“I still think I see the struggling of poor passengers in the water.”

This is the story of the United States’ path into the Great War.

The United States wishes to stay out of the Great War. Woodrow Wilson wins reelection (barely) on that very basis. But as Germany contends with Britain’s blockade, its submarines, or “u-boats,” are attacking merchant and passenger ships (like the RMS Lusitania) without warning. This policy is touch and go, but worse still, the US learns in Februarly 1917 that Germany sent a secret telegram to Mexico offering to ally against the US! After more than two years of clinging to peace, President Woodrow Wilson can’t turn a blind eye to this and Germany’s other atrocities. In the name of protecting democracy, he calls for war.  

But what about Britain’s unethical if not illegal “hunger blockade” of German ports? Do starving German children justify unrestricted submarine warfare? What about the billions of dollars in loans and goods the “neutral” US has sent to Britain and France over the years? Does that tip the scales on why the US is going to war? These complications and questions of right and wrong are for Congress to decide.

___

4 Ways to dive deeper into History That Doesn’t Suck

• Join our growing facebook community
• Get our weekly newsletter, The Revolution
• Become part of the HTDS Patreon family

Subscribe to Greg’s monthly newsletter, Connected History

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing a new podcast: YE GODS WITH SCOTT CARTER. We all know that faith and ethics are recurring themes in history. Scott Carter is an award-winning TV producer for HBO and PBS whose shows get people talking about the big issues of the day. Now he’s launched a new podcast to get people talking about the big questions of life. 

Each week he asks prominent authors, comics, musicians, filmmakers and philosophers about the rules that guide their lives, whether they be sacred or secular. Hear from Ken Burns, Susie Essman, Hari Kondabolu, Patricia Heaton, Tim Gunn, and many more. Ye Gods! with Scott Carter, a podcast even atheists can follow religiously, wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Starting the Great War (World War I) and covering this massive conflict up to 1917 has is a pretty big task unto itself. So, before we go in close on America's role, Greg and Kelsi sit down to digest and talk through a few aspects of the War, as well as share a few additional stories and experiences.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To say Russia had a difficult go of it during World War I would be a gross understatement. Millions of dead, lost territory, soldiers charging into battle without guns, starvation, a less than savory holy man influencing the Czar and Czarina, and of course, revolution! How do we even begin to wrap our heads around all of that, let alone contemplate the impact on the United States? Simple: we talk it out with Greg’s UVU colleague, Deputy Provost Kat Brown. A historian and expert on Russia, Kat joins Greg for a chat that tackles all of the above in one jam-packed episode. 

___

4 Ways to dive deeper into History That Doesn’t Suck

• Join our growing facebook community
• Get our weekly newsletter, The Revolution
• Become part of the HTDS Patreon family

Subscribe to Greg’s monthly newsletter, Connected History

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“In Flanders’ fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row.”

This is the story of the first two and a half years of the Great War, particularly, of the Western Front. These are the years leading to the United States’ entry.

After saving two German warships, the Ottoman Empire joins the Great War as a Central Power. Meanwhile, the work of death is moving forward on a scale unlike any other seen. Improved, or altogether new, weapons—rapid firing repeating rifles, machine guns, gas, flamethrowers, armed airplanes, and tanks—terrify and slaughter trench-dwelling soldiers. Bodies are soon counted by the millions. We’ll get a sample of this as we visit three particularly deadly areas of the Western Front: Ypres, Verdun, and the Somme.

___

4 Ways to dive deeper into History That Doesn’t Suck

• Join our growing facebook community
• Get our weekly newsletter, The Revolution
• Become part of the HTDS Patreon family
• Subscribe to Greg’s monthly newsletter, Connected History

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Sopherl, Sopherl! Don’t die on me. Live for our children.”

This is the 99-year story of Europe’s descent into total war.

The Napoleonic Wars devastated Europe. The continent’s five great powers responded by meeting in Vienna in 1815 to establish a balance of power between them. In the future, no single power should be able to lead the continent into war. They also agree to meet as a “Concert of Europe” to hash out future developments.

The years give way to decades. The Concert endures the rising pressures of industrialization, rising nationalism, New Imperialism, militarism, and a few smaller localized wars, particularly three conflicts engineered by Prussian Minister-President Otto von Bismarck. He isolates France to maintain peace, but after his departure, rigid alliance systems with secret clauses fully displace the flexibility of the Concert. And without that flexibility, a minor event could spark an outsized reaction. It’s in this situation that Austria-Hungary’s heir presumptive travels to the unstable Balkans and meets disaster in the streets of Sarajevo.

___

4 Ways to dive deeper into History That Doesn’t Suck

• Join our growing facebook community
• Get our weekly newsletter, The Revolution
• Become part of the HTDS Patreon family

Subscribe to Greg’s monthly newsletter, Connected History

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“It would be the irony of fate if my administration had to deal chiefly with foreign affairs.”

This is the story of the lesser-known aspects of Woodrow Wilson’s presidency–the events outside of World War I.

The Progressive Era is still in full force as Woodrow Wilson enters the White House. Amid constitutional amendments 16 and 17, Woodrow continues to carry this wave of reform with a new central banking system, income tax, and monopoly-checking regulations. He does so, however, at the expense of his state-focused presidential platform. Ironically, he’s adopting a more federal and “Theodore Roosevelt” approach. 

But the true irony is the growing focus on foreign affairs. Woodrow knows little to nothing of the world beyond the United States, but with Mexico in revolution and concerns about Germany getting a foothold in the Caribbean, the self-proclaimed anti-imperialist professor finds himself relying on military interventions in South America more often than any of his predecessors. Woodrow is learning the challenges of foreign policy the hard way; he’s doing so while facing the terrible grief of his wife’s death.

___

4 Ways to dive deeper into History That Doesn’t Suck

• Join our growing facebook community
• Get our weekly newsletter, The Revolution
• Become part of the HTDS Patreon family

Subscribe to Greg’s monthly newsletter, Connected History

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While discussed in passing in a few epilogues, the Prof. sits down with Kelsi to go deep on “second edition” or “remaster” episodes of HTDS. The conversation includes Greg’s guiding views and philosophy in making HTDS, a bit of HTDS history (how meta is that?), all the technical aspects behind second editions, as well as discussions about the new scenes often added. Oh, and of course, directions on where to find the much beloved old-school originals, which will always be available.

It’s a real peek behind the curtains. Enjoy!

___

4 Ways to dive deeper into History That Doesn’t Suck

• Join our growing facebook community
• Get our weekly newsletter, The Revolution
• Become part of the HTDS Patreon family

Subscribe to Greg’s monthly newsletter, Connected History

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Remember it is the fifth of March and avenge the death of your brethren!”

This is the story of the expiration of hope for reconciliation between the American colonies and the "Mother Country." 

Bunker Hill's a blood bath. Congress isn’t sure about how aggressive to be in war as it still hopes for peaceful reconciliation. It sends King George III their "Olive Branch Petition," but it's D.O.A. Things only devolve further as the King proclaims the colonies in a state of rebellion and Thomas Paine in turns rips the King a new one in his #colonialviral pamphlet, Common Sense. 

Meanwhile, more blood is being spilt in battle. In Quebec, Colonel Benedict Arnold suffers serious injury while Captain Aaron Burr witnesses the death of General Richard Montgomery. Back in the colonies, Henry Knox has just dragged cannons over 300 miles from Fort Ticonderoga to General Washington in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Virginian digs his new toys. He has a daring plan to put them to use against the British still occupying Boston. ​

___

4 Ways to dive deeper into History That Doesn’t Suck

• Join our growing facebook community
• Get our weekly newsletter, The Revolution
• Become part of the HTDS Patreon family

Subscribe to Greg’s monthly newsletter, Connected History

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Fire, for God's sake, fire!" - Unkown British officer

This is the story of the first battle of the American Revolution on April 19, 1775. We’re in Lexington, Massachusetts. Between Lexington’s Green, Concord’s North Bridge, and Colonel Smith’s troops returning to Boston, 49 Americans and 73 redcoats die. The battle and ongoing friction will also cause the Second Continental Congress to create an army. But who can lead it? Welcome back to the story, George Washington. 

4 Ways to dive deeper into History That Doesn’t Suck

• Join our growing facebook community
• Get our weekly newsletter, The Revolution
• Become part of the HTDS Patreon family

Subscribe to Greg’s monthly newsletter, Connected History

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Now, how would you like to be a reporter, if you have got nothing better to do?”

