Videos

For obvious reasons, Abraham Lincoln's presidency is best remembered for his emancipation of America's slaves, determination to preserve the Union in the face of Southern secession, and leadership in the American Civil War. But an often-overlooked aspect of his administration was its promotion of the United States Government as an active, positive actor in such matters as infrastructure improvement and economic affairs. In this conclusion to the series, Marshall leads our discussion of how the first four years of Lincoln’s presidency in the 1860s were among the most consequential in U.S. history for civic infrastructure and economic reform, rivaling the achievements of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal of the 1930s and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society of the 1960s. This episode concludes our "Internal Improvements" series, which explores what Americans wanted their government to build, what they believed it had the power to build, and why those questions still haunt American politics. Fo…

President Andrew Jackson took office in 1829. beginning a 30-year period in which his Democratic Party blocked the efforts of the 'elitist" Whig Party to give the U.S. federal government a greater role in developing the country's infrastructure and stabilizing its financial system. Although the existence of slavery in the South did not divide the two political parties at the time, its possible expansion into the western territories did, leading to increasing sectional hostility between North and South. The fear in Southern states that any increase in federal power might lead to the abolition of slavery limited the federal role in domestic affairs, blocking the development of a national transportation system and beginning a cycle of financial panics and economic depressions that would repeat roughly every 20 years. It would take a civil war to tip the balance in favor of government activism.

Blake gets our discussion of the Second and Third Great Awakenings in the United States underway as he guides Marshall and Mike through the ancient Greek concepts of "mythos" and "logos" in this excerpt from Episode 305 ("The Awakenings") of the United States of Amnesia podcast's series "A Christian Nation?", which explores the idea advocated by some Americans that the United States was founded as a Christian country. The United States of Amnesia is a long-format podcast exploring the lessons we’ve forgotten, misunderstood, or never learned. Over time, history, politics, and religion have been distorted by bias, oversimplification, and myth. This podcast aims to cut through the fog, reconnecting past and present to help us think more clearly about the world we’re in and the one we're heading toward. Join us as we delve into the great struggle of humanity: to reconcile who we were with who we are becoming. Want to learn about the history you have forgotten — or never knew? We post ne…

Mike, Blake, and Marshall discuss the complications that would arise in identifying and defining who would be in and who would be out if America adopted "Christianity" as its official religion in this excerpt from Episode 301 ("The Founding Intent") of the United States of Amnesia podcast series "A Christian Nation?", which explores the view held by some Americans that the United States was founded as a Christian country. We are a long-format podcast that makes deep dives into the history you have forgotten or never knew. We drop new episodes every other Wednesday and begin a new series every few weeks. For much more, see our YouTube channel @USAAmnesia, listen wherever you get your podcasts, and visit our website at https://www.usofamnesia.com. Email us at usa.amnesia@gmail.com. This video includes: * Wikimedia Commons photo of incense burning at a mass altar by Stebunik (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Stebunik) licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Interna…

Blake and Marshall begin our discussion of the notion of America as a Christian nation and the problem of defining what "Christian" would mean in this excerpt from Episode 301 ("The Founding Intent") of the United States of Amnesia podcast series "A Christian Nation?", which explores the view held by some Americans that the United States was founded as a Christian country. We are a long-format podcast that makes deep dives into the history you have forgotten or never knew. We drop new episodes every other Wednesday and begin a new series every few weeks. For much more, see our YouTube channel @USAAmnesia, listen wherever you get your podcasts, and visit our website at https://www.usofamnesia.com. Email us at usa.amnesia@gmail.com. This video includes: * Wikimedia Commons photo of Christian nationalists carrying a cross, Attribution: Wolfman5678 (no link available). License: Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.(https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0…

Mike, Blake, and Marshall discuss the mythology of the Pilgrims who came to America to found Plymouth Colony in 1620 in this excerpt from Episode 302 ("The Colonies") of the United States of Amnesia podcast series "A Christian Nation?" which explores the view held by some Americans that the United States was founded as a Christian country. We are a long-format podcast that makes deep dives into the history you have forgotten or never knew. We drop new episodes every other Wednesday and begin a new series every few weeks. For much more, see our YouTube channel @USAAmnesia, listen wherever you get your podcasts, and visit our website at https://www.usofamnesia.com. Email us at usa.amnesia@gmail.com.

Marshall and Mike discuss a major conclusion of our multi-part series about how the United States always has misunderstood China — a much broader conclusion that U.S. difficulties in dealing with the world come down to a U.S. lack of cultural literacy. This portion of that discussion is excerpted from Episode 211 ("Another Day, Another Country, Another Misunderstanding"), the concluding episode of the United States of Amnesia podcast series "Tea, Drugs, and Jesus," which examines the U.S. experience in China from the 1780s through 1972. We are a long-format podcast that makes deep dives into the history you have forgotten or never knew. We drop new episodes every other Wednesday and begin a new series every few weeks. For much more, see our YouTube channel @USAAmnesia, listen wherever you get your podcasts, and visit our website at https://www.usofamnesia.com. Email us at usa.amnesia@gmail.com. This video includes: * A FreeImages illustration of the Republican Party elephant and the…

Mike explains the often-forgotten role France played in U.S. military strategy during the interwar period in this excerpt from Episode 106 ("America First — Part 6 — Conclusion") of the United States of Amnesia podcast series "America First," which explores the history and evolution of the 'America First" movement in the United States. We are a long-format podcast that makes deep dives into the history you have forgotten or never knew. We drop new episodes every other Wednesday and begin a new series every few weeks. For much more, see our YouTube channel @USAAmnesia, listen wherever you get your podcasts, and visit our website at https://www.usofamnesia.com. Email us at usa.amnesia@gmail.com. This video includes: * Wikimedia Commons group photo of French soldiers with a rifle, Attribution: G.Garitan (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:G%C3%A9rald_Garitan). License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.e…

Marshall describes how the movies falsely depicted the Axis powers of World War II as a deep, unified conspiracy against the world and how Americans then falsely assumed that communist countries behaved as a unified bloc in a similar — and also fictional — way in this excerpt from Episode 210 ("Only Nixon Can Go to China") of the United States of Amnesia podcast series "Tea, Drugs, and Jesus," which explores how the United States always has misunderstood China. We are a long-format podcast that makes deep dives into the history you have forgotten or never knew. We drop new episodes every other Wednesday and begin a new series every few weeks. For much more, see our YouTube channel @USAAmnesia, listen wherever you get your podcasts, and visit our website at https://www.usofamnesia.com. Email us at usa.amnesia@gmail.com. This video includes: * Wikimedia Commons photo of a museum display by Eric Chan (https://www.flickr.com/people/47983324@N00), used under the Creative Commons Attribu…

The Boxer Rebellion was a violent Chinese uprising against foreigners that is best known for the 55-day siege of the foreign legations in Peking in 1900. Mike describes the origins and early stages of the rebellion in this excerpt from Episode 204 ("The Harmonious") of the United States of Amnesia podcast series "Tea, Drugs, and Jesus," which explores how the United States always has misunderstood China. We are a long-format podcast that makes deep dives into the history you have forgotten or never knew. We drop new episodes every other Wednesday and begin a new series every few weeks. For much more, see our YouTube channel @USAAmnesia, listen wherever you get your podcasts, and visit our website at https://www.usofamnesia.com. Email us at usa.amnesia@gmail.com. This video includes: * Wikimedia Commons photo by Peter d'Aprix of a mixed-media wax sculpture of a Chinese Boxer at the George S. Stuart Gallery of Historical Figures® produced by George S. Stuart. * Photo of Boxer archer: …

The United States had three major policy options with regard to China as Chinese Communist forces swept to victory over the Nationalists on the Chinese mainland in 1949. Marshall, Mike, and Blake introduce these three options in this excerpt from Episode 209 ("White Paper to Red Scare") of th United States of Amnesia podcast series "Tea, Drugs, and Jesus," which explores how the United States always has misunderstood China. We are a long-format podcast that makes deep dives into the history you have forgotten or never knew. We drop new episodes every other Wednesday and begin a new series every few weeks. For much more, see our YouTube channel @USAAmnesia, listen wherever you get your podcasts, and visit our website at https://www.usofamnesia.com. Email us at usa.amnesia@gmail.com.

The Ku Klux Klan was a powerful social and political force in the United States in the 1920s, and probably reached the zenith of its power and influence with a large parade it held in Washington, D.C., in August 1925. Mike describes the parade and related events in this excerpt from Episode 102 ("America First — Part 2") of the United States of Amnesia podcast series "America First," which traces the evolution of that phrase and the movement that embodied it from the 1880s through the outbreak of World War II. We are a long-format podcast that makes deep dives into the history you have forgotten or never knew. We drop new episodes every other Wednesday and begin a new series every few weeks. For much more, see our YouTube channel @USAAmnesia, listen wherever you get your podcasts, and visit our website at https://www.usofamnesia.com. Email us at usa.amnesia@gmail.com.