Dan R Morris
Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century
Tracing The Path is a 20th Century history podcast dedicated to exploring the connections between the defining stories of the twentieth century. Each episode follows surprising connections across time—linking world wars, political movements, cultural revolutions, iconic companies, unforgettable products and groundbreaking inventions. We uncover the forgotten figures behind history’s turning points, reveal how technology and popular culture reshaped society, and highlight the stories that textbooks overlook. Whether you’re passionate about modern history, fascinated by world events, or looking...
Where to listen?
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Episodes
Episode 81: The Hero at the Edge of the Map 30.06.2026 27:36
No matter what hero story you read or hear, the location it takes place will be in total alignment with the era it was written. And it has changed over time because society always pushes the hero to face the unknown at the edge of the map. In today's episode we cross paths with Homer, Daniel LaRusso, John Steinbeck, Edgar Rice Burroughs, George Lucas, HG Wells, Joseph Campbell, Shrek and Galileo. ...
Episode 80: One Step Leads to Another 30.05.2026 31:33
Today's episode is Part 3 of our Origin Story Series about the start of Tracing The Path. Today's story touches on Russia's Yuri Andropov, Mark Twain, Bram Stoker, Nicolae Ceaușescu the Austro Hungarian Empire, the University of Nebraska, Auschwitz, the Sound of Music and the concept of manifestation. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tracing-the-path-the-connec...
Episode 79: The Conversation: Yeltsin's Grocery Revolution 02.05.2026 28:18
In today's episode we discussion the evolution of grocery stores, as discussed in Episode 78. Life in Romania, automatic sliding doors, Walgreens lighting, Rachel's dads inventions and the plight of A&P. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tracing-the-path-the-connected-20th-century--6817718/support .
Episode 78: Yeltsin's Grocery Revolution 30.04.2026 40:27
When Boris Yeltsin came to the United States in 1989 to speak, visit with the President and see the Statue of Liberty, his entire outlook on the world changed in one :20 minute moment. But it wasn't NYC or Miami or President Bush. It was Randall's Grocery Store in Webster Texas. This is the story of the history of that moment. In this episode we cross paths with Marjorie Merriwether Post, IBM, S...
Episode 77: The Conversation: World's Best Music 01.04.2026 33:24
Are those really the world's most famous tunes? Rachel and I discuss the "easter eggs" of the show, whether they are songs and more ludicrousness. Foreigner, Twinkle Twinkle, Happy Birthday . . . what do you think? Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tracing-the-path-the-connected-20th-century--6817718/support .
Episode 76: The World's Most Famous Music 29.03.2026 34:27
Can you believe the world's most famous music is 3,000 years old? Not necessarily from the first note written, but from the idea that created it. In this episode we cross paths with Thomas Edison, Stanley Kubrick, Walt Disney, The Lone Ranger, Richard Strauss, Johannes Brahms, Charles Darwin, The Who, Edvard Grieg, Peer Gynt, Freidrich Schiller and Friedrich Nietzche and many more. Become a sup...
Episode 75: Episode 74: Extra Credit 11.03.2026 24:16
We're taking "the cutting room floor" to a new level. Rachel and I go over all the stories we couldn't fit into "The Real Forrest Gump" story. Enjoy this new series and a full conversation, including Josh Norton: The Emperor of the United States. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tracing-the-path-the-connected-20th-century--6817718/support .
Episode 74: The Real Life Forrest Gump 01.03.2026 39:25
Before there was a movie, there was a man who lived it. We all know the story of the accidental hero who wandered through history, rubbing elbows with presidents and changing the world by mistake. But what if that story wasn't fiction? In this episode, we trace the impossible footsteps of a figure who defined the 19th century. Follow the journey of a man who: Survived the rugged Oregon Trail durin...
Episode 73: The Gilded Age: First March on Washington D.C. 30.01.2026 36:27
In 1894 Jacob Coxey decided to take thousands of unemployed and March on Washington. Well, that was just the prequel to 1964 March for Civil Rights. But it's how A. Philip Randolph was indoctrinated to the idea. And crazily this store involves both Mark Twain and Jack London, in addition to Pullman Porters, the Ferris Wheel, Eugene V Debs, the May Day Riots, Frederick Douglass, and even the Statue...
Episode 72: Inventive Hellos and Economic Goodbyes 28.12.2025 28:06
The word Hello showed up just as the world was changing . . . in the absolute biggest ways ever. Nothing was the same after "Hello". In this episode we cross paths with Michigan J Frog, Tin Pan Alley, the Phonograph, Western Union, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Alexander Graham Bell, Scott Joplin, the telephone operator, Thomas Edison and J. N. Pattison. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spr...
Episode 71: The Amana Utopia and Patriot Missile 24.11.2025 27:12
Can you imagine a group running on perfect communism, flourishing in the capitalist market and then eventually spawning the Patriot Missile - to fight actual Communists. And it happened twice. In this episode we cross paths with Quaker Oatmeal, microwave popcorn, Vennevar Bush, the Amana Colonies, Oneida Silverware, Bob Hope and Raytheon. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.c...
Episode 70: Who Knows The Truth? Does A.I.? 24.10.2025 31:24
Somewhere along the way, we lost the truth. The questions we ask about the truth haven't been the same since Orson Welles' War of the World's Broadcast in 1938, but that doesn't mean we haven't stopped trying. In this episode we cross paths with William Moulton Marston, Alice Guy-Blache, Frye Vs The United States, John Houseman, Alan Turing, The Shadow, Wonder Woman, Artificial Intelligence, FDR,...
Episode 69: Status Symbol for Rent 29.09.2025 34:00
In today’s episode we’re discussing three of the history's most amazing "status symbol" stories. The story involves the Silk Road, Sulieman the Magnificent, Tulipomania, Carolus Clusius, Chuck Berry, Christopher Columbus, Henry Ford, James Dole, Madame C.J. Walker, and Mahalia Jackson. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tracing-the-path-the-connected-20th-century...
Episode 68: Hello Darkness My New Friend - The Story of The Family Who Created Sonar and Braille 22.08.2025 29:27
In this episode we explore Simon & Garfunkel, Louis Braille, Charles Barbier, Valentin Haüy and René-Jus Haüy, Marvel Comics, Popular Science Magazine, Plato and even George Washington. How the world has fought Darkness has been pretty amazing . . . and crazily it's all because of one family Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tracing-the-path-the-connected-20...
Episode 67: How a Coffee Shop Changed the World: The Origin Story of Lloyds of London 28.07.2025 28:22
This is the story of Edward Lloyd and his London Coffee Shop . . . and how they were able to change the world. Amazingly this story touches on the New York Stock Exchange, Bruce Springsteen, George Lucas, Lorenzo de Tonti, the Origin of the Tontine, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lloyds of London and Rosa Parks. Be prepared to be amazed. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podca...
Episode 66: The America of Tarzan and Buck vs Bell 27.06.2025 36:04
The 1890 closing of the Frontier by the US Census Bureau is a major milestone in the history of the United States. The outcome of that change affected the mindset of the Americans. . . and from that comes some of our most loved fiction. But on the flip side, also the darkest stain on the United States. In this episode we cross paths with Thomas Jefferson, Johnny Weissmuller, Edgar Rice Burroughs,...
Episode 65: When Osama Bin Laden Wrinkled FDR's Plans: The 100 Year Fight Against Polio 27.05.2025 35:29
This is the story of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Henrietta Lacks, Jonas Salk, the March of Dimes, the Tuskegee Institute and their collective effort to eradicate polio from the earth. But the story also touches on Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, Lewis Adams, the Hampton School, Basil O'Connor, Elvis Presley, Eddie Cantor, Paul Alexander and Osama Bin Laden. Become a supporter of th...
Episode 64: How did Bob Hope's USO become a thing? And who performed? 25.04.2025 37:26
In today's episode we look at all the people and plans it took to create the United Service Organization (USO). While there was enormous planning and smart people, it wouldn't be what it is without a trumpet player from Chicago. We cross paths with General Pershing, Glenn Miller, m&ms, Thomas Dewey, Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and little guy from England named Lesley Townes Hope. Become a suppo...
Episode 63: Classified: How the Library Built the FBI and How did J. Edgar Hoover Get Involved? 25.03.2025 38:19
It all started in the 1500s with Sir Francis Bacon, and then in the 1700s with Carl Linnaeus. And along the way we run into Thomas Jefferson, President McKinley, Melvil Dewey, Elihu Root, Napoleon Bonaparte, Al Capone, Teddy Roosevelt, the Library of Congress, Ainsworth Rand Spofford and J. Edgar Hoover. All of them to birth the FBI. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/po...
Episode 62: The Cheesy Results of WW II: Plus the Story of How Nachos Came to Be 26.02.2025 33:03
One of the greatest products of World War II was "cheesy". And it's all Wisconsin's fault. In fact it's possible that without WW2 three of the greatest things in your daily life just wouldn't be there. In today's episode we cross paths with FDR, Ricos Nachos, Jean Nicolet, Cheetos, Fritos, Kraft, and would you believe . . . Care Packages. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker....
Episode 61: Every Episode Has 4 21.01.2025 31:53
This is episode 61, the end of the first era and beginning of the second. In fielding your hundreds of ideas for shows, we decided to go over the 4 actual requirement that every story must have before becoming an episode of Tracing The Path. We look at old episodes and how they meet the requirements. We go over some unbelievable stories that haven't quite made it yet and preview what's in the work...
Episode 60: Roald Dahl: A Real Chocolate Spy (and Children's Book Author) 18.12.2024 32:12
The fact that our most beloved children's author was a spy for the British isn't the twist. The twist comes when his greatest enemy becomes an important advisor. Along the way we run into Ian Fleming, FDR, Cadbury, Quaker Oats, Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway, Beatrix Potter, the Sopwith Camel Ace Flyer and C.S. Forrester Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tra...
Episode 59: The True Story of Candy Canes and How They Became a Christmas Tradition 22.11.2024 34:41
Did you know that if it weren't for the Mexicans and the Swedes, our Christmas would look substantially different? Yep, today we trace the world of Peppermint back to Santa Anna, Bob, Amalia Erickson, William Wrigley, the American Chicle Company, the Erie Canal, some French cellophane and maybe even Elvis Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tracing-the-path-the-con...
Episode 58: The Cultural Impact of Don McLean's "American Pie" (and the part Roberta Flack played) 23.10.2024 32:13
The "American Dream" was first coined in 1931. In 1971 two things happened on exactly the same day . . . the world's biggest song was released lamenting the end of the American Dream. And the world's biggest dreamer opened the most amazing American institution. In today's episode we cross paths with Apple Pie, James Truslow Adams, Buddy Holly, Billy McGuigan, Pat Hazell, Don McLean, Roberta Flack,...
Episode 57: 1848: The Year Halloween Began and How it Started 26.09.2024 33:26
Have you ever heard the origin of Halloween? Perhaps you've heard about the Irish holiday Samhain, but there's more. And all of it converges on one year, 1848. In this episode learn about Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, Washington Irving, Edgar Allen Poe, Thomas Paine, Mary Wollstonecraft, the most powerful volcano ever recorded, Yellow Fever, premature burial, Galvanism, John William Polidori and vampi...
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