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History Hit

Join Don Wildman twice a week for your hit of American history, as he explores the past to help us understand the United States of today.

 

We’ll hear how codebreakers uncovered secret Japanese plans for the Battle of Midway, visit Chief Powhatan as he prepares for war with the British, see Walt Disney accuse his former colleagues of being communists, and uncover the dark history that lies beneath Central Park. 

 

From pre-colonial America to independence, slavery to civil rights, the gold rush to the space race, join Don as he speaks to leading experts to delve into America’s past.

 

New episodes every Monday and Thursday.

 

Brought to you by History Hit, the award-winning podcast network and world’s best history channel on demand, featuring shows like Dan Snow’s History Hit, Not Just The Tudors and Betwixt the Sheets.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

American History Hit

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.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

You can take part in our listener survey here.

All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 Media

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

Waco: A Cult, the FBI and a Fiery Ending

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.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

You can take part in our listener survey at https://uk.surveymonkey.com/r/6FFT7MK.

All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 Media.

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

President Calvin Coolidge: The Roaring 20s' Quiet Leader

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.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

You can take part in our listener survey here.

All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 Media

Was the Civil War Won by Chance?

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.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

You can take part in our listener survey here.

All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 Media

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

Outlaws vs the FBI: J. Edgar Hoover's G-Men

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.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

You can take part in our listener survey here.

All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 Media

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

How Old is America?

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.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

You can take part in our listener survey here.

All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 Media

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

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

Lexington & Concord: The First Battles of the Revolutionary War

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.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

You can take part in our listener survey here.

All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 Media

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

Japanese in America

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.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

You can take part in our listener survey here.

All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 Media

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

Remembering Jimmy Carter: Life & Legacy

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.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

You can take part in our listener survey here.

All music from Epidemic Sound/All3 Media

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

President Herbert Hoover: Did He Cause the Great Depression?

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.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

You can take part in our listener survey here.

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

All music from Epidemic Sound/All3 Media

The First 12 Days of the Civil War

In October 1962, the United States confirmed that Soviet missiles were being deployed in Cuba. President John F. Kennedy had to contemplate the consequences of any US response, knowing an escalation of hostilities could end in all-out nuclear war. 

What followed was the period of greatest tension during the Cold War. When journalist and historian Sir Max Hastings started writing Abyss, his new book on the confrontation, he thought he was writing about the threat of nuclear war as history. But, as he tells Don in today’s episode, with Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, it has returned to present day.

Produced by Benjie Guy. Mixed by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer: Charlotte Long.

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts, and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!

Cuban Missile Crisis

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