This is the story of a reporter–a muckraker–answering a boy who wants to know if Santa Clause actually exists. And somehow, it’s an answer that manages to mention Theodore Roosevelt. 

This is Jacob Riis’ Is There a Santa Clause?

___

4 Ways to dive deeper into History That Doesn’t Suck

• Join our growing facebook community
• Get our weekly newsletter, The Revolution
• Become part of the HTDS Patreon family

Subscribe to Greg’s monthly newsletter, Connected History

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So much to say–it’s been a while!

Kelsi and Greg share stories that they wish made it into some episodes, but alas, just couldn’t (looking at you, Ellis Island). Greg expresses his deep sympathy for K-12 teachers that are expected to teach “all” US history in a single year because that’s just an impossible task. And there’s a bit of discussion about newsletters and HTDS LIVE in New York City!

___

4 Ways to dive deeper into History That Doesn’t Suck

• Join our growing facebook community
• Get our weekly newsletter, The Revolution
• Become part of the HTDS Patreon family

Subscribe to Greg’s monthly newsletter, Connected History

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“It’s true. But it takes more than that to kill a bull moose.”

This is the story of one of the most unique, bitter, impactful, and noteworthy elections in US history: the presidential election of 1912.

President William H. Taft is sure that he’s carrying on the progressive legacy of his dear friend and mentor, Theodore Roosevelt. But TR disagrees. Returning from an African safari and European tour, Teddy feels compelled to challenge his old friend for the GOP nomination as he touts his progressive “New Nationalism” plan. His challenge will split the party and several friendships.

But TR isn’t the only one talking “reform.” A rising star in the Democratic Party, Princeton Professor and President T. Woodrow Wilson, is also looking to take his party down the progressive path. The professor is putting his “New Freedom” up against TR’s New Nationalism. Nor is Woodrow the only challenger. Socialist Eugene Debs thinks both the Prof. and TR are too still conservative, and he’s armed with greater support for the socialist cause than the nation has ever seen.

A Republican. A Socialist. A progressive Democrat. A progressive Bull Moose. That mix alone is interesting, to say nothing of the friendships that will end or a nearly successful assassination attempt. This is the election of 1912.

___

4 Ways to dive deeper into History That Doesn’t Suck

• Join our growing facebook community
• Get our weekly newsletter, The Revolution
• Become part of the HTDS Patreon family

Subscribe to Greg’s monthly newsletter, Connected History

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Not in a thousand years would man ever fly.”

This is the story of two brothers and the dream of controlled, sustained, and powered flight in a heavier-than-air flying machine.

The Wrights are a tight-knit bunch. A supportive family. So perhaps it’s not surprising that, when Wilbur sinks into a deep, dark depression brought on by a terrible beating, his brother Orville is there for him. Just like Will and their sister Kate are there for Orv when Typhoid nearly takes his life. These siblings are thick as thieves, even if Kate opts for college while “the boys” go for starting their own print shop and bicycle company. They also have each other’s backs when Will rediscovers his childhood dream of flight. He and Orv pursue it relentlessly and for years on end among North Carolina’s sandy beaches just outside of Kitty Hawk.

Determination. Failure. Risk-taking. Scientific discovery. Family. This is the story of the Wright brothers.

___

4 Ways to dive deeper into History That Doesn’t Suck

• Join our growing facebook community
• Get our weekly newsletter, The Revolution
• Become part of the HTDS Patreon family

Subscribe to Greg’s monthly newsletter, Connected History

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I am writing this under an appreciable mental strain, since by tonight I shall be no more.”

This is the story of a lonely, isolated figure who escapes a decaying castle only to have a frightful realization. It is also the story of a WWI sailor meeting unknown terrors in the middle of the Pacific.

Welcome to the mind of Edgar Allan Poe’s successor; one whose impact on popular culture defies quantification; an author whom Stephen King has dubbed “the twentieth-century horror story’s dark and baroque prince.” These are the horrific, gothic, science fiction, and weird tales of H. P. Lovecraft.

Happy Halloween!

___

4 Ways to dive deeper into History That Doesn’t Suck

• Join our growing facebook community
• Get our weekly newsletter, The Revolution
• Become part of the HTDS Patreon family

Subscribe to Greg’s monthly newsletter, Connected History

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Your car is self-contained–it carries its own power-plant … keep at it.”

This is the story of the rise of the automobile and mass production.

Powerful steam engines. Electric lights and telephones. The Second Industrial Revolution is radically remaking the turn-of-the-century United States. It’s in this world of technological change that a Michigan farm boy finds himself drawn into the growing “horseless carriage” craze, and particularly, to an emerging technology known as the internal combustion engine.

Henry grows through success and failures (both with car designs and various companies), finally lands on what many would call perfection: the Model T. He and his team then come up with a new method of efficiency that makes the car so cheap, almost anyone can buy it–a method called “mass production.” Mix that with his incredibly high wages and Henry is quickly becoming a national hero.

But it’s not all smooth sailing. Henry has disputes with partners, must fight a patent claim, and does paying $5 per day give him the right to pry into–to dictate even!–the private lives of his employees? And later still, as the Model T’s production enters its final years, the man of mechanics uses his incredible influence and prestige to fan the national flame of the interwar period’s growing anti-Semitism; it’s an undeniable and indelible stain on the legacy of the man who hubristically yet perhaps accurately once boasted: “I invented the modern age.”

___

4 Ways to dive deeper into History That Doesn’t Suck

• Join our growing facebook community
• Get our weekly newsletter, The Revolution
• Become part of the HTDS Patreon family
• Subscribe to Greg’s monthly newsletter, Connected History

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I am not quite sure of the exact place or exact date of my birth, but at any rate, I suspect I must have been born somewhere and at some time.”

This is the story of a hardening Jim Crow color line. Lynchings and race riots. Black troops in Brownsville being summarily discharged “without honor.” Black Americans are indeed watching as Reconstruction-Era progress erodes. What can they do? 

Booker T. Washington has a vision. This Southerner of self-reliance–a former slave who’s gained an education and built an incredible place of learning in Tuskegee, Alabama–believes it’s about perseverance. Economy. Work. Black Americans, he believes, will thereby prove their worth–and rights will follow. But some, like, W.E.B. Du Bois, disagree. The Northerner and prolifically publishing scholar believes in making bold demands for equality. Not tomorrow. Today. The divergence of their paths will only grow as the Progressive Era marches on.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“President Wilson, how long must we wait for liberty?”

This is the story of women’s suffrage. 

According to the legal doctrine of coverture, a married woman is “covered” by her husband. Legally, economically, politically—she largely ceases to exist. Yet, does widowed colonial Lydia Taft get to vote? And why does Revolutionary New Jersey buck the system, specifically writing a voting law that describes voters as “he or she,” then later disenfranchise women?

Decades pass, but the idea of women’s suffrage is resurrected. Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Alice Stone, and staunch male supporters, like Henry Blackwell and Frederick Douglass, fight for it. But relationships fray as other women, anti-suffragists, fight against women’s suffrage. 

Entering the twenty-first-century women picket, march, face forced feedings, and endure abuse; in one case, a beloved suffragist dies. But their sacrifices won’t be in vain.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“That’s the light of freedom! Remember that. Freedom.”

This is the story of 40% of modern America’s ancestors—this is the story of Ellis Island.

Religious persecution. Economic devastation. Stifling political regimes. Whether fleeing for their lives or simply to improve them, Europeans—especially Eastern and Southern Europeans—are flocking to turn-of-the-century America. But no port is busier than New York City.

The journey is no laughing matter. Many immigrants are traveling nearly penniless as they make their way to major port cities. They then endure the filth, stench, and overcrowding of steerage for two-weeks on the Atlantic, all with the hope that they’ll pass the health and legal inspections of Ellis Island. The vast majority will, but the fear of being turned away—of being separated from family members allowed in, or being sent back to Europe destitute–is terrifying.

This is the Island of Hope … and the Island of Tears. This is Ellis Island.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Short History Of... is the podcast series hosted by John Hopkins. Each week, we'll transport you back in time to witness history's most incredible moments and remarkable people. New episodes Mondays."

