American History Hit

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...

Lincoln: Love, Loss & Legacy

14 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

President and Commander-in-Chief at a major turning point in American History? Victim of a violent and public assassination? How do you remember Abrah...

The Rise & Fall of the Ku Klux Klan

11 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A far-right hate group known the world over, the Ku Klux Klan emerged in the aftermath of the Civil War. So why did it emerge? Where did it get its na...

Lincoln & the Civil War

07 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Inaugurated into the thick of secession and assassinated just weeks after Confederate surrender, there is no separating the story of Abraham Lincoln f...

The Last Ship of the Atlantic Slave Trade

03 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In July 1860, half a century after the importation of captive slaves was banned under federal law, a ship docked in Alabama carrying around 110 enslav...

Lincoln the President

29 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When it comes to US Presidents, it’s not easy to agree on much these days. But one thing that has remained consistent is the man widely considered t...

American History Tellers

27 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Cold War, Prohibition, the Gold Rush, the Space Race. Every part of your life - the words you speak, the ideas you share - can be traced to our&nb...

The Truth about the American Dream: The Baldwin-Buckley Debate

25 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On February 18th, 1965, the University of Cambridge hosted one of the most legendary debates in history. Author James Baldwin and conservative intelle...

D.B. Cooper & the 70s Hijacking Craze

22 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On 23 June 1972, a man boarded American Airlines Flight 119 in St Louis. He sat most of the way to Tulsa before donning a wig and a pair of gloves in ...

Tulsa Massacre: Violence, Resilience & Rebirth

19 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The city of Tulsa is perhaps best known in history books for the events of 1921. In 36 hours, hundreds of residents of the Greenwood district were mur...

President James Buchanan: The Worst President Ever?

15 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From 1857 to 1861, James Buchanan held the office of President of the United States. It was a pivotal moment in the history of America, a bitterly div...

The Clinton Scandals

11 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From financial to conspiratorial to sexual, the words 'Clinton' and 'scandal' are regularly found in each others' vicinities. But why?Don is talking t...

Facebook at Twenty: From College Dorms to Court Cases

07 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Where did the idea for Facebook come from? How has the site evolved? And how has it changed the world? In this episode, 20 years after the creation of...

Origins of the Civil War

05 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The war between the Union and the Confederacy is a major turning point in the history of the United States. But why did it happen?From slavery and sta...

President Franklin Pierce: Tragedies & Trade-Offs

01 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We're creeping closer and closer to the Civil War in our chronology of presidents, and this episode's focus did little to delay the division of the Un...

The Apache Wars

29 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What were the Apache Wars? How did they begin? And how did the end of the Mexican-American War impact the indigenous people of that region?In the 19th...

Masters of the Air: WW2's Bloody 100th Bombers

25 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How did the 100th bomber group get a reputation for being unlucky? Who were they? And what was their role in the Second World War?In this episode, Don...

The Watergate Scandal

21 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wiretapping, White House tapes and the possibility of impeachment. On June 17, 1972, a break-in at the Watergate Hotel triggered a chain of events end...

President Millard Fillmore: The Most Handsome President?

18 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How did a president lose his entire cabinet so soon after taking office? What was his role in the Westward expansion of the United States? And where d...

The Making of Martin Luther King Jr.

15 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Who introduced Martin Luther King Jr. to activism? Why is the influence of mothers so often understated? And did you know about the other King assassi...

The Election That Changed Politics: 1968

11 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Chaos, collusion and the Chennault Affair. What made the election of 1968 so unusual?Luke Nichter joins Don to talk about the election race that made ...

President Zachary Taylor

08 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Once the most popular man in America, hero of the Mexican-American war Zachary Taylor is our twelfth President and the subject of this episode.To find...

The Tet Offensive: Turning Point of the Vietnam War?

04 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

January, 1968. Fighting in Vietnam has been ongoing since the 1950s. Ho Chi Minh and the leaders of the communist forces in Hanoi have concocted a str...

The Tudors & the American West Coast

01 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the summer of 1579, Francis Drake had to land in a ‘fair and good bay’ on the western coast of the New World when his ship - The Golden Hind - ...

Prohibition

28 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On 17 January 1920, the 18th Amendment came into effect in the United States. It made the manufacture, sale and transportation of 'intoxicating liquor...

The Kennedy Curse

25 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What was it about the Kennedys that attracted so much tragedy, that many believed them to be cursed?From plane disasters in World War 2, to drug overd...

President James K. Polk: Lies, Warmongering & the Myth of Success

20 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Is this the only president to have achieved all of their campaign promises? James K. Polk, the 11th Commander-in-Chief successfully led the nation thr...

The Amish: Origins and Society

18 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Simple living, plain dress and pacifism. This is not a lifestyle typical of the United States. So how did the Amish come to be in America? Where did t...

