Shameful History

United States strikes in Venezuela

On January 3, 2026, the United States launched Operation Absolute Resolve, a large-scale military campaign in Venezuela ordered by President Donald Trump. The operation culminated in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores by Delta Force operatives, who were transported to New York to face indictments for narcoterrorism. In the aftermath, the U.S. announced plans to temporarily administer the country to ensure a "judicious transition."

Operation Southern Spear Strikes

On September 1, 2025, the United States conducted airstrikes on an alleged drug smuggling speedboat off the coast of Venezuela as part of Operation Southern Spear. The operation was aimed at disrupting narcotics trafficking in the Caribbean. The strikes resulted in the destruction of the vessel and the deaths of its occupants, drawing international criticism and escalating tensions in the region.

Gutting of USAID Budget

In early 2025, the United States government enacted drastic budget cuts to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), signaling a significant shift in foreign policy. The reductions aimed to redirect funds towards domestic initiatives but drew criticism for potentially undermining global humanitarian efforts and diminishing U.S. influence abroad.

Mass Deportations (Second Trump Administration)

In the second term of the Trump administration, the U.S. government launched a large-scale deportation campaign. On January 23, 2025, ICE conducted its first major raids on sanctuary cities, marking the beginning of this policy.

Pardon of January 6 Defendants

On his first day in office for a second term, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation granting blanket clemency to nearly 1,600 people convicted of or awaiting trial for offenses related to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The pardon covered the vast majority of defendants, including those convicted of violent assaults on police officers. Additionally, sentence commutations were issued for 14 high-profile defendants, including members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys who had been convicted of seditious conspiracy. The move was highly controversial, drawing criticism for potentially undermining the rule of law and the judicial process.

Overturning of Roe v. Wade

On June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court issued its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, overturning the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that had established a constitutional right to abortion. This decision disregarded nearly 50 years of precedent and eliminated federal protection for abortion rights, returning the authority to ban or regulate abortion to individual states.

The ruling triggered immediate "trigger bans" in several states, making abortion illegal or heavily restricted almost instantly. The decision has had profound impacts on women's healthcare, bodily autonomy, and privacy rights across the country, leading to a patchwork of laws where access to reproductive healthcare depends entirely on geographic location.

Abu Ghraib Torture and Prisoner Abuse

Beginning in 2003, personnel of the United States Army and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) committed a series of human rights violations against detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. These violations included physical and sexual abuse, torture, rape, sodomy, and murder. The abuses came to widespread public attention following the publication of graphic photographs in April 2004, causing shock and outrage across the world and damaging the U.S.'s reputation.

Invasion of Iraq

A United States-led invasion that toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. The invasion was based on flawed intelligence claiming Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and posed an immediate threat. No stockpiles of WMDs were ever found.

Room 641A and NSA Surveillance

Room 641A is a telecommunication interception facility operated by AT&T for the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), located in the SBC Communications building in San Francisco, California. The room was used to intercept Internet and telephone communications passing through AT&T's network, which accounts for a significant portion of internet traffic in the United States.

The existence of the room was revealed in 2006 by whistleblower Mark Klein, a former AT&T technician. It exposed the massive scale of the NSA's warrantless surveillance program, authorized by President George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks, which collected domestic communications of millions of ordinary Americans without probable cause.

Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp

The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a United States military prison located within the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base on the coast of Cuba. Established in 2002, it has been widely criticized for indefinite detention without trial, the use of torture, and the denial of legal due process to detainees (many of whom were held for years without sufficient evidence). The camp has become a symbol of U.S. government overreach and human rights abuses in the War on Terror.

FBI Ignores Reports on Jeffrey Epstein

In 1996, police in Palm Beach, Florida, forwarded a report to the FBI detailing allegations that wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein was soliciting minors for prostitution. despite the seriousness of the accusations involving underage girls, the FBI did not investigate the claims at that time.

This failure to act allowed Epstein to continue his abuse for over another decade before he was finally convicted of procuring a minor for prostitution in 2008 in a controversial plea deal, and later arrested on federal sex trafficking charges in 2019. The lack of federal intervention in 1996 remains a critical point of failure in the history of US law enforcement's handling of Epstein's crimes.

Military Burn Pits and Health Risks

Burn pits were a common waste disposal practice utilized by the United States military at bases in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations in the Middle East. Everything from plastics, batteries, medical waste, and tires to human waste was doused in jet fuel and set on fire in open-air pits.

Exposure to the toxic smoke released by these burn pits has been linked to severe long-term health issues for veterans, including rare cancers, respiratory diseases, and neurological disorders. For years, the Department of Veterans Affairs denied many claims related to burn pit exposure, leaving thousands of sick veterans without care or compensation until the passage of the PACT Act in 2022.

United States invasion of Panama

The United States invasion of Panama, codenamed "Operation Just Cause," began on December 20, 1989. The primary goals included removing Panama's de facto ruler, General Manuel Noriega, from power and extraditing him to the United States to face charges of drug trafficking and money laundering. The invasion involved approximately 26,000 U.S. troops and resulted in significant civilian casualties and property damage.

