Amy J. Rutenberg
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amyjay401.bsky.social
Amy J. Rutenberg
@amyjay401.bsky.social
Historian of War, Gender, and the Modern U.S. Author of Rough Draft: Cold War Military Manpower Policy and the Origins of Vietnam-Era Draft Resistance. Working on a book on the effects of peace activism on the US military. Former high school teacher.
Reposted by Amy J. Rutenberg
For those trying to make sense of the underlying ideas & motivations at work here, in the history of US foreign relations ideology, unilateralism + interventionism have been core components of isolationism along with Monroe Doctrine justification to use force + assert influence in the hemisphere.🗃️
January 3, 2026 at 6:47 PM
I’m glad to see the GI Rights hotline and Quaker House getting some news coverage. Folks doing this work are so important, and the fact that these services have hung on since the Vietnam War is pretty amazing. 🗃️ #milhist www.npr.org/2025/12/12/n...
U.S. military members fear personal legal blowback tied to boat strikes
Staff officers and at least one drone pilot have sought advice from outside groups over legal concerns about their own involvement — or potential involvement — in the strikes against suspected drug bo...
www.npr.org
December 14, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Reposted by Amy J. Rutenberg
Historians - What are your top assigned reading recommendations for a grad level 20th century US History seminar? 🗃️
December 11, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Hi Historians. We’re splitting our US history, 1945-present course in half. I have to write the proposal for the new 1975-present course. What scholarship do you recommend for me to read to better get a grip on the just emerging historiography? #AcademicSky 🗃️
December 11, 2025 at 1:35 AM
🍎🗺️🗃️
Today is the 70th anniversary of Rosa Parks' arrest. Six myths: 1) She wasn't old or tired. 42 years old that day, she had a "life history of being rebellious" & had spent two decades helping to turn the Montgomery NAACP into a more activist branch alongside ED Nixon and Johnnie Carr.
December 1, 2025 at 4:54 PM
I learned a ton from @hollyguise.bsky.social ‘s excellent Alaska Native Resilience. Highly recommend. 🗃️
Quyaana @amyjay401.bsky.social for the thoughtful review!🗃️

“Rather, it is the importance of her argument that brings us to the work’s third lesson for educators – Native peoples have never been passive victims of American colonization.”

openjournals.bsu.edu/teachinghist...
View of Review - Holly Miowak Guise. Alaska Native Resilience- Voices from World War II.
openjournals.bsu.edu
November 21, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Since the issues are back in the news again, it seems a good time to reiterate that service people have both rights and responsibilities. Refusing to carry out illegal and especially unconstitutional orders is both. www.npr.org/2025/11/20/n...
November 20, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Something calming, because we all need it. Aurora borealis in Iowa.
November 12, 2025 at 1:52 AM
And the firehouse of news that will be forgotten tomorrow continues.

A Department of Homeland Secirity document “also says individuals cannot decline to be photographed, and that photos are stored for 15 years, even if there is no match.”

www.npr.org/2025/11/08/n...
Immigration agents have new technology to identify and track people
The Department of Homeland Security is adopting powerful new tools to monitor noncitizens. Privacy advocates are worried they erode privacy rights for immigrants and Americans alike.
www.npr.org
November 8, 2025 at 12:43 PM
🗃️🗺️
November 7, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Reposted by Amy J. Rutenberg
If you haven't seen this incredible historical data project yet, make it a priority! Mapping Deportations: Unmasking the History of Racism in U.S. Immigration Enforcement.

