American History

Theodore Robert Bundy murdered at least 30 women and girls across seven American states between 1974 and 1978. He confessed to 30 murders in the days before his execution in 1989 — investigators believe the true number is higher, possibly significantly so. He never provided a complete accounting. He was, by conventional measures, an unlikely serial killer. He was handsome, articulate, and charming. He had worked on a political campaign. He volunteered at a suicide prevention hotline. He was a law student. People who knew him described him as kind, thoughtful, and normal. ...

In 1977, a CIA director sat before the United States Senate and confirmed that his agency had, for over two decades, conducted covert experiments on unwitting American and Canadian citizens. The experiments involved LSD administered without consent, sensory deprivation, electroconvulsive therapy beyond any therapeutic dose, hypnosis, sexual blackmail, and psychological torture. At least one person died as a direct result. Many others suffered permanent psychological damage. The program was called MKULTRA. ...

On November 18, 1978, in a remote jungle clearing in the South American nation of Guyana, 918 people died. Most of them drank cyanide-laced punch willingly. Parents gave it to their children first. Nurses administered it to infants with syringes. People who hesitated were injected by force. A few tried to flee into the jungle and were shot. It was the largest mass death of American civilians in history — a record that stood until September 11, 2001. ...

In the year 2000, Enron Corporation was the seventh largest company in the United States. It employed approximately 29,000 people. Its stock traded at over $90 a share. Fortune magazine had named it “America’s Most Innovative Company” for six consecutive years, from 1996 to 2001. Fourteen months later, it was bankrupt. Its stock was worth pennies. Roughly 20,000 employees had lost their jobs. Thousands of ordinary workers had watched retirement savings — invested heavily in Enron stock at the company’s encouragement — evaporate to nothing. ...