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  • Born enslaved in 1818, by the time of the Civil War Frederick Douglass was famous around the United States and Europe for his work in the abolition movement. So how did this famous orator learn his trade, having never been to school? How did he escape enslavement? And how did his ideals change as war was brewing?


    Sidney Morrison introduces us to Frederick Douglass in this first of two episodes. Sidney is the author of 'Frederick Douglass: A Novel'.


    Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.


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    All music from Epidemic Sounds.


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  • In May 1607, over 100 English settlers arrived at Chesapeake Bay on the East Coast of North America. Traveling 50 miles inland along the James River, they established what would become the first permanent English settlement: Jamestown. But what motivated their journey? Why was Chesapeake Bay their chosen destination? And how much do we know about their voyage.


    For this first of four episodes, Don is joined by Mark Summers, Educational Director of Youth and Public Programmes for Jamestowne Rediscovery. Don and Mark explore the roles of the Virginia Company, the British crown and individuals like Captains John Smith and Christopher Newport. From mutiny at sea to sealed instructions, this is the first step in a journey that echoes to this day.


    Produced and edited by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.


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  • FDR and Winston Churchill spent 113 days in each others' company during WWII. FDR even saw Churchill naked. But how close were the pair in personality and in strategy? How did the personal relationship between these two giants of history shape the war? And why, in the end, did Churchill see it as a failure?


    Dan Snow, of our sister podcast 'Dan Snow's History Hit', joins Don to talk about the most 'Special Relationship' of all.


    Produced by Freddy Chick. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.


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  • In the 19th Century, a war on the boundary between Europe and Asia had an unexpected effect. It caused the American public to re-examine one of the terms with which they described race: Caucasian.


    Don Wildman is joined for this episode by the award-winning art historian Sarah Lewis. They explore how the term Caucasian came to be associated with whiteness, and how photography was fundamental to unpicking this myth.


    Sarah is the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities and Associate Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. She is also the founder of the Vision & Justice initiative and author of the book discussed here: 'The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America'.


    Produced and edited by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.


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  • They say that the enemy of your enemy is your friend, but did that apply to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his Soviet counterpart, Joseph Stalin, during the Second World War?


    Despite their ideological differences, the United States and the USSR joined ranks on January 1, 1942, attacked by Japan and Nazi Germany, respectively. Their leaders would meet for the first time almost two years later at the 1943 Tehran conference.


    Don is joined by Phillips Payson O’Brien, Professor of Strategic Studies at St Andrews. Phillips is the author of 'The Strategists: Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, Mussolini and Hitler – How War Made Them, And How They Made War'.


    Produced by Freddy Chick. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.


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  • Why was there once a fashion for styling your hair like Brutus, the most famous of Julius Caesar's assassins? Why are there so many neoclassical buildings in the United States? And how was the Ancient Roman Empire once used as a justification for the system of enslavement?


    Find out in this episode, as Don is joined by Caroline Winterer, William Robertson Coe Professor of History and American Studies at Stanford University. Caroline is the author of five books, most recently 'How the New World Became Old: The Deep Time Revolution in America'.


    Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.


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  • The leaders of the two most powerful nations fighting in the Second World War, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler, never met. They never even spoke.


    In this episode, we explore the war of words between them, the involvement of each of their allies and when it became certain that war would break out between their two nations.


    Don is joined by Charlie Laderman, Senior Lecturer in International History at King's College London. Charlie is the author of 'Hitler's American Gamble: Pearl Harbor and the German March to Global War'.


    Edited by Sophie Gee. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.


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  • Sitting Bull, Jumping Badger, Slow - what do we know about the man who went by each of these names? How did he earn them and what was his role in the changing United States of the late 19th century?


    Don is joined by none other than Sitting Bull's great-grandson, Ernie Lapointe, to hear stories passed down in his family about this Native American icon of resistance.


    Ernie is a Vietnam veteran and author of 'Sitting Bull: His Life and Legacy'.


    Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.


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  • In 1932, amidst the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected the 32nd President of the United States. He was more than a leader; he was a beacon of hope, steering the nation through its darkest days... and the newly-elected president had a plan.


    In this episode, Don is joined by historian Eric Rauchway to explore the New Deal, an ambitious set of federal initiatives aimed at pulling America out of the Great Depression.


    Edited by Matthew Peaty. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.


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    Archive audio courtesy of the Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. "Presidential Speeches: Downloadable Data." Accessed December 20, 2024.


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  • In April 1861, Union forces having lost the first battle of the Civil War, attention turned to the Confederacy's likely next target - Washington DC.


    Entirely unprepared, the American capital was to be undefended for the next 12 days. To explore the fears, preparations and movements of these days, Don is joined by Tony Silber, author of 'Twelve Days: How the Union Nearly Lost Washington DC in the First Days of the Civil War'.


    Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.


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  • President Herbert Hoover is synonymous with failure. As the Great Depression hit, shanty town across America were nicknamed 'Hoovervilles' in honour of the man held responsible for their birth. But there's more to him than this. Today Don restores depth and nuance to Hoover's tragic story with his wonderful guest Eric Rauchway, author of "Winter War: Hoover, Roosevelt, and the First Clash Over the New Deal".


    Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.


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  • In this special episode, Don Wildman is joined by experts Jonathan Alter and Jefferson Cowie to delve into the remarkable life of the 39th president of the United States, Jimmy Carter, who has died at the age of 100.


    Carter, who served in office from 1977 to 1981, is the longest-lived president.


    From his early days in rural Georgia, to a hostage crisis which cost him his second term, and his extensive humanitarian efforts post-presidency; hear about the pivotal moments and challenges in Carter's life.


    Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Charlotte Long.


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  • When the US turned to Japan 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.


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  • The shot heard ‘round the world'; the start of the American Revolution. An event that would have profound consequences for world history, especially western democracy. Who’d have thought that something of such magnitude would begin in a small settlement with as many cows as people living in it?


    Don Wildman hops across the Atlantic from American History Hit to Echoes of History to help Matt Lewis understand how two tiny towns became the spark that lit the fire of the American War of Independence.


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    Hosted by: Matt Lewis

    Edited by: Tim Arstall

    Produced by: Matt Lewis, Sophie Gee, Robin McConnell

    Senior Producer: Anne-Marie Luff

    Production Coordinator: Beth Donaldson

    Executive Producers: Etienne Bouvier, Julien Fabre, Steve Lanham, Jen Bennett


    Music:

    Main Menu Theme by Lorne Balfe

    Burial Mound by Lorne Balfe

    The Convoy by Lorne Balfe

    Fort Attack by Lorne Balfe

    Deadly Performance by Lorne Balfe

  • When fossils were discovered in the US during the 19th Century, it altered American understandings of science, religion, race and more. So what was the Hadrosaurus Foulkii, and why did it have such an enormous effect?


    Caroline Winterer, William Robertson Coe Professor of History and American Studies at Stanford University, joins Don for this episode. Caroline's book on this topic is 'How the New World Became Old: The Deep Time Revolution in America'.


    Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Nick Thomson. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.


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  • What makes the ideal gangster hunter? In the 1930s, outlaws like John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Bonnie & Clyde were the scourge on the justice system of the United States.


    To bring them in, the lawmakers needed to try something new. And that something new was the FBI.


    Don is joined by John Oller for this episode to find out how the FBI's powers were expanded over the years, the problems that they faced, and the influence of J. Edgar Hoover on the process.


    John is a journalist and author, his book on this subject is 'Gangster Hunters: How Hoover's G-Men Vanquished America's Deadliest Public Enemies'.


    Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Matthew Peaty. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.


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  • How did a couple's holiday save Kyoto from certain ruin? How did a landslide contribute to the Revolutionary War? Basically, how have chance encounters and decisions influenced the history of the United States?


    Don is joined for this episode by Brian Klaas, author of 'Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters'.


    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 Nick Thomson. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.


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  • Sworn in after the death of President Harding by the light of a kerosene lamp, the 30th President of the United States led the country through 6 years of the prosperous roaring 1920s.


    Coolidge polled more than 54% of the popular vote in 1924, so what was so good about 'silent Cal'? To find out, Don is joined by Amity Shlaes, author of 'Coolidge' and 'The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression'.


    Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.


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  • 76 people died on 19th April 1993 when the compound of a religious sect, the Branch Davidians, went up in flames. It had been under siege by government agencies for 51 days, but no one knows what started the fire.


    Don is joined by Jeff Guinn, investigative reporter and author of ‘Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Dividians, and a Legacy of Rage’ to find out why the United States’ Government was interested in this religious compound outside Waco, Texas, and how the situation escalated to this point.


    Produced and edited by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.


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  • On 7th December, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Navy struck the United States. In an action which killed 2,403 Americans and destroyed 21 US warships and 188 aircraft, they also brought the US into the Second World War.


    But it may not have been possible without the input of a British spy who had, for a time, lived in Hollywood, mingling with stars of the screen. So who was Frederick Rutland? What information did he give the Japanese Navy intelligence that might have helped them launch the attack on Pearl Harbor? And why did he give it to them?


    Ronald Drabkin, author of 'Beverly Hills Spy: The Double-Agent War Hero Who Helped Japan Attack Pearl Harbor', joins Don for this episode. Together, they discuss Rutland's life and impact, and just how the intelligence services failed to catch him for so long.


    Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.


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