American History Hit - American History Hit: 200 Episodes On

Episode Date: August 15, 2024

Host Don Wildman has a message for listeners old and new, marking 200 episodes of American History Hit.American History Hit first started publishing in 2022, and since then we've covered the first Americans, Revolution, Civil War, the World Wars and beyond. Here's to the next 200 episodes, where we will continue to look to the past to understand the United States of today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want to explore even more history? Sign up to History Hit, where you will discover history from around the world. From the American Revolution to prehistoric Scotland, there is plenty to discover. With your subscription, you'll unlock hundreds of hours of exclusive documentaries with a brand new release every week, exploring everything from the ancient world to World War II. Just visit historyhit.com slash subscribe to bring the past alive. Hey everyone, today is a big day for us here at American History Hit. Today is our 200th episode.

200 episodes over about two years. We started recording these conversations back in September 22. I was in a closet in my house back then. I've since graduated to a booth, I'm glad to say. I couldn't be prouder of what we've done here, all of us, the sheer amount of American history on this pod. I often reflect on how little I've known of almost anything we've covered, and then how much I learned after.

Then again, that was the idea. Here's a guy who doesn't know too much more than the audience knows, learning history from the masters of the trade. The podcast has taken us back to prehistoric Americans, onward to Roanoke and Jamestown, all the way to pre-revolution 18th century and Pontiac's Rebellion. That was one of our first episodes recorded with the esteemed Yale professor Ned Blackhawk, telling us about the Native American uprising against the expansion

of British colonialism. This was Pontiac's strategy to seize the forts that had become the primary establishment of French and then British settlements, right? Correct. It seems kind of strange and a kind of contemporary sense to think of these isolated fortifications as central nodes of authority and power. But that's really what they were. And it's not just because they were stationed on various respective lands, but because they

also helped control the seas. the waters. And if you can control the rivers and lakes of North America, you can control their future as Jefferson and later American presidents came to realize. We've been on the field at the very first battle in the Civil War in 1861. Here's a clip from our episode on Fort Sumter with Alan C. Guelso, a battle which is often overlooked in the four years of civil war history, but it's actually one of the most significant. No place seemed to be more secure, at least in terms of its geography, than Fort Seaguel. Sumter, because Fort Sumter was built quite literally in the middle of Charleston Harbor and built on a

man-made pile of granite rubble, the off-tailings, so to speak, of New England granite quarries. And there it sat right beside the main ship channel in Charleston Harbor, which it had originally been designed to protect. But it also meant that it was going to be very difficult of access for Confederate forces. It was a strategic move also, because this is going to be a big entry point into the Confederate state. Even more, there's a certain symbolism. As well as pre-revolution, revolution, and civil war episodes. We've covered World War I, World War II, and the Cold War.

Here's when we spoke with Sir Max Hastings on our episode on the Cuban Missile Crisis, also one of the earliest episodes we did. Now, in 1962, the group of men who sat with President Kennedy around the White House table were at every turn trying to think, what is Nikita Christchop, the Soviet Union? leader think he doing by putting these missiles, watch his game. And at almost every turn, they got it wrong. They completely misunderstood what was happening on the other side. And we're seeing exactly the same today, that today with all the miracles of satellite photography, our intelligence organizations and our leaders know where Russian troops are going and what they're

doing. But as to what's going on in the Kremlin, as to what Putin is thinking, what the real risk is that he's going to let off a nuclear weapon, we just do not know. We've also looked at iconic American buildings, monuments or spaces. We looked into the history of Yellowstone National Park, the Empire State Building, Central Park. Here's a clip from another early episode entitled Central Park, What Lies Beneath, with Professor Leslie Alexander, who told us what you can discover if you start digging in the most famous park in New York.

The remains of Seneca Village, an African-American community that was forced from their homes to make way for the parks and construction back in 1857. And an inspiring plan is birthed, which is to create a huge park, which will be an enormous front lawn to a lot of that real estate development. And one of those things in the way is Seneca Village. So tell me the story of the demise of the village and how that came about. Right. So as you say, you know, Seneca Village demise really begins with the plan, which I think, in this day and age, most people would support to build a park, right? Who's going to be mad about a park? And in the 19th century, particularly, you know, in this pre-Civil War era, parks were actually

kind of part of a radical social reform movement, right? As a way of saying the way to improve urban spaces, the way to ease the stress and the pressure on the working class is to be able to have, you know, beautiful grounds and surroundings where people can go on the weekends and enjoy leisure time and look at, you know, beautiful trees and plants, right? So in theory, building a park is actually sort of like part of a social reform movement that is about trying to make cities better and more desirable places to live. And of course, our deep dive episodes into all the presidents of the United States of America, starting, of course, with Washington. When I think about Washington's presidency, there are two aspects to it. It's unlike any other president where, on the one hand, he's establishing the presidency. People call him the precedent president, which I think is really important.

But he also, as president, has to navigate all of these crises, foreign policies, crises, debt crises. So to be able to do both of those in 30 minutes, we've got quite a task before us, Don. But we covered Lincoln, McKinley, Grant, and lesser-known presidents like Hulk, Monroe, and Cleveland. and we shall continue the series until we reach the present, our next president, when he or she is decided in November 24. So stay tuned to American History Hit, where we will be giving you the all-important historical context you need to understand the world today. We'll tell you how we got here with the help of some of the country's top historians and

experts. Google us up American HistoryHit or find us at HistoryHit.com and scroll through a lot more history than you ever took in class, or maybe even thought about. Fundamental stuff like the American Buffalo with filmmaker Ken Burns, The Life of Sam Adams with author Stacey Schiff, the Pacific War with Saul David. I mean, the list is on and on and on and quite astonishing. And trust me, we know this does not happen without you, the listener, and your curiosity to know more about the United States and what's behind its creation and survival. On behalf of myself and my producers, Benji Guy, Sophie G, Freddie Chick, and Charlotte Long. Thank you for your faithful support and your critical ear. I hope you'll stay with us for another 200 episodes.