American History Too!

It's another episode of A-Z, and the lucky letter is J! On the menu this week: John Birch Society Jacobs, Harriet Jackson Japanese Internment Jazz Singer, The And many more! Thanks again for listening and we'll be back soon with our brand new series on the US and the Middle East! Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Following a delay thanks to strikes, illness, and a furious effort to finish writing a book, we're back with the final episode of our Lyndon Johnson's America series! We discuss the various legacies of Johnson, his Great Society, Civil Rights, Vietnam, and the long Sixties. And we also provide a preview of our NEW upcoming series - tune in to find out what we'll be discussing next! Thanks a lot for listening to this series and we look forward to bringing you the next one. Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Books/Articles Mark McLay, 'Reflecting or reshaping?: Landmark anniversaries and presidential legacy'. In: Cullinane, M. P. and Ellis, S. (eds.) Constructing Presidential Legacy: How We Remember the American President (2019) Robert H. Wilson, Norman J. Glickman, and Laurence E. Lynn, Jr. (eds.), LBJ’s Neglected Legacy: How Lyndon Johnson Reshaped Domestic Policy and Government (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015). Bernard von Bothmer, Framing the Sixties: The Use and Abuse of a Decade from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush (Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 2010) Kathleen Belew, Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America (Harvard UP, 2018) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's our fifth episode of A-Z, where we take a letter from the alphabet and use it to take a journey through American History for 30 minutes. And on this occasion it's the letter T! Among the topics discussed on this episode: Truman Three Mile Island Sister Rosetta Tharpe Tupperware Tobacco We hope you enjoy and we'll back next with our final episode of the LBJ's America series. Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's the penultimate episode of our LBJ's America series! On this episode we round out 1968, which sees Richard Nixon win the presidential election and be on his way to the White House. We chat about Nixon's record and how, after promising to bring the American people together, he ended up driving them further apart. Also, was LBJ really trying to be a hippie in his final years before dying 1973? We answer this question and much more. The final episode will dissect the legacy of LBJ's America and we hope you'll join us again. Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this month's A-Z, we tackle the letter 'W' for 30 minutes, including discussion of: World War I & II Watergate The West Wing Victoria Woodhull And even, William Wallace. We hope you enjoy and we'll be back soon with the penultimate episode in our LBJ's America series. Cheers, Mark Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's the fourth installment of our series on Lyndon Johnson's America and we are into crisis mode.  We pick up the story in mid-1967 and discuss how Vietnam, racial violence, and a host of other contentious issues rise to the fore and overwhelm Lyndon Johnson, leading to his eventual withdrawal from office. Along the way we compare 1967/8 with today's political climate, discuss race riots, Tet, the media, the counterculture, second-wave feminism and much more.  Thanks again for listening. Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Reading List Thomas Sugrue, The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit (2014) Amy Wedlow, Women Strike for Peace: Traditional Motherhood and Radical Politics in the 1960s. (1993) Daniel Hallin, The 'Uncensored War':The Media and Vietnam (1986) Christopher Gair, The American Counterculture (2007) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's the third in our series of 30 minute discussions of random US history topics beginning with a letter of the alphabet.  Today - it's R! Republicans Rambo Red Scare Republican Motherhood  ...are just a few of things that we chew over. Cheers, Mark and Malcolm  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's Part 3 of Lyndon Johnson's America and we arrive at the event which arguably shaped LBJ's presidency more than anything else - the Vietnam War. In this episode, we cover the early years of the conflict (1964-67) and discuss: - Why Vietnam? - Why does Johnson escalate in 1965? - What role do race and gender play during the Vietnam War? - The early anti-war movement - American strategic mistakes in Vietnam In next month's episode we'll examine The Downfall as Johnson's America comes apart as a result of events at home and abroad. Thanks again for listening! Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Reading List: Heather Stur, Beyond Combat: Women and gender in the Vietnam War era  (Cambridge University Press, 2011) Daniel Lucks, Selma to Saigon:  The Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War (University of Kentucky Press, 2014) Lien-Hang T. Nguyen, Hanoi’s War: An International History of the War for Peace in Vietnam (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012) Paul Thomas Chamberlin, The Cold War's Killing Fields: Rethinking the Long Peace (New York: HarperCollins, 2018) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's the second of our episodes where we discuss a series of events, people, and places drawn at random that begin with a specific letter. And today's letter is H!   Fannie Lou Hamer Adolf Hitler  Jimi Hendrix  Hollywood and many, many more! We'll be back next month with another episode of A-Z! Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the second episode of Lyndon Johnson's America, we encounter an optimistic America. A United States prospering and beginning to deal with its original sin of racism. We delve into civil rights victories and Johnson's pursuit of a Great Society. But we also discuss the rise of television, the British Invasion led by the Beatles, and America's pursuit of putting a Man on the Moon. This episode will leave you feeling warm and fuzzy. Enjoy it, things are about to hit the proverbial fan.   Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's a new podcast! The idea is simple. We've written down loads of names/events/developments that relate to American History that begin with the same letter. They have been scrunched up in a hat, they are picked at random, and we have 30 minutes to discuss whatever comes out the hat. And today, we're all about the letter C! We discuss everything from Lewis and Clark to China, Civil Rights to the CIA. And much more! We hope you enjoy this new type of podcast. We plan to publish a new one every month alongside our main podcast. Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

