American History Hotline

How accurate is Steven Spielberg's Lincoln ? And what did the movie get wrong? Listener Elijah wants to know how closely the 2012 film starring Daniel Day-Lewis matches the real history of Abraham Lincoln—and there may be no better person to answer than Harold Holzer, one of America's leading Lincoln historians and the film's principal historical advisor. Harold takes Bob Crawford behind the scene...

America's founders feared political parties—and then almost immediately began creating them. So are parties an unfortunate obstacle to democracy, or are they the reason democracy works at all? Georgetown University political scientist Hans Noel joins Bob Crawford to explain why the Constitution never mentions political parties, how America became locked into a two-party system, and why Democrats a...

Listener Laura is descended from Colonel John Barnwell—better known as "Tuscarora Jack"—but she struggles with her ancestor's brutal actions during the Tuscarora War. Why is Barnwell still celebrated as a hero in South Carolina? Bob speaks with author and fellow Barnwell descendant John Warley about the bloody conflict that earned Tuscarora Jack his nickname, the disturbing violence recorded in hi...

For much of American history, the vice presidency was a political afterthought. Presidents and vice presidents sometimes disliked each other, worked against each other, or barely communicated at all. So how did the office become one of the most influential positions in Washington? On this episode of American History Hotline , Bob Crawford talks with Elaine Kamarck , Senior Fellow in Governance Stu...

Millions of Americans grew up playing The Oregon Trail, trying to avoid dysentery, survive dangerous river crossings, and make it west in one piece. But how accurate was the famous video game? In this episode of American History Hotline, host Bob Crawford talks with Yale historian Sarah Keyes, author of American Burial Ground: A New History of the Overland Trail, to separate fact from fiction. Tog...

Twenty-five years after 9/11, America is once again at war in the Middle East. So what—if anything—have we learned? This week on American History Hotline , Bob Crawford talks with Peter Bergen , one of the country's leading experts on Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and America's post-9/11 wars. Bergen is the New York Times bestselling author of Manhunt and the new book All the President's Wars: Twenty-...

President Donald Trump recently released his own ranking of America's presidents—placing himself at the top while labeling figures such as Barack Obama and Ulysses S. Grant failures. But how does his list hold up to history? Presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky joins Bob Crawford to examine Trump's rankings, identify their biggest surprises and omissions, and reveal her own five greatest pres...

Why does the United States use the Electoral College instead of a national popular vote? Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me! Or, actually, DO tell me.  To get answers, Bob calls up Peter Sagal, longtime host of NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! and host of the PBS series Constitution USA, to unpack what some have called "America's Worst Idea."   Where did the Electoral College come from? Why did the Foun...

The history of the Army Rangers isn't one continuous story, it's a cycle of creation, disbandment, and revival that stretches back before the United States even existed. In this episode of Bob calls up Brian Halstead, President of the U.S. Army Ranger Association, about the remarkable history of the Rangers. Together they trace their evolution from frontier scouts during the French and Indian War...

How did the Cold War really end? Most Americans know about the Berlin Wall and the fall of the Soviet Union—but few know about the extraordinary meeting that helped make it all possible. On this episode of American History Hotline , host Bob Crawford speaks with filmmaker Michael Russell Gunn , writer and director of The Brink of War , about the dramatic 1986 Reykjavik Summit between President Ron...

Guns, germs and steel. Emphasis on GERMS. When Europeans arrived in the Americas, they brought all sorts of diseases!   A listener asks: Why did diseases like smallpox devastate Native American populations but not European colonists? Was it simply a lack of immunity, or is the story more complicated? To get answers, Bob calls up bestselling author and journalist Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and...

Who knows? Not me. Why wasn't Kyoto destroyed by an atomic bomb during World War II? Rumor has it, the Secretary of War at the time, Henry Stimson, had fallen in love with the city during his honeymoon years earlier. But is this a STORY or REALITY?   To get some answers, Bob calls up historian Alex Wellerstein.  Was Kyoto spared because of military strategy? Political calculations? Or the personal...

