Government and Politics   

July 4, 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of our nation's Declaration of Independence, marking the establishing of our new nation.  But the road to that event began in much earlier times.  We'll begin with what occurred during the reign of King John of England back in the 1200's and the birth of the Magna Carta.  From there, we'll veture through the times of early colonization and settlement in the "New World," as we peruse the charters, declarations and documents that recognized individual liberties and rights, and that eventually led to the Declaration of Independence.  

America’s Chernobyl details the controversies, decision making, and actions that led to the fourth and fifth atomic detonations at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands in August 1946. The nation’s leaders did not understand the power that they possessed. In testing these devices, they unleashed a nuclear catastrophe that had a disastrous effect on thousands of US Navy personnel. This course presents a cautionary tale about the consequences of government and scientific arrogance that we can view from the distance of eighty years.