(OUR APOLOGIES FOR THE SOUND QUALITY ON THIS EPISODE - ROGUE MICROPHONE ISSUE) We're back! And we're embarking on a six part series examining 'Lyndon Johnson's America'. Essentially, we're using the life and times of LBJ to examine and explore the United States over which he presided in the tumultuous 1960s. This episode, however, explores the ascent of Johnson up the political ladder, while simultaneously discussing a host of interesting events and developments between 1936-1963. We discuss the Cold War Consensus, the use of the Atom Bomb, the 'loss of China', the Kennedy-Johnson relationship, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and much more! In the next episode we'll be talking all about the Civil Rights Movement and the early success of Johnson's presidency. Moreover, as the series goes on, we'll get stuck into the societal and cultural developments that shook America in the 1960s.  Thanks for sticking with us after our hiatus and we'll be back regularly in your podcast feeds with both this series and our new A-Z podcast! Cheers Mark and Malcolm Reading list: Robert Caro, The Years of Lyndon Johnson series (Knopf, 4 Books) Mary Dudziak, Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000) Paul Thomas Chamberlin, The Cold War's Killing Fields: Rethinking the Long Peace (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2018) Audra J. Wolfe, Freedom’s Laboratory: The Cold War Struggle for the Soul of Science (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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On Episode 54 we're joined by Grainne McEvoy (@GrainneMcEvoy)  for a timely discussion of American immigration policy over the past 150 years.   In particular, we discuss two pieces of legislation that drastically changed the type of immigrants who would arrive in the United States, and thus shaped the face of America as it exists today.  We also discuss the idea of the 'Melting Pot', the effect of the Cold War, and the role that the Catholic Church have played in influencing immigration policy.   The clip that begins the episode is Lyndon Johnson's 1965 speech at the Statue of Liberty, where he signed the Immigration and Nationality Act that greatly liberalised US immigration policy.   Thanks again for listening and we'll be back in your feeds before Christmas! Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're back with a sequel to our bonus podcast on the 2016 election election whereby we breakdown the Midterm 2018 results, discuss the importance of Midterms in American History, and reflect on the implications of this year's results for the future. And, of course, we're joined by Paddy Andelic (@pkandelic) to help us along the way! We'll be back to our regular programming from here out, as later this month we'll return with a podcast on America's immigration history.   Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As we prepare to return in November with two episodes, including a special on the midterm election results, here is a re-run of an old episode on Black History Month (which falls in October in the UK, so we felt it was ideal to re-post this now) On Episode 34 of American History Too! we were joined by the University of Birmingham's James West (@ejwestuk) to discuss the history of Black History Month and the debates that surround BHM. Over the course of the hour we get stuck into the legacy of the Civil Rights movement, the origins of Black History Month and whether it is viewed in a positive light by black Americans. Finally, James offers us a fascinating insight into how corporations have advertised during BHM, and whether their efforts are cynical or genuine.    ur apologies for the recording quality on one of the microphones for this episode - snowstorms and internet connections don't go well! Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Episode 53 we're joined by the University of Oxford's Dan Rowe (@dan_rowe1) to discuss the reasons for the emergence of America's 'Rust Belt' - an area of the United States characterized by decline and struggle since the last third of the 20th century. Where is the Rust Belt? How do people who live there feel about the label and how have their lives been affected by the economic and social challenges that have befallen the region? Why did it decline and is it poised to recover? And finally, why did the Rust Belt emerge as the region of the infamous Obama-Trump voter? All this and much more on this month's podcast. We'll be back next month with a special look at the history of Midterm elections. Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Episode 52, we're joined by Kings College London's Chris Parkes to discuss sex and sexuality in the first half of the twentieth century.   Chris guides us through how sexuality was understood at this time, why it became the policy of the federal government to discriminate against gay and lesbian Americans during World War I and World War II. We then shift focus to Sumner Welles, a diplomat and close adviser to Franklin Roosevelt, whose career was ruined when it was exposed he had solicited sex from men.  Finally, Chris passes on some tips for how LGBT topics can be included in university and school teaching. It's a truly fascinating insight into and understudied topic.  Thanks again for listening and we'll be back in September. Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're back! After a delay to allow for holidays and research trips, on a bumper Episode 51, we are joined by two guests - York St John University's Stephen Robinson (@drSRRobinson) and the University of Essex's Miguel Hernandez (@MHernandezGdV) to work through one of the worst eras in American race relations.   