Iran-Contra Affair

A political scandal in the United States that occurred during the second term of the Reagan Administration. Senior administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to the Khomeini government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was the subject of an arms embargo, hoping to use the proceeds to fund the Contras in Nicaragua.

Watergate Scandal

A major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon that led to his resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continuous attempts to cover up its involvement in the June 17, 1972, break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Washington, D.C. Watergate Office Building.

War on Drugs

A global campaign, led by the U.S. federal government, of drug prohibition, military aid, and military intervention, with the aim of reducing the illegal drug trade in the United States. It was famously declared by President Richard Nixon. The campaign has been widely criticized for its racist application, disproportionately targeting Black and Hispanic communities, and leading to the era of mass incarceration in the United States.

Kent State Shootings

The Kent State shootings, also known as the May 4 massacre, were the killings of four and wounding of nine other unarmed Kent State University students by the Ohio National Guard on May 4, 1970, in Kent, Ohio, 40 mi (64 km) south of Cleveland. The killings took place during a peace rally against the expanding involvement of the Vietnam War into neutral Cambodia by United States military forces as well as the National Guard presence on campus.

Assassination of Fred Hampton

Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, was assassinated in his sleep during a raid by the Chicago Police Department and the FBI.

My Lai Massacre

U.S. Army soldiers from the Americal Division murdered between 347 and 504 unarmed civilians in Sơn Mỹ village, South Vietnam. The massacre, which included women, children, and the elderly, was initially covered up by the military but later exposed by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, sparking global outrage and intensifying opposition to the Vietnam War.

Operation CHAOS

Operation CHAOS was a domestic espionage project conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) under President Lyndon B. Johnson and later expanded under President Richard Nixon. The goal was to uncover possible foreign influence on domestic anti-war and civil rights movements.

Despite the CIA being prohibited by its own charter from spying on US citizens inside the country, agents infiltrated student groups, anti-war organizations, and civil rights movements. They gathered illegal files on over 300,000 citizens and 1,000 groups. The operation was exposed in 1974 by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh in The New York Times, leading to congressional investigations.

Gulf of Tonkin Incident

The Gulf of Tonkin incident involved two separate confrontations involving North Vietnam and the United States in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. On August 2, 1964, the destroyer USS Maddox engaged three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats. A second engagement was claimed to have occurred on August 4, 1964, involving the Maddox and the USS Turner Joy.

However, later investigation revealed that the second attack never happened and was based on flawed intelligence and radar errors. Despite this, the Johnson administration used the alleged second attack to persuade Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which granted the President broad authority to escalate U.S. military involvement in Vietnam without a formal declaration of war.

Project 112 and Project SHAD

Project 112 was a biological and chemical weapon experimentation project conducted by the United States Department of Defense from 1962 to 1973. The project involved 50 distinct experiments and included the use of various chemical and biological agents, including VX nerve gas, Sarin, and E. coli.

A sub-project, Project SHAD (Shipboard Hazard and Defense), involved tests conducted on US Navy ships to determine their vulnerability to chemical and biological warfare. Thousands of US military personnel were exposed to these agents without their knowledge or consent. The existence of these tests was denied by the Pentagon until the early 2000s.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a failed military invasion of Cuba undertaken by the CIA-sponsored paramilitary group Brigade 2506 on 17 April 1961. A counter-revolutionary military group (made up of mostly Cuban exiles who traveled to the United States after Castro's takeover, but also of some US military personnel), trained and funded by the CIA, Brigade 2506 fronted the armed wing of the Democratic Revolutionary Front (DRF) and intended to overthrow the increasingly communist government of Fidel Castro. Launched from Guatemala and Nicaragua, the invasion was defeated within three days by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, under the direct command of Castro.

COINTELPRO

COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) was a series of covert and illegal projects conducted by the FBI aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic American political organizations.

Project MKUltra

Project MKUltra was a top-secret CIA program of illegal human experimentation on human subjects, intended to develop procedures and uncover drugs such as LSD to be used in interrogations and torture in order to weaken the individual and force confessions through brainwashing and psychological torture.

The program involved more than 150 human experiments at universities, research foundations, and prisons. Many subjects were unwitting participants. The program's existence was revealed in 1975 by the Church Committee of the U.S. Congress, though many documents had been destroyed by CIA Director Richard Helms in 1973.

McCarthyism

McCarthyism, also known as the Second Red Scare, was a political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a campaign spreading fear of alleged communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage in the United States during the late 1940s and 1950s. The term is named after U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, who led the campaign.

Edgewood Arsenal Human Experiments

From 1948 to 1975, the U.S. Army Chemical Corps conducted classified human subject research at the Edgewood Arsenal facility in Maryland. The purpose was to evaluate the impact of low-dose chemical warfare agents on military personnel and to test protective clothing and pharmaceuticals.

