My History Can Beat Up Your Politics

My History Can Beat Up Your Politics

Since 2006, this podcast has been using history to elevate today's political debates. "The perfect antidote to bloviating talking heads, My History is thoughtful, nuanced, and highly engaging." -Columbia Journalism Review

Episodes

KENT STATE 1970: AFTER THE SHOOTINGS

April 28, 2025 • 66 mins
In this episode, we talk about everything that happens after that moment when four students were killed at a protest at a college (only two were participating in the protest). Opinion wasn't universally with the slain students, the school had little interest in memorializing and the criminal justice system focused not at those who killed students but at the students themselves. We talk to Howard Ruffner, author of "Moments of Truth...
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SO THESE FIVE GUYS WALK INTO A HOTEL: THE PLAZA ACCORD

April 25, 2025 • 48 mins
In 1985, a new Treasury Secretary had a shocking idea. Get the financial leaders of the world large economies in one gilded hotel room and don't tell the press, or the markets, until the deal is done. The Plaza Accords, as they were dubbed, has come up again in today's tariff discussions. At least one administration official would say it's what's needed today. We get into it, and why it didn't have a long term effect. But it's also...
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Lexington and Concord: What You May Not Know

April 21, 2025 • 38 mins
You know about the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the shot heard around the world, the minutemen and their trifold hats and muskets. But how much do you really know about the day's events? This episode we look at the day of fighting at Concord, when a British raiding party turned into a display of American resistance and a trial run for American independence. We look at the stories from that day, and deal with some misconception...
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Listen Now — Fiasco: Iran-Contra

April 14, 2025 • 43 mins
If you like My History Can Beat Up Your Politics, you’ll enjoy the new season of Fiasco, a podcast from Slow Burn creator Leon Neyfakh. Leon transports listeners into the day-to-day reality of the United States’ most pivotal historical events, bringing to life the forgotten twists and turns of the past while shedding light on the present. In his new season, Iran-Contra, Leon looks at a secret war, a secret deal, and a scandal that ...
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LINCOLN'S LAND IN IOWA - Now on Patreon

April 11, 2025 • 5 mins
Lincoln owned land in Iowa, but didn't get a chance to see it. It did remain in the family for a while. We talk about it, what happened to it, and the area around Tama county where one of his lots was. It's part of the bonus content on the Patreon. Subscribe to the Patreon for as little as $5 dollars a month and get ad-free episodes, and bonus episodes: For instance - we talk about Lincoln's land he owned in Iowa while he was Pre...
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GROVER CLEVELANDS THREE WARNINGS ABOUT TARIFFS

April 10, 2025 • 22 mins
The 22nd and 24th President staked his first re-election bid opposing tariffs. There were reasons. He felt they increased prices on all goods, including non-imports, he thought they were limited in benefit to working people, and he had a third warning that is not as prominent in debates today. We discuss his 1887 Tariff Message. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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SMOOT: THE MAN BEHIND THE SMOOT-HAWLEY TARIFF

April 3, 2025 • 53 mins
You may know his tariff, but not him. A look at the man behind the Smoot-Hawley Tariff. Reed Smoot, Senator from Utah. His history, his politics, his views on tariffs. His battles for a mix of conservative issues and progressive stands. And his battle to keep his own seat from religious intolerance.  Plus a discussion on tariffs in history and the variety of different historical figures who have positive and negative views of tarif...
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NOW ON THE PATREON: CHESTER ARTHUR, PART THREE - "I WILL ACCEPT!"

March 25, 2025 • 3 mins
That's right - sign up for Patreon for our most recent episode about the 21st President, Chester Alan Arthur. In this episode, the establishment takes on the establishment, but just a little. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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FEDERAL JUDGES AND PRESIDENTS

March 25, 2025 • 71 mins
Federal judges and Presidents have clashed in the past. It's rarely been cheery. As executive power exists only within the frame of law, this should be expected. There are freak events where Presidents have ignored judicial orders, but it is not the routine. We get into it, including a case of a man on a horse following U.S. soldiers, a tribe's removal, a prosecutor prosecuted, a case where the Supreme Court confirmed you must li...
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CANNABIS AND SAMUEL J. TILDEN

March 18, 2025 • 46 mins
Samuel Tilden won the popular vote but lost the Presidency to Rutherford B. Hayes in the disputed electoral college. That is is his footnote in history. He's also known for taking down Boss Tweed. Though his actual role is disputed by people at the time. What's less known about him is the source of the family money. His family sold patent medicines. Frankly it was cannabis, and at a strength of about 10 times todays routine variety...
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THEODORE ROOSEVELT ON PEACE, There is No Mary Todd Lincoln and Other Stories

March 16, 2025 • 42 mins
A bit from TR on making peace, why we should drop the Mary Todd and other stories. Ad Free for Airwave History subscribers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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ASHAMED IN THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT - Resistance to Jackson Indian Removal Policy in its Time

March 6, 2025 • 48 mins
Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren's policy of Indian population removal, which lead to the Trail of Tears and thousands of deaths, was not uncontested or passively allowed at the time. Nearly half of Congress opposed it, as did petition writers all over the nation. So did one of the President's former friends and of course, most of the elected representatives of the Cherokee people. These debates happened not in modern times but ...
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Now on The Patreon - Chester Arthur, Part 2- Stalwarts!

March 5, 2025 • 2 mins
What does it mean to be a Stalwart? In history, it's just a name for political machine pros seeking jobs and being corrupt. But it was more. While telling how Chester Arthur became the nation's most famous fired civil servant, we explain politics in the 19th century. The real battles then were inside the party. On our Patreon now, [www.patreon.com/mhcbuyp] as part of a 4 part series, we discuss. Learn more about your ad choices...
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"REGO" - AL GORE'S REINVENTING GOVERNMENT 1993

March 5, 2025 • 28 mins
It was clunky, and a little Office Space-like. And it cut federal jobs. But then-Vice President Al Gore's "REGO" program was different in many ways from "DOGE" -The 1993 program was bipartisan, considered [cuts were identified, then made, in that order. And it was slow, and generated little protest. It did generate tension in the Clinton White House, which we get into. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoice...
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Now on the Patreon: Chester Arthur's Early Years, and More

February 25, 2025 • 3 mins
A bit about what we've got cooking at Patreon, including the first of three parts of our series on the 21st President. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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THE WORLD iS CHANGING, BUT HISTORY IS STILL USEFUL -DON'T THROW OUT THE BOOKS YET

February 25, 2025 • 36 mins
Bruce is on a tear being told that given the norm-breaking going on there is no place for history. Nothing can be farther from the truth. He outlines why, instead of history not being useful, it's actually quick history (comparing say Trump to Obama) that is still interesting, but maybe won't lock down the kind of results you want. But in the long swath of American political history, current events compare and contrast well to al...
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PRESIDENTIAL ASSISTANTS AND AIDES "Separated By a Swinging Door"

February 17, 2025 • 105 mins
From the man who answered T.R.'s phone and maybe saved his life, to the secret "Sphinx" around Woodrow Wilson, to Coolidge's surprise enforcer. We look at all sorts of Presidential assistants and aides, both official ones and non-official ones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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D.C. REPRESENTATION: A Love Story

February 16, 2025 • 76 mins
This episode is all about voting in the federal capital we now call the District of Columbia. We talk about a movement to get voting rights that succeeded for a group of (then) D.C. residents 180 years ago, And about the petitions, committees, tea parties, bus trips and statements by Presidents over the years, and the reactions of Congress to them. Why Lincoln and Jefferson Davis found common ground on one issue about D.C. and neit...
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Now on the Patreon: Franklin Roosevelt Takes on Jimmy Walker

February 14, 2025 • 4 mins
Now on the Patreon: Franklin Roosevelt Takes on Jimmy Walker In the sweltering summer of 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt found himself ensnared in a political web spun by the most notorious machine in New York politics—Tammany Hall. As governor of New York, Roosevelt was well aware of the rampant corruption within the city’s government, but his position as the Democratic nominee for president made any decisive action perilous. Rem...
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Show Update 2/9/2025

February 9, 2025 • 2 mins
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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