We discuss why race relations were so awful, the career of Booker T. Washington, and the revival of the Second KKK. Finally, we discuss the current state of American race relations and if there is any legitimate comparison to contemporary America. Thanks again for listening and we'll be back again before the end of August with Episode 52! Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's our 50TH EPISODE! And for this exceptional landmark, we could think of no more appropriate topic to discuss than American Exceptionalism.  What does that term mean? Where does it come from? Does US exceptionalism differ from other kinds of exceptionalism? And what is the current state of American Exceptionalism now that it has a president, in Donald Trump, who has openly refuted the concept?  With the help of an exceptional guest  - Hilde Restad (Bjørknes College, @hilderestad, and co-host of Ceasefire podcast) - we answer all of these questions and much more in a wide-ranging discussion.   As always, thanks so much for listening and we look forward now to the next 50 episodes of American History Too! Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Episode 49 of American History Too! we're joined by the University of Manchester's Katie Myerscough (@katiemyerscough) to discuss her research into the Progressive Era and the role women played in shaping American cities at the turn of the 20th century. Think that this era saw women focus exclusively on Suffrage? Well, think again. We get stuck into whether or not there was actually a progressive movement, what it was, and how it succeeded. Katie then guides us through how women sought to shape their surroundings, all the while pretending not be political, so as not to draw the attention of male political figures.  Finally, with people - and women especially - turning to personal activism in the contemporary America, we discuss whether or not we are on the cusp of a new Progressive Era in the United States.   Thanks again for listening and we'll be back next month to discuss American Exceptionalism. Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Episode 48, our resident Cold War expert, Malcolm, is in the hotseat to discuss whether we are in the midst of a new Cold War (drawing upon his recent contribution to this BBC article - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-43546340). Before we tackle the present day, we cover the old Cold War - what was it? when did it peak? who won? And what amount of credit does Ronald Reagan deserve for ending the long conflict?  We then turn our attention to the present day to consider the rise of Russia in the modern world and the role of Vladimir Putin.  Finally, Malcolm supplies his top three film and television recommendations for those wanting to understand the Cold War and its implications.   Thanks again for listening and we'll be back with a new guest next month. Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Picking up from last month's episode on Native Americans and slavery, this month's episode with Reeta Humalajoki (University of Turku) explores the relationship between the American government from the civil war to the present day.   We explore the various policies from assimilation to termination that characterised this fractious relationship, all the way up to the recent policies pursued by the Obama and Trump White Houses.   How much say did have Native Americans had in shaping their fate? And how was this all affected by the Civil Rights era? And why is Richard Nixon one of the most laudable presidents in relation to Native American affairs? Reetta guides us through these issues and much more in this tour de force podcast! Cheers for listening, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Episode 46, we're joined by the University of Hull's Edd Mair, who discusses his research on Native Americans as slaveholders during the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly the Seminole tribe of Florida. We have a wide-ranging discussion of the history of Native American slavery - both as enslaved people and as slaveholders themselves.  Why did the enslave Africans? Was it out of necessity or more nefarious reasons? As we find out, some Native Americans even held similar racial beliefs to those that would become common among white people during Social Darwinism's heyday.   Mostly, we get at the question of whether or not Native American were more benevolent slaveholders in comparison with their white counterparts - a common myth that was accepted in American society. We'll be back next month with a follow-up episode on Native Americans when we discuss how they fared during the 20th century. Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Episode 45, we are joined by UCL's Nick Witham (@ndwitham) to examine the turbulent events of 1968 in the United States. 50 years on, what are the legacies of the 365 days of tumult?  What happened? What impact did it have on various groups in society? And how important were the 'Sixties' more broadly? We guide you through the assassinations, cultural upheavals, Vietnam protest, and - of course - the music of 1968.  Thanks again for listening. We'll be back next month to examine Native Americans and slavery.   Cheers, Mark and Malcolm   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Episode 44 of American History Too! we're joined by TWO very special guests - the University of Exeter's Rachel Pistol (@PistolRachel) and the University of Edinburgh's Tim Cooper (@tscooper11) - to discuss how Asian-Americans have fared in American society since the late nineteenth century to the present day.  Discover more about the so-called 'Yellow Peril', Japanese Internment during World War II, and why these issues are still relevant to modern day America. Look out for a NEW kind of AHTOO podcast landing in your feeds in January. Until then, thanks again for listening. Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Episode 43 of American History Too! we delve into the United States' topsy-turvy relationship with its southern neighbours. The US has had a fascinating and complex relationship with its American cousins and joined by the University of Manchester's Tom Tunstall Allcock (@TunstallAllcock) we trace its highs and lows from the Monroe Doctrine in the 1800s all the way to the 1960s and the LBJ administration's 'Man in Latin America', Thomas Mann.  