In his most recent debate with Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders befuddled some viewers with an arcane reference to a 1953 U.S.-backed coup in Iran, which Sanders called an example of America’s history of “overthrowing governments.”

It turns out that the Vermont senator has railed against that coup — assisted by the Central Intelligence Agency against Iran’s prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh — since he was a young radical activist in the mid-1970s.

One big difference between then and now: Forty years ago, Sanders didn’t just complain about CIA interventions abroad; he called for abolishing the spy agency altogether.