Follow Noiser Podcasts on Twitter @Noiser_Podcasts for updates. And enjoy this episode about Stonehenge.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the Presidency of Teddy Roosevelt covered, Greg sits down with Zach and Kelsi to talk favorite stories (especially those that didn’t make it in the episodes) and take in the big picture of this bigger-than-life President. Zach’s settled in. Greg’s owning his botched pronunciation of “Reading, PA.” Kelsi’s landing some jabs. The sarcasm and snark is almost as strong as the history in this one!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I [will] be obliged to interfere, by force if necessary, if the Germans [take] any action which look[s] like the acquisition of territory in Venezuela.”

This is the story of foreign policy (“Big Stick” Diplomacy) in the Theodore Roosevelt White House.

TR loves the West African proverb: “Speak softly and carry a big stick: you will go far.” It defines the Cowboy President’s approach to life—particularly to foreign affairs—and as Germany rattles the saber at indebted Venezuela, Monroe Doctrine-supporting Teddy doesn’t hesitate to tell the Kaiser’s diplomats … “softly” … that those are fighting words.

But as Teddy expands the Monroe Doctrine with his “Roosevelt Corollary,” questions arise about the US acting as the Western Hemisphere's self-appointed police force. Particularly when the US interferes in Colombian affairs by backing an independence movement on the Panamanian Isthmus. Is this about supporting the oppressed? Or is TR making an imperialist move to make sure the US can build a canal through the American continents?

Winning the Nobel Peace Prize, preventing wars, yet showing American strength with the Great White Fleet—and all of this while undertaking one of the most daunting, impossible engineering feats in world history. This is Teddy Roosevelt on the world stage.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Legendary podcaster and composer (but not US Senator) Lindsay Graham is a dear friend of HTDS and an integral part of the podcast's sound. Today, he gets behind the mic with the Prof. to interrogate the oft-repeated adage "those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it."

So ... is it true? Centering the conversation around our current HTDS period (Gilded Age and into the Progressive Era) while pulling from various philosophers and thinkers (Hegel, Twain, Churchill, Santayana, and more), Lindsay and Greg dig in.

By the way, we're big fans of Lindsay's many podcasts, and Greg has contributed to a few of them as a guest or historical consultant! To check out Lindsay's many narrated history and historical drama podcasts go to https://airship.fm/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I long to hear that you have declared an independency.”

This is the story of independence and crushed hope.

Congress is finally declaring independence but it isn’t a straightforward process. Delegates have different perspectives; John Adams and John Dickinson are taking the floor to argue passionately for and against it. The vote will come down to the wire.

It’s also time to bring the "$10" Founding Father into the story. That’s right. We’ll meet Alexander Hamilton, get the backstory of his rough childhood in the Caribbean, and see how he ends up in the Big Apple.

Speaking of NYC, George Washington has chased Lord William Howe from Boston to Manhattan, but this is a very different battlefield. He’s going to have a harder go here than he did in New England. Much harder.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Very well then–I so declare it.”

This is the story of the final “C” of President Theodore Roosevelt’s Square Deal: conservationism.

Teddy loves the outdoors. He loves to challenge himself in the American wilderness. He also fears the nation’s natural resources and various species are disappearing. And TR won’t let that stand. From Florida’s Pelican Island to the Arizona Territory’s extremely large canyon—perhaps “grand,” you might say—and far beyond, TR is out to create bird reserves, national parks, and national monuments that cover some 230 million acres of the United States. 

But are his actions executive overreach? Or does he not go far enough, as protectionists might argue? From camping with John Muir, to outflanking members of Congress, we’re in for a “rough ride” as we follow Teddy on his crusade for conservationism.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“In Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress you may recall the description of the Man with the Muck Rake …”

This is the story of another “C” in Teddy’s Square Deal: “consumer protection.”

The nation is grappling with new ideas on how involved the Federal Government should be in the lives of US citizens. Earthquake and fire levels San Francisco but no one expects executive action. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is torn on the Constitutionality of New York’s Bakeshop Act and TR’s Chicago meatpacking investigators—sent largely in response to Upton Sinclair’s stomach-turning, based-on-real-events novel The Jungle—have found such deplorable conditions Americans largely welcome a new federal regulatory body called the Food and Drug Administration.

But amid protecting consumers, we aren’t without another trust to bust. An investigative reporter named Ida Tarbell is looking into JD Rockefeller’s business practices at Standard Oil. Has John swindled independent oilmen to build his empire? Or was it just good business? Once more, the question will go all the way to the highest court in the land.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“If we have done anything wrong, send your man to my man and they can fix it up.”

This is the first story of President Theodore Roosevelt’s Square Deal: “corporate regulation.”

J. Pierpont Morgan hates economic volatility. He’s determined to eliminate that plaguing element from some of his railroad lines by making the competing Union Pacific a friend. He’ll do so by creating a stockholding company called “Northern Securities.” But is this an illegal trust? Or just good business? Teddy and his Attorney General are determined to make the courts figure it out.

At the same time, a massive coal strike in Pennsylvania threatens to plunge the nation into a deadly fuel shortage this winter. Protests and riots are sure to come if this isn’t resolved. In an ironic twist, Teddy finds there’s only one man who can help him solve the situation … the very man his administration is taking to court, J.P. Morgan. Can these two powerful New Yorkers push past the lawsuit to solve a national crisis? We shall see.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life.”

This is the story of (another) presidential assassination and the life of the man it brings to the White House: Theodore Roosevelt.

Though a sickly and asthmatic child, “Teedie,” as his family calls the child, works hard to build his physical strength. To take on the bullies who pick on him. Teddy grows up to become a rowing, boxing, and mountaineering athlete with an equally inquisitive mind.

Assemblyman. Cowboy. Police Commissioner. Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Vice President! Not to mention devastating losses, deep loves, and war. TR’s life is a full one–a “strenuous” one. But nothing in his 42 years could prepare him for what an assassin’s bullet brings in September 1901.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg, Zach, and Kelsi sit down for a chat about America’s surprisingly compact burst of turn-of-the-century overseas expansion (Age of Imperialism). They talk through an overarching overview of the era; highlight some of the things that, while in previous episodes, might have been less obvious (coaling stations, anyone?); and wax eloquent on historical research while sharing a small behind-the-scenes comedy of errors that went down amid the research for an episode.

Hope you enjoy it.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Only dead men can tell the truth in this world. It can be published after I am dead.”

This is the story of imperialism and presidential politics: the election of 1900.

US President William McKinley is looking for reelection. The economy is strong, the nation is powerful, and it's expanding overseas. For many Americans, that all sounds and looks rather good. But for others, this overseas imperial expansion is a betrayal of American values. With famous names like Mark Twain and Andrew Carnegie behind a new Anti-Imperialist League, the Democrats seize on this energy as they nominate William Jennings Bryan to take (again) on Will McKinley in the contest for the White House.

But can the charismatic, silver-tongued silverite–WJB–compete with the Republican’s own dynamic, energetic candidate? No, no, not William McKinley, but his new VP running mate: the veteran Rough Rider and Governor of New York Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The ugliest aspects of the Philippine-American War raised questions of legitimate warfare. Specifically, they required the US to think through a military code of conduct from the Civil War: General Order 100, or the “Lieber Code.”

But what is the Lieber Code? How did it seek to rein in the worst of war atrocities, and where did it fail to do so in the Philippines? While we’re at it … what even was the status of the “Law of War” at the turn of the century, and how did it compare to the warfare of yesteryear, or help lay the groundwork for the development of the Law of War in the twentieth century?

Greg sits down with his UVU colleague–former Department of Defense Senior Policy Advisor-turned-UVU Professor and Director of the Center for National Security Studies Ryan Vogel (yeah, big titles, and basically the real life “Jack Ryan”) to tackle these questions.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Co … wards! Assassins!”

This is the story of the Philippine-American War.

Having bested the Spanish in war, the United States now lays claim to holding sovereignty over the Philippines. President William McKinley asserts that the US is enacting “benevolent assimilation” on the islands. William Taft says the US is going to help its “little brown brothers.” But nationalist Emilio Aguinaldo rejects these claims. He says the Philippines should be independent; that US rule is no better than Spanish rule. War follows.

Murder among the nationalists … the birth of the “water cure” … the rise of new figures who will dominate US politics for years to come … welcome to the Philippine-American War.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“You have my love, and with sorrow I dismiss you.”

This is the story of the Hawaiian Kingdom’s end.

Queen Liliuokalani hates the Constitution of 1887–or “Bayonet” Constitution, as it’s known, since her predecessor and brother King Kalakaua signed it under duress. Under this constitution, wealth rather than citizenship determines who votes. This means a lot of wealthy sugar-planting foreigners of American and European origin control the legislature while few native Hawaiians are enfranchised. 