We examine JFK's 'Alliance for Progress' and whether LBJ really deserves the blame for its collapse or not, and how the 1965 intervention in the Dominican Republic fits into the wider story of Johnson's presidency. Tom also treats us to the story of LBJ, a sheepdog, a monkey, and the West German Chancellor - stay tuned until the end for that one! We'll be back in December with a special episode on Japanese-Americans.  Thanks again for listening. Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this month's episode we're joined by Lancaster University's politics lecturer Richard Johnson (@richardmarcj) to discuss five pioneering black politicians who ran for election in the decades before Barack Obama's ascension to the White House in 2008: Ed Brooke, Tom Bradley, Douglas Wilder, Harvey Gantt, and Carol Moseley Braun.   The podcast begins with a clip of Richard's interview with Braun in which she discusses her views on race and politics.   Throughout the discussion Richard reflects on whether Obama was a political unicorn with his appeal to white and black audiences; how these five pioneers navigated the choppy waters of racial politics and what their candidacies tell us about the country in wich they were running; and finally, whether their candidacies - and, in some cases, spells in office - were able to inspire change in American society.   Thanks again for listening, we'll be back next month, discussing barbeque diplomacy and Vietnam (all will be explained).   Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

(Our guest this month, Hannah Rose Murray, @Hannah_RoseM , frederickdouglassinbritain.com) One spring evening in 1838, formerly enslaved African American Moses Roper spoke to a crowded audience in Leicester, and during one section of his speech, declared: "Many will say “This is the slaves’ side of the question. The slave-holders would tell a different story.” You have heard the slave-holders’ story 250 years ago. Now, I think it is time for the slaves to speak." In an extraordinary chapter of the antislavery movement, hundreds of black activists – many of whom were formerly enslaved – echoed Roper’s bold decision to tell the truth about slavery. Many of these individuals sought temporary reprieve from American soil, others permanent; some raised money to free themselves or enslaved family members; others sought work with varying success. Black men such as Frederick Douglass, William Wells Brown, Josiah Henson, and women such as Sarah Parker Remond lectured in large cities and tiny fishing villages, wrote narratives, stayed with influential reformers and ensured millions of words were written about them in the newspapers. The Victorian press is littered with coverage of their speeches, from the John O’Groat Journal to the Royal Cornwall Gazette, alongside with accounts of audiences cramming into tiny churches or town halls to cure an insatiable appetite about American slavery. Even by the end of the nineteenth century this appetite had not abated. Activists such as Ida B. Wells built on the precedent set by Moses Roper and declared to a Leeds audience in 1894 that “it was her mission to tell the black people’s side of the story.” In a powerful and succinct summation, Wells echoed the reason why African Americans travelled to Britain: to champion their testimony against slavery and its legacies, and challenge white supremacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For Episode 40 of American History Too! we've fired up the Translatlantic cables to chat to Dixie State University's Jeremy Young (@jeremycyoung) about his work on the 'Age of Charisma' between 1870 and 1940. Jeremy guides through what it meant to be a charismatic leader and, indeed, a charismatic follower during this era. Why were these leaders both appealing and yet simulatanously destined to lose in presidential elections? Why did they die out from 1940 onwards? And who was the first ever radio star in the United States? (hint: it's not who you think it is!) We touch on all these issues and much more. Thanks again for listening and we'll be back next month. Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

50 years on from the 'long, hot summer' of 1967 we look back at the race riots that became a common feature of the 1960s landscape in the United States. Should we call them riots? Why did they happen in the same decade in which African-Americans achieved the greatest legislative progress in 100 years? How did politicians responded to America's burning cities? And do they hold any lessons for modern America? These are just some of the questions we seek to answer about the riots. The podcast begins with an NBC broadcast you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hOoW0U6g_E Thanks again for listening. Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this month's episode we're joined by Fraser McCallum to discuss the paranoid cinema of the 1970s that emerged in the midst of assassinations, Watergate, and an array of government misdeeds that had been exposed in the previous decade. In particular we examine The Conversation (the trailer for which begins this episode, 1974), The Parallax View (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975), and - of course - All the President's Men (1976). We discuss why these films emerged, what they say about the United States during this era, and consider whether we might see a reemergence of the genre in the wake of Trump. n.b. There is a slight issue with one of the microphones that crops up ever now and again, but it shouldn't be too distracting. Thanks again for listening and we'll be back in a few weeks with an episode looking at the 'long, hot summer' of race rioting in 1967. Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Episode 37 of American History Too! we look at a man and an organisation who encapsulated much of what 19th century America was about: immigration, westward expansion, big business, labour relations, war, and politics. We examine Allan Pinkerton and the ‘eye that never sleeps’, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.   