The History Behind News Program Podcast
President For One Day: Inauguration Stories
History of America's Presidential State Funerals
History of America's Presidential State Funerals
Did you know, that America's first presidential inauguration was delayed by almost two months? And have you ever heard of President Atchison, who was, purportedly, the President of the United States for just one day.
History of America's Presidential State Funerals
History of America's Presidential State Funerals
History of America's Presidential State Funerals
Did you know that when George Washington died, the British Royal Navy lowered their flags to half-mast on its entire fleet?
S4E5: History for Ms. Haley! What caused the Civil War?
HbN Guest: Mr. Roger Lowenstein
Author of: Ways and Means, Lincoln and His Cabinet and the Financing of the Civil War
About Our Guests:
Mr. Lowenstein reported for The Wall Street Journal for more than a decade. He is a historian and has written several books, including New York Times bestsellers, about different important personalities and periods in the history of our country. To learn more about Mr. Lowenstein, please visit his homepage.
In the news: During her New Hampshire primary campaign, Ms. Haley had difficulty explaining the cause of the Civil War. Specifically, she didn't seem able to say the "S" word - slavery!
In this episode (Jan. 31, 2024):
- Was slavery the immediate cause of the Civil War, or the underlying cause of the Civil War?
- Were there irreconcilable economic divisions between the North and the South that could have caused the War?
- In the months immediately before the Civil War, was the country experiencing an economic crisis or at least a banking crisis?
- Was there anything about how the federal government was run in the final days of Buchanan’s presidency that would cause a civil war? How about in the early days of Lincoln’s presidency?
- What does it mean that the Civil War started in two acts?
- Did the North go to war to end slavery?
- What were the Black laws passed in Northern states during the Civil War?
- Did the South envision war?
- Did any Southern states oppose the War?
- How did poor, white Southerners react to the War?
- Are we now at an age in which politicians can no longer discuss history?
S4E2: Femmes Fatales, Females Villains, and 'Nasty Women' Who Defy Hollywood Stereotypes
HbN Guest: Prof. Thomas Doherty & Prof. Maggie Hennefeld
About Our Guests:
Prof. Doherty is a cultural historian with a special interest in Hollywood cinema. He is a professor of American Studies at Brandeis University - who guest-participated in our program last year.
Prof. Hennefeld is a McKnight Presidential Fellow and Associate Professor of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
In the news: It's the Golden Age of the Creepy Woman
In this episode (Jan. 10, 2024):
- Are there, or were there, stereotypical roles for Hollywood actresses?
- What is pre-code Hollywood? We talk about Prof. Doherty's book Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930-1934.
- Did actresses enjoy a wider spectrum of roles in Broadway or indie films than in Hollywood?
- How about women in European films?
- What are the different types of antagonist roles for women? Dark? Creepy? Nasty? Violent? Sexual? The ambitious seducer? Femme Fatale?
- What roles could women play in the early days of the film industry? We talk about Prof. Hennefeld's project Cinema's First Nasty Women, and her books Specters of Slapstick and Silent Film Comediennes and Death by Laughter.
- Why do you think there is now a trend for Hollywood’s leading actresses to “flock” to “female characters with sinister vibes and dark secrets”? What’s so alluring about these roles?
- Are antagonist roles liberating for women?
- Why do we call them actresses and not actors?
- If you wanted our audience to remember just one point about “women in Hollywood”, what would it be?
S3E50: Was Jesus Born on December 25th? Would George Washington Recognize Our Christmas Now?
HbN Guest: Dr. Carety Roberts
About Our Guest: Dr. Roberts is a Professor of History and Online Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Liberty University. His research interests include early American intellectual and economic history. He has lectured and published widely in the fields of the American Founding, monetary and banking history, American intellectual life, and Southern literature. He has been a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church of America and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
In the news: December 25 is here again. It's Christmas. It's when we celebrate Jesus's Birthday.
In this episode (Dec. 20, 2023):
- Why is Christmas such a grand celebration?
- What does this tell us about Christianity?
- Did it take a while for Christmas to take a central role in Christianity?
- What's the difference between recognition and celebration of Christmas?
- Did Christmas piggyback on existing Roman pagan traditions?
- How did Christmas enter America's culture?
- If not the Puritans, then which immigrant group introduced Christmas to America?
- Were there any regional differences in the celebration of Christmas?
- When did U.S. businesses begin to capitalize on Christmas?
- Would President Grant have witnessed a similar Christmas celebration in Boston and Savannah?
- Would George Washington recognize our Christmas? How about Andrew Jackson? Abraham Lincoln? Teddy Roosevelt?
- What happened to Christmas after WWII?
- Is it a bad thing that non-Christians and/or non-practicing Christians celebrate Christmas?
S3E47: Homelessness in America - How Did It Get So Bad?
HbN Guest: Prof. Maria Foscarinis
Author of: forthcoming book on the history of homelessness and how to end it
About Our Guest: Prof. Foscarinis is a lecturer at Columbia Law School, where she serves on the Public Interest/Public Service Council. She is the founder and former executive director of the National Homelessness Law Center.
