American History Hit

Eisenhower, Washington, Greene, Grant. There have been thousands of Generals in the United States' Armed Forces. Picking out the best of the crop would be impossible, right? In this episode, Don is joined once again by Major Jonathan Bratten of the National Guard to sift through some of the stand out figures in our military history. The impossible questions are only just getting started. Edited by...

The two-term limit, the idea that the President of the United States may not seek a third term, has a long history. Originating from a decision made by George Washington, it quickly became an established political norm in America. Since then however it has transformed from a political expectation to a constitutionally mandated practice... but why? Our guest today is historian and Professor Jeremi...

New weapons, new opponents, new technology - as warfare evolves, armies need generals able to evolve with it. In this episode, Don is joined by Cecily Zander to discuss the most innovative generals in American History. Whether it's the use of tanks, total war or local scouts, these mean have changed the world we live in. Cecily is the author of the upcoming 'Abraham Lincoln and the American West',...

In July 1776, a group of men in Philadelphia committed an unthinkable act: they challenged one of the most powerful empires in the world by signing what became known as the American Declaration of Independence. What had happened in the previous years that pushed them to such drastic action? What were the disagreements over the document's wording? And what movements and ideas were inspired by its m...

Ruthless tactics. Extreme violence. The loss of huge numbers of their own troops. The deaths of the most opposing troops. What makes a general 'bloody'? And who fits that description best? In this first of four episodes on American Generals, Don and Jonathan Bratten sort through the rolodex of military leaders. Robert E. Lee, John Bell Hood, John J. Pershing or Douglas MacArthur. Who will win this...

From the 1830s until the arrival of the transcontinental railroad, hundreds of thousands of people packed their possessions into wagons and headed west, seeking land and opportunity. Following in the footsteps of Native Americans and fur trading ‘mountain men’, many travelled for several months along what became known as the Oregon Trail. But as Don hears from YouTube history teacher Mr Beat (yout...

Ever since independence, a question has hovered over the government of the United States. How much power should the President have? Not too much, lest they become a monarch. But not too little, they are elected to do a job and that job must be done. In this episode of American History Hit, Don is joined once again by Professor of Political Science, Graham G Dodds. Graham is author of 'The Unitary...

When fossils were discovered in the US during the 19th Century, it altered American understandings of science, religion, race and more. So what was the Hadrosaurus Foulkii, and why did it have such an enormous effect? Caroline Winterer, William Robertson Coe Professor of History and American Studies at Stanford University, joins Don for this episode. Caroline's book on this topic is 'How the New W...

Today we're delving into the archives and revisiting Don and Michael Kauffman's conversation on the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln... On the evening of 14th April, 1865, the Union was celebrating victory in the civil war, won 5 days earlier with General Lee's surrender at Appomattox. President Abraham Lincoln was watching a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington DC. But some Southern sympathisers...

Today we're delving into our back catalogue and revisiting the topic of the Boston Tea Party... On December 16th 1773, Bostonian colonists took a stand against the British Crown in the Boston Tea Party. In this episode, we dive deep into the events of that evening in Boston Harbor. Don is joined by Benjamin Carp, the Daniel M. Lyons Professor of American History at Brooklyn College. Who was involv...

It's one of the most iconic symbols of early Americana; it conjures up images of bustling saloon bars and Mark Twain. But as glamorous as they may seem, there's a dark side the history of the Steamboats of the Mississippi River. In this episode we welcome Professor of History at Colorado State University, Robert Gudmestad. His newest book is The Devil’s Own Purgatory: The United States Mississippi...

Reunion with the dead. The return of lands, food supplies and buffalo. The disappearance of white settlers. By the end of the 19th Century, the forced assimilation of Native American people was official government policy and Native populations were already in severe decline. The promises of the Ghost Dance had a very story appeal. Professor Gregory Smoak is with Don in this episode to explore the...

What would you do if you discovered that members of your family had spied for the Japanese at Pearl Harbor? When this happened to Christine Kuehn, she wanted to find out more. Alongside her husband, former journalist Mark Schiponi, Christine has been researching her father's family's movements from Nazi Germany, to Hawaii, and into the hands of the FBI. They join Don for this episode to untangle t...

