American History Tellers

On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was shot and killed while riding in his presidential limo through downtown Dallas. His violent and public death became one of the most traumatic moments in the nation’s history — and one of the most controversial, as Americans debated the mystery around his killer, Lee Harvey Oswald. The tragedy also thrust Vice President Lyndon Johnson into the White House, w...

In September 1901, President William McKinley visited the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York to deliver a speech celebrating American achievements at home and abroad. But waiting in the crowd in Buffalo was an embittered Polish-American laborer seeking to prove his commitment to the anarchist cause. Leon Czolgosz fired two bullets, striking the 25th president and sparking a rush to save...

Description: August 19, 1991. A group of Communist Party hardliners attempt to save the collapsing Soviet Union by staging a coup against party leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. This episode originally aired in 2022. You can listen ad-free in the Wondery or Amazon Music app. Or for all that and more, go to IntoHistory.com History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser. Go to HistoryDaily.com for...

On April 14th, 1865, John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. Lincoln died hours later, shocking the war-torn nation and becoming the first President to be assassinated in office. But he would not be the last. Sixteen years later, no action had been taken to protect the commander-in-chief. When James Garfield became president in March 1881, a disturbed...

The job of guarding the President’s life belongs to the men and women of the United States Secret Service. There have been many highs and lows in the agency’s more than 150-year history – most poignantly the assassination of JFK in 1963. On today’s show Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig joins host Lindsay Graham to discuss the agency’s response to assassination attempts...

August 5, 1969. Police in Atlanta, Georgia raid a screening of Andy Warhol’s underground film Lonesome Cowboys, triggering a wave of protests that sparks the gay rights movement in the Deep South. This episode originally aired in 2022. You can listen ad-free in the Wondery or Amazon Music app. Or for all that and more, go to www. IntoHistory.com . History Daily is a co-production of Airship and No...

There’s no job description for the role of First Lady of the United States. Betty Ford described it as being “much more than a 24-hour job.” First Ladies move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue along with the President and have to forge their own path. They are scrutinized for what they wear, what they say, and how they raise their children. Perhaps because of that, it tends to be a tight-knit sorority...

In the summer of 1989, Michelle Robinson was an up and coming lawyer at a Chicago law firm when she met a charming associate named Barack Obama. The two would soon marry, and despite her distaste for politics, Michelle eventually stepped up to support her husband’s bid for the presidency.  The Obamas made history when they became the first Black President and First Lady, but they would have t...

July 22, 1942. The Nazis begin the evacuation of the Warsaw Ghetto, transporting hundreds of thousands of Jews to their deaths at the Treblinka Extermination Camp. You can listen ad-free in the Wondery or Amazon Music app. Or for all that and more, go to  IntoHistory.com . History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser. Go to  HistoryDaily.com  for more history, daily. See P...

In 1974, Betty Ford was thrust onto the world stage when Richard Nixon resigned and her husband, Gerald, rose from VP to become the 38th President of the United States. As First Lady, Betty became known for her frank and candid interviews, where she discussed feminism, sexuality, and abortion. She also talked openly about breast cancer and her own mastectomy in order to promote health awareness.&n...

In 1905, Eleanor Roosevelt married her distant cousin Franklin, beginning a remarkable and complicated union. During her husband’s years as President, from 1933 to 1945, Eleanor became the longest-serving First Lady and she transformed the role, becoming the first presidential spouse to hold regular press conferences and host a weekly radio show.  Known for her outspokenness, Eleanor champion...

In 1842, Mary Todd married Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois after a stormy romance. Despite their many differences, the couple bonded over a shared passion for politics. Less than two decades later, Mary fulfilled her greatest ambition when she entered the White House as First Lady. Unlike many of her predecessors, Mary relished public life. She was determined to make her mark on the White...

In 1757, 26-year-old Martha Dandridge Custis was the wealthiest widow in Virginia when she caught the eye of George Washington, a young military hero and landowner. Their marriage thrust Martha into a public life she never anticipated. She would follow Washington from the army camps of the Revolutionary War to the presidential mansion.  When Washington was inaugurated as the first U.S. presid...

