The Second American Revolution

On the show, Chris Hedges discusses the Second American Revolution with author David Talbot. The populist uprisings of the Progressive Era, labor militancy of the 1930s and the sweeping social and cultural transformations of the 1960s and 1970s constitute America’s second revolution. These movements sought to complete the unfinished work of the first revolution, enfranchising those the founders of the nation had condemned and thrust aside, Blacks, women, Native Americans and the poor. The second American revolution, embodied in its final phase by Dr. Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, spawned a series of powerful movements including the anti-war movement, the Black power movement, the women’s movement, the American Indian Movement, gay and lesbian movements, the United Farm Workers Union, the Weather Underground and a radical, alternative press embodied in publications such as Ramparts magazine. But the promises of these movements have been largely obliterated. The ruling elites mounted a sus