In Part 2 of our Amelia Earhart series, Bob examines one of the most controversial and fascinating theories surrounding aviation's greatest mystery. Last week, former Smithsonian curator Dorothy Cochrane argued that Amelia Earhart likely crashed into the Pacific Ocean after failing to locate tiny Howland Island. This week, Earhart expert  Ric Gillespie , shares his theory.  Drawing on decades of r...

Are we close to finding out what happened to Amelia Earhart? Some experts say "yes!"  Nearly 90 years after her disappearance, researchers believe they are are getting closer to solving one of the world's greatest mysteries. But, what do they think happened?  In Part 1 of this special two-part episode, Bob calls up aviation historian Dorothy Cochrane to explore the remarkable life and career of Am...

How much should Americans know about the health of their president? From secret illnesses and hidden disabilities to modern debates over transparency, the health of the commander in chief has long been a subject of controversy. But where should we draw the line between medical privacy and the public's right to know? In this episode, Bob calls up presidential historian Barbara A. Perry to explore h...

People are strange. But Jim Morrison is no stranger to conspiracy theories. And we've got a juicy one!  Well, we're in the history business (not the conspiracy business). So, this episode is all about the TRUTH behind The Doors. And, yes, you CAN handle the truth!  In this episode, Disgraceland host Jake Brennan ( enter shameless plug HERE ) tells Bob how the father of Jim Morrison was a U.S. Navy...

Did Americans always send their children to public school? Not even close. In this episode of American History Hotline , Bob calls up historian and author Dixie Dillon Lane to explore the surprising history of education in America. From colonial classrooms and the self-taught education of Abigail Adams to the rise of public schools, compulsory education laws, and the modern homeschooling movement,...

For decades, abortion has been one of the most divisive issues in American politics. But was it always that way? Bob calls up Georgetown Law Professor Dr. Michele Goodwin to learn about the surprising history of abortion in America. From colonial midwives and herbal remedies to the rise of the Christian Right, Roe v. Wade, and the modern political battle over reproductive rights, this episode expl...

The average age of a U.S. Representative is in the 50s. In the Senate, it's in the 60s. Many Congressional members are also white and wealthy. And this is not representative of the country as a whole. So, what's keeping Congress from being more reflective of nation's population, and therefore, actually getting things done? So. Many. Things.  Bob calls up political scientist Maya Kornberg, author o...

Maybe we can add another guarantee, besides "death" and "taxes" ... "trade wars."  In the early days of America, Native Nations were fighting over trade and power. And they saw the arrival of the Europeans as a tool to defeat their rivals. It's a period that led to shifting allegiances in a fight for dominance.  And the clearest example of this early diplomacy is The Pequot War of the 1630s.   To...

What was it really like to come to America through Ellis Island? For millions of immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this little spit of land in New York Harbor was the gateway to a better future … IF they could pass a physical exam. To get the real-life experience of coming through Ellis Island, Bob calls up historian Vincent Cannato (author of American Passage: The History of E...

You can't spell "hero" without JFK. Ok, so you can. But that doesn't take away from the fact that a young John F. Kennedy saved a man's life in WWII — a war he wasn't even supposed to be in! Bob calls up Alexis Coe, New York Times bestselling presidential historian and author of Young Jack: A Biography of John F. Kennedy, 1917–1957 , to uncover the thrilling true story of JFK towing an injured cre...

Are our two main political parties so toxic that a third party may soon takeover American politics? Don't count on it. We'll dive into why right now is the opportune time for a third party to rise to power ... and why that party is destined to fail.  But who knows?! Anything is possible.   GUEST: Michael Cullinane , professor of U.S. History and the Lowman Walton Chair of Theodore Roosevelt Studie...

Good artists borrow, great artists steal. Apparently, Thomas Jefferson got the memo. It turns out some North Carolinians penned their own Declaration of Independence nearly a year before TJ scribed his.  So, if Thomas Jefferson stole (borrowed/homaged) the language for the Declaration of Independence, why have we never talked about this? Well, there was one heck of cover up!  To get the full story...

Clara Barton spent the Civil War kicking butts and taking names … except she was actually SAVING butts. In fact, her efforts to treat injuries on the battlefield and identify missing soldiers changed war forever. But what led Clara Barton to become the "Angel of the Battlefield"?  Bob calls up historian Susan Rosenvold to get some answers. From the chaos of Antietam to the creation of the American...