Scholarship Christopher Andrew, For the President’s Eyes Only: Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency, from Washington to Bush (New York: HarperCollins, 1995) Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, The FBI: A History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007) Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, We Know All About You: The Story of Surveillance in Britain and America (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017) Frank Morn, The Eye That Never Sleeps: A History of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1982) S. Paul O’Hara, Inventing the Pinkertons; or, Spies, Sleuths, Mercenaries, and Thugs (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 16th President of the United States, unlike so many of his fellow nineteenth century White House occupants, has not been lost to History. Indeed, his name lives on as the Capitol of Nebraska, as a popular car brand, and as a name for one of America’s two political parties. Beyond the United States, his legacy also has a powerful reach. Here in Scotland, there is statue of him in Edinburgh, while in 2009, the Rwandan government saw fit to issue a stamp bearing his face. And that face, which he took great pleasure in mocking for its ugly features, has been included at one time or another on the 1, 5, 10, 20, 100, and 500 dollar bill. It is sculpted on Mount Rushmore along with Washington, Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt. And, perched high upon a grand seat and surrounded by Roman columns and his most famous words, he gazes across the National Mall at the Congress of the United States, acting as a symbolic conscience of the nation. We are, of course, talking about Abraham Lincoln. Today, on American History Too!, joined by the University of Edinburgh's Cat Bateson we ask whether the so-called Great Emancipator deserves such lofty and widespread recognition, and we also examine the uses and abuses of Honest Abe’s legacy since his assassination on Good Friday in 1865. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Episode 35 of American History Too! we're joined by the University of Hull's Rachel Williams to discuss the role that religion played in the American Civil War.   Rachel guides us through the evolution of religion from the founding years through to the antebellum era and the effect it had on the emerging country. What effect did relgion have in justifying slavery in the South? Has religion in the US benefitted from not having a predetermined state religion? And what was the effect of the Second Great Awakening? We then discuss how religion shaped the experience of the Civil War and how it impacted both the Northern and Southern cause. Finally, Rachel reflects on how the Civil War experience impacted upon religion going forward and offers us a sneak preview of next month's episode. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did. Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Episode 34 of American History Too! we're joined by the University of Birmingham's James West (@ejwestuk) to discuss the history of Black History Month and the debates that surround BHM. Over the course of the hour we get stuck into the legacy of the Civil Rights movement, the origins of Black History Month and whether it is viewed in a positive light by black Americans. Finally, James offers us a fascinating insight into how corporations have advertised during BHM, and whether their efforts are cynical or genuine.   Our apologies for the recording quality on one of the microphones for this episode - snowstorms and internet connections don't go well! Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Episode 33 we turn our attentions back to the CIA and pick up where we left off in Episode 31. Joined by the University of Reading’s Dafydd Townley, we whizz through the CIA’s successes and failures in the 1950s and 1960s, when the agency was given free rein by Congress to do as it pleased without questioning. With the Vietnam War and the Watergate Scandal fuelling public distrust in American institutions, however, it was only logical that the CIA – for so long shrouded in mystery – would come under the microscope. In 1975, three separate investigations were launched into the CIA, with the notable being the Church Committee, that raised new and troubling questions about the nation’s premier intelligence gathering vehicle. In this episode of American History Too! we investigate the Committee’s findings and dig deeper into what would become known as the ‘Year of Intelligence’. We’ll be back next month with an episode that will overlap with Black History Month. Until then, thanks for again listening! Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1942, GIs who were being deployed to Britain were presented with a clear set of official instructions which warned them what they could expect to find when they reached wartime Britain: ‘‘You are coming to Britain from a country where your home is still safe, food is still plentiful, and lights are still burning. So it is doubly important for you to remember that their British soldiers and civilians have been living under a tremendous strain. It is always impolite to criticize your hosts. It is militarily stupid to insult your allies.’ – Instructions for American Servicemen (1942) Equally, in December 1943, the novelist George Orwell wrote in the Tribune that ‘It is difficult to go anywhere in London without having the feeling that London is now occupied territory.’ Both extracts give a sense of uneasy alliance between two nations which have all too often been portrayed as locked together in a ‘special relationship’ for seventy odd years. But like all relationships, alliance warfare between the US and the UK underwent periods of severe strain as well as harmonious efficiency. In this podcast, with the help of Dr Frances Houghton (University of Manchester) we’ll be discussing the extent to which the 3 million US personnel who passed through Britain between 1942-45 were really perceived as ‘overpaid, over-fed, over-sexed, and over here’ in wartime Britain. A huge thanks from both of us for tuning in for another year. We can't wait to get back to podcasting in the New Year, and we've already got many esteemed guests lined up for 2017 to discuss more fascinating topics in American History. Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

