History As It Happens

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The national mood was dour. Political scandals and a lost war cast long shadows. The economy was mired in stagflation. Americans were losing confidence in the future. It was the summer of '76 — 1976! Yet despite the tough times, millions celebrated the nation's bicentennial, which was both patriotic and a bit schlocky. Historians Jeremi Suri and Jeffrey Engel reflect on that strange summer as many Americans today shrug their shoulders at the coming semiquincentennial.
Jeremi Suri teaches history at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He writes the Democracy of Hope newsletter.
Jeffrey Engel is the founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University.
Further reading:
On the Country's 250th Anniversary, the American People Are in a Sour Mood by Pew Research

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On June 7, 2026, the historian Gordon Wood died at 92. He was one of the greatest scholars of the American Revolution and early Republic, who did "as much as anyone to deepen understanding and change perceptions of the forces and events that led to the birth of the United States," according to The New York Times.
In this episode, three historians talk about why Gordon Wood's scholarship was so influential, and why his vision of the American founding remains valuable as the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence approaches.
Daniel Gullotta teaches American religious history, with a focus on Christianity in Early America, at Ohio State University.
Michael Hattem is a historian of the American Revolution specializing in historical memory, political culture, and intellectual history at Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute.
Craig Bruce Smith is a professor of history at National Defense University in Norfolk, Va. (The views he expresses here are his and his alone.)

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Chuck Todd is our special guest in this episode. He explains how changes in mass media and the journalism business led to the Trump presidency, and how Trump himself exploited the new media landscape to achieve power.
Chuck Todd hosts The Chuck ToddCast on YouTube. He is the former NBC News political director and moderator of "Meet the Press."
Further reading:
The 24/7 Presidency (The Miller Center at the University of Virginia)

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Our memories of D-Day usually center on the courage and grit of the infantrymen who stormed the Normandy beaches under German fire. We don't talk much about the weatherman. But without Group Captain James Stagg's forecast, there would have been few heroes to remember from June 6, 1944. In this episode, historian William Hitchcock discusses the riveting new film "Pressure," about the excruciating hours before General Eisenhower greenlit Operation Overlord.
Audio excerpts of "Pressure" are from Focus Features.
Recommended reading:
The Bitter Road to Freedom: A New History of the Liberation of Europe by William Hitchcock

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President Donald Trump's corruption and abuse of power are staggering. In his second term, he has prioritized enriching himself and