Bruce Carlson
My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
Since 2006, this podcast has been using history to elevate today's political debates. "The perfect antidote to bloviating talking heads, My History is thoughtful, nuanced, and highly engaging." -Columbia Journalism Review
Author
Bruce Carlson
Category
Podcast website
Latest episode
Jul 6, 2026
Where to listen?
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Episodes
BLACK HAWK 'WAR' and Chief Black Hawk - Part Two 12.10.2023 52:53
NOTE - if you haven't listened to Part I of our series on Black Hawk you'll want to listen. This is a two-parter. In the second episode. Chief Black Hawk has an improbable victory, and it sets the stage for all-out conflict. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
BLACK HAWK WAR and Chief Black Hawk - Part I 09.10.2023 40:20
In 1832, a renegade chief crossed the Mississippi river. In his view, it was simply to get back to his cornfields. But the United States considered it an invasion, and reacted accordingly, and at first, badly, leading to deaths on both sides. It was, according to the general that led troops in the war, a mistake. But it would make the careers of Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis and Zachary Taylor...
Mississippi Bans Sesame Street (From the Useless Information Podcast) 08.10.2023 32:29
From the excellent Useless Information podcast, the story of the development of educational television in Mississippi, and the exclusion of one particular program. For more information on Useless Information podcast, please go to www.uselessinformation.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
BENEVOLENT POLICEMAN: THE HISTORY OF CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATIVE COMMITTEES 18.09.2023 1:37:56
Harry S. Truman thought a congressional committee ideally should be like a 'benevolent policeman' Not changing the facts but investigating them. He should know as he headed up one. Yet he was also critical of committees during his time that he felt did not meet the criteria. Since an investigation of a U.S. army defeat by a Native American tribe in the 1790's, to a look at an attack on the Capitol...
LEBANON 1983 and Other Stories 10.09.2023 47:27
A look at Reagan's intervention in Lebanon in 1983, from a podcast back in 2009. We also look at Wilson' intervention in Mexico in 1913 We are part of airwave media newtork want to advertise? advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SECRECY AND DEMOCRACY, with Dr. Katlyn Carter of Notre Dame 08.09.2023 50:05
We hear the phrase democracy dies in darkness and how important transparency is - but is it really? After all the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention met in private. Bruce talks with Dr. Katlyn Carter of Notre Dame about the history of secrecy and democracy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
JOHN QUNICY ADAMS w/ Bob Crawford of The Road to Now Podcast 28.08.2023 1:21:19
With Bob Crawford, co-host of Road to Now Podcast and bassist for The Avett Brothers, we talk about the sixth President, John Quincy Adams. Bob's knowledge of this not well-known President shines through in the interview. He's recently completed a series FORTUNATE SON on JQA. We discuss not only his Presidency, but his post-Presidency. We also discuss Bob and Bruce's college experiences and New Je...
Running For President From Prison 21.08.2023 41:53
The story of Eugene Debs and another case where a Presidential candidate ran from prison and compare - as well as contrast - with the current politics. Also a bit about experimental TV. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Eyewitness Accounts of COLUMBINE, JONESTOWN and Other Events with Josh Cohen of "Eyewitness History Podcast" 14.08.2023 1:25:10
Learn something new about major news events from the people there. We talk to Josh Cohen of Eyewitness History Podcast (https://www.parthenonpodcast.com/eyewitness-history/). The excerpts from his interviews manage to knock down some of the myths about major historical events and news stories. We start with the principal of Columbine High School, there on that terrible day, and we go to the newsma...
THREE POINT TWO: The Story of NEW DEAL BEER, Science, Government and Common Sense 17.07.2023 53:26
Before Prohibition could be repealed but after many Americans had grown tired of it, a novel political trick was tried - declaring beer was OK. Well a certain kind of beer, called 3.2. It only lasted eight months, though in many states it lasted longer and in one American state, is still law. We look at this forgotten part of the New Deal and how it provides an example of the role of science in Am...
Extras from the "Undeniably Unconsecutive" Grover Cleveland Episode 30.06.2023 33:01
Campaign songs, Kangaroo Ballots, The Dapper Governor Hill. More Burke Cockran and Churchill. Everything we left out of the podcast episode about Governor Cleveland's second non-consecutive term. If you haven't listened to that episode yet, we suggest listening to it first. For extras on previous podcasts, sign up for our Patreon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Introducing - Founding Son: John Quincy's America 13.04.2023 3:22
Please to introduce a podcast from friend of the show Bob Crawford of Road To Now Podcast and the Avett Brothers In iHeartPodcasts' "Founding Son: John Quincy's America," Bob Crawford of The Avett Brothers explores the post-presidential legacy of America’s sixth president: John Quincy Adams. Though often only seen as a failed one-term president and the son of a Founding Father, Adams spent his fin...