World War II is over, the Cold War is just beginning, and the United States is set on winning hearts and minds - and foreign elections - by any means necessary. On episode 31 of American History Too! we travel back to the mid-1940s and tell the story behind the creation of the CIA's covert operations programme. From tales of Jesus to a disaster in Bogota, the programme's birth was an interesting one to say the least. Thanks again for listening and we'll be back next month to discuss the experience of American and British soldiers during World War II.   Cheers, Mark and Malcolm    Scholarship Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, The CIA and American Democracy, 2nd edition (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998) Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, Cloak and Dollar: A History of American Secret Intelligence (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002) Steven Long, The CIA and the Soviet Bloc: Political Warfare, the Origins of the CIA and Countering Communism in Europe (London: I.B. Tauris, 2014) Kaeten Mistry, The United States, Italy and the Origins of Cold War: Waging Political Warfare 1945–1950 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014) Christopher Moran, Company Confessions: Revealing CIA Secrets (London: Biteback, 2015) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What it says in the title. It's over and in an attempt to process Trump's shock victory we break down the 2016 election into historical perspective. To do so, we're joined once more by Paddy Andelic (@pkandelic). We discuss why Trump won, why Clinton lost, where the parties stand, and what history suggests we're in store for from a Trump presidency. Finally, we answer an eerily prescient listener question. We'll be back next week with our regular podcast so look out for that, and thanks again for listening.   Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Episode 30 of American History Too! we take a deep dive into the history of music and presidential campaigns in the United States. Joined by the Imperial War Museum's Fraser McCallum we discuss the rise of campaign music from the nineteenth century to the current 2016 election, including all the great love affairs and spats that have existed between politicians and musicians.  Following our discussion of music, we then delve into a debate on whether the politics as entertainment - a theme so evident in this year's campaign - is a new phenomenon or whether it's been around since the beginning of mass democracy.   We'll be back next month with a podcast on the history of the CIA. Until then, have a great election! Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In London on May 22nd 1846, the great anti-slavery campaigner and orator Frederick Douglass - who himself was a former slave – stood before a large audience and related to them the reasons why he was there:  “Why do I not confine my efforts to the United States? My answer first, that slavery is the common enemy of mankind and it should be made acquainted with its abominable character. Slavery is a system of wrong, so blinding to all around, so hardening to the heart, so corrupting to the morals, so deleterious to religion, so sapping to all the principles of justice, in its immediate vicinity, that the community surrounding it lacks the moral stamina necessary to its removal. It is a system of such gigantic evils, so strong, so overwhelming in its power, that no one nation is equal to its removal. I want the slaveholder surrounded, by a wall of anti-slavery fire, so that he may see the condemnation of himself and his system glaring down in letters of light. I want him to feel that he has no sympathy in England, Scotland, and Ireland, that he has none in Canada, none in Mexico, none among the poor wild Indians…” On this episode of American History Too! we're joined by University College London's Matt Griffin (@mattrgriffin) to explore the fascinating who, what, and why of trans-Atlantic anti-slavery campaigns in the mid-nineteenth century. Cheers, Mark & Malcolm Reading List R. J. M. Blackett, Building an Antislavery Wall: Black Americans in the Atlantic Abolitionist Movement, 1830-1860 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana University Press, 1983) David Brion Davis, ‘Looking at Slavery from Broader Perspectives’, The American Historical Review 105:2 (Apr., 2000), 452-466 Don H. Doyle, The Cause of All Nations: An International History of the American Civil War (New York: Basic Books, 2015) Amanda Foreman, World on Fire: Britain’s Crucial Role in the American Civil War (London: Penguin, 2011) Van Gosse, ‘“As a Nation, the English Are Our Friends": The Emergence of African American Politics in the British Atlantic World, 1772-1861’, The American Historical Review 113:4 (Oct., 2008), 1003-1028 Caleb McDaniel, The Problem of Democracy in the Age of Slavery: Garrisonian Abolitionists and Transatlantic Reform (Baton Rouge: Louisiana University Press, 2013) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1921, the influential magazine Literary Digest speculated on the morality and nature of the modern young woman: Is the “old fashioned girl”, with all that she stands for in sweetness, modesty, and innocence, in danger of becoming extinct? Or was she really no better nor worse than the “up to date” girl, who in turn will become the “old fashioned girl” to a later generation? Is it even possible as a small, but impressive, minority would have us believe that the girl of today has certain new virtues of “frankness, sincerity, seriousness of purpose”, lives on a “higher level of morality” and is on the whole “more clean minded and clean lived” than her predecessors? The Roaring Twenties in America are – in popular culture at least – seen as the era of the liberated flapper, Daisy Buchanan, and all night jazz. But is this really an accurate portrayal of womanhood, femininity, and beauty in the decade of “return to normalcy”? Today on American History Too!, we’re joined by the University of Strathclyde's Rachael Alexander to discuss how femininity and beauty were perceived in 1920s America, and what role mass-market women’s magazines had in reinforcing and changing stereotypes. Thanks, as always, for listening! Cheers, Mark & Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With the Republican convention in Cleveland complete, all eyes turn now to Philadelphia where the Democrats will gather to nominate the first ever woman to head a major party ticket in US history.  