mappingdeportations.com
Mapping Deportations – U.S. Immigration Control since 1790
Mapping deportations invites you to see the history of U.S. immigration enforcement not as a series of disconnected events, but as a pattern. For more than two centuries, U.S. immigration enforcement…
mappingdeportations.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Or if you’d rather be of the twenty-first century, here’s the Insta link. Either way, historians at Iowa State have fun! www.instagram.com/reel/DQrx518...
November 6, 2025 at 3:44 AM
The Department of History at Iowa State has a lot of amazing educators - and whatever else, we know how to have fun www.facebook.com/share/v/14PE...
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:41 AM
Reposted by Amy J. Rutenberg
One of the q's on the new citizenship test is incorrect. 1920 is not when "all women" got the right to vote. The 19th A prohibited sex-based disenfranchisement, but didn't guarantee voting. Many women, esp. women of color, remained disenfranchised. #WeTheMen
www.washingtonpost.com/nation/inter...
October 25, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Because there is not enough gross, weird, or funny on this app, here is what a two-pound gummy worm looks like - just in case anyone is interested 🤢
October 22, 2025 at 1:55 AM
For those wondering what the law says about changing the design of the White House. Warning: History incoming. 🗃️
We’ve received a lot of questions about Trump’s demolition of the White House East Wing.

Here’s how the process is supposed to work:
October 21, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Ames, Iowa: The middle of the middle. #NoKings
October 18, 2025 at 7:00 PM
This should be required reading in every historical methods and social studies classroom. Something very important is being lost. 🗃️🗺️
Marian Wilson Kimber: It’s painful to realize the people in charge of Iowa’s history apparently have no idea how history works. If they did, they'd know there is no way to predict what parts of the collection will be of interest 5, 20, or 100 years from now. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/10/10/t...
The theft of history
Marian Wilson Kimber: I have wondered if the box of women’s club programs that changed my life will end up in the dumpster.
www.bleedingheartland.com
October 11, 2025 at 3:43 AM
This is a really amazing opportunity for grad students and early career scholars. You do teach military history, even if it’s not your field #milhist #academicsky 🗃️
The Call for Applications for the 2026 Summer Seminar in Military History is now live! Application forms, a 2-page Letter of Interest, and CV/Resume are due December 12th.
www.smh-hq.org/summersemina...
Summer Seminar | The Society for Military History
www.smh-hq.org
October 8, 2025 at 3:30 AM
Haven’t listened to the referenced podcast, but yep, this 🧵 is spot on. Recruiting standards move because they have to, push and pull. And they cannot be extricated from social values. I wrote a whole book on it. #civmil #milhist a.co/d/ftzprwH
October 7, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Reposted by Amy J. Rutenberg
If you've done in-person research at any of the following presidential libraries in the last 8 months, can you please follow me/contact me—soon—for a story I'm working on (can be off the record)?

Hoover
FDR
Truman
Eisenhower
JFK
LBJ
Ford
Carter

And either way, can you please share this request? 🙏
September 30, 2025 at 10:52 PM
I can’t yet parse the details, but when my students student teach, they are fingerprinted and background checked. Dr. Robert’s certainly was, esp since Iowa issued him a superintendent’s license (a requirement of the job).
Updated post with more context. DSM school district says:
-"third-party comprehensive background check was conducted" when Roberts was hired
-Roberts "completed the I-9 employment eligibility verification form and submitted the required documentation" 1/
www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/09/26/i...
ICE detains Des Moines Superintendent Dr. Ian Roberts
Iowa's largest school district had "no confirmed information" on why ICE detained Dr. Ian Roberts, the superintendent since 2023.
www.bleedingheartland.com
September 27, 2025 at 3:53 AM
Hegseth killed DACOWITS, a DOD institution since 1951. Since the 2010s, it’s focused on things like sexual assault prevention and women’s health. This move brings new meaning to the word “lethality,” unfortunately. #civmil www.militarytimes.com/news/pentago...
Hegseth terminates women’s advisory group, slams ‘divisive agenda’
A Sept. 17 memo signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directs the “formal disestablishment” of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services.
www.militarytimes.com
September 25, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Amy J. Rutenberg
The pres saying that women should avoid Tylenol feels like another way that men are diminishing women and their pain.
September 23, 2025 at 1:24 AM