15-Minute History

Presidents have always had to balance economic costs with national security. In the 1950s, Dwight Eisenhower took what he called a "new look" at defense policy, which made fundamental changes to how the United States confronted worldwide threats--and had dramatic consequences for allies, enemies, and innocent bystanders.
Join us every Monday for episodes and discussions, and on Thursdays for pop quizzes and Sketches in History!

How close has America actually come to falling apart? Not in the way politicians throw the word "crisis" around today, but in real, documented, military-was-deployed, states-were-leaving moments. In this Pop Quiz episode, Jon walks through the moments that nearly broke the republic, what these moments had in common, and the one thread that kept pulling us back from the edge each time.
Join us every Thursday for pop quizzes and Sketches in History!

In today's episode, Joe and Jon discuss King Henry VIII's "Great Debasement" (which has nothing to do with his palace's root cellar) and how it shaped our understanding of monetary policy.

Join us as we discuss the trial of Alger Hiss, why Whittaker Chambers became disillusioned with communism, the Rosenbergs, and the effects of the Red Scare on American society.
Join us every Monday for episodes and discussions and on Thursdays for pop quizzes and Sketches in History!

Welcome back to Sketches in History! This segment, just for kids, shows that history isn't just a story; it's an adventure. Join Lottie Archer as she dives into her extraordinary notebook, where sketches from history come to life!
In this episode, Lottie finds two things tucked beneath the lamp on her grandfather's desk: a folded newspaper with the headline HISS CONVICTED OF PERJURY and a black-and-white photograph of two men in suits at a table full of microphones, both of them looking like they've been sitting there a very long time. In this episode, your kids will discover what it means to stand up in front of a whole country and say something no one expects to hear, why the question of who is telling the truth can outlast a courtroom verdict, and how the word "testimony" can carry more weight than almost any other word in history.
Listen and subscribe to the 15-Minute History podcast to hear Sketches in History every other Thursday. Got a favorite historical moment? Share it with us at 15minutehistory@gmail.com, and it might just make its way into the notebook!