Joined once more by the University of Oxford's Paddy Andelic (@pkandelic) we take a deep dive into the recent history of the Democratic party and travel the road to Hillary Clinton. Beginning amid the chaos of the 1968 convention in Chicago, we talk through Humphrey, McGovern, Watergate Babies, Carter, Ted Kennedy, Tip O'Neill, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.   Thanks again for listening. Next month we'll be back turning our focus to cultural history, but look out for an election special before November! Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Still baffled by Donald Trump's nomination? Be perplexed no more! With the Republican party heading to their convention in Cleveland to nominate the billionaire tycoon, we're joined by the University of Oxford's Paddy Andelic (@pkandelic) to discuss the Republicans over the past half century as we look to map out the road to Trump. On our travels we cover Barry Goldwater, Civil Rights, Richard Nixon, Watergate, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and both Bush I & II. We also delve into some of the issues and causes that have defined the GOP since the 1960s.  All this, and much more, on another bumper podcast of American History Too! We'll be back soon with a podcast covering the Road to Hillary Clinton! Cheers, Mark and Malcolm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1936, not long after German heavyweight boxer Max Schmeling knocked out his African-American opponent, Joe Louis, the journal Der Weltkampf published the following statement: “These countries cannot thank Schmeling enough for this victory for he checked the arrogance of the Negro race and clearly demonstrated to them the superiority of white intelli- gence. He restored the prestige of the white race and in doing so accomplished a cultural achievement. I for one am convinced that Schmeling was fully conscious of this fact and that he fought as a representative of the white race.... The victory of Italy in Abyssinia must be regarded in the same light.... After the war started there was only one thing left, the fight of a white against a black nation. This has become a racial fight. The same question must be asked: What would have happened if Abyssinia had won? The same answer applies: the whole black world would have risen up against the white race in arrogance and bestial cruelty.” Were these horrific attitudes towards a man whom many experts regard as the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time confined to Nazi Germany? Or did his own countrymen view the great Joe Louis as inferior, unworthy of the status of a great champion? And what of other great athletes such as Jesse Owens? How did white America react? In order to answer these and other questions, today on American history too, we’ll be exploring the complex, convoluted, and at often appalling history of race and sport in inter-war America. Scholarship In Black and White: The Untold Story of Joe Louis and Jesse Owens - Donald McRae The Fight of the Century: Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, and the Struggle for Racial Equality - Thomas R. Hietala Ring of Hate: The Brown Bomber and Hitler's Hero - Joe Louis, Max Schmeling and the Bitter Propaganda War - Patrick Myler  Beyond Glory: Max Schmeling vs Joe Louis and a World on the Brink - David Margolick Joe Louis: Hard Times Man - Randy Roberts Papa Jack: Jack Johnson and the Era of White Hopes - Randy Roberts Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson - Geoffrey C. Ward A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring Twenties - Roger Kahn Nazi Games: The Olympics of 1936 - David Clay Large Hitler's Olympics: The 1936 Berlin Olympic Games - Christopher Hilton Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series - Eliot Asinof The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth - Leigh Montville Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On January 20th 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution - which banned the production, transport, and sale of alcohol - went into effect. Among the many Americans rejoicing at the passage of Prohibition that evening, was one Pauline Sabin.  Sabin, a wealthy WASP socialite, who was New York’s first ever female member of the Republican National Committee, foresaw many positives to an alcohol-free society. Like many American women, Sabin viewed alcohol as a threat to the morality of her family, particularly her two young sons, and, in her own words, Sabin believed that “a world without liquor would be a beautiful world.” Quickly, however, Sabin and many others realised that such utopian hopes were misplaced. Prohibition, it seemed was creating more problems than it solved. Looking around at the increased crime and disrespect for law and order in the country, Sabin came to the conclusion that Prohibition was actually creating a worse world for her sons as opposed to the beautiful world she had once imagined.  By 1929, convinced of Prohibition’s failure, Pauline Sabin formed and led the Women’s Organization for National Prohibition Reform (WONPR). An organisation that quickly accrued over 1.5 million members and led the charge to repeal Prohibition.  Women had played a crucial role in Prohibition’s passage and much to everyone’s surprise they would play an equally important role in its eventual repeal in 1933.   Prohibition would throw up many such surprises throughout the thirteen years it remained on the books and many of its failures still hold important lessons for our society today.  