Liliu is determined to change this. But can she beat back these sugar planters? Or will they dethrone her? The battlelines are drawn …

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Sergeant, the Spanish bullet isn’t made that will kill me.” 

This is the story of the Spanish-American War.

George Dewey’s squadron is in Manila Bay. Henry Glass is bombarding Guam’s Apra Harbor. Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders are charging up Kettle Hill in Cuba’s San Juan Heights. One American victory follows another as the US fights against the Spanish for the sake of Cuba.

Or is it for the sake of Cuba? As the US and Spain work out a peace treaty in Paris, we’ll see one empire fall and another one rise …

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, the Prof would like to provide you with a little bonus: an intro to the podcast History Daily! We will hear two tales related to the era HTDS is in now: the first flight of the Wright Brothers and the race to the South Pole. Our storyteller is the man behind HTDS's sound design and so many other excellent podcasts like 1865, American Scandal, American History Tellers, and more: Lindsay Graham.

Subscribe to History Daily wherever you enjoy podcasts. You can check out its website here: https://www.noiser.com/history-daily.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Remember the Maine, to hell with Spain!”

This is the story of the road to war for American Empire. Ruled by Spain, Cuba has nonetheless been at odds with the Crown for decades. The Caribbean isle has rebelled and warred against the colonial power more than once in the second half of the nineteenth century. The US has watched with great interest as some of its leaders and citizens have cheered for Cuban liberty, while others have thought more about annexation.

The US is ascendant; the Spanish Empire is in its death throes. The US sees the Western Hemisphere as its turf; Spain is doing all it can not to lose the last remnants of its previously world-wide power. Those tensions hit a breaking point in February 1898, in Cuba’s Havana Harbor …

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Lay down your arms, you damned rebels, or you are all dead men.” 

This is the story of the First Continental Congress and the build-up to the Battle of Lexington and Concord. 

In the wake of the Coercive (Intolerable) Acts, delegates from 12 of the 13 colonies air their grievances against Parliament. It doesn't go well as His Majesty’s Government proclaims New England in a state of rebellion and Governor/General Thomas Gage moves to seize arms/munitions from town militias. 

Paul Revere (and other messengers) ride out to warn Concord the army is coming for their militia's stores. Rather than making it to Concord, Paul gets to listen to soldiers threaten to “blow his brains out.” The next morning, shots are fired at Lexington. War is here. British America will never be the same.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“We have only been making a little salt-water tea.” 

This is the story of the Boston Tea Party. The East India Company and the needs of the global British Empire are intertwined, and Parliament–ready for a third tax initiative in North America–wants the colonials to swallow an EIC monopoly on tea. 

The East India Company sends its tea to America on seven ships. Four head to Boston. Three will make it. To be clear: the ships make it. The tea won’t.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Santa can’t fool [me], since the holes in [my] stockings are too big for anything to be put in.”

This is the story of Gilded Age giving. Of 30,000 destitute children having a better Christmas because of one man who used his newspaper to connect those who were without to those who had and wanted to give. This is the story of Gilded Age New York’s real life Santa Clause: Joseph Pulitzer.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Liberty, Property, and no stamps!”

This is the story of Parliament’s first ever attempt to tax the North American colonies: the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act. 

His Majesty’s government might have won the Seven Years War, but it went broke in the process. Now it’s pinching pennies and trying to pay for a standing army to guard its newly claimed turf in North America. Lord George Grenville sees an answer: tax the Americans with the Sugar Act and Stamp Act.

But is this constitutional? A lot of colonials don’t think so, and some, like Patrick Henry, have strong words for the King. Others aren’t using their words … some are ready to demolish buildings, intimidate government officials, and see how tar and feathers look on Stamp-Act supporters. These violent protestors are part of a new group: the Sons of Liberty.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg sits down with Zach and Kelsi for a chat. They make a rather … LIVE(ly) announcement … then proceed to talk about electricity, tycoons, and the New South. But the conversation can’t end without Greg and Zach nerding out (as Kelsi, perhaps rightly, rolls her eyes) about their mutually favorite author: Edgar Allan Poe.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stories you never knew you never knew. From Campside Media, ECLIPSED is a new weekly narrative history podcast. Hosted by writer and internet-dweller Bijan Stephen (The Verge, The Believer), each episode features a story hidden in the shadow of another event. Lakes disappear, sailors cry, and pop stars go into battle on this season of ECLIPSED.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?”

This is the story of the Gilded Age below the Mason-Dixon Line. 

In the years since the Civil War, the cotton industry has been reshaped. The South has more international competition and is opening more of its own cotton mills. It’s a significant and deeper step into a post-slavery, industrial economy. This “New South” post-slavery economy has also turned to a new farming model: sharecropping. But amid forced labor contracts, shady dealings, and a massacre in Thibodaux, Louisiana, some are left wondering: how different is the former from the latter?

Meanwhile, Southern “redeemer” Democrats are pushing new state laws that specify “equal but separate” accommodations based on race. Black Americans, however, call it a clear targeting and violation of their civil rights guaranteed by the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment. When Louisiana passes its “Jim Crow” Separate Car act, a mixed-race Creole from New Orleans named Homer Plessy will fight it through the courts. His challenge will go all the way to the US Supreme Court.

But as the South industrializes and Jim Crow spreads, we also say a painful goodbye to an old friend. It’s time to lay Frederick Douglass to rest. Sleep well, Old Man Eloquent. You’ve more than earned your eternal slumber.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

‘How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily—how calmly I can tell you the whole story.”

This is the story of a man driven to madness by a pale blue eye; the story of a man who’s vowed revenge; of a young scholar heartbroken by death. This is also the story of the man who brought us these three tales–one of the most grim and ghastly Gothic authors in American history–Edgar Allan Poe.

This episode is best enjoyed alone. In the dark. With headphones.

Happy Halloween!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did Singer Sewing Machines take over the world? And are bananas as dangerous as they appear in cartoons? The answer to both of these questions are a resounding “yes!” in the Gilded Age. Listen in as the Prof. discusses these and other Gilded Age topics with his esteemed colleague and fellow podcaster: Dr. Ben Sawyer of Middle Tennessee State University and The Road to Now Podcast (check them out here: https://www.theroadtonow.com/)!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”

This is the story of Gilded Age’s later presidencies.

Grover “the Good” Cleveland is known as a man of integrity and honesty. Those characteristics alone are enough to get him to the White House. But as Benjamin Harrison interrupts his terms, the frustration of farmers and factory workers is boiling over into more labor strikes. Soon, working-class Americans are rallying around one issue in particular: the minting silver.

The issue is ripping the Democratic party apart. Should they continue to support the gold standard, as Democratic president Grover Cleveland does? Or should they support the working-class “silverites,” as a young Congressman from Nebraska named William Jennings Bryan hopes to do? This question will be settled as the Dems pick a nominee to square off against the Republicans’ 1896 presidential candidate: William McKinley.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Someday, some-time, when I am a man, I want to be worth a hundred thousand dollars!”

This is the story of two of the United States’ most wealthy industrialists.

John D. Rockefeller is the son of a con artist; he teaches young John never to trust and leaves the boy wondering if food will or won’t be on the table. John will rise from his world of uncertainty to dominate the emerging oil scene.

The son of a Scottish weaver, Andrew Carnegie comes from absolutely nothing. But Pennsylvania Railroad exec Tom Scott sees promise in the lad. Tom’s mentoring will help Andy emerge as the king of the steel industry.

Both men overcome the impossible. But are they inspiring Titans of industry? Or monopolistic robber barons? The beneficiaries of their philanthropy see the former, while workers might see the latter—particularly those at a steel mill in Homestead, Pennsylvania.

___

4 Ways to dive deeper into History That Doesn’t Suck

• Join our growing facebook community
• Get our weekly newsletter, The Revolution
• Become part of the HTDS Patreon family
• Subscribe to Greg’s monthly newsletter, Connected History

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Tesla, you don’t understand our American humor.”

This is the story of opinionated inventors with very different views on electric lighting; a story of invention, genius, conniving, and even electrocutions. This is the War of the Currents.