Tea, Tax & Revolution: Boston Tea Party Aftermath

14 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Why did the Boston Tea Party happen? Why Boston? And how did the events of December 1773 fit in to the American Revolution?In this episode, we are tak...

The Boston Tea Party Explained

11 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On December 16th 1773, Bostonian colonists took a stand against the British Crown in the Boston Tea Party.In this episode, we dive deep into the event...

President John Tyler: The 'Accidental' President

06 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

He may have been the tenth President, but John Tyler - 'His Accidency' - was a pioneer in many ways.Tyler was the first Vice President to assume the p...

The Rise & Fall of Political Parties

04 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The two party division of the US political system is as evident as ever as we warm up to the 2024 elections. But where does this state of affairs come...

Operation Downfall: What if the Allies Invaded Japan?

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How would the Allied forces have forced the surrender of Japan had they not dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?Operation Downfall was the pla...

President William Henry Harrison: 32 Days in Office

27 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The ninth President of the United States holds two unique records. William Henry Harrison delivered the longest inaugural address in US Presidential h...

Napoleon in America

23 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Napoleon Bonaparte. From military leader to revolutionary to Emperor of the French, his conquests and reforms have had a lasting impact across the wor...

JFK Assassination: A Witness Remembers

20 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On November 22nd 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot dead. The ensuing years have been filled with questions and conspiracy about the events of t...

JFK: The Most Popular President?

16 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Who was JFK? How popular was he in his lifetime? And how did his untimely death impact the world's memory of him?In this first of two episodes to mark...

The Gettysburg Address

13 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What makes the Gettysburg Address one of the most famous speeches in history? Did Lincoln really write it on the train? How did the audience in t...

President Martin Van Buren

09 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The 'Little Magician', the 'Sly Fox' or - to our expert guest - a 6.5/10 president. We're onto President number 8, Martin Van Buren.Don is joined by E...

Vikings in America

05 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What is a Viking? Did they really make it to the United States? And if so, how far did they get?Don speaks to Martyn Whittock about the norse landings...

Killers of the Flower Moon: Native Americans & the FBI

02 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

During the first half of the 20th century, dozens of murders plagued the oil-rich Osage Nation. The question of who killed them, and why, spread beyon...

New Orleans Voodoo

30 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you've ever watched a Voodoo scene in a horror movie, you might be forgiven for envisioning zombies, dolls and witchcraft when asked what it is. Bu...

President Andrew Jackson

26 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The seventh person to hold the position of President is arguably one of the most divisive.A strong-willed military hero, whilst President from 1829-18...

The Real Wild West

23 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, John Wayne. We've seen them roping and wrangling and defeating their enemies, all by the time the credits role.But wha...

Medieval North America: Gods of Thunder

19 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

From 800 to 1300 CE, a great religious movement swept Mesoamerica, the Southwest, and the Mississippi valley. This Medieval Warm Period was one of the...

Battle of the Alamo

16 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A 13 day siege. 90 minutes of fighting. An almost 200 year legacy and the most popular tourist site in the state of Texas.The 1836 Battle of the Alamo...

President John Quincy Adams

12 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

John Quincy Adams didn't just share a name with his father. He also followed in his footsteps to take the Presidency, and then lose it after one term....

What if the South Won the Civil War?

09 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What if the Civil War had ended differently, with the South seceding from the Union? Would slavery have continued? Would the southern states have cont...

Origins of the Vietnam War

05 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 1969, at the height of US presence, there were over half a million Americans in Vietnam.But why were they there in the first place? When did the co...

The American Buffalo with Ken Burns

02 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

'It's one of those threads you pull on and immediately you're connected to the whole fabric of American history.'The American Buffalo, Bison Bison, is...

President James Monroe

28 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Serving from 1817 to 1825, James Monroe's presidency was only the fifth presidency of the United States. Monroe's time in power saw the development of...

Battle of Little Bighorn

24 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Not one of the US forces led by General George Custer into the attack on 25 June 1876 survived. But the story of 'Custer's Last Stand' as it was known...

Sabotage & Secret Weapons: The WW2 Dirty Tricks Department

21 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What is a bat bomb? Why would you cover a fox in radioactive paint? And who are the masterminds behind the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor...

Three Mile Island: Nuclear Accident in Pennsylvania

18 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It's the worst accident in US commercial nuclear power history. In March 1979, the Unit 2 reactor at Three Mile Island nuclear generating station came...

President James Madison

14 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

His life is one of firsts for the United States. Having contributed to the Federalist Papers, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, in 1812 James M...

9/11: Toxic Gas, PTSD & Rebuilding

11 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

New York was a city of 8 million people in 2001. A city that would be changed forever by the events of 9/11.In this episode, we will not recount the d...

The Mexican-American War

07 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 1848, after almost two years of fighting, the US annexation of former Mexican territory was signed into a treaty.Mexico lost a third of its territo...

Oppenheimer: What If America Never Dropped the Atomic Bomb?

04 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The new Oppenheimer movie has everyone asking questions about the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 - were two bombs necessary? Would the war have...

President Thomas Jefferson

31 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, so how did it work out when he became the leader of this nation that he ...

The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

28 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

45 seconds. An estimated 7.9 on today's Richter scale. The deadliest earthquake in US history.In this episode, we're examining the 1906 San Francisco ...

Prehistoric North America

24 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What could the prehistoric artists of North America have in common with the graffiti artists of today? Picked into the rocks of southwestern Arizona, ...

Pocahontas: The True Story

21 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Despite her's being a household name, how much do we really know about Pocahontas? Where did she come from? How old was she? And what was her real rel...

President John Adams

17 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Sequels are always hit and miss. So what must it have been like to be the second President of the United States, following the man who originated the ...

The Texas Chicken Ranch: Famous Brothel to Broadway

14 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When it closed in 1973, the Texas Chicken Ranch was the oldest continually operating brothel in the United States. Why was this brothel able to surviv...

The Pueblo Revolt

10 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On August 10 1680, the Pueblo people began the most successful uprising against colonial power in North America.For 11 days, Spanish colonisers were d...

The Magna Carta in America

07 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What does a document written in 1215 in England have to do with the United States? The Magna Carta has supposedly influenced foundational documents li...

President George Washington

03 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

He was the victorious Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. As presiding officer of the Constitutional Con...

Robert E Lee: Life & Legacy

31 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

He is undoubtedly the most famous member of the Confederate forces. But it wasn't always set to be that way.In this episode, Don speaks to Jonathan Ho...

Birth of the US Government: The Constitutional Convention

27 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Beginning with the enduring words, 'We the People of the United States', the US Constitution is the basis of the government and its three distinct bra...

Barbie: German Sex Doll to American Icon

24 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

She's an icon, a polymath, a fashionista, and she's absolutely everywhere right now.Where did Barbie come from? What has she represented to the many w...

Mormons & The Founding of Salt Lake City

20 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Church of the Latter Day Saints is one shrouded in mystery, whispers of polygamy and is often synonymous with Salt Lake City. But where did this r...

A History of American Childhood

17 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

School, play and much less work: the idealised childhood is a very separate part of life. But how did it come to be so? And why is this perhaps more p...

Nixon in Moscow: The Kitchen Debate

13 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev. Leading figures of the United States and the Soviet Union respectively, in a verbal debate about capitalism and c...

LSD in New York: Research, Recreation and Radicalism

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Why should we associate LSD and its psychedelic effects with New York as much as we associate it with San Francisco? What use did the CIA think that t...

The Crossfire of Gettysburg

06 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Gettysburg is synonymous with the bloodiest battle in the history of the United States. But before it was the location of a battle and Lincoln's argua...

The Battle of Gettysburg

03 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The first three days of July 1863 saw the bloodiest single battle of the American Civil War. This clash between the Unionist and Confederate armies qu...

Stonewall

29 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What made June 28 1969 a landmark occasion for LGBTQ+ rights?How was Stonewall different from the uprisings that had come before it? And why were the ...

Amelia Earhart

26 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On July 2 1937, Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, took off on what was supposed to be the final leg of their circumnavigation of the glob...

The CIA & MI6: The Real Special Relationship?

22 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Behind the handshakes of leading politicians, beyond the trade deals and beneath mutually beneficial military deals, how has the 'special relationship...

The Long Death of Slavery

19 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We celebrate abolition - in the United States during the Civil War and on Juneteenth, in Haiti after the revolution, and in the British Empire in 1...

Louisiana's Ancient Mystery: Poverty Point

15 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There are no other historic sites like this one on the planet. The concentric semi circles and mounds of Poverty Point in Louisiana are a mystery not ...

The Lavender Scare: Being Gay in Washington DC

12 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Why were gay federal employees seen as a national security threat during the 20th century? How might they in fact have been more of an asset? And how ...

The Wright Brothers

08 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Approximately 100 thousand flights take off and land each and every day. A months long journey on a boat is condensed to just a few hours with the hel...

White Women Slave Owners

05 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Of all of the people enslaved in the southern United States over time, 40% of them were owned by women. For example, when she married George Washingto...

California Gold Rush

01 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

From the rings on our fingers, to coins in our pockets and, for a select few, the medals hanging around our necks. Gold is one of the most coveted met...

Lincoln & God: Scepticism to Spiritualism

29 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

He's the best president that the United States has ever had ... at least according to one 2021 C-span study.But how did Lincoln's religious views affe...

The Birth of the American Flag

25 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

13 equal horizontal stripes in red and white, with a navy blue square in the top left bearing 50 small white five pointed stars. It's recognisable the...