History Behind News Program

Why do some presidential sexual relations become major scandals while others don't even make the news? 🚩In this interview: ►Are presidential love affairs different than sexual relations? ►What defines a scandal? The nature of the act or the politics of the moment? ►JFK's sexual relations ►FDR's love affairs ►Cleveland's sex scandals and great love story ►Clinton's sexual relations ►Jackson's scan...

As Pres. Trump and Pres. Putin meet in Alaska to negotiate a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, I speak with scholars of Russia and ask them these questions: ►Who is Putin? ►What event had the biggest impact on his worldview? ►Is he an ideological man? ►Does he love Russia? ►Is he a risktaker? ►Does he fear that Russians will revolt against him? ►Does he want to be remembered in hist...

As Pres. Trump & Putin meet in Alaska, without Pres. Zelensky, to discuss a peace deal in the Russian-Ukrainian War, it is not at all certain that any land will in fact be swapped for peace, as suggested by Pres. Trump. But one thing is for certain - that Pres. Putin will not, ever, swap Crimea for any land in Ukraine. In this episode, my guest and I discuss the history of Crimea and the Crime...

Tower of London to Alligator Alcatraz: how constitutionalism came to America and became Americanized. 🚩In this interview: ►What is due process? Is it a legal right or privilege? ►How are procedural and substantive due process different? ►Is due process in the Constitution? ►Do immigrants have due process rights? ►Is due process essentially about fear? ►What is Magna Carta? ►Does due process come...

Is America undermining the rules-based international order? Are we jeopardizing the stability and predictability of the very system that we built for the world? 🚩In this interview: ►What is national security? ►What is America's "special relationship" with Britain? ►In 1916, why did Britain worry about Pres. Wilson's foreign policy? ►Did FDR bring about the end of British Empire? ►How has America...

Most Americans hardly knew about autism in the 1980s and '90s. Then, as if suddenly, autism became big news in the 2000s. And the rate of autism has increased since, including diagnosis among adults. But how did this happen? 🚩In this interview: ►What is autism? A disorder? A disease? A psychiatric medical condition? ►What does autism spectrum mean? ►In the 1980s, what were medical experts taught...

"First Responders" of entertainment TV. Why American citizens will miss late-night talk shows. 🚩In this interview: ►What defines a late-night talk show? ►Obsolescence that's in the name! ►Was Carson really the King of Late Night? ►Who is Faye Emerson? ►The Letterman revolution. ►Entertaining in 20th century vs. importance in 21st century. ►The internet effect. ►Are late-night talk show hosts part...

Can Harvard use its huge endowment to make up for the federal funds frozen by Pres. Trump? 🚩In this interview: ►What are university endowments? ►How are endowments different than grants, federal funds and other monies that come into universities? ►How do universities perpetuate their endowments? ►What rules and regulations govern endowments? ►When did American universities first receive private m...

Why is America's Jewish community so successful? Why have Jewish diaspora communities been so successful throughout history and across many countries and cultures? 🚩In this interview: ►Jewish migration, immigration and emigration ►Preserving Jewish communities: the challenge of Jewish assimilation ►Preserving Judaism without the temple ►Jewish diaspora in Persia - forgotten part of Queen Esther's...

What is Decoration Day? Did the South celebrate the 4th of July? As it turns out, the history of the 4th of July is not that straightforward. For example, it took about a century for the recognition of our Independence Day as a federal holiday. And for some 80 years after the Civil war, some parts of the South, including Vicksburg, did not celebrate the 4th of July. It took WWII to create a new se...

For America, 1979 was one of the coldest years of the Cold War. The U.S. lost a friend. Gained a foe. And then its nightmare scenario for the Middle East began to come true. This is the history of how and why the U.S. military now has a permanent presence in the Middle East. 🚩In this interview, we also discuss the following: The dangers that U.S. military presence in the Middle East poses to U.S....

Alone in the Middle East! Imperial Iran… Safavids, Qajars, and even the Pahlavis - alone in the Middle East. And then, the Ayatollahs. Again, Iran alone in the Middle East. 🚩In this interview: ►What is it about Iran and its history that separates it from the rest of the Middle East? ►Who was Reza Shah and why is he so important to Iran's modern history? ►What was the Mohammad Reza Shah's primary...

Riots, rebellions and U.S. armed forces. Civilian supremacy over the military remains inviolate in our history and constitution. But what happens when a civilian Commander in Chief legally deploys the U.S. military or federalized National Guard on American soil? This story is as old as our democracy. One could even argue that the use of militia to crush rebellion in America was a major contributin...

Bismarck (left) built an empire. But his Emperor (right) destroyed it. The German Empire's swift rise to world power status frightened Europe and threatened its balance of power. So Bismark convinced Germany's neighbors and other world powers that while Germany was prosperous and powerful, it was also peaceful. Wilhelm II, however, flexed his imperial muscles, frightened his neighbors and insulted...

80% of South Africa's people own only 4% of the land. These are Black South Africans. In contrast, 75% of the land is privately owned by white South Africans, who comprise about 7% of the population. But apartheid ended in 1994. So why hasn't land been more equitably distributed since then? In this interview, we discuss the following: ►How colonial era Christianity ended the fluidity of societal a...

Did you know that up to the Partition of India in 1947, Kashmiri Muslims lived in conditions that very much resembled serfdom? Exploitation of Kashmiri Muslims was particularly notable during the Dogra Dynasty, which ruled the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir from 1846 to 1947. Since their partition in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought four wars: in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999. Based on resear...

Did you know that all of the growth in federal spending as a percentage of the national income is due to the growth of " uncontrollables "? In this interview, we discuss the following: ►What are "uncontrollables"? Why are they 'mandatory'? ►What are entitlements? How are they treated differently than discretionary budget spending? ►What was the Budget Resolution Process that was introduced in the...

Gang membership in El Salvador has a common theme, which is also a potential solution for reducing gang membership and gang violence there. In this interview, I discuss the following with my guest: ►How did El Salvador become the world's most violent country? ►Why is crime so high in El Salvador? ►What are deferred vengeance and retaliation? ►What kinds of crimes are committed in El Salvador? What...

What are tariffs really used for? For economic protection? For political gain? For enforcing foreign policy? In this interview, I discuss the following with my guest scholar: ►Why James Madison foresaw tariffs as an inevitable source of conflict? ►In U.S. history, did Americans ever complain that tariffs are really a tax on the people? ►What was the first instance in which tariffs were used as a f...

How long was the longest conclave? Was St. Peter actually buried in the Vatican? Has the papacy always been in Rome? In this interview, we discuss the following: ►secret excavations in the Vatican ►an ancient Roman cemetery under St. Peter's Basilica ►How did Rome remain the center of Christianity? The answer is not that simple! ►In early Christianity, was the See of Rome superior to other Patriar...

Where do our presidents get their powers? Are those powers enumerated in the Constitution? Or are those powers bestowed by Congress? For our Founders, was the presidency essentially an instrument of legislative agenda? Or did they believe that the president possesses some sovereign right distinct and separate from Congress? In this interview, I discuss the following with my guest: ►Is it possible...

Politically speaking, is America a Christian nation? Is there any country that you would define as a “Christian Nation”? In this interview, I discuss the following with my guest scholar: ►Did Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison believe that America is a Christian nation? ►Is Canada a Christian nation? ►Is Britain a Christian nation? ►What is America's 'Civil Religion'? ►What does the term 'se...

Taxes and wars go hand in hand. And as much as our current partisan politics suggest otherwise, it wasn't a Democratic U.S. president that ushered in the income tax. It was a Republican president - Honest Abe! And later, it was during another Republican president's term that the income tax became permanent - William Taft. The irony of it is that the poor masses and the progressive middle class pus...

"Crisis of Historical Subjectivity" - my guest, Dr. Namhee Lee, used this phrase to describe the Korean people's experience of 'failed history' and their collective effort to overcome that past. This is the story of "disguised employees" - South Korea's intellectuals who left high-paying jobs to instead work on the factory floor with the aim of bringing about democratic change. 🚩About My 167th Gu...

I start this interview with a super simple question: where is the Arctic? As it turns out, the answer may not be so simple. In fact, it's a serious question that invokes geopolitical conflicts that seem to be undermining the "exceptionalism" of the Arctic. ►In this interview, I discuss the following with Dr. Troy Bouffard : Countries in the Arctic - the Arctic 8, 5 & 3. China - a "Near Arctic...