Thomas Alva Edison believes in direct current. He’s convinced it’s safer. Freshly arrived from Europe, Nikola Tesla thinks alternating current has the potential to unleash indoor domestic lighting on a whole new level and can be made just as safe. The men differ, and when Nikola teams up with George Westinghouse, Alva finds his position as king of the electric hill threatened. But as Nikola and George will soon see: the Wizard of Menlo Park won’t take this threat lying down ...

___

4 Ways to dive deeper into History That Doesn’t Suck

• Join our growing facebook community
• Get our weekly newsletter, The Revolution
• Become part of the HTDS Patreon family
• Subscribe to Greg’s monthly newsletter, Connected History

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I have got so much to do and life is so short, I am going to hustle.”

This is the story of trial and error, of determination, and science merging with business.

Electric lights have been around since the early 1800s. Unfortunately, they’ve also been impractical. The energy it takes to operate an arc light makes it little more than a novelty. Likewise, newer lights called “incandescents” burn out far too quickly to be of value. 

But what if someone could make incandescents last hundreds of hours? What if someone could figure out how to power them safely and economically … on such a scale that an entire neighborhood could be electrified–like a major section of Lower Manhattan? 

It sounds like a pipedream, but one inventor with incredible business savvy thinks he can do it. All he’ll need is a large team willing to make every error in the book until they can figure out how to do it right. This is the story of Thomas Alva Edison and his electric light.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An epilogue. Or interlude? Well, we aren’t done with the Gilded age, but we have too much behind-the-scenes HTDS evolution to discuss! So here we are. Zach is moving up from intern to writer status. Longtime HTDS team member Kelsi gets behind the mic for the first time. Meanwhile, Greg discusses doing a second edition of older episodes. 

But of course, we won’t ignore the Gilded Age. We’ll still have some good old fashion chit-chat about recent episodes.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Vive l’entente fraternelle des deux républiques !”

This is the story of the Statue of Liberty. In 1865, Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi (or “Auguste,” as his friends call him), claims to have attended a dinner at which his French colleagues and friends feted the United States’ victory over the Confederacy and slavery. With hope for a restoration of republican government and greater liberty at home, these Frenchmen living under the rule of Napoleon III spoke of the United States and France’s shared sense of liberty. There was even a suggestion that the nations should jointly build a monument to American independence.

Years later, Auguste will undertake such a project. But is he really inspired by this dinner and the idea of liberty? Or is he just an ambitious sculptor looking for any excuse to build a colossus statue? And can he really raise funds in both countries, manage a massive workforce, handle the death of colleagues, and overcome the engineering challenges? Whatever his motives, Auguste’s life will ultimately be defined by his unlikely journey to create a monument unlike any the world has ever seen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Damn ye, rascals, what did ye fire for?”

This is the story of the Boston Massacre (or, for you loyalists out there, the “incident” at King Street), which the Prof. recounted LIVE this 4th of July weekend for the largest colonial history re-enactment event in the western United States: The Colonial Heritage Festival, in Orem, Utah. “Huzzah” or “fie” right along with the crowd. Enjoy!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“John Roebling has not the leisure to wait upon any man.”

This is the story of a bridge and a family.

John Roebling is weary of the oppressive, bureaucratic Prussian government. He’s heard from his professor–Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel–that the United States is a land of opportunity. Those factors combined lead the driven über productive German to immigrate, where he introduces wire rope to his new adopted homeland and takes bridge building to another level.

But can he span the great East River–in reality a saltwater tidal strait full of hazards–that divides the separate and distinct cities of Brooklyn and New York? He has an idea. But as he moves forward, this bridge will quickly become a deadly and life altering family affair.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“What is the chief end of man? A: To get rich.”

This is the story of the Gilded Age and its first three presidents: Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, and Chester A. Arthur.

Mark Twain calls this era a “Gilded Age”–that is, a time of great greed covered with a thin veneer hiding the nation’s decadence. Is it? We’ll assess and define this oft-forgotten time. In doing so, we’ll meet three oft-forgotten presidents. Rutherford (or Rutherfraud?) Hayes, who receives the presidency through a Reconstruction-ending compromise, is fighting for reform in the civil service. His successor James Garfield doesn’t want to be president but holds great promise. Sadly, an assassin will end his life before this last log-cabin president can even put his agenda into play. Can his compromised, spoils-system created VP Chester “Chet” Arthur rise to the occasion? 

Strikes, assassination, reform, unlikely presidents: welcome to the Gilded Age.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“[He] washed his hands with the brains.” 

• Private John Shaw

This is the story of a 22-year-old George Washington as commander of a 400-man army fighting the French. We’ll also hear about his childhood, the deaths, backcountry experience, and finagling, that bring George—who’s untrained, inexperienced, too young, and completely outgunned—to this moment. He fails. Miserably. But not without triggering a war between France and Britain that will change the American colonies’ relationship to the British Crown forever.

NB: This second edition of Episode One contains approximately 20 minutes of additional facts stories.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing: Real Dictators Podcast!

It's exactly what you would expect it to be, and we want to share this episode with you!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the end of the west! Meet two new researchers, Ryan Griffith and Zach Weaver, as they join Greg to discuss the latest inner workings of HTDS, the Transcontinental Railroad, Buffalo Bill, and industrialization. As they wrap up, Greg then discusses the Golden Spike Ceremony with National Park Service Lead Ranger Lucas Hugie. They do so on-site, just a stone's throw from where the Transcontinental Railroad was completed.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I wish to impress upon your minds that what you are about to witness is not a performance in the common sense of the term.”

This is the story of the Wild West’s end and the close of the frontier.

The West is settled. The buffalo are gone. The US government is seeking to assimilate Native Americans. In this environment, a religious movement promising a restoration of traditional indigenous life, called the Ghost Dance, is spreading across the continent. Fearful of it, the government sends the military to arrest Lakota Ghost Dancers. It ends in tragedy near Wounded Knee Creek. For Native Americans, this is the end of the frontier.

Meanwhile, William Cody, a.k.a., “Buffalo Bill,” is keeping the Old West alive through an incredible performance: Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. He’s obsessed with authenticity, only hiring actual cowboys, vaqueros, Native Americans, gunslingers, and others. For Bill, progress is the story of the frontier.

Professor Frederick Jackson Turner says the frontier is over and the nation has progressed. Frederick Douglass has a different view. We’ll take in all these different perspectives as the sun sets on the Old West.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“This is my last opportunity to make a big haul. Alaska is the last West.”

This is the story of the US purchase of Alaska and the famous Klondike Gold Rush.

Russia needs funds and sees its territory of Russian-America as a liability. That has US Secretary of State William Henry Seward seeing opportunities, such as fisheries and access to Asian markets. It’s an ideal match of interests for two major powers—provided William Henry can convince the Senate to approve the treaty to purchase a region twice the size of Texas.

Decades later, three men find gold in one of the Klondike River’s tributaries. Although in Canada, most of the 100,000 prospectors (called “stampeders” or “klondikers”) who’ll flock here do so via Alaska. There’s wealth to be had if they can survive the journey … and avoid getting robbed blind in Skagway by Jefferson “Soapy” Smith.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The fight’s commenced. Go to fighting or get away!”

This is the story of more gunslinging and heists.

Pearl Hart needs to see her mother; is a stagecoach robbery the answer? The Earps Brothers and Doc Holiday are on the opposite of a political and economic feud with the “Cow Boys” in the mining town of Tombstone, Arizona Territory; are they disarming the “Cow Boys” in accordance with a city ordinance? Or is there more to it? Jesse James is a Civil War bushwhacker; but is it still “bushwacking” if he keeps robbing and killing after the war? Or is he a bandit? Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are fleeing to South America; but do they die in a shootout? Or will Butch prove he’s still alive by visiting his family in Utah years later?

Somewhere between the legends and myths is the truth. Too bad some of it will forever remain elusive. Welcome to the Wild West.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I am going to hell anyhow.”

This is the story of the rise of Western outlaws and gunslingers.

From transportation of goods and people, to mining and even the cattle industry, a Second Industrial Revolution has overtaken the United States. Economic and political disruption are everywhere … but the law isn’t. And that’s the perfect cocktail for a golden age of outlaws. 

Sam Bass is robbing the Union Pacific. Henry—sorry, he doesn’t go by his legal name these days—Billy or “Kid,” is throwing down in a power struggle in the New Mexico Territory’s Lincoln County. Neither man will be long for this world. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Did they not build the Chinese Wall, the biggest piece of masonry in the world?”

