American History Hit
Episodes
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...
America Prepares for War: FDR & WW2
22 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Was the USA already a superpower when it joined the Second World War? How did it turn from an isolationist nation to a force ready for action? To...
Serial Killer Family on the Frontier
18 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Between 1871 and 1872, Labette County, Kansas became a source of mystery. Several people have gone missing on their journey west and a few bodies have...
LBJ's Legacy
15 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Vietnam War or the Great Society? Which event looms larger in the history of the United States? The 36th President of the United States, Lynd...
The Rise of Buffalo Bill
11 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
He was the most famous man in the world at the turn of the 20th century, bringing the American frontier to the rest of the United States, the United K...
Roanoke: The Lost English Colony
08 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When it was founded in 1585, Roanoke was intended to be the first permanent English outpost in America. So how did it become the 'lost colony'?In this...
The King & FDR: The Birth of the Special Relationship
04 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1939, on the invitation of Franklin D. Roosevelt, King George VI became the first reigning British monarch to set foot on American soil.So what tri...
Battle of Amiens
01 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In August 1918, the battle of Amiens brought the German army's 'black day' and the beginning of the end of the First World War.But what happened at Am...
Cahokia: The Medieval Mississippian City
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Nearly a thousand years ago, America's first city appeared in the Mississippi flood plain. Don finds out about a day in the life of Cahokia, what its ...
How Horses Conquered America (Twice)
24 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Horses have been a bulwark of American culture and society for centuries. Think of cowboys in the Mid-West or Native Americans riding bareback on the ...
Becoming Benjamin Franklin
20 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Benjamin Franklin is considered by many to be one of the first to live the American Dream. He came from humble beginnings, Franklin was raised in Bost...
America's Top Secrets: Manhattan Project to Drone Warfare
17 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Much of American history has been redacted. Since the World War 2, the number of secrets the US government has kept has grown exponentially. There are...
The Moon Landing
13 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
July 20th, 1969. Neil Armstrong descends from Lunar Module Eagle to the Moon's surface. A momentous moment in American, and human history. For mo...
The Road to Civil Rights
10 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Under segregation, African Americans' lives were severely limited. Restricted entry to public places, private businesses and public transport, cars pr...
Hudson River: America's First Art Movement
06 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
English-born artist Thomas Cole emigrated to the United States in 1818. Six years later he began what is now known as the Hudson River School, which b...
Espionage & Enslavement in the Revolution
03 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Claire Bellerjeau tells Don the the story of Liss, an enslaved Black woman in 18th century New York, and her involvement with one of George Washington...
French Spies in the American Revolution
30 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The story of the American Revolution is one of the best known in American history. But it could have been very different. Outgunned and outmanned agai...
The White House Chief of Staff
27 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
While the President of the United States is often seen as the most powerful person in the world, the vastness of the Federal government is too much fo...
A History of America in 5 Foods
23 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You are what you eat - and so is America. Various foods have played their part in the country’s history. Anna Zeide, author of US History in 15 Food...
Iroquois Confederacy
20 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
At its height the Iroquois Confederacy (or Haudenosaunee) - a union of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca nations - controlled lands fro...
Empire State Building
16 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When it was completed in 1931, the Empire State Building became the tallest building in the world. While it has long been surpassed, it is still one o...
The Erie Canal
13 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Completed in 1825, the Erie Canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. Alice Shay tells Don how ‘the N...
First Ladies of the United States
09 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Don talks to former White House reporter Kate Andersen Brower about how the role of First Lady has changed - and stayed the same - since the 1960s. Su...
New Amsterdam
06 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Before New York was New York, it was New Amsterdam. Dutch colonists arrived on the East Coast in the early 17th century, creating the New Netherlands....
George III - The Last King of America
02 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
George III is forever known as the king who lost the 13 American colonies. In the US he is thought of by many as a tyrant king, taxing and subduing fr...
The Race That Sold The Car To America
27 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On a cold winter morning in February 1908, six cars lined up in Times Square, attempting to be the first to drive from New York to Paris, the long way...
America and the Haiti Revolution
23 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The revolution in Haiti freed the country from French control and created the first Black republic after years of fighting, in 1804. Leslie Alexander ...
Samuel Adams
20 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Samuel Adams was a political force of nature. Stacy Schiff tells Don how Adams, fuelled by disconten...