American History Hit
Episodes
Frederick Douglass: Civil War to Statesman
13 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How did Frederick Douglass, born into enslavement, rise to become one of the most influential orators, writers, and publishers of his time. By the end...
Jamestown: The British and The Powhatan
10 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From suspicion, to siege, to collaboration, to all out war - in this episode we uncover the complex reality of the Jamestown colonists' relationship w...
Frederick Douglass: Enslavement & Escape
06 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Born enslaved in 1818, by the time of the Civil War Frederick Douglass was famous around the United States and Europe for his work in the abolition mo...
Jamestown: The Journey To America
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In May 1607, over 100 English settlers arrived at Chesapeake Bay on the East Coast of North America. Traveling 50 miles inland along the James River, ...
FDR & Churchill
30 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
FDR and Winston Churchill spent 113 days in each others' company during WWII. FDR even saw Churchill naked. But how close were the pair in personality...
What Does 'Caucasian' Mean?
27 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the 19th Century, a war on the boundary between Europe and Asia had an unexpected effect. It caused the American public to re-examine one of the te...
FDR & Stalin
23 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
They say that the enemy of your enemy is your friend, but did that apply to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his Soviet counterpart, Joseph Stalin,...
Romans in America
20 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why was there once a fashion for styling your hair like Brutus, the most famous of Julius Caesar's assassins? Why are there so many neoclassical build...
FDR vs Hitler
16 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The leaders of the two most powerful nations fighting in the Second World War, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler, never met. They never...
Who Was Sitting Bull?
13 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sitting Bull, Jumping Badger, Slow - what do we know about the man who went by each of these names? How did he earn them and what was his role in the ...
President FDR & the New Deal
09 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 1932, amidst the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected the 32nd President of the United States. He was more than a leader; he was a b...
The First 12 Days of the Civil War
06 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In April 1861, Union forces having lost the first battle of the Civil War, attention turned to the Confederacy's likely next target - Washington DC.En...
President Herbert Hoover: Did He Cause the Great Depression?
02 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Herbert Hoover is synonymous with failure. As the Great Depression hit, shanty town across America were nicknamed 'Hoovervilles' in honour o...
Remembering Jimmy Carter: Life & Legacy
30 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this special episode, Don Wildman is joined by experts Jonathan Alter and Jefferson Cowie to delve into the remarkable life of the 39th president o...
Japanese in America
30 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When the US turned to Japan for workers in the late 19th Century, they probably never foresaw that one day soon they would imprison those who arrived,...
Lexington & Concord: The First Battles of the Revolutionary War
26 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The shot heard ‘round the world'; the start of the American Revolution. An event that would have profound consequences for world history, especially...
How Old is America?
23 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When fossils were discovered in the US during the 19th Century, it altered American understandings of science, religion, race and more. So what was th...
Outlaws vs the FBI: J. Edgar Hoover's G-Men
19 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What makes the ideal gangster hunter? In the 1930s, outlaws like John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Bonnie & Clyde were the scourge on the justice s...
Was the Civil War Won by Chance?
16 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How did a couple's holiday save Kyoto from certain ruin? How did a landslide contribute to the Revolutionary War? Basically, how have chance encounter...
President Calvin Coolidge: The Roaring 20s' Quiet Leader
12 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sworn in after the death of President Harding by the light of a kerosene lamp, the 30th President of the United States led the country through 6 years...
Waco: A Cult, the FBI and a Fiery Ending
09 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
76 people died on 19th April 1993 when the compound of a religious sect, the Branch Davidians, went up in flames. It had been under siege by governmen...
Pearl Harbor: The Man Who Spied For Japan
05 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On 7th December, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Navy struck the United States. In an action which killed 2,403 Americans and destroyed 21 US warships and...
UFOs in the US
02 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Alien spacecraft, phenomena from another dimension, ghosts, demons of satan, a trick of light - whatever you might believe UFOs to be, they have a lon...
The Mayflower: What Was Life Like At Sea?
28 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A cargo hold, just 5 feet tall and divided up with canvas - this is what served as the living quarters for the 102 passengers of the Mayflower on thei...
The Mayflower: Why Did the Pilgrims Leave Europe?
25 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
More than 30 million people can trace their ancestry to the 102 passengers and 30 crew aboard the Mayflower when it landed in Plymouth Bay, Massachuse...
President Warren G. Harding: Scandals, Affairs & Cabinet Selections
21 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Despite dying as one of the most popular presidents in history, the 29th Commander-in-Chief has been consistently ranked one of the worst of the Ameri...
The Spanish-American War
18 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In April 1898 the United States declared war on Spain. By the end of the war that December, the Spanish had lost their centuries-old colonial empire a...
A CIA Man in China: 20 Years Imprisoned
14 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This is the story of America's longest held prisoner of war. John 'Jack' Downey, an American CIA operative, was imprisoned by the Chinese for 21 years...
Nazis in America: Fascism in the 1930s
11 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 1933, The Pittsburgh Courier published an editorial entitled 'Hitler Learns from America'. So how and why was fascism on the rise in the Unite...
Presidents' Private Lives
07 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With the US election happening, we wanted to take a look back at the presidents from the past what we know about their sex lives.Which president was w...
Elections Explained: A History of Rigged Elections
04 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Invisible ink, delayed flights and political meddling - elections are a symbol of democracy, so how can they become the opposite?Don is joined for thi...
New York Morgue's Dark Secrets
31 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The unclaimed dead of New York City's streets and rivers were brought to the New York Morgue in the second half of the nineteenth century. This histor...
Elections Explained: The Man Who's Lost The Most
28 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What causes a person to lose the Presidential election?Henry Clay ran for the Presidency 3 times, and for nomination by his party 5 times, but never m...
The Doolittle Raid: WW2 Bombing of Japan
24 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If somebody asked you to go on a dangerous mission, no other details, would you volunteer?Well, in 1942, that's exactly what 120 crewmen of the US Arm...
Elections Explained: How FDR Won Four Times
21 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
4,322 days. That's how long Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in office. Whilst no other US president has served more than two terms, FDR was elected four...
The Battle of Bull Run
17 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On July 21, 1861, Confederate and Union forces met for the first time in full-scale battle at Bull Run Creek, near Manassas, Virginia. By the end of t...
Elections Explained: A History of Voting
14 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We have a constitutional right to vote in the United States ... don't we? Find out in this first episode of American History Hit's series, Elections E...
Outlaws: John Dillinger | Public Enemy Number One
10 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What does it take to be the first person named as 'Public Enemy No.1' by the US Bureau of Investigation?In this episode, we're going to find out. Don ...
Who Was Christopher Columbus?
07 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Did Columbus really think the Earth was flat? Where did he come from? Where did he get to? To untangle the myths of Columbus and his complicated legac...
Outlaws: Bonnie & Clyde
03 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Just how murderous were Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow? Where did those famous photos come from? And how did the press lead to the pair's demise?Don c...
Woodrow Wilson & The End of WW1: The League of Nations
30 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to US foreign policy in the early 20th Century, isolationism tends to come to mind. What, then, was Woodrow Wilson's impact on the end o...
Outlaws: Jesse James
26 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jesse James. Perhaps the most notorious American outlaw?He’s become legendary figure of the Wild West, compared to an American ‘Robin Hood.’ But...
Guantanamo Bay Detention Center: A History From The Inside
23 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Very few people know what it is like to be in the infamous US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, but our 3 guests for this episode have all had fir...
Outlaws: New York's Criminal Mastermind
19 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When was the first bank robbery? What does it take to be successful in organized crime? Is it possible to be non-violent? And how might you avoid gett...
How The World Sees The US: The Art of Diplomacy
16 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How did Egypt and Israel come to an agreement at Camp David in 1979? How did the USSR come to allow the operation of NATO troops in East Germany? Amba...
McCarthy & the Second Red Scare
12 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Who was Joe McCarthy? How did this Republican Senator come to lead a nationwide campaign against communism? And how did he bring about his own downfal...
Japanese in America: Railroads, Internment Camps & Little Tokyo
08 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When the US turned to Japan looking for workers in the late 19th Century, they probably never foresaw that one day soon they would imprison those who ...
President Woodrow Wilson: Progressive? Warmonger? Overrated?
05 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The 20th Century is up and running and the next President in our series, Woodrow Wilson, is in for a challenge. Reconstruction is over, Europe is on t...
British Brides for American Tobacco: A Tudor Trade
02 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 1621 the Virginia Company of London put out a call for young, handsome and honestly educated women to become wives for the planters in its new colo...
Who Was The Richest President?
29 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Which President was best with their money? Which was worst? And are Presidents responsible for paying for their food, staff and parties during their t...