The Central Pacific Railroad is struggling to find long-term construction workers. Many of them quickly leave the CP’s employ to pursue gold and silver in the mines of California or Nevada. But Big Four Associate Charlie Crocker has an idea: why not try hiring Chinese immigrants? The idea is semi-controversial in the eyes of many Americans, but the CP goes for it, and likes the results. Soon, the Chinese make up 90% of the CP’s construction workers, risking their lives as they dangle over cliffs, drill, and blast tunnels through the solid granite of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Both the Central and Union Pacific railroads are bearing down on Utah Territory. Politicking, corporate espionage, labor strikes, struggles of pride and honor and more will all come to bear. Despite these challenges, the transcontinental railroad will be completed. The CP’s Governor Leland Stanford will drive it (or tap it) together with a golden spike no less. We’ll witness the ceremony at Promontory Summit as it happens (two-days late thanks to the UP’s Dr. Thomas Durant) on May 10, 1869.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“How dare you try to hog all the continent?”

This is the story of the Union Pacific Railroad.

The US Government has legislated that a private company be organized with government oversight to build a railroad from Nebraska to Nevada. It will meet the Central Pacific and form a transcontinental rail across the whole United States. Unfortunately, few are interested in investing in this risky endeavor in the midst of the Civil War.

But one man isn’t afraid to do so. Of course, his lack of fear is equaled by a lack of scruples. He’ll wheel, deal, cut corners, extend rail, manipulate stock prices, and more in his goal to make a windfall of cash from the “Pacific Road.” This is Dr. Thomas Durant.

Meanwhile, life is rough on the rails. Irish immigrants, war vets (blue and gray alike) and more, work hard while living in a world far removed from the law. Out here, might makes right and arguments are won by the fastest draw as men frequent the saloons, dance halls, and brothels following the railroad on the very tracks they just laid. These portable towns are often called the “wickedest cities in America.” Welcome to “Hell On Wheels.”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing the Skeptoid podcast!

Since 2006, the weekly Skeptoid podcast has been taking on all the most popular myths and revealing the true science, true history, and true lessons we can learn from each.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Every great enterprise has been ridiculed in the outset.”

This is the story of the rise of the railroad.

Travel on land is slow. Arduous. Inhibited by rough terrain like mountains, rivers, and bogs. That reality makes Americans view the continent’s interior as an inaccessible “Great Desert,” only to be visited by daring pioneers passing through en route to Oregon Country or California.

But technology is changing. “Iron horses” are starting to run at rapid speeds across rails. And as these rails stretch across the east, some dreamers, thought crazy, are suggesting this rail could traverse the entire continent. 

Could the US Government support such a ludicrous idea? It seems impossible, but might such a rail help keep the massive, continent-wide nation together as Civil War breaks out? Theodore “Crazy” Judah thinks so, and teaming up with four influential, business-savvy Californians, he means to find out. This is the rise of the Central Pacific Railroad.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Gentlemen, what is the cause of this violence?”

This is the story HTDS's 2020.

Most people wouldn’t call last year a good one. Doesn’t mean we didn’t have some fun mini episodes and cold opens here on HTDS. Join Greg for a look at some favorites from both of those camps.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The older I get the more I’m convinced that it’s the purpose of politicians and journalists to say the world is very simple, whereas it’s the purpose of historians to say, ‘No! It’s very complicated’.” — David Cannadine (British historian at Princeton)

It’s epilogue time. Join Greg and Cielle as they talk broad strokes on one of the darkest periods of American history: Reconstruction and the (post-Civil War) Indian Wars. In the process, we’ll revisit a few fascinating figures who seem to reject fitting into simple boxes, like Confederate-turned-Radical-Republican James “Old Pete” Longstreet and Union-war-hero-turned-Indian fighter, Phil Sheridan.

Finally, we’ll say goodbye to another HTDS friend. First it was Josh. Now, it’s Cielle. Thanks a lot, 2020.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Church bristled and pooh-poohed at the subject when I suggested that he write a reply to Virginia O’Hanlon.”

This is the story of America’s most famous editorial.

Virginia O’Hanlon is an inquisitive eight-year-old. She’s debated with her friends and studied out the matter, but she still can’t decide: is there a Santa Claus? At her father’s suggestion, she writes to New York’s great arbiter of truth: The Sun. Her letter is handed to an editorial writer by the name of Francis “Frank” Pharcellus Church.

But Frank doesn’t want to answer the letter. Emotionally scarred by what he witnessed reporting on during the Civil War, Frank is a cynic. Further, as a man without a wife, children, or faith, a religious or faith-filled holiday focused on children really isn’t his thing. What exactly can he say to this little girl? The result is the most famous editorial in the history of American newspapers.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Does this court think an Indian is a competent witness?”

This is the story of the start of indigenous civil rights.

Since the arrival of Lewis and Clark, the Nez Perce have lived peacefully beside US citizens. The Pacific Northwest indigenous group is proud of the fact that not one of them has ever killed a white person. But things are changing. New settlers are flocking, and the US government wants the Nez Perce to cede more land. In 1863, the upper Nez Perce sign a treaty that cedes Lower Nez Perce lands without their consent. Meanwhile, settlers who wrong the Nez Perce (even murdering some), aren’t being charged with crimes. Amid these crimes and forced removal, peace can’t hold. Nez Perce leaders like Chief Joseph soon find themselves fighting a war they don’t want.

But can the US government forcibly remove indigenous people to reservations, and further force them to stay there? Or do they have civil rights? Ponca Chief Standing Bear is raising that very question by suing for a writ of habeas corpus in Omaha, Nebraska. The legal precedent-setting decision rests with Judge Elmer Dundy.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“There’s a good fight coming over the hill. That’s where the big fight is going to be. We’ll not miss that one.”

This is the story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn (or the Greasy Grass). 

In 1868, representatives of the US government meet leaders from a few indigenous nations at Fort Laramie to sign a treaty. The agreement creates the boundaries for a Great Sioux Reservation and “unceded” Sioux territory. But the treaty soon falters: With the discovery of gold in the Lakota’s sacred Black Hills, miners and settlers flock to the reservation’s mountain range. Meanwhile, thousands of Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho “non-treaty Indians” refuse to move to the reservation. The US government responds by designating them as “hostile.”

In 1876, three US armies move out to force the now thousands-strong non-treaty village to the reservation. Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer’s 7th Cavalry finds them first. Will he succeed in forcing them to the reservation? Or will Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse’s village defeat the cavalry and maintain its liberty? It will all come down to a battle on the hills just above the eastern bank of the Little Bighorn River.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“To be hanged by the neck until he is dead.”

This is the story of the US-Dakota War. The most eastern of the three major Sioux peoples, the Dakota are indigenous to Minnesota. They’ve lived beside trappers, fur traders, and the like, for quite a while (salut, les Canadiens-français). But now, more white settlers are showing up and setting up farms, and American officials are buying lands in exchange for long-term payments.

But what happens when those payments are late? Shorted? Meanwhile, traditional hunting grounds are gone. Amid these tensions, four hungry Dakota men on a failed hunt kill two settler families. Other settlers only see a seemingly random act of murder; the Dakota see men pushed beyond their limits. A war ensues. The settlers win quickly but suffer hundreds of deaths in the process.

Now questions arise: Are warriors guilty of murder? Are some guilty of massacring? Many Minnesotans say yes to both, and over 300 Dakota men are sentenced to death. Settlers are crying for blood as the final decision to approve or deny these sentences go all the way to the top. It’s your call, President Abraham Lincoln.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Hang Kellogg! We’ll fight!”

This is the story of the end of Reconstruction.

Voter fraud and intimidation has made Louisiana’s 1872 Gubernatorial election a mess. So, when a Federal judge and Republican President Ulysses S. Grant uphold the Republican candidate, the stage is set for more partisan and racial violence in the Bayou State. The outcome is Reconstruction’s worst episode of violence and murder (the Colfax Massacre), and a full-on street battle in New Orleans between the paramilitary White League and the racially integrated state and municipal police (the Battle of Liberty Place). 

Meanwhile, Democrats have grown sick of what they see as Federal overreach imposing Republican policies to rule over them. Starting in Mississippi, they come up with a new plan to disenfranchise Republicans in order to reestablish “home rule.” 

But will the federal government allow this to happen? With Ulyss leaving the White House, the 1876 presidential election’s voter fraud and backroom dealings create a compromise that ensures Republicans retain the presidency, while Democrats regain control of the South. Reconstruction is over. Welcome to the era of Jim Crow.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Boys, let us get up a club or society of some description.”