June 24, 1535. A radical political uprising comes to an end when the city of Münster falls to an Bishop’s army. You can listen ad-free in the Wondery or Amazon Music app. Or for all that and more, go to  IntoHistory.com . History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser. Go to  HistoryDaily.com  for more history, daily. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Calif...

In the spring of 1775, Benjamin Franklin left London for America after years of fruitless attempts to ease tensions with the British government. By the time he arrived home in Philadelphia, American and British soldiers had fired the first shots of the Revolutionary War, and Franklin was thrust into the middle of the conflict. Franklin quickly became one of the leading figures of the revolution. H...

In 1723, a teenage Benjamin Franklin arrived in Philadelphia ready to reinvent himself. He was a penniless apprentice printer with a hunger for knowledge and a burning ambition. Over the next 50 years, he would fashion himself into the most celebrated American of his time. Franklin became a printer, a politician, a postmaster and an inventor. He tied a key to a kite string and discovered the secre...

  June 10, 1692. Accusations of witchcraft spark hysteria in a town in Massachusetts, leading to the execution of Bridget Bishop – the first victim of the Salem Witch Trials. You can listen ad-free in the Wondery or Amazon Music app. Or for all that and more, go to  IntoHistory.com . History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser. Go to  HistoryDaily.com  for more histo...

The new book from American History Tellers, The Hidden History of the White House: Power Struggles, Scandals, and Defining Moments, is available now from William Morrow. Click here to order your copy! On today’s show, host Lindsay Graham speaks with author Corey Mead about the stories behind the book, and the building that’s become synonymous with presidential power and American democracy. Later,...

Allan Pinkerton started the Pinkerton National Detective Agency to catch robbers, counterfeiters and spies. For a time, Pinkerton detectives enjoyed their good image, carefully crafted by Pinkerton himself. But, that image tarnished as the Pinkertons increasingly took on paid work breaking up strikes for Gilded Age industrialists. Today, Lindsay is joined by S. Paul O’Hara, an Associate Professor...

May 27, 1943: A B-24 bomber crashes in the Pacific Ocean, beginning a two year ordeal at sea and in Japanese captivity for former Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini. You can listen ad-free in the Wondery or Amazon Music app. Or for all that and more, go to  IntoHistory.com History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser. Go to  HistoryDaily.com  for more history, daily. See Priv...

By the late 1800s, the Pinkerton Detective Agency faced public criticism for their anti-labor practices. So the company pivoted, sending Pinkerton detectives out to do what they did best, traveling throughout the west in search of the nation’s most audacious and elusive bank-robbing desperados.  In time, the Pinkertons also faced competition from a new Federal crime-fighting bureau, and one o...

In the mid-1870s the Pinkerton Detective Agency’s fame was growing, and founder Allan Pinkerton began to pen bestselling books that promoted his and the agency’s crime-fighting image even more. But after Pinkerton died in 1884, his sons took over and expanded the business, providing guards and watchmen to protect railroads, mines, and factories. By the early 1900s, Pinkertons had become feared lab...

May 13th 1981: Pope John Paul II is shot in a mysterious assassination plot with potential ties to the KGB. You can listen ad-free in the Wondery or Amazon Music app. Or for all that and more, go to  IntoHistory.com . History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser. Go to  HistoryDaily.com  for more history, daily. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Californi...

In the early 1850s, Scottish immigrant Allan Pinkerton stumbled upon a counterfeiting operation while gathering wood for his barrel-making business. After helping the authorities arrest the criminals, he was inspired to form a detective agency, to chase bank robbers and train bandits. His business grew quickly and in 1861 he was enlisted to prevent an attempted assassination of President Lincoln.&...

After the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917, America scrambled to assemble boot camps across the country to train a fighting force to send to Europe. The training was fast, with recruits using old weapons, and sometimes even broomsticks as rifles. The new soldiers then embarked from Hoboken, New Jersey, on a trip across the Atlantic to bolster exhausted French and British forces....