American History Hit

Why would the United States have welcomed Nazis after the Second World War? Through Operation Paperclip, more than 1,500 German and Austrian scientists and engineers moved to America to share technology developed in the Third Reich.Don is joined by Eric Lichtblau in this episode to find out who these people were, why the US needed them, and whether any of them should have faced punishment.Eric Lichtblau is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author of 'The Nazis Next Door - How America Became A Safe Haven For Hitler’s Men'.Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Tim Arstall. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.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.American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™

When did the first humans arrive in America? Archaeologists have long pushed the theory that human habitation in the Americas dates back only to about 10,000 years. But now there's overwhelming evidence that humans have been in the Americas for over 30,000 years. And perhaps much longer.Our guest today is Dr. Paulette Steeves, professor of geography, archeology, and land stewardship at Algoma University. She is also author of the books The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere, and Reclaiming Deep Human Histories of the Western Hemisphere: Archaeologists Who Braved Prejudice to Reveal the Evidence.Produced by Hannah Feodorov. Edited by Tim Arstall. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.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.

How did a President who was so reluctant to ramp up America's presence in Vietnam become the one who increased it more than any other? When Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as President, he had big plans for his domestic agenda... but it would be his foreign policy decisions that eventually brought him down.Our guest today is Pierre Asselin, professor of American Foreign Relations at San Diego State University. He is a leading authority on the Vietnam War and is the author of A Bitter Peace: Washington, Hanoi, and the Making of the Paris Agreement and Hanoi’s Road to the Vietnam War, 1954-1965.Produced by Tomos Delargy. Edited by Tim Arstall. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.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.American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

What drew the Latter Day Saints to Utah? Was anyone living there before the arrival of Brigham Young? And how did the city develop?Max Perry Mueller joins Don today to discuss Salt Lake City. Max is an associate professor of Religious Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He writes more about this topic in 'Wakara’s America: The Life and Legacy of a Native Founder of the American West'.Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.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.All music from Epidemic Sounds.American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™

Thomas Jefferson has had no issue being remembered in American History. Ask anyone, this man was fundamental to Independence. But did he fight in the Revolutionary war itself?Don is joined by Michael Hattem, author of 'The Memory of ’76: The Revolution in American History'; 'Past and Prologue: Politics and Memory in the American Revolution'; and 'The Declaration of Independence: A Concise History', which will be published in November 2026.Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Tim Arstall. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.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.All music from Epidemic Sounds.American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™

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.American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™

General William Tecumseh Sherman's famous invasion of the Confederacy in 1864 has become American legend... but what did Union troops do along their route and how consequential was it to the final defeat of the Confederates?Our guest today is Anne Sarah Rubin, professor of history at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is the author of ‘Through the Heart of Dixie: Sherman’s March and American Memory’, and her most recent work is ‘The Perfect Scout: A Soldier’s Memoir of the Great March to the Sea and the Campaign of the Carolinas,’Produced by Tomos Delargy. Edited by Tim Arstall. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.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.American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

What makes a bad President? Who was the worst of all time? In this episode from the archive, Don is joined by Professor Jeremi Suri, author of The Impossible Presidency and co-host of This Is Democracy.Edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Freddy Chick. 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.American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

Signatory of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, James Wilson was a sitting Supreme Court justice when he died. So why is he missing from popular history?From inspiring the phrase 'we the people' to starting the ball rolling on the Electoral College, Jesse Wegman joins Don to discuss Wilson's influence on the United States.Jesse is Senior Fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice and author of 'The Lost Founder: James Wilson and the Forgotten Fight for a People's Constitution'.Edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.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.  All music from Epidemic Sounds.American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™