In the news: more Americans are ending up homeless at a record rate
In this episode (Nov. 29, 2023):
- Prior to recent times, did America suffer from a crisis of mass homelessness? (Hint: Hoovervilles).
- How does our current homelessness crisis compare to the past?
- How did we get to this current moment?
- How did Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton change our attitudes and laws toward homelessness?
- Is homelessness a Republican or a Democratic problem?
- As a nation, should we deal with homelessness at the national or local level?
- Were there studies that showed a larger proportion of homeless people caught COVID in comparison to the general population?
- Is housing a basic human right?
- Do homeless children have the right to go to school?
- Which one is more effective for addressing homelessness: housing or shelters?
- Does she have any solutions for our homeless problem?
- If you wanted our audience to remember just one point about “homelessness”, what would it be?
S3E46: Thanksgiving, the Real Story
HbN Guest: Dr. David Silverman
Author of: This Land is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving
About Our Guests: Dr. Silverman is a professor at George Washington University's Department of History Columbian College of Arts & Sciences, where his focus is on Early America and Native America. In addition to This Land is Their Land, he has written several books on these subjects.
In the news: Thanksgiving
In this episode (Nov. 22, 2023):
- For how long had the English been attempting to settle the East Coast of America?
- Did the Wampanoag Indians have contact with the English before Plymouth?
- Why did the English settle in Plymouth?
- Why were the Wampanoag Indians "friendly" to the English at Plymouth?
- How did that first Thanksgiving in 1621 happen?
- Was there another Thanksgiving feast in 1622? 1623?
- How did the "friendly" relationship between Wampanoag Indians and the English degenerate into total war within a generation?
S3E45: What if Taylor Swift performed opera?
HbN Guest: Dr. James Davis & Dr. Steve Waksman
Author of: Maryland, My Maryland: Music and Patriotism during the American Civil War (Dr. Davis) & Live Music in America: A History from Jenny Lind to Beyoncé (Dr. Waksman)
About Our Guests: Dr. Davis is a professor of Musicology and Chair of the Music History Area at the School of Music at the State University of New York at Fredonia. Dr. Waksman is the Elsie Irwin Sweeney Professor of Music and Professor of American Studies; and Chair in American Studies at Smith College.
In the news: the news media's constant coverage of Taylor Swift
In this episode (Nov. 15, 2023):
- What were music concerts like in the 19th century?
- Who was Jenny Lind? This "Swedish Nightingale" superstar of the 19th century?
- Since loudspeakers were not in use back then, these concerts were probably limited in size, correct?
- How were 19th-century concerts advertised around the country?
- Did the U.S. Civil War have an impact on America’s music?
- When did loudspeakers and recordings enter the picture? How did they impact music and musicians?
- When did concerts begin resembling modern concerts?
- What’s the impact of social media on music concerts?
- What was considered popular music in the 19th century?
- How do we compare Taylor Swift’s concert to our history of concerts?
- If you wanted our audience to remember just one point about “the impact of music concerts on America’s culture”, what would it be?
Taylor Swift 2023 MTV Video Music Awards by iHeartRadioCA, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia.org. Also Jenny Lind's 1862 portrait (Public Domain).
S3E29: Is the Magic of the Movies... Gone?
HbN Guest: Prof. Thomas Doherty
Author of: Show trial: Hollywood, HUAC, and the birth of the blacklist
About Our Guest: Prof. Doherty is a cultural historian with a special interest in Hollywood cinema. He is a professor of American Studies at Brandeis University. He is the author of many books, including the following
Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema; 1930-1934.
In the news: Despite writers' and actors' strikes against Hollywood studios, the Barbenheimer double-feature was a huge success - for the studios.
In this episode (Jul. 28, 2023):
- How audiences initially reacted to motion pictures more than 100 years ago - shock, laughter, crying, screaming.
- In the first half of the 20th century, Movies taught a generation of immigrants how to be an American.
- Chaplin's impact on the movie experience - the transformation from 15-minute shorts to 60-minute films.
- By 1915, Hollywood was no longer just a geographical location.
- WWII movies made everyone a hero - teaching teamwork to soldiers.
- How Catholics pushed for Hollywood self-censorship.
- Hollywood as a powerful ideological weapon.
- Did the Three Stooges make any money from their TV shows?
- How TV, a new technology, caused the 1960 strike.
- The 1960 strike versus Hollywood's 2023 strike - comparing the threat of television to artificial intelligence.
S3E25: History of the 4th of July Politics
HbN Guest: Dr. Thomas Balcerski
Author of: The Greatest Party Ever Known (forthcoming)
About Our Guest: Dr. Balcerski is a visiting professor in US History at Occidental College, AKA Oxy, where he teaches courses on U.S. Presidents and First Ladies as well as the history of the Democratic Party, from Thomas Jefferson to Joe Biden. In addition to Oxy, Dr. Balcerski is a professor of American history at Eastern Connecticut State University. Dr. Balcerski is also a Long-Term Fellow at the Huntington Library and he is conducting research for his forthcoming book, The Greatest Party Ever Known, which we discussed.
