History Analyzed

In 1927 Charles Lindbergh flew solo and non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris. He became world famous. But five years later his life took a dark turn when his infant son was kidnapped and murdered. Lindbergh later became controversial for his support of eugenics and race-based policies in objection to the United States entering World War II. After he died it was discovered that...

Joseph Stalin was the dictator of the Soviet Union from 1928 until he died in 1953. He was responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people; tortured additional millions; annihilated cities and entire countries; and caused suffering that lasted for a half century after he died. Most of his victims were from his own country. But he also spread misery and fear around the world.

On April 19, 1995, an enormous bomb in a rental truck was parked outside of a Federal office building in Oklahoma City. At 9:02 AM, the homemade bomb exploded. It literally destroyed the front third of that building and killed 168 people (19 were children). The terrorists were 2 U.S. Army veterans. Find out why they did it and how they were caught - along with an explanation of the militia movemen...

A succession of terrible American presidents in the 1850s, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan, did so much to provoke the U.S. Civil War. Their disastrous policies exacerbated the sin of slavery to lead to the greatest catastrophe in American history.

This episode is a synopsis of the war in the European Theater of Operations. World War II was the biggest catastrophe in the history of the world. Between 1937 and 1945 an estimated 60 to 75 million people were killed. Enormous areas were destroyed. For those who know about certain events, this episode explains how the overall war in Europe occurred.

Amelia Earhart was the most famous female pilot in history. She was breaking the glass ceiling decades before anybody had coined that term. In the 1920s and 1930s she was setting records - not just for women, but for everybody. In 1937, she and her navigator Fred Noonan tried to circumnavigate the Earth. After making it most of the way around the world, on July 2, 1937, they disappeared someplace...

Thomas Jefferson was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence; he was a driving force in America's religious freedoms and the separation of church and state; and he doubled the size of the U.S. with the Louisiana Purchase. He also owned approximately 600 people in his lifetime. This episode explores his great achievements, as well as the failings in his personal life, particularl...

Instead of a regular History Analyzed episode, we are doing a crossover with another podcast: History Daily . Every weekday, History Daily presents a "this day in history"; meaning they explore a momentous event that happened on that date. This episode covers one of the greatest speeches by any American: the Gettysburg Address. You can find History Daily on all podcast apps or simply go...

Because of the Electoral College, individual Americans do not directly vote for their president. This episode explores: what is the Electoral College; why slavery was the main reason for this system; some bizarre and undemocratic election results; an analysis of whether the Electoral College is a fair system; and the structure of the Federal government.

On May 6, 1937, the hydrogen filled zeppelin known as the Hindenburg exploded as it was landing in New Jersey. Surprisingly, 62 of the 97 people on board survived. Experts still argue as to what caused an airship the size of the Titanic to be destroyed in approximately 34 seconds.

For a few months in 1898, the United States was at war with Spain. This essentially marked the end of the Spanish Empire and the beginning of the U.S. as a world power. As a result of this brief war, Theodore Roosevelt became president, Cuba became an independent country, Puerto Rico and Guam became American territories, and the U.S. occupied the Philippines for 48 years. That occupation led to th...

On November 24, 1971, a man calling himself Dan Cooper (later known as D.B. Cooper) boarded a Northwest Orient flight from Portland to Seattle. He told the flight attendant that he had a bomb and demanded $200,000 in cash and 4 parachutes. His demands were met. Over a dense forest in a rainstorm, he parachuted out of the plane with the money, was never seen again, and became a legend. 

Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable type printing press. The mass production of books and other printed texts revolutionized the world. Gutenberg created a transformation in knowledge acquisition and communication. This kicked off the first information age. The printing press had a bigger effect on the world than the computer or the internet.

Anne Frank is one of the most widely read authors in history, although she did not live to see the publication of her book. Anne was a German teenager who happened to be Jewish as well. She and her family spent 2 years in seclusion in Amsterdam during World War II. Anne's diary describes the horrors of hiding from the Nazis - before eventually being sent to concentration camps. The Wannsee Co...

The deaths of presidents James Garfield and William McKinley are unjustly overlooked. Garfield's assassin thought he was acting on orders from God. Garfield did not die from the assassin's bullet but from the incompetence of his doctors. His successor, Chester Arthur, may have been born in Canada and ineligible to be president. McKinley was killed as part of the anarchist movement which...

The Great Depression was the worst economic crisis in U.S. history. Starting in 1929 there was widespread unemployment, poverty, and closing of businesses. The economy continued to spiral downward until 1933 when Franklin Roosevelt became president. His recovery program, known as the New Deal, put millions of people to work, saved millions from homelessness and starvation, rebuilt America's i...

For 13 days in October 1962 the world was at the closest point in history to a nuclear war. A confrontation between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. over nuclear missiles in Cuba brought humankind to the abyss and the unthinkable: World War III.

At the start of World War II, France was still a world power. The U.S. and many other nations were relying on the French, along with their ally Britian, to stop Hitler. But in just 6 weeks in May and June 1940, the Germans conquered France, Belgium, and The Netherlands; and drove the British off of continental Europe. The incredibly swift German victory completely changed the balance of power in t...

Just about everybody knows the story. A supposedly unsinkable ship hit an iceberg and sank, proving the folly of humans. But there are many facts which are not widely known as well as prevalent myths which need to be debunked. Learn what really happened, what caused the disaster, and who were the heroes and who were the villains. 

After the Civil War, it took a century of protests, boycotts, demonstrations, and legal challenges to end the Jim Crow system of segregation and legal discrimination. Learn about the brave men, women, and children that risked their personal safety, and sometimes their lives, in the quest for Black Americans to achieve equal rights.

Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803 and doubled the size of the United States. This set America on its expansion, known as Manifest Destiny, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This episode explores the history of colonization of North America, how the U.S. expanded, why Napoleon sold Louisiana, the Lewis and Clark expedition, and what would have happened if the Louis...

Augustus is the most significant nonreligious figure in history. He is probably the greatest political genius of all time. He created the Roman Empire which lasted for centuries and formed so much of the world we live in today, including our calendar, our system of time, our alphabet, the spread of Christianity, and a large percentage of modern languages.

The Western Allies' demand that the Axis Powers unconditionally surrender was essential to keep the Soviets and the Chinese in the war while enduring incredible losses, to keep up the morale of the western allies, and to achieve the elimination of the Nazi regime and reforming Japanese society. 

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were Depression Era outlaws who are just known by their first names. They have been romanticized as young lovers who stood by each other and lived life on their own terms. But in reality, Clyde was a thief and a murderer and Bonnie was his willing accomplice. For just over two years they went on a crime spree in the early 1930s robbing and killing. They were finally...

For years all immigrants were allowed into the U.S., but some could not become citizens. Later, certain nationalities were limited or completely banned from entering the U.S. This episode outlines those changes through the 1980s and discusses the pseudoscience of eugenics and how it was used to justify such bigotry and even involuntary sterilizations in the 20th Century.