Eisenhower: D-Day and the Birth of the American Superpower
26 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In June 1944, the joint forces of the Allies began the liberation of continental Europe on D-Day. But was there tension within the ranks?Don speaks to...
President William Howard Taft: The Reluctant Politician?
22 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sandwiched between Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson is our 26th President of the United States, William Howard Taft. Did he have the confidence, ...
Lafayette: The Marquis and the American Revolution
19 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why did an aristocratic French man fight for American freedom? How influential was Lafayette? And what did he do on his return visit to the United Sta...
Kamala Harris: An Unprecedented Candidacy?
15 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Cleopatra, Catherine the Great, Boudicca, Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel: what do these women have in common? They were all leaders of their nations...
American History Hit: 200 Episodes On
15 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Host Don Wildman has a message for listeners old and new, marking 200 episodes of American History Hit.American History Hit first started publishing i...
President Theodore Roosevelt
12 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What kind of a nickname is Bull Moose? How progressive was Theodore Roosevelt's presidency? And how does his legacy live on?Don is joined once again b...
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
08 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"Speak softly and carry a big stick."The youngest President ever, Lieutenant Colonel of the Rough Rider Regiment, uncle to Eleanor Roosevelt, fifth co...
Origins of Political Campaigns: Publicity Stunts & Fake News
05 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How do our politicians use the media? Throughout the 2024 election we have seen a boom in the use of social media and cable news, so how far back does...
American Operators on WW1's Front Line
01 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When the First World War ended at 11am on 11 November, 1918, how did army command relay the ceasefire to their troops? In fact, before radios and comp...
The Third Presidential Assassination: McKinley
29 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On 6th September, 1901, President William McKinley attended a public reception at the Pan American Exposition, a 6-month-long World’s Fair, in Buffa...
President William McKinley: The Secret Service & the Spanish-American War
25 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why does the Secret Service protect the President of the United States? And what can we learn from McKinley's life and presidency, not just his assass...
Biden: US Presidents, Reelection & the Second Term Curse
24 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
President Joe Biden will address the nation from the Oval Office on Wednesday night, after announcing he was ending his reelection bid a few days...
Secrets of the White House
22 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How did a party in the White House end in mayhem? When did the West Wing become a hive of government? And how has the private life of the President be...
US Presidents Who Escaped Assassination
19 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Lincoln, FDR, Reagan, Clinton, Bush and now Trump. All have been targets of assassination attempts while in or running for office. Listen to this bonu...
Sovereignty, the Constitution and 100 years of Citizenship: Native Rights
18 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This podcast contains adult language.What was the ‘Indian Citizenship Act’ of 1924? Why was it necessary? How did it happen? And why did it happen...
The Rise of Presidential Power
15 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Right from independence, a question has hovered over the government of the United States. How much power should the President have? Not too much, lest...
President Grover Cleveland: Panic in the Second Term
11 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What caused the economic panic of 1893? In this episode we are delving into the event that made Grover Cleveland's second term so different from his f...
Zionism in Texas
08 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What do you know about Galveston, Texas? Perhaps you've heard about the disastrous hurricane of 1900, perhaps not. This was also likely the case for t...
What is Populism? From the Farmers' Alliance to Trump
04 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the long unanswered question of whether the established elite truly support the concerns of ordinary people, a supposed hero arises: Populism.But w...
What Caused the American Revolution?
01 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What took the US from the Boston Tea Party to Lexington and Concord? Where was the turning point for the creation of the republic?Mary Beth Norton joi...
President Benjamin Harrison: The President with a Petting Zoo
27 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why is the 23rd President of the United States, Benjamin Harrison, remembered as a 'Human Iceberg'? Why did it seem as though he was predestined for t...
The First Battle of the Civil War: Fort Sumter
24 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A 34-hour bombardment, one (accidental) death, and the start of the bloodiest war the United States has ever seen.The Battle of Fort Sumter, in April ...
The Whiskey Rebellion: Tax Protest & Armed Resistance
20 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This episode was first released on November 14 2022.The Whiskey Tax, imposed in 1791, was the first federal tax on a domestic product by a United Stat...
Presidential Pardons: Mormons, Conscientious Objectors & January 6th
17 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the US Constitution, the President of the United States is granted the right to pardon those convicted of federal crimes.But how do they tend to us...
President Grover Cleveland: Honest to a Fault?
13 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
They say that honesty is the best policy, but was this the case for Grover Cleveland? He may be the only president to have served two non-consecutive ...
The War on Crime: The 1930s and the New Deal
09 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How did the United States go from a country defined by its lawlessness in the 1920s and early 1930s, to one where many political standpoints rest on a...
America at D-Day
06 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On June 6, 1944, the Allied forces combined their land, air and sea forces into the largest amphibious invasion in history - D-Day.Under Supreme Comma...
Communism in America
02 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The history of the United States' relationship with communism is one littered with fear and persecution. So where did the American Communist Party com...
The History of Baseball
29 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Where did baseball come from? Why is every stadium unique? And how do you make it to the Hall of Fame? For half the year, baseball remains a nati...
The Battle of Okinawa
27 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Please note, this episode contains discussion of suicide.On 1 April 1945, as the Second World War in Europe was reaching its end, one of the bloodiest...
President Chester A. Arthur: Redemption in Office?
23 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Vice President to a narrow election winner, Chester Arthur was a very unlikely President. But on September 20th 1881 he took his seat as the 21st Pres...
The Real Hamilton: An American Myth?
19 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
11 Tonys, a Grammy, a Pulitzer Prize and broken box office records - there's no denying the impact of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton.Throughout this se...
American Castaways: Treachery & Survival in the Falklands
16 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today we dive into the little-known true story of American castaways abandoned on the Falkland Islands during the War of 1812 ― a tale of treachery,...
The Real Hamilton: Downfall, Duel & Death
13 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When Alexander Hamilton took a bullet to the abdomen on the morning of the 11th July 1804, he joined a long list of people who had fallen foul of this...
President James A. Garfield: Sex Cults & Assassination
08 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This may have been the second shortest Presidency in the history of the United States, but the term of James Garfield is definitely not one to miss.Fr...
The Real Hamilton: Lover, Adulterer, Family Man?
06 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Founding Father, first Secretary of the Treasury and focus of one of the world's first political sex scandals - we couldn't do a series about Alexande...
Teddy Roosevelt: The Making of the Rough Rider President
02 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Theodore Roosevelt is arguably the most masculine president in American history. So how was he influenced by the women around him? And how was he impa...
The Real Hamilton: Founding Father
28 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Who really was Alexander Hamilton, and what do we actually know about his life?A Founding Father, he fought in the Revolutionary War, founded the Amer...
President Rutherford B. Hayes: The First Great Depression
25 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Emerging victorious from an electoral quagmire in 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes became the 19th President of the United States.Professor Mark Zachary Tayl...
Founding Father: Who Was John Hancock?
22 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
An iconic signature on the Declaration of Independence - that is what John Hancock is best known for. But how did he come to be the first signatory? W...
The 1921 Murder Farm Massacre: Slavery After the Civil War
18 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
During the spring of 1921, eleven bodies were found in in rural Georgia. These men were victims of horrific murders, and also of a more widespread cri...
President Ulysses S. Grant: The Myth of the Butcher
15 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How does a heroic general of the Civil War become one of the lowest rated Presidents (at least until recently)?To discuss Grant's commitment to recons...
Ulysses S. Grant & the Civil War
11 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Strategic brilliance? Relentless determination? Unbeatable leadership and cooperation with Lincoln? How did Ulysses S. Grant distinguish himself in th...
The Rise & Fall of Al Capone
08 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Al Capone is one of the most notorious gangsters in US history. His story of rags to riches, set against the backdrop of the prohibition era, is worth...
NATO: 75 Years Deterring Armageddon
04 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It comprises more than half of the world's defence spending, but what is the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation? How has the United States influenced ...
The Real Great Gatsby
01 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A wealthy man in his early 30s. An army man. A German immigrant. A bootlegger. A lover. Who was Jay Gatsby? And if he was based on a real person, what...
President Andrew Johnson: Reconstruction & The First Impeachment
28 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Three quarters of a million people dead in the Civil War. A country separated in to two. How do you join it back together? Do you punish the secession...
The Salem Witch Trials
24 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
More than 200 accused, 20 executed and a village plagued with hysteria. Were the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and 1693 the work of superstition, a power...
Did the Cold War Ever End?
21 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Would the Cold War have happened if the nuclear bomb was never created? How did Gorbachev, Reagan and Thatcher reduce tensions between the East and We...
Irish in America: Poverty to Power
18 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
At least 23 of the Presidents of the United States can have their ancestry traced back to Ireland.So why did this diaspora come to America? What was t...