Podcast
American History Hotline
Hosted by iHeartPodcasts · EN
Bob Crawford searches for the best historians and experts to answer listener questions about American history — from the Revolutionary War to rock & roll feuds. Got a question? Send it to AmericanHistoryHotline@gmail.com.
51episodes
Episodes
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Is it Time for a Third Party?
4d ago00:39:48Summary readyAre our two main political parties so toxic that a third party may soon takeover American politics? Don't count on it. We'll dive into why right now is the opportune time for a third party to rise to power ... and why that party is destined to fail. But who knows?! Anything is possible. GUEST: Michael Cullinane, professor of U.S. History and the Lowman Walton Chair of Theodore Roosevelt Studies at Dickinson State University in North Dakota. He’s also author of the soon-to-be released book: Theodore Roosevelt and the Tennis Cabinet.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Did Thomas Jefferson Steal the Declaration of Independence?
2w ago00:25:34Summary readyGood artists borrow, great artists steal. Apparently, Thomas Jefferson got the memo. It turns out some North Carolinians penned their own Declaration of Independence nearly a year before TJ scribed his. So, if Thomas Jefferson stole (borrowed/homaged) the language for the Declaration of Independence, why have we never talked about this? Well, there was one heck of cover up! To get the full story, we call up David Fleming, author of Who's Your Founding Father?: One Man’s Epic Quest to Uncover the First, True Declaration of Independence. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Was Clara Barton a Bad Ass? [from American History Hotline]
2w ago00:31:27Summary readyClara Barton spent the Civil War kicking butts and taking names … except she was actually SAVING butts. In fact, her efforts to treat injuries on the battlefield and identify missing soldiers changed war forever. But what led Clara Barton to become the “Angel of the Battlefield”? Bob calls up historian Susan Rosenvold to get some answers. From the chaos of Antietam to the creation of the American Red Cross, Clara Barton redefined nursing, humanitarian aid, and disaster relief in the United States. Oh yeah, and she did it all with no formal training. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SummaryWas Clara Barton a Bad Ass?
3w ago00:31:27Summary readyClara Barton spent the Civil War kicking butts and taking names … except she was actually SAVING butts. In fact, her efforts to treat injuries on the battlefield and identify missing soldiers changed war forever. But what led Clara Barton to become the “Angel of the Battlefield”? Bob calls up historian Susan Rosenvold to get some answers. From the chaos of Antietam to the creation of the American Red Cross, Clara Barton redefined nursing, humanitarian aid, and disaster relief in the United States. Oh yeah, and she did it all with no formal training. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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What's the Real Story of Disney's "Newsies"?
4w ago00:32:52Summary readyYou may have seen it on Broadway ... or maybe your high school gym. The Tony Award-winning musical Newsies is a favorite for school productions because the story centers around newspaper-hawking kids who stand up to titan-of-industry Joseph Pulitzer. Of course, we've learned that we shouldn't take our history lessons from Disney. So we've called up Vincent DiGirolamo (Crying the News: A History of America's Newsboys) to give us the REAL story of the famous 1899 newsboys strike that inspired the Disney film. You can find DiGirolamo's newest essay in the collection Newsies, Newsies — Read All About It!: Essays on the Film and Broadway Productions. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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John Quincy Adams: From President to Anti-Slavery Firebrand (Live in DC)
Apr 1500:33:44Summary readyJohn Quincy Adams may have been a failed one-term president, but he had one of the most amazing second acts in American political history. From the House of Representatives, he steered our new nation through one of its most tumultuous eras ... carrying the torch of American democracy from the Founding Fathers to Abraham Lincoln. In this special episode, Robert Costa interviews Bob about his new book: America’s Founding Son: John Quincy Adams, from President to Political Maverick. It's an amazing conversation recorded live in D.C. at Politics and Prose. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Mary Had a Little Typhoid
Apr 800:39:44Summary readyAnd everywhere that Mary went, the typhoid was sure to go. The story of Mary Mallon (AKA Typhoid Mary) is one we're living every day to a small degree: the balance between public safety and personal liberty. Luckily for us, we'll never be imprisoned for being an symptomatic carrier of a disease. Well, never say never. To learn more about the life of Mary Mallon we call up author Susan Campbell Bartoletti (Terrible Typhoid Mary: A True Story of the Deadliest Cook in America). Why was Mary's story so popular in the early 1900s? And why is her name so familiar even today? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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The Constitution vs. Authoritarianism
Apr 100:28:25Summary readyIt can be scary to learn how much our democracy relies on norms and convention when the rule of law is put to the test. But, at least our Founding Fathers had an excellent understanding of authoritarianism when they drafted the U.S. Constitution. Are the guardrails they created enough to prevent a dictator, though? Bob calls up Jeffrey Rosen (former President and CEO of the National Constitution Center) to answer this question. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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How Did Hollywood Survive the Great Depression?
Mar 2500:29:26Summary readyDuring the Great Depression, millions of Americans were out of work, but they still managed to make it to the movies. In fact, Hollywood didn't just survive one of our country's greatest economic downturns, it thrived. So how did movie studios stay afloat when audiences could barely afford food? And why did people keep buying movie tickets during one of the darkest economic periods in U.S. history? We dial up Rotten Tomatoes correspondent Mark Ellis to explore how Hollywood weathered the Great Depression and how this period changed filmmaking for rest of the 20th century. From the rise of sound films and lavish musicals to monster movies, gangster films, and sweeping epics like The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, film became a national escape during a difficult decade. It’s a historical look at Hollywood that resonates today with new threats (like AI and consolidation) constantly emerging. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Sybil Ludington: 16-Year-Old Hero of the American Revolution
Mar 1800:30:24Summary readyShe was just 16 years old when she rode nearly 40 miles through the night rallying the militia as the British attacked during the American Revolution. Bob calls up Karen Romano Young (Sybil Ludington: Revolutionary War Hero) to get the story of Sybil Ludington. They explore what parts of her story are fact or fiction, and why she was nearly forgotten.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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