Welcome to The United States of Amnesia, a podcast bringing history to the present!

Tea, Drugs, And Jesus Episodes

210: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - Only Nixon Can Go to China
April 28, 2026

210: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - Only Nixon Can Go to China

When Chinese "volunteers" intervened in the Korean War in 1950, American relations with the People's Republic of China fell into an icy abyss from which they did not emerge until President Richard Nixon made his momentous dec...

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209: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - White Paper to Red Scare
April 15, 2026

209: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - White Paper to Red Scare

Marshall, Blake, and Mike engage in a wide-ranging discussion of American policy disputes over what to do about China after World War II. President Truman, Secretaries of State George C. Marshall and Dean Acheson, Madame Chia...

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208: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - Cash My Check
March 31, 2026

208: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - Cash My Check

Mike walks us through the complex situation in China in the aftermath of World War II, with armed Japanese operating in the country, Soviet forces occupying Manchuria, and the Nationalist and Communist Chinese resuming their ...

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207: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - Flying Tigers and Burmese Roads
March 17, 2026

207: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - Flying Tigers and Burmese Roads

Mike again leads us in our narrative of how America continued to fall short of its goals for China in World War II during the second half of the war. We meet General Claire Chennault of 'Flying Tigers' fame, whose ideas for h...

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206: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - Vinegar Joe and the Generalissimo
March 3, 2026

206: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - Vinegar Joe and the Generalissimo

Mike leads our discussion of the American experience in China during World War II. Chiang Kai-shek, Franklin Roosevelt, and General “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell are the central figures in this episode, which explores many aspects o...

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205: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - The Soong Dynasty
Feb. 17, 2026

205: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - The Soong Dynasty

Marshall, Blake, and Mike discuss America’s view of China from the 1920s through the early 1940s and the strong influence Americans raised by missionaries in China, notably Henry Luce and Pearl Buck, had on that view. Chiang ...

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204: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - The Harmonious Fists
Feb. 3, 2026

204: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - The Harmonious Fists

Mike walks us through the events of the Boxer Rebellion, a conflict in which Chinese rebels attempted to slaughter all foreigners and Chinese Christians in China. Marshall then explains how this drove missionaries into isolat...

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203: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - Rebellion Follows Faith
Jan. 20, 2026

203: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - Rebellion Follows Faith

As the Manchu dynasty weakens during the 19th century, U.S. missionaries arrive. Christian evangelization leads to the outbreak of the long, bloody, brutal, and genocidal Taiping Rebellion, whose leader claims to be the young...

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202: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - Conflict Follows Trade
Jan. 6, 2026

202: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - Conflict Follows Trade

Where trade goes, conflict follows! While Britain and the East India Company focus on the opium trade with China, Americans of the first half of the 19th century try to break into the Chinese market with...well...opium, but a...

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201: Tea, Drugs and Jesus - The Flag Follows Trade
Dec. 23, 2025

201: Tea, Drugs and Jesus - The Flag Follows Trade

Ben Franklin got China wrong, and America still does today! Marshall again will lead our discussion in a new series, “Tea, Drugs, and Jesus,” looking at how the United States keeps misunderstanding China, in no small part bec...

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