How could walking naked through town be seen as religious? What about digging up a corpse? Or bursting into church services to cause mayhem? In this episode, Dr Erica Canela takes Don back to the first years of Quakerism to explore where this religion came from, and how it ended up in the United States. Erica is the author of Zealous: A Darker Side of the Early Quakers. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. P...

For thousands of years, North America was a frozen frontier buried beneath miles-deep ice... How did the first people reach the Americas live here? What was it like to share the land with mammoths, mastodons, and sabre-toothed predators? And what triggered the dramatic warming that brought this icy epoch to a close? Our guest today is Dr. David Meltzer, archaeologist and Professor at Southern Meth...

In the fall of 1621, a year after the pilgrim ship the Mayflower landed on the coast of New England, the settlers of the Plymouth Colony celebrated their first successful harvest. Joining them at the three day feast were the Wampanoag people, Native Americans who had to taught the settlers how to grow corn, ensuring the community would survive the coming winter. Richard Pickering tells Don about t...

The Lindbergh Kidnapping is one of the most influential crimes in American history; it plunged a national hero into an investigation which changed the way America thought about law, justice, and “celebrity” forever. In this episode, we’ll look at what happened inside the Lindbergh home that night, how the investigation unfolded, and how one suspect was tried, convicted, and executed amid an unprec...

Why were more than 12 thousand cases of satanic abuse brought in the 1980s? Was the Prince of Darkness walking among us then? Or did something else cause the panic? Joseph Laycock joins Don for this episode to discuss the so-called Satanic Panic, from daycares to news outlets to board games. Joe is the author of many books including 'Dangerous Games: What the Moral Panic over Role-Playing Games Sa...

In 1845, the Republic of Texas stood at a crossroads. In our history, they chose to join the USA… but what if they chose another path? Was this even possible? What impact would this have had on life within Texas? And how would it have impacted its neighbours?  Today we welcome onto the show Prof. Sam W. Haynes of the University of Texas at Arlington, and he's the Director of the Centre for Gr...

Did New Orleans' officials bomb the levees protecting the Lower Ninth Ward in 1965? When Hurricane Betsy swept through the Atlantic Basin, it killed at least 76 people, led to a 10 foot storm surge, and was the first tropical cyclone to cause $1 billion worth of damages. It also left many of the residents of New Orleans wondering, was all that damage really natural? Or had the authorities given it...

A Supreme Court decision that sent shockwaves across America. Dred Scott v Sandford, 1857. Who was the Chief Justice responsible for the decision? On what grounds did he rule that Dred Scott, and by extension all African Americans, was not a citizen of the US? Don is joined by renowned historian Kate Masur, author of "Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement". Edited by Aidan L...

Why not have a go at understanding one of the most famous conspiracies of the 20th Century? We will probably never get an answer for what really happened in Dallas on November 22, 1963. But in this episode, we're questioning why? What is the evidence that prevents us from believing the conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald was a lone gunman. To explore this, Don is joined by Jefferson Morley. Jefferso...

Was 'Bleeding Kansas' a dress rehearsal for the Civil War to come? During the 1850s pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers clashed in the newly created territory of Kansas. From guerrilla raids and political chaos to the rise of key figures like John Brown, we uncover how this brutal conflict exposed the deep national divide — and ask whether the Civil War truly began long before 1861. Our guest is...

How did the pre-Christian commemoration of Samhain travel across the seas from Ancient Ireland to America? And how did it evolve into the Halloween we know and love to this day? In this special spooky episode Don welcomes Dr Kelly Fitzgerald, Head of the School of Irish, Celtic Studies and Folklore at University College Dublin, to take us through Halloween's stateside origins. Edited by Aidan Lone...

What makes a war a World War? If it's the involvement of multiple major world powers, will France, Spain and the Netherlands do? If it's battles fought globally, do Canada, West Africa, India and the Mediterranean count? On top of the 13 colonies? In this episode, Don is joined by Richard Bell from the University of Maryland. Richard is the author of ‘The American Revolution and the Fate of the Wo...