FALL OF USSR: Bonus "Bloknot" (Notebook) Episode 20.03.2023 1:15:08
More of the story - Boiler room bohemians, the coup before the coup, Soviet "Easterns" Cowboy Movies, cassette tapes of Vladimir Vysotsky, how to save money, USSR style, faking out the KGB and more. What we left behind in the notebooks from the six-part FALL OF USSR series. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
FALL OF USSR: Part 6 - Two Bears in a Cave 06.03.2023 1:24:58
A country is removed from the map in a week. There's more too than that, but it's not far from the most truthful description. The final episode of our series on the fall of the Soviet Union finds a rescued Gorbachev quickly realizing that he might be in yet another seizure of power. But this one happening quietly over a few tiring days. And with the support of the Russian people. Learn more about...
FALL OF USSR: Part 5 - I Cannot Forsake Principles! 27.02.2023 1:00:43
The first blood is spilled. We look at the right-wing of Soviet Society which triggered the putsch. And the rebellious elements that also existed. Jeans, rock and roll, religion, revisionism and weakness. Music by Lee Rosevere and Theme Song by Chris Novembrino We are part of Airwave Media Network - check out Ben Franklin's World, Tea Time History, Redacted History, the History of China, The Explo...
FALL OF USSR: Part 4 - Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears 20.02.2023 1:11:16
As barricades are built and citizens turn to a protective barrier, the Soviet culture they come from might be the very thing that keeps them going. Music by Lee Rosevere and Theme by Chris Novembrino We are part of Airwave Media Network To hear the next two episodes right now - sign up for our Patreon Sponsor: Wondery's American Scandal Be Sure to Check Out Their Season on the Oklahoma City Bombin...
FALL OF USSR: Part 3 - Athens vs. Sparta 13.02.2023 1:09:25
Two institutions, the press and the military, may well determine the fate of the USSR on the night of August 19th, 1991. The Emergency Committee decides, it's time to explain themselves on TV. A reporter makes a fateful decision. So does another. A motley crowd is fashioned into an instant militia. Music by Lee Rosevere (Music for Podcasts) and Theme Song by Chris Novembrino We are part of Airwave...
FALL OF USSR: Part 2 - The Steam Bath of History 08.02.2023 45:14
Yeltzin has stood on a tank, but few have seen it. Crowds shift from the traditional protest places to a new one. They bring heavy metal. What on Zemlya is happening? It all starts in a steam bath. Sort of. In order to understand the events of August 19th, 1991, it's necessary to look back. Particularly at 1989, when the most orderly country on earth became the most unpredictable. Music by Lee Ros...
FALL OF USSR: Part 1: Wake Up, Cassandra! 06.02.2023 1:06:01
Soviet citizens wake up to tanks outside their windows in 1991. Media is censored. The President is detained. Another president escapes, maybe just escapes... A third President is powerless. Is this the end of everything? Music by Lee Rosevere and Theme Song by Chris Novembrino We are part of Airwave Media Network - check out Ben Franklin's World, Tea Time History, Redacted History, the History of...
"WRONG FOREVER ON THE THRONE!" - William Jennings Bryan and the Democratic Party in His Later Years 18.01.2023 52:17
The Democratic Party had a problem in the nineteen teens and twenties. What to do with a candidate that could stir up crowds but not enough electoral votes? Though pleased to nominate him in 1896 and introduce a new kind of politics to their party, some Democrats grew tired of William Jennings Bryan especially in his later years as his fundamentalism turned to alcohol, evolution and an arguable So...
THEY COULDN"T STOP DYING - THE ODD STORY OF THE 72nd CONGRESS AND HOOVER'S DISASTER MIDTERM 26.12.2022 42:54
The 72nd Congress of 1931 was, as elected, a very narrow Republican House 218 R - 217 D. Close, but for President Hoover, good enough. That is until, 14 Congressmen-elect died. Not all at once - that would be weird - over 13 months, for all kinds of reasons but heart attacks and pneumonias leading the list. When special elections were held, it went 218 D and 216 R. 1 Farm Laborer supported the Dem...
LEAP TO FREEDOM: Hans Konrad Schumann's Story 13.12.2022 54:19
One three-second period changed the life of an East German soldier. Stories of freedom and oppression feature heavily on this hodge-podcast episode, the Berlin Wall, the Uruguay dictatorship of the 70's and 80's, a bit about Grover Cleveland and a bit about Charles III. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SOCCER and Repression: The 1978 World Cup in Argentina 02.12.2022 48:09
As the world attention focuses on a soccer game, behind the surface is a disturbingly hidden suppression of a previously strong democracy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Close Encounters of the CONGRESS KIND: The (Relatively Few) Times When the House Was Close Between the Parties 28.11.2022 49:21
The average difference between the two major parties in the House of Representatives at any time in American history is sixty. That being said, there are a few times where one, two or nine seats separated the two major parties in Congress. Sometimes it was Democrats and Republicans. Sometimes it was Whigs and Democrats. You want to be speaker, you scramble. You make a deal with a Socialist, or a K...
SOMETHING HAPPENED: Eugene McCarthy's 1968 Primary Run 31.10.2022 39:49
The race for the Democratic Nomination in 1968 a complicated one, as one candidate would drop out and another die tragically. But for a while, with other candidates choosing not to enter primaries, the '68 Democratic primary became a fight between two concepts of being left in politics and two individuals that couldn't be more different. Robert Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy. Learn more about your ad...
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