American History Hit

The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, best known as the Shakers, emerged in the UK in the 18th Century. So how is it that the three remaining Shakers are based in the US? How d...

This is the largest battle, by number of combatants, of the entire Civil War. But why? What was the federal objective at Fredericksburg? And how did it all go so wrong for Burnside and his troops?Don ...

Heroic cowboys on horseback. Bands of outlaws. Brawls in small town saloons.This is the Wild West as popular culture remembers it. But was it really as “wild” as we’ve been led to believe? Did the vio...

Known by the end of his life as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, the Black Nationalist leader best known as Malcolm X died at just 39. Despite his short life, however, his legacy continues to this day.Don is...

The Civil War along the Mississippi was reaching a critical moment by the Summer of 1862. The Union had advanced and planted its flag in Louisiana’s state capital without firing a shot. To many observ...

How did Hawaiʻi - once an independent, internationally recognised kingdom - become America's 50th state? It's a tale of economic pressure, political manoeuvring, and ruthless military might. We’ll exp...

The two-term limit, the idea that the President of the United States may not seek a third term, has a long history. Originating from a decision made by George Washington, it quickly became an establis...

In July 1776, a group of men in Philadelphia committed an unthinkable act: they challenged one of the most powerful empires in the world by signing what became known as the American Declaration of Ind...

Ever since independence, a question has hovered over the government of the United States. How much power should the President have? Not too much, lest they become a monarch. But not too little, they a...

Today we're delving into our back catalogue and revisiting the topic of the Boston Tea Party...On December 16th 1773, Bostonian colonists took a stand against the British Crown in the Boston Tea Party...

Why were more than 12 thousand cases of satanic abuse brought in the 1980s? Was the Prince of Darkness walking among us then? Or did something else cause the panic?Joseph Laycock joins Don for this ep...

How did the pre-Christian commemoration of Samhain travel across the seas from Ancient Ireland to America? And how did it evolve into the Halloween we know and love to this day?In this special spooky ...

Happy 250th Birthday to the US Navy! Today Don asks, who was John Paul Jones and did he really father the US Navy? Our guest is historian James L. Nelson, author of 'Washington's Secret Navy'.In July ...

John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry helped cause the Civil War. His is a magnetic persona that's hard to take your eyes away from. But who were the people who inspired him? Who funded him? Who joined h...

How did California become the Golden State? It's a story that includes conquistadors, missionaries, gold miners, railroad builders and tourists, to name a few.Don is joined by Michael Hiltzik, author ...

Why has it been so long since the US Constitution was amended? The incredible Jill Lepore joins Don to explore how the Constitution was designed for amendment, and how this has been utilised through i...

What were the deep origins and root causes of the Civil War? In the first of four episodes we chart how the North and South became bitterly divided over slavery. Don is joined by Professor Chandra Man...

'If I turn from beholding mutilated bodies, mangled limbs, and bleeding, incurable wounds, a spectacle no less revolting is presented, of miserable objects languishing under afflicting diseases of eve...

Is Benedict Arnold the biggest traitor in American History? In this episode, Don is joined by author Stephen Brumwell to examine how Arnold went from hero to villain.How important was he to the Revolu...

On August 14, 1945, the Japanese government accepted Allied terms of surrender. The war in the Pacific was over. But how had it come to this?Don is joined for this episode by Ian W. Toll, author of a ...

From Columbus onwards, Italians have been a part of American culture. Don explores this rich history with Professor Anthony Tamburri, Dean of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute in New Yor...

The largest ever surrender of American forces occurred in May 1942. The event resulted in medals of honour for two American military leaders - one who escaped, another who became the highest ranking p...

Whisper it quietly, but could our original commander-in-chief possibly be overrated as a military leader?To find out Don is joined once again by Major Jonathan Bratten of the National Guard. Together ...

In May 1825, a group of prisoners arrived on the banks of the Hudson, thirty odd miles up river from New York. They began to build what would become their own jail — Sing Sing.Don talks about the hist...

Today we're heading back 250 years to the end of the Revolutionary War - but this time, we're asking what might have happened if the British had won.How would the revolutionaries have been punished? H...

President George H. W. Bush presided over the Gulf War, the conclusion of the Cold War, the collapse of the USSR and the fall of the Berlin Wall during what proved an eventful single term of office fr...

June 19, 1865 - Galveston, Texas, a general in the Union army announced to the people of Texas that all enslaved African Americans were free. Over time the date has grown from a local to a national ho...

The staggering casualties of the Battle of Shiloh shocked both the North and South, marking a turning point in public perception of the Civil War's likely length and brutality. It also cemented a name...

How did cities grow in America's largest and hottest desert? How did the rivers of the South West shape its history? Don is joined by Kyle Paoletta, author of American Oasis, to explore the complex an...

On November 18th, 1978, over 900 people died at an American settlement in the jungle of Guyana called Jonestown. In this first of two episodes, we are going to find out how they ended up in South Amer...

To understand Watergate, to understand the fall of Nixon, you need to look first at the rise. How the turbulence of his sky rocketing career left bruises and bitternesses that lingered. Don's guest to...

Paul Revere's Midnight Ride is a legend of the American Revolutionary War - galloping through the Massachusetts' dark to warn Sam Adams, John Hancock and the rest that the British were coming. The nex...

How did a US Army mission in Vietnam end with the massacre of up to 500 people?In this episode, Don is joined by Christopher Levesque to examine one of the most harrowing chapters of the war in Vietna...

Born in poverty in Texas Hill Country, President Johnson delivered an unsurpassed series of legislation, including the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act. Yet by 1968 he was so toxically unpopular...

The Vietnam War is a defining chapter in American military history. But how did the US get so involved in this far away conflict? And when did those in command realise that they had to leave?To answer...

80 years ago, the battle of Iwo Jima came to an end on 26 March 1945. After 36 days of fighting, nearly 7,000 US Marines had been killed and another 20,000 injured.Don is joined by historian Timothy H...

The biggest counterfactual that hangs on the assassination of JFK is this: Would JFK have launched a ground war in the jungles of Vietnam? Don Wildman and his guest Fredrik Logevall explore what might...

Did the Confederates predict that secession would lead to war? How ready were they to fight? And what was their military strategy?Cecily Zander is back on the podcast for this third part of our series...

Dwight D. Eisenhower is a fixture in the lists of America's favourite Presidents. How did Eisenhower change America? How did the Cold War and Civil Rights become intertwined in this period? What dooms...

Only one person has ever held the title of President of the Confederate States of America. In this episode, we're going to find out more about him and the power structure of the Civil War rebel states...

The end of the Second World War. The start of the Cold War. The dropping of the Atomic Bomb and the growth of the Civil Rights movement. When FDR passed, the 33rd President of the United States was tr...

What is a Viking? Did they really make it to the United States? And if so, how far did they get?Don speaks to Martyn Whittock about the norse landings in North America. From the Icelandic sagas to the...

How did Frederick Douglass, born into enslavement, rise to become one of the most influential orators, writers, and publishers of his time. By the end of his life in 1895, he was world-renowned and ow...

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 relationshi...

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 ideolog...

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...

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 th...

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 m...

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 star...

Alien spacecraft, phenomena from another dimension, ghosts, demons of satan, a trick of light - whatever you might believe UFOs to be, they have a long history.Don is joined by Greg Eghgian for this e...