In the news: America's Independence Day
In this episode (Jun. 30, 2023):
- Why do we celebrate the 4th of July? Why not another day?
- When did we begin celebrating the 4th of July?
- How did Pres. Adams and Jefferson affect the 4th of July history?
- When did the South start celebrating the 4th of July?
- How did WWII and FDR impact this national holiday?
S3E24: What the Hell Happened to San Francisco!
HbN guest: Dr. Gray Brechin
Author of: Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin
About our guest: DR. Brechin is a historical geographer and author whose chief interests are the state of California, the environmental impact of cities upon their hinterlands, and the invisible landscape of New Deal public works. He is currently a visiting scholar at the U.C. Berkeley Department of Geography and founder and project scholar of The Living New Deal. Dr. Brechin is a San Francisco Bay Area local, and in the 1980s worked as a journalist and TV producer in San Francisco. He is the author of Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin, which we discuss.
In the news: Major retail stores are leaving San Francisco
In this episode (Jun. 23, 2023):
- SF's ideal geographic location.
- SF's rivalry with New York City.
- SF's ruling class was Republican.
- SF: the New Rome of the Pacific.
- The United Nations was founded in SF - Geneva of the West
- How Silicon Valley consumed SF
- How SF's past business leaders invested in the City, and why its modern business leaders don't.
- Hasn't ever been this bad in SF?
S2E24: Prohibition's History - An Ignored U.S. Census.
HbN guest: Mr. Daniel Okrent
Author of: Last Call, The Rise And Fall of Prohibition
About our guest: Mr. Okrent is the author of The Last Call, The Rise And Fall of Prohibition, which won the Albert J. Beveridge prize, awarded by the American Historical Association to the year's best book of American history, and was used as a major source for the PBS miniseries Prohibition, which was directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. Mr. Okrent served as the first public editor of The New York Times, and he has also been the editor of prestigious publishing companies, as well as the Esquire Magazine, Life Magazine, and Time, among others. He also served on the board of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery for 12 years, including a four-year term as chairman, and remains a board member of the Skyscraper Museum and the Authors Guild.
In the news: controversy over the 2020 U.S. census continues in Congress. That controversy involved President Trump's interference in the census and lawsuits that went to the Supreme Court.
In this episode (Aug. 5, 2022):
- The 1910s was a big decade of major Constitutional amendments that profoundly changed American society.
- The 16th Amendment authorized income tax, which in turn enabled the 18th Amendment that prohibited alcohol.
- Millions of Catholic and Jewish immigrants poured into the US from 1900 to 1920.
- Most of these immigrants lived in big cities, and some were notoriously involved in the illegal sales of alcohol.
- Rural members of Congress, who were mostly dry, realized that a reapportionment of Congress based on the 1920 census would tilt Congress toward urban America.
- So, they decided to ignore the 1920 census, which was a gross violation of the US Constitution.
- However, prohibition did not represent the will of the majority.
- This story is a lesson of a determined minority can change American politics and society.
S2E15: History of Book Banning In America
HbN guest: Dr. Brett Gary
Author of: Dirty Works, Obscenity on Trial in America’s First Sexual Revolution
About our guest: Dr. Gary is a professor at New York University, where he teaches in the Department of Media, Culture and Communication with an emphasis on cultural battles over censorship of artistic expression, sexual information, and narrative representations of the nation's past.
In the news: Maus, a Pulitzer Prize-winning by Art Spiegelman, banned from a school curriculum in Tennessee
In this episode (Apr. 22, 2022):
- Did you know the irony that Fahrenheit 451, a book about book banning, was once banned in schools - here, in America?
- What does "Race Suicide" have anything to do with censorship?
- Vice Society movement after the Civil War.
- Who was Anthony Comstock?
- Did you know that the Comstock Act is still law?
- Book banning, book burning, and book store raids - in America!
- How in 1957 the Supreme Court limited Comstock laws
- What is the definition of obscene?
- Why Mark Twain's famous book is banned in some schools.
- Why To Kill A Mockingbird was banned in US schools?
- Why Florida is banning critical race theory.
S1E40: Thanksgiving... the Real Story.
HbN guest: Dr. David Silverman
Author of: This Land is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving
About our guest: Dr. Silverman is a professor at George Washington University's Department of History Columbian College of Arts & Sciences, and he has written several other books about the history of Native Americans.
In the news: 400th anniversary of that first Thanksgiving
In this episode (Nov. 19, 2021):
- Difference between Jamestown and Plymouth Thanksgivings
- What was happening in Massachusetts before the 1621 Thanksgiving?
- Arrival of the "Pilgrims"
- How did the 1621 Thanksgiving happen?
- Why didn't it ever happen again?
- What is the Day of Mourning?