contested at home. As American troops fought a shadowy war abroad, an equally fierce cultural battle unfolded at home across radio airwaves, bookstore shelves, movie screens, and living room televisions. This was a war that left no corner of American life untouched....