About 7,000 soldiers enlisted in these experiments, which involved exposure to some 250 different chemicals, including sarin, VX nerve gas, LSD, PCP, and various incapacitating agents. Many participants were not fully informed of the risks or the nature of the substances they were exposed to, claiming they were coerced or misled, and have suffered long-term health effects.

Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the detonation of two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945 by the United States. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only use of nuclear weapons in armed conflict.

Operation Paperclip

Operation Paperclip was a secret US intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from Germany to the United States for government employment, primarily between 1945 and 1959. Many of these scientists were former members of the Nazi Party and some had been leaders in the Nazi regime, including Wernher von Braun, who was a member of the SS.

President Harry Truman explicitly ordered that no committed Nazis or active supporters of Nazi militarism be recruited. To bypass this, US intelligence officials created false employment histories and purged their records of Nazi affiliations—"bleaching" their files—suppressing evidence of war crimes to secure their expertise for the Cold War and the Space Race.

Internment of Japanese Americans

The forced relocation and incarceration in concentration camps of about 120,000 residents of Japanese ancestry by the US government following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The internment is considered one of the most atrocious violations of American civil rights in the 20th century.

Crucially, reports from the FBI and naval intelligence confirming that Japanese Americans posed no military threat were suppressed by the U.S. government. Officials deliberately withheld this evidence from the Supreme Court during cases challenging the internment, arguing military necessity while knowing it was false.

Redlining

A discriminatory practice in which services (financial and otherwise) were withheld from potential customers who resided in neighborhoods classified as 'hazardous' to investment; these neighborhoods had significant numbers of racial and ethnic minorities and low-income residents.

Tuskegee Syphilis Study

The U.S. Public Health Service study that observed the natural progression of untreated syphilis in African American men in Alabama for 40 years. Participants were not told they had syphilis and were denied treatment even after penicillin became the standard of care.

Tulsa Race Massacre

The Tulsa Race Massacre took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921, when mobs of white residents, some of whom were deputized and given weapons by city officials, attacked black residents and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It resulted in the destruction of more than 35 square blocks of the wealthiest black community in the United States, known as "Black Wall Street".

Wilmington Massacre

The Wilmington Massacre was a coup d'état and white supremacist massacre that occurred in Wilmington, North Carolina. A mob of 2,000 white men attacked the only black newspaper in the state, and murdered an estimated 60 to 300 people, overthrowing the legitimately elected local fusionist government. It is considered the only successful coup d'état in the history of the United States.

Plessy v. Ferguson

Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality, a doctrine that came to be known as "separate but equal". The decision legitimized the many state laws re-establishing racial segregation that had been passed in the American South after the end of the Reconstruction era.

Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom

The overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom began on January 17, 1893, with a coup d'état against Queen Liliʻuokalani on the island of Oahu by subjects of the Hawaiian Kingdom, United States citizens, and foreign residents residing in Honolulu. The coup led to the end of the indigenous monarchy and the eventual annexation of Hawaii by the United States in 1898, despite protests from Native Hawaiians.

Wounded Knee Massacre

The Wounded Knee Massacre was a domestic massacre of nearly three hundred Lakota people by soldiers of the United States Army. It occurred on December 29, 1890, near Wounded Knee Creek on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the U.S. state of South Dakota, following a botched attempt to disarm the Lakota camp.

Chinese Exclusion Act

The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers. It was the first law implemented to prevent all members of a specific ethnic or national group from immigrating. The act was initially intended to last for 10 years, but was renewed in 1892 and made permanent in 1902. It was not repealed until 1943 with the Magnuson Act.

Dred Scott v. Sandford

Dred Scott v. Sandford was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court in which the Court held that the United States Constitution was not meant to include American citizenship for people of African descent, whether enslaved or free, and therefore they could not sue in federal court. The decision also argued that the ban on slavery in the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. The ruling is widely considered one of the worst in Supreme Court history and played a significant role in precipitating the American Civil War.

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern interests in slavery and Northern Free-Soilers. The Act required that all escaped enslaved people, upon capture, be returned to the enslaver and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate. Abolitionists nicknamed it the "Bloodhound Law" for the dogs that were used to track down people fleeing from slavery.

Women's Suffrage

For over a century after the nation's founding, women were legally denied the right to vote in the United States, rendering them without a political voice. The legal right of women to vote was established only after decades of struggle, first in various states and localities, sometimes on a limited basis, and then nationally in 1920 with the passing of the 19th Amendment.

The Trail of Tears

The forced displacements of approximately 60,000 people of the "Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government. The migration was marked by significant suffering, hunger, disease, and death.

Indian Removal Act

The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830, authorizing the president to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. A few tribes went peacefully, but many resisted the relocation policy. During the fall and winter of 1838 and 1839, the Cherokees were forcibly moved west by the United States government. Approximately 4,000 Cherokees died on this forced march, which became known as the "Trail of Tears".

Slavery in the United States

The legal institution of human chattel enslavement, primarily of Africans and African Americans, that existed in the United States of America from the country's founding in 1776 (and in the colonies that became the U.S. starting in 1619) until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865.