This is the story of Reconstruction peaking and its opponents organizing to fight back.

With Radical Republicans at the helm of Reconstruction, the former Confederate states are forced to make new state constitutions that include black men in the process. The outcome is nothing short of revolutionary. Black men not only come away with the vote but the ability to run for office! Black Americans like PBS Pinchback, Robert Smalls, and Robert Elliott are soon filling the highest offices in the land—even Congress.

But this change is far too radical for some ex-Confederates. When six Tennessean men form a social club, it quickly takes a paramilitary turn. Its former rebel members realize that the only way to restore the antebellum world they long for is through violence and murder ...  and they aren’t above resorting to such measures.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Game Changers: Precedent-Setting Presidential Elections takes a look at some of the earliest and most influential presidential elections in US history. Join Greg and Cielle as they highlight the backstory of key players in four early presidential elections. Then, listen and learn as they engage in lively discussions about the precedents set in each of these elections and how those still play out in our system today. 

In Episode 1: The Election of 1800: A Changing of the Guards Part 1, you’ll hear the story of John Adams and the Boston Massacre trial. Then, we discuss the first American political parties. Both sides fear tyranny, but from different sources. And that fear will influence the outcome of this election and lead to the first precedent it sets. 

To listen to all episodes of Game Changers, go to himalaya.com/historical and enter promo code HISTORICAL at checkout for your first 14 days free. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 "The office has come to me unsought; I commence its duties untrammeled. I bring to it a conscious desire and determination to fill it to the best of my ability to the satisfaction of the people. "

This is the story of scandal.

Ulysses S. Grant has just been elected as the youngest US President to date. He has great hopes to usher in a new era of civil and political rights for African-Americans and American Indians, as evidenced by the new 15th amendment. But can the honest Civil War hero do so when his Vice President and trusted former officers are busy making corrupt, illegal deals that inflate the value of gold, cost of railroads, and dodge taxes? 

Welcome to the Grant Administration.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“You are placed in a position where you have the power to save or destroy us; to bless or blast us--I mean our whole race.”

This is the story of the first US Presidency to end in impeachment. This is the story of Andrew Johnson.

The post-Civil War government of the United States faces difficult decisions. Should it be lenient to former Confederate states? Or should it take a hard hand? Should the Federal government play a role in reconstructing state governments (Reconstruction)? Or should it leave the states to their own devices? Slavery’s over, but does that mean black Americans are equal citizens with white Americans? Or can states enact laws, called “Black Codes,” that only apply to its black residents? Can states deny them the vote?

These are the questions facing VP-turned-President Andrew Johnson, and he doesn’t seem to agree with Congress on much. Can Congress impeach and convict him for firing War Secretary Edwin Stanton? Or will the case fall apart? We’ll find out. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Sic semper tyrannis!”

This is the story of deception. Conspiracy. Assassination.

The handsome, 26-year-old successful actor John Wilkes Booth has sympathized with the Confederacy since the war began. So when Abraham Lincoln wins reelection as President of the United States amid several crucial late-1864 victories, John becomes enraged. He decides to kidnap President Lincoln.

But as John’s attempts at kidnapping fail, things go worse for the CSA. By April 1865, it’s over for the Confederacy. Then Lincoln says something in a speech that throws John completely over the edge: the gangly president suggests that the United States enact limited, black male suffrage.

John’s ready to go far further than kidnapping. And so, on the night of April 14, the famous actor will take on the biggest, most consequential role of his life … at Washington City’s Ford Theatre.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Adieu best of wives and best of women."

We’re interrupting our usual chronological walk through US history today to bring you a remastered, new sound design take on Episode 22, “An Affair of Honor: Alexander Hamilton & Aaron Burr.” In these last few months, cellist Buffi Jacobs and violinist Austin Burket, both of whom usually perform with the Hamilton musical’s “Philip” Tour, contributed their talents to the new music you’ve been hearing since Airship took on our sound design. Given that connection, we thought it would be a fun homage to these new partnerships to let Airship redo the sound design on the most Hamilton of HTDS episodes. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After nearly a full year of covering only four years of US history, we are done with the Civil War. It’s time for an epilogue! Greg and Cielle talk big picture and bring in some intriguing stories that just didn’t quite make the cut for regular episodes (including the Civil War origins of Coca-Cola, and the tale of Confederates who immigrate to Brazil, where slavery is still legal). 

Ready to decompress and gear up for Reconstruction? Here we go.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I feel that it is … my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of any further effusion of blood, by asking you to surrender … the army of Northern Virginia. Very respectfully, U. S. Grant.”

This is the story of one army surrendering to another. Of foes becoming brothers once more. This is the Surrender at Appomattox. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I can make the march, and make Georgia howl!”

This is the story of the March to the Sea and the 13th Amendment.

William Tecumseh “Cump” Sherman describes war as two things: “cruel” and “hell.” Acting under this philosophy, he takes 60,000 of his toughest, most battle-hardened men, and marches from Atlanta to the Peach State’s coast in a show of force meant to break the Confederacy of its will to fight. Cump’s effective--but does he go too far? Americans North and South will debate whether he’s a hero or a villain for generations to come.

Meanwhile, President Abraham Lincoln has grown tired of the fact that the Constitution legally protects the institution of slavery. But the Constitution hasn’t been amended in 60 years; not since Thomas Jefferson was president! Can the Illinois Railsplitter really push through a 13th amendment? We’ll find out.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!”

This is the story of the Civil War in late-1864. Battles of significance are happening all across the country, and many of them are quite odd or unique: Pennsylvania miners are secretly digging under Confederates to blow them up from below; Admiral David Farragut is fighting in the torpedo-filled waters of Alabama’s Gulf Coast; Bushwacker “Bloody Bill” Anderson is fighting the war as a brutal gun-slinger; and one-legged Confederate General John Bell Hood is making a Hail Mary play and taking Tennessee. It’s a quick paced tour around the country as we inch toward the final culmination of the Civil War.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing the newest Audioboom original podcast, Truth vs Hollywood. Join Film lovers David Chen and Joanna Robinson as they do a deep dive into well known films and discuss how similar they are to the actual story.  Truth vs Hollywood premieres 6/12. Subscribe to Truth vs Hollywood on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/truth-vs-hollywood/id1510582080

“Johnson is either drunk or crazy,”

This is the story of the fight for the presidency in 1864.

No US President since Andrew Jackson has seen a second term. Few are even nominated by their party for a second term. Will the Republicans choose Abraham Lincoln again? More to the point--will war-weary Americans voters, including moderates who disapprove of Lincoln making the abolition of slavery a war aim, choose Lincoln again? 

The Democrats have a strong candidate: General George B. “Little Mac” McClellan. He might be out of the war, but he’s certainly ready to fight the man who fired him. Welcome to a presidential election amid an actual Civil War.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“War is war, and not popularity-seeking.”

This is the story of the fall of Atlanta. William Tecumseh “Cump” Sherman is leading three armies in an attack against this vital city in the Peach State. His forces are formidable, but so are his opponents: Confederate master of defense, Joseph E. “Joe” Johnston; and the far more aggressive Confederate General John B. Hood. The loss of life will be staggering and include prominent figures on both sides.

There’s also rebelling brewing within the rebellion. Care to meet secessionists who’ve seceded from the secession? Welcome to Mississippi’s “Free State of Jones.”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After more than two years of putting his blood, sweat, and tears into HTDS, Sound Designer Josh Beatty is moving on. We'll miss him! But we're also excited to have history podcasting legend Lindsay Graham and his audio production company Airship (https://airship.fm/) stepping in.

Why is Josh leaving? In what ways will this change the sound of HTDS? Join Greg, Josh, Cielle, and Lindsay as they discuss those dynamics, reflect on Josh's time at HTDS, and explain how the four of them met through Podcast Movement.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.”

This is the story of hard fights and harder losses. 

It’s early 1864, and battle-proven, newly promoted Ulysses S. Grant is now over the whole army, and he’s launching an ambitious plan: the Overland Campaign. He’ll wage several battles in Virginia as other generals strike other parts of the Confederacy. The losses are staggering. Not only will tens of thousands of men lose life or limb, but one particularly influential and beloved Confederate leader won’t make it out alive.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

History can touch on present-day issues, and rather than duck away from such discomforts, Greg has always been stupid enough to try to hit them straight on. Indulging that stupidity today, Greg sat down with born-and-bred Southerner Jeremy Collins from the podcast, "Podcasts We Listen To," to discuss the South; particularly, Southern accents. Whether you've never been south of the Mason-Dixon Line or are as Southern as Jeremy, we hope you learn from and enjoy this honest, candid, and jovial chat.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 “I had never severed the nerves and fibers of human flesh.”