As such, on this episode of American History Too, we aim to answer a simple question:  Why did American Prohibition fail? Reading List David Kennedy, Freedom From Fear (1999) David E. Kyvig, “Women Against Prohibition,” American Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 4 (Autumn, 1976), 465-482. Mary Murphy, “Bootlegging Mothers and Drinking Daughters: Gender and Prohibition in Butte, Montana,” American Quarterly, Vol.46, No.2 (Jun., 1994), 174-194. Michael Parrish, Anxious Decades (1992) Kenneth Rose, American women and the repeal of Prohibition (1996) Wendy Sarvasy, “Beyond the Difference versus Equality Policy Debate: Postsuffrage Feminism, Citizenship, and the Quest for a Feminist Welfare State,” Signs, 17:2 (Winter, 1992), 329-362 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In early 1943 – while the Battle of Stalingrad raged thousands of miles away – US government officials explored the hotel room of a recently deceased scientist. They were looking for the plans to a weapon that could change the war. They were looking for a death ray. The death ray did not exist, but there was enough doubt that Federal officials thought it wise to assess the thousands of notes and sketches that had been made during the scientist’s lifetime. After their assessment, the notes were locked away, leading to a persistent conspiracy theory that there had been a death ray, and that the US government was covering it all up. The notes had belonged to a man who in many ways embodied the American dream, the golden age of science, and the modern image of eccentric inventor. He had been one of the most famous men not only in America, but in the world. He laid the groundwork for many of the technologies that we take for granted today and contributed to many more. In the decades that followed his death in a room of the Hotel New Yorker on January 7, 1943, the scientist has gone from virtual obscurity to international celebrity, the namesake of high powered electric sportscars and a major international airport. Today on American History Too!, we explore the life, times, and legacy of the man who supposedly invented the electrical age: Nikola Tesla. Reading W. Bernard Carlson, Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013) Robert Lomas, The man who invented the twentieth century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity (London: Headline, 2000) Paul Lucier, ‘The Origins of Pure and Applied Science in Gilded Age America’, Isis, 103:3 (September 2012), 527-536 Marc J. Seifer, Wizard : The life and times of Nikola Tesla ; biography of a genius (Secaucus: Carol Pub., 1996) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

‘On the 25th of September 1984, in one of the hardest-hitting speeches of his long Presidential campaign against Ronald Reagan, former Vice-President Walter F. Mondale spoke powerfully at George Washington University about the contemporary political landscape: This election is not about jellybeans and pens pals. It is about toxic dumps that give cancer to our children. This election is not about country music and birthday cakes. It is about old people who can’t pay for medicine. This election is not about the Olympic torch. It is about the civil-rights laws that opened athletics to women and minorities who won those gold medals… This election is not about my standing in the polls. It is about my stand against the illegal war in Nicaragua. This election is not about slogans, like “standing tall.” It is about specifics, like the nuclear freeze – because if those weapons go off, no one will be left standing tall. This election is about values. I refuse to cut loose from my history and desert the beliefs I have always fought for. I would rather lose a race about decency than win one about self-interest. Despite his best efforts, he did lose. The country, according to Mondale, was getting another four years of jellybeans and cowboy boots.’ So, today on American History Too!, we’ll be discussing the complex and often contested intersections between liberalism and conservatism in Ronald Reagan’s America. Reading List Doug Rossinow, The Reagan Era (2015) Randall Rothenberg, The Neoliberals (1984) Bradford Martin, The Other Eighties (2011) Kenneth Baer, Reinventing Democrats (2000) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It was a midterm election year, the economy was beginning tolook a bit shaky again, and the Democrats were in danger of losing their majoritiesin Congress. The Democratic President, gathering his congressional troopsin the White House to rally them ahead of a tough campaign, knew just the rightnote to strike.  He acknowledged that the economy was a problem, but thePresident reminded his fellow Democrats that whatever happened their partywould never let the economic burden fall upon the American people as HerbertHoover had during the Great Depression. The President in question was not Hoover’s successor,Franklin Roosevelt, nor was it Harry Truman or even John F. Kennedy.  ThePresident was Lyndon Johnson, the year was 1966 and Herbert Hoover, had, bynow, been out of office for 33 long years. Hoover, who had been known as the Great Humanitarian beforehe assumed the office of the presidency in the 1929, was, for the rest of hislife, the symbol of an uncaring and aloof government, and the noose around theRepublican party’s electoral chances for over three decades. Historians, most of whom lived through the Great Depressionand admired FDR’s New Deal initially played a key role in making sure that thisnegative image of Hoover stuck, but since his death in 1964, America’s firstQuaker President has gone through a reassessment that has attempted torehabilitate Hoover in the eyes of the American people.   Today on American History Too! we ask the simplequestion, does Hoover deserve this reassessment, or does he deserve to beremembered as one of the worst presidents to ever occupy 1600 PennsylvaniaAvenue?  To help us with this task, we're joined once again by the University of Edinburgh's Alastair Duthie (@d_alastair) We also discuss our favourite and least favourite campaign slogans - thanks to Dafydd Townley for the question!  Cheers again for listening, Mark and Malcolm Reading List -       Faushold, Martin L. The Presidency ofHerbert Hoover (Lawrence, Kans.: University Press of Kansas, 1985) -       Jeansonne, Glen, The Life of Herbert Hoover: Fighting Quaker, 1928-1933 (NewYork:  Palgrave MacMillan, 2012) -       Hoover, Herbert. The Memoirs of HerbertHoover. 3 vols. (New York: Macmillan Co., 1951) -       Kennedy, David, Freedom from Fear (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999) -       Leuchtenburg, William E. The Perils ofProsperity, 1914-1932. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958) -       Rauchway, Eric, The Great Depression and New Deal: A very short introduction (New York: Oxofrd University Press, 2008) -       Wilson, Joan Hoff. Herbert Hoover:Forgotten Progressive, (Boston:Little, Brown & Co., 1975) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices