Episodes
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With the US election happening, we wanted to take a look back at the presidents from the past what we know about their sex lives.
Which president was well-endowed and supposedly presented it to staff in the Oval Office? Which president had an affair on his honeymoon? And which had an affair with his wife's secretary?
And no, they're not all JFK.
Joining Kate on Betwixt the Sheets to help us find out is Eleanor Herman, author of Sex with Presidents: The Ins and Outs of Love and Lust in the White House.
This podcast was edited by Freddy Chick. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.
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Invisible ink, delayed flights and political meddling - elections are a symbol of democracy, so how can they become the opposite?
Don is joined for this episode by Brian Klaas, co-author of 'How to Rig an Election' to find out. What makes a free and fair election? What techniques have authoritarians used to have themselves elected? And how widespread has this been throughout history?
Brian is a political scientist, a contributing writer at The Atlantic, and an associate professor in global politics at University College London.
Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.
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American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.
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Missing episodes?
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The unclaimed dead of New York City's streets and rivers were brought to the New York Morgue in the second half of the nineteenth century. This history is full of dark, sad stories and buried secrets.
Maddy Pelling and Anthony Delaney are joined by Cat Byers who is a writer and historian based in Paris currently finishing a PhD on the barely-studied New York Morgue.
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After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast
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What causes a person to lose the Presidential election?
Henry Clay ran for the Presidency 3 times, and for nomination by his party 5 times, but never made it to the Oval Office as the Commander in Chief.
So who was he? And why could he just not get the votes? Find out in this episode, as Don is joined by Eric Brooks, Curator at Ashland: The Henry Clay Estate.
Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.
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American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.
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If somebody asked you to go on a dangerous mission, no other details, would you volunteer?
Well, in 1942, that's exactly what 120 crewmen of the US Army Air Force did. In this episode, find out how it went and who Jimmy Doolittle was. From an impossible take off, through the first attack on mainland Japan in a millennium, to capture by Japanese forces.
Don is joined once again by Michel Paradis, leading human rights lawyer, historian, and national security law scholar. His book on this topic is 'Last Mission to Tokyo: The Extraordinary Story of the Doolittle Raiders and Their Final Fight for Justice'.
Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.
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4,322 days. That's how long Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in office. Whilst no other US president has served more than two terms, FDR was elected four times!
Was this because of his charisma, his opposition, the challenges of the Great Depression and the Second World War, or a combination of all of the above, Don is joined by Jonathan Darman. Jonathan is a journalist and author of 'Becoming FDR: The Personal Crisis That Made a President.'
Produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.
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On July 21, 1861, Confederate and Union forces met for the first time in full-scale battle at Bull Run Creek, near Manassas, Virginia. By the end of the day nearly 900 men were dead, and it was clear that this war would not be over in 90 days.
Don is joined by President of the American Battlefield Trust, David N. Duncan, to find out more about how this battle came to pass, how the Confederate army secured their first victory, and what the battleground looks like today.
Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.
Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for $1 per month for 3 months with code AMERICANHISTORY sign up at https://historyhit.com/subscription/
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We have a constitutional right to vote in the United States ... don't we? Find out in this first episode of American History Hit's series, Elections Explained.
Having correctly predicted every election since 1984 (except - arguably - 2000), Allan Lichtman joins Don to explore the development of the American right to vote,. When did we move from public to private voting? And where did the electoral college come from?
Allan is a Distinguished Professor of History at the American University, Washington DC, and has been an expert witness in 100 Civil and Voting Rights cases. His books include ‘White Protestant Nation: The Rise of the American Conservative Movement’, ‘The Keys To the White House’, and ’The Thirteen Keys To the Presidency’, and his Youtube can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/@AllanLichtmanYouTube
Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.
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What does it take to be the first person named as 'Public Enemy No.1' by the US Bureau of Investigation?
In this episode, we're going to find out. Don is joined by Elliott Gorn to find out about the rise and fall of John Dillinger, the man who took this title in 1934.
Elliott Gorn is the Joseph Gagliano Professor of American Urban History at Loyola University, Chicago. His books include 'Let the People See: The Story of Emmett Till' and 'Dillinger's Wild Ride: The Year That Made America's Public Enemy Number 1'.
Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Nick Thomson. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.
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Did Columbus really think the Earth was flat? Where did he come from? Where did he get to? To untangle the myths of Columbus and his complicated legacy, Don spoke to Elise Bartosik-Velez.
Elise teaches at Dickinson college about Latin American history and literature, focusing in particular on the Colonial Period through Independence. She is the author of 'The Legacy of Christopher Columbus in the Americas: New Nations and a Transatlantic Discourse of Empire'.
Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Max Carrey. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.
Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for $1 per month for 3 months with code AMERICANHISTORY sign up at https://historyhit.com/subscription/
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Just how murderous were Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow? Where did those famous photos come from? And how did the press lead to the pair's demise?
Don chats to Jeff Guinn, best-selling author and historian, to find out about this notorious outlaw couple. They explore the impact of the Great Depression, the prison system and dreams of fame on Bonnie and Clyde's rise and fall.
Jeff is an investigative reporter and author of several books including 'Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage'. His book on this subject is ‘Go Down Together: The True Untold Story of Bonnie And Clyde’.
Produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long. Bonnie's poem read by Breeana Gamueda.
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When it comes to US foreign policy in the early 20th Century, isolationism tends to come to mind. What, then, was Woodrow Wilson's impact on the end of WW1?
Don is joined by Charlie Laderman to find out more about the peace negotiations, the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations, and how these things were understood in the US.
Charlie is is Senior Lecturer in International History at King's College London. He is the author of 'Sharing the Burden: The Armenian Question, Humanitarian Intervention and Anglo-American Visions of Global Order'.
Produced by Freddy Chick and Sophie Gee. Edited by Max Carrey. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.
Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for $1 per month for 3 months with code AMERICANHISTORY sign up at https://historyhit.com/subscription/
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Jesse James. Perhaps the most notorious American outlaw?
He’s become legendary figure of the Wild West, compared to an American ‘Robin Hood.’ But with a legacy so pervasive, the myths about Jesse James can get often get confused for the truth…
Did you know he played significant part in engineering his own reputation as a ‘Confederate hero’, comparing himself in newspapers to Napoleon and Alexander the Great? Or, that he married his first cousin while recovering from a gun wound?
Don finds out about the real Jesse James with his guest, award-winning biographer, T.J. Stiles on today’s episode.
You can see more about T.J’s work here: https://www.tjstiles.net/
Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Max Carrey. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.
Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for $1 per month for 3 months with code AMERICANHISTORY sign up at https://historyhit.com/subscription/
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Very few people know what it is like to be in the infamous US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, but our 3 guests for this episode have all had first hand experience.
For one of them, it was as a detainee. Mansoor Adayfi was held, interrogated and tortured at Guantanamo for over 14 years. For Pardiss Kebriaei, it was as an attorney. Pardiss is a Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, and has worked with Guantanamo detainees since 2007. Finally, for Karen Greenberg, it was as an historian. Karen is Director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law, and author of a number of books, including 'The Least Worst Place: Guantanamo's First 100 Days'.
So how did Guantanamo Bay become the locus of a detention centre? How did nearly 800 people come to be detained there? And how has it changed over time? Don finds out.
Mansoor's books include 'Don't Forget Us Here' and the audiobook 'Letters from Guantanamo', available on audible.
Produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long. Artwork by Kyle Hoekstra.
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When was the first bank robbery? What does it take to be successful in organized crime? Is it possible to be non-violent? And how might you avoid getting caught? The story of Ma Mandelbaum, the mother of New York's criminal underworld, has the answer to these questions and more.
Don is joined by Margalit Fox, former senior writer at the New York Times, to discuss the fascinating rise and fall of Frederica Mandelbaum, a 19th-century immigrant in New York who became one of the earliest and most successful figures in organized crime.
Margalit's books is entitled 'The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum: The Rise and Fall of an American Organized-Crime Boss'.
Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.
Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for $1 per month for 3 months with code AMERICANHISTORY sign up at https://historyhit.com/subscription/
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How did Egypt and Israel come to an agreement at Camp David in 1979? How did the USSR come to allow the operation of NATO troops in East Germany? Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat has played a leading role in the United States' diplomatic negotiations whilst serving in six Presidential administrations.
In a troubled world, which needs diplomacy more than ever, Stuart joins Don to explore the internal workings of agreements that have shaped the world in which we live.
Produced and edited by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.
Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for $1 per month for 3 months with code AMERICANHISTORY sign up at https://historyhit.com/subscription/
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Who was Joe McCarthy? How did this Republican Senator come to lead a nationwide campaign against communism? And how did he bring about his own downfall?
For this episode, Don is joined by the authors of ‘Witch Hunt: The Cold War, Joe McCarthy, and the Red Scare’, Dr. Andrea Balis and Elizabeth Levy. Listen in to find out why McCarthyism happened when it did, and why it was a bad idea to make an enemy of the US Army.
Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.
Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for $1 per month for 3 months with code AMERICANHISTORY sign up at https://historyhit.com/subscription/
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When the US turned to Japan looking for workers in the late 19th Century, they probably never foresaw that one day soon they would imprison those who arrived, their successors, and their families, en masse in camps around America.
To hear about the Japanese American experience through history, Don is speaking to Kristen Hayashi. Kristen is Director of Collections Management & Access and Curator at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.
Together, Kristen and Don explore the initial migration from Japan, the work offered, and the treatment of these first generations of Japanese Americans in life and under the law. They also discuss the contradictions of the Second World War - when some 120,000 people were forcibly moved to internment camps whilst, in Europe, an all Japanese American unit became the most decorated unit of its size in US history.
Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.
Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for $1 per month for 3 months with code AMERICANHISTORY sign up at https://historyhit.com/subscription/
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The 20th Century is up and running and the next President in our series, Woodrow Wilson, is in for a challenge. Reconstruction is over, Europe is on the precipice of war, and women are campaigning for suffrage. So how does this two term presidency play out?
From granting women the right to vote to segregating the Federal Government, how progressive was the 27th President? Where did Wilson stand on American isolationism during the First World War? And where did the League of Nations come from?
Don is joined by Dr Michael Kazin for this episode. Michael is a professor of History at Georgetown and author of several acclaimed books including 'What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party' and 'War Against War: The American Fight for Peace, 1914-1918'.
Produced by Freddy Chick and Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.
Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for $1 per month for 3 months with code AMERICANHISTORY sign up at https://historyhit.com/subscription/
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In 1621 the Virginia Company of London put out a call for young, handsome and honestly educated women to become wives for the planters in its new colony in Jamestown. Hopeful husbands were supposed to pay for their English brides in best leaf tobacco. But who were the women who made the Atlantic crossing? And what became of them when they arrived in America?
In this episode of our sister History Hit podcast, Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb meets author Jennifer Potter to find out more about the lives of these extraordinary women.
***Warning: This podcast includes references to slaughter and hostage taking.
This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.
Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for $1 per month for 3 months with code AMERICANHISTORY sign up at https://historyhit.com/subscription/
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