This is the story of Civil War medicine. At the start of the war, the wounded sometimes lay on the field of battle for days hoping for help. Some die slowly and painfully from exposure and thirst. Others are robbed as their life expires. The divided nation has new, deadlier guns, but medical treatment has changed. It’s a deadly combination. 

Both sides step up. The Union’s new “Ambulance Corps” sets a new standard for battlefield first aid as the newly created US Sanitary Commission improves policy. The CSA’s “Infirmary Corps” and regional organizations make similar improvements. North and South, women save countless soldiers as they enter a new medical profession: “nursing.” 

But most surgeons don’t believe “refied ladies” should be working in this professional role. Some intentionally make life downright miserable for these female patriots. Luckily for the wounded, these women don’t break easily.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Gloom and unspoken despondency hang like a pall everywhere.”

This is the story of personalities.

Union General William “Old Rosy” Rosecrans takes on Confederate General Braxton Bragg out in Tennessee. Their clash at the battle of Chickamauga is among the deadliest of the whole war. 

The aftermath is anything but straightforward. Short-tempered as ever, Braxton Bragg is clashing with his generals, particularly Nathan Bedford Forest and James “Old Pete” Longstreet. CSA President Jefferson Davis even pays them a visit in the field to try and keep the peace! Meanwhile, US President Abraham Lincoln and War Secretary Edwin “Mars” Stanton aren’t seeing eye to eye on what to do in the Volunteer State as Ulysses S. Grant is inheriting command at the besieged city of Chattanooga. Can he turn things around? Or will Confederate infighting win the day for him at the last major battle of 1863? We’ll find out.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“It is hard to believe that Southern soldiers—and Texans at that—have been whipped by a mongrel crew of white and black Yankees … there must be some mistake.”

This is the story of Black Soldiers in the Civil War.

Black patriots are ready to fight from day one. The Lincoln Administration and Congress, however, are not ready to have them. They fear losing the support of the border states and the Democrats. But as the war drags on, they change their tune. Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, and black regiments are incorporated in the US army in early 1863. Eventually, as many as 200,000 black soldiers will fight in hundreds of engagements across every theater of the Civil War.

But trailblazers often cut hard paths. As a skeptical nation wonders, “will they fight?” the black creoles of the Louisiana Native Guard and the black troops of the 54th Massachusetts answer that question in the most forceful way possible: with their own blood and lives.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I shall lead my division forward, sir.”

This is the story of Gettysburg.

It’s summer, 1863, and Robert E. Lee is making a bold move; he’s leading his Army of Northern Virginia into Union territory. He hopes a victory up north might be the decisive blow he needs to demoralize the US. Meanwhile, Union leadership is getting shaken up (yet again) as the Army of the Potomac’s command passes from “Fightin’ Joe” Hooker to George Meade. But the two armies won’t clash on either commander’s terms. They’ll collide somewhat unintentionally at the southeastern Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg. 

The battle rages for three days under the hot July sun. It’ll prove the deadliest battle of the entire war. Its impact will long be remembered—as will President Abraham Lincoln’s speech dedicating the final resting place of the battle’s thousands of dead that November.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Grant is my man and I am his the rest of the war.”

This is the story of hard fighting—on the battlefield and in the courts.

President Abraham Lincoln is making the controversial decision to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. While the Constitution does permit this to be done “in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion” that  threaten “the public Safety,” is the executive branch the one to do it? Is it prudent?

Meanwhile, battles rage across the nation. Stone’s River claims a higher percentage of combatants than any other battle has or will. Ulysses S. Grant is laying siege to Vicksburg, which is the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. Can he do it, effectively cutting the CSA in two? Finally, friendly fire is laying low one of the Confederacy’s most talented generals at Chancellorsville. The war will never be the same.

.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Here’s a damned abolitionist! … He’s a Tribune man! Hang the son of a b****!”

This is the story of Civil War conscription and riots.

Conscription is completely foreign to Americans. They’ve never relied on force to fill the military’s ranks. But the Civil War is changing that. Left with the choice to either give up or draft men in the army, the Confederacy, then the United States, both turn to conscription. When it appears that the burden of fighting will fall disproportionately on the shoulders of New York’s mostly Irish-Catholic working class, it unleashes racial, economic, and religious angst, and causes one of the worst (if not the worst) riots in American history.

Meanwhile, Southern women are starving. Their husbands and sons are fighting, but the Confederacy and its states are doing nothing to check a rampant rise in the cost of food. Stuck with choosing between letting their children starve or rioting, it’s a no brainer. They’re choosing the latter.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Keep the details! We love the stories!"

 After 11 episodes covering the first half of the Civil War, it’s time to digest a bit. Greg, Josh, and Cielle attend to the usual roundtable business (pronunciation corrections and talking cotton production in Arizona!), then talk through the “who’s who” of our massive cast of characters. Enjoy one last chat before we dive into the final harsh years of the war. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“If the world had been searched by Burnside for a location in which his army could be best defeated ... he should have selected this very spot.”

This is the story of leadership turnover in the Union and total war on the field. US President Abraham Lincoln has had his fill of George B. “Little Mac” McClellan. Little Mac is getting fired. He’s being replaced by the general with the best facial-hair game in the army: Ambrose Burnsides. 

But Ambrose doesn’t want command. He doesn’t think he’s the man for the job. Still, he’s going to try to be the aggressive general he knows the President wants. Ambrose plans to charge at the Confederate capital with his 120,000-strong Army of the Potomac. But he’ll have to deal with Robert E. Lee first. They’re coming to blow up the little Virginia town George Washington’s mother once called home: Fredericksburg.

Meanwhile, Ulysses S. Grant is facing challenges out west in the Mississippi Valley. Can he out navigate a politicking general and take the crucial rivertown of Vicksburg, Mississippi? We’ll find out.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The Proclamation is the drawing of a sword that can never be sheathed again.”

This is the story of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Anti-slavery, moderate-Republican President Abraham Lincoln has never liked slavery. He wants to prevent it from expanding to new US territories. But he also never intended to go on the offensive against the “peculiar institution” within those states where it already exists. The Illinois Rail-Splitter knows the law; he’s aware that the constitution protects slavery at the state level.

Then the Civil War came. As the South breaks away from the Union, the North breaks philosophically on slavery. The abolitionists say ending slavery must be a war aim. The Democrats and border-states say this war is only about preserving the Union. Moderate Republicans and still others are mixed. Meanwhile, enslaved Americans within the Confederacy are seeking refuge in Federal army camps. How should Union Generals respond? Can they give sanctuary without upsetting the border-states that may still join the Confederacy? And do seceded states still have constitutional rights? Or does war mean the president can use his constitutional war powers to end slavery among rebelling states by proclamation? And if he does … what will that outcome be?

The questions are boundless. The answers are unknowable without taking the plunge. Your move, President Lincoln.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Our top spot goes to …”

This is the story of stories (yeah, super “meta”). You know regular HTDS episodes always start with a cold open. You probably have a favorite. So do we.

Today, Greg and Cielle count down their top seven favorite openings, from George Washington’s loss at Fort Necessity to our current point in the Civil War. It’s a peek into the minds behind HTDS, a bit of nostalgia for long-time listeners, and the perfect HTDS introduction for the newly initiated. Enjoy, and Happy New Year!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Our dispatches state that Lieut. Longfellow of First Mass. Cavalry was severely wounded.”

This is the story of a son nearly lost and a poet in a dark place. 

Young, idealistic Charley Longfellow loves his country and is ready to fight and die for it. His father—the former Harvard College Professor of English and Literature, celebrated author, and grieving widower, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow—fears losing his son in the Civil War and doesn’t want him to enlist. But Charley does. A bullet rips through the youth soon thereafter.

1863 has truly been a terrible year for Henry. Mourning the loss of his wife, praying for his son’s recovery, and anxious about the war-torn nation’s future, Christmas feels hollow as he listens to bells ring that day. But he believes better days are to come. He expresses his pain and hope for a future peace by penning a poem future generations of Americans will cherish as the Christmas Carol, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices