Lectures in History

In 1943, in the middle of World War II, the Allied leaders FDR, Winston Churchill, and Josef Stalin were planning to meet secretly in Tehran. The Nazis wanted to kill them. In his book "Night of the Assassins," author Howard Blum tells the story of "Operation Long Jump," the code name for the Nazi plan to assassinate the Allied leaders. In telling this story, author Blum says: "I wanted to write a suspenseful character-driven story of men, heroes, and villains caught up in a tense, desperate time, who needed to find courage and cunning to do their duty for their countries and to fulfill their own sense of honor." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Indiana University history professor Carolina Ortega discussed the 1929 Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, and the impact that the economic crash had on various populations, including Mexican- Americans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Dallas history professor William Atto discussed the decade leading to the 1787 Constitutional Convention and the key compromises that led to the ratification of the United States Constitution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Florida State University history professor Paul Renfro discussed the life and death of Indiana teenager Ryan White, who emerged as one of the faces of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Boston College communications professor Michael Serazio discussed how baseball connects Americans to their past and culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of North Carolina at Pembroke history professor Jamie Myers discussed Southeast Native American tribes during the 18th century and the impacts of colonialism, the American Revolution, and the emergence of the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hillsdale College history professor Mark Moyar discusses competing interpretations of the Vietnam War when it comes to questions about the necessity of the conflict and whether it was winnable for the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Georgetown University English professor Christopher Shinn discussed the history and cultural reception of Truman Capote's 1967"In Cold Blood" as well as its impact on the genres of pulp fiction and true crime novels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of North Carolina at Pembroke professor Ryan Anderson discussed the rise of a Bohemian culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that rejected conventional societal restraints and embraced the arts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky discussed how presidential foreign policy and warmaking powers evolved from the time of George Washington to the modern era Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ohio State University history professor Hasan Kwame Jeffries discussed historical narratives of the Civil Rights Movement and modern understandings of victories, defeats and what the movement was trying to achieve. Professor Jeffries is the brother of House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

College of the Ozarks professor David Dalton, who teaches a class on 19th Century American history, discussed the rise of American industry in the Gilded Age. College of the Ozarks is located in Point Lookout, Missouri. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

American University Professor Joseph Campbell taught a class on public opinion and election forecasting. He spoke about some of the most significant polling misses in American politics. American University is located in Washington, D.C. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former President Barack Obama’s keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention was the topic of a class taught by University of Kansas political communication professor Robert Rowland. The University of Kansas is in Lawrence, Kansas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duquesne University president Ken Gormley taught a class looking at constitutional issues that arose during the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. He gave particular focus to the Watergate investigation and questions of control over Nixon’s secretly recorded White House tapes, as well as issues surrounding Ford’s pardon of Nixon following the 37th president’s resignation in August 1974. Duquesne University moved its classes online due to the coronavirus pandemic, and video of the class is courtesy of the school. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hillsdale College Professor Richard Gamble taught a class on American churches and religion during World War I. He discussed how American pastors, ministers, and rabbis spoke about the Great War before and after the U.S. entered the conflict. This lecture was part of a course titled “The U.S. from the Great War to the Cold War.” Hillsdale College is located in Hillsdale, Michigan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of California, Davis, history Professor Kathryn Olmsted taught a class on how the ‘Red Scare’ evolved into a wide-ranging conspiracy theory in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professor Benjamin Bankhurst talked about Appalachia in the American imagination. He described how the regional stereotype has changed over time, from the view of “backwards hillbillies” during the Industrial Revolution to a people respected for their folk culture in the early 20th century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Purdue University Professor Kathryn Brownell taught a class about political advertising in the 1950s, highlighting Dwight Eisenhower’s presidential campaigns. She compared radio and early televised ads and examines what components made them successful. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guilford Technical Community College Professor Jeff Kinard taught a class about Civil War weaponry and shared artifacts such as muskets, carbines, and revolvers. He described technological advances, such as breech loading and rifled barrels, that allowed soldiers to fire faster and with more accuracy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices