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William Glenn Gray

@willgray.bsky.social

1.3K followers 530 following 83 posts

Professor of history at Purdue: 20th-Century international history & the global economy. Author of TRADING POWER and GERMANY'S COLD WAR. Current book project follows German economic engagement in Brazil.

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Karl Schafer @karlschafer.bsky.social · Sep 1

The owl of Duolingo spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk.

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Reposted by William Glenn Gray

Franziska Davies @efdavies.bsky.social · Nov 25

1/26 Die Ukrainer:innen erinnern heute an ihr größtes nationales Trauma, den Holodomor. Diese von Stalin und seinen Gefolgsleuten künstlich herbeigeführte Hungersnot kostete in der Sowjetukraine etwa vier Millionen Todesopfer.

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Reposted by William Glenn Gray

Nerys Avery @nerysonchina.bsky.social · Dec 3

And so the trade war drumbeat grows louder! China bans export of key minerals to U.S. as trade frictions escalate www.reuters.com/markets/comm...

China bans exports of gallium, germanium, antimony to US

The ban on exports of 'dual-use items' related to these and superhard materials takes effect from Tuesday.

www.reuters.com

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William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · Jul 4

Journalistic malpractice: constant complaints about the extra $3.3 trillion (over 10 years) from the new tax bill; failure to point out that deficits were _already_ going to total $21.1 trillion over the same interval. Reckless fiscal policies driving the US off a cliff.
www.cbo.gov/publication/...

The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2025 to 2035

By the NumbersThe Budget Outlook, by Fiscal YearNotesSee Appendix B.

www.cbo.gov

William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · Jun 14

Three equal branches! #NoKingsDay

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William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · Jun 6

Summertime — when there are actually seats available in the best campus reading rooms!

Reposted by William Glenn Gray

Agence France-Presse @afp.com · Jun 2

L'historien et éditeur Pierre Nora, membre de l'Académie française, est mort lundi à l'âge de 93 ans, a annoncé sa famille à l'AFP.

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William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · Jun 2

When your letterhead carries an amazing font, every letter commands attention. (Admittedly, the drawing is kind of cheesy.)

William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · May 24

This week's new archive was the Archiv Grünes Gedächtnis (Archive of Green Memory) in Berlin-Friedrichshain. They're only open a few days per week but they're very nice and have an enormous collection on the environmental movement, as one would expect!

William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · May 18

Second archive last week: the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich (built 1972 – was that peak brutalism?).

William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · May 13

I’m actually seeing a bit of Argentina stuff since it’s often alphabetically in the same folders as Brazil. I’m in the 1970s today so I’ll try to get impressions where I can.

William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · May 13

But since they performed the search I have no way of knowing if there’s another cache of super-sensitive material they’re deliberately holding back. I will say that they clearly didn’t go through what I ordered to remove files, given the timing of the correspondence.

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William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · May 13

Not too much postwar stuff is processed & open yet, but they are using the Nachlass of Hermann Abs as an entry point. And since he was at the heart of it all for several decades, that’s not bad! I’m working through two days’ worth of Brazil material and it’s fairly good.

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William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · May 12

In Podgorica? (Frantically googling to pretend I got the reference, but no.)

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William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · May 12

Today’s archive visit took me to the Deutsche Bank headquarters in Frankfurt. The mother ship of German capitalism called me home.

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William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · May 4

Sunday @ the St Louis Zoo

William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · May 1

People in my book group raved about the audio version. Multiple voices _can_ be cheesy but in this case it apparently works brilliantly.

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Brad Simpson @bradleyrsimpson.bsky.social · Mar 12

nsarchive.gwu.edu/news/2025-03...

DON'T SHRED ON ME! USAID documents destruction breaks the law, according to National Security Archive

Washington, D.C., March 12, 2025 – The acting executive secretary of the U.S. Agency for International Development Monday night ordered the destruction of classified records and personnel files, accor...

nsarchive.gwu.edu

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William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · Mar 11

Hearty congrats to Stefano Palermo, who successfully defended his Purdue dissertation prospectus – "Business Europe: A History of the European Round Table of Industrialists." Shaping up to be a landmark study on 🇪🇺 integration!
@rkpejsova.bsky.social
@drdaveatkinson.bsky.social
@palstef.bsky.social

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Aki H Heikkinen @akihheikkinen.bsky.social · Mar 7

Expressen: US abandons planning of new military exercises in Europe

US has notified its allies that it intends to stop its participation in planning for upcoming military exercises in Europe. Already scheduled ones for 2025 are not (so far) affected

www.expressen.se/nyheter/varl...

Uppgifter: USA hoppar av militär- övningar i Europa

USA har meddelat sina allierade att man tänker stoppa sitt deltagande i planeringen inför kommande militära övningar i Europa, erfar Expressen. Flera övningar i Sverige kommer att beröras av beslutet.

www.expressen.se

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William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · Mar 6

These are passing thoughts from a historian of 20th-Century Europe. I have no idea how to organize institutional memory preservation at scale. What I can say from experience is that even academic history departments are not very good at passing along accumulated knowledge! 8 & final.

William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · Mar 6

Corruption will make the challenge of restoration all the harder. MAGA loyalists will cynically abuse their power to enrich themselves and form mutual back-scratching networks. Outside interested parties will continue to offer bribes, given that such behavior is becoming normalized. 7/

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William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · Mar 6

In effect, what we're dealing with is a wave of refugees from a foreign-occupied capital. We need to know what they know, so that after DC has been "recaptured," there will be some way to return to accountable governance. 6/

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William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · Mar 6

One information nexus will be the government's on-staff historians (also fired?), though they may not have detailed knowledge of present operations. Privacy issues will arise in any recounting of paused investigations – and what to do with essential classified information? 5/

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William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · Mar 6

So it seems urgent to debrief the fired workers now. Hundreds, perhaps thousands. They will need time and resources – and emotional support! – to commit their agencies' procedures to paper. Who will sponsor them? Private foundations may need to "adopt" specific agencies. 4/

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William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · Mar 6

When the country's fever has broken – in four, eight, twelve years? – rebuilding such agencies will be a post-apocalyptic task. Nobody will be left who remembers how things used to work. Human and digital memories will have evaporated. Not enough of a paper trail any more. 3/

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William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · Mar 6

We have to assume that many of the most competent people staffing the federal government are already out the door, searching for new work; and that the new agency leaders of "guard rail" institutions like the DOJ, FBI, or SEC will actively prevent them from functioning. 2/

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William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · Mar 6

State capacity. Institutional memory. How can we preserve these things in the wake of mass firings and – perhaps even worse – several years of Trumpian cluelessness? Perhaps @historians.org is already at work on this, but anxiety over this woke me up last night. Some thoughts: 1/

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William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · Mar 1

#Caturday

William Glenn Gray @willgray.bsky.social · Mar 1

Yes, but this is the kick that Europe needed. Now there's a threat on two fronts, so the case for a heightened (unified?) military posture is clear to most everyone. Rearmament can no longer be decried as getting caught up in America's wars; quite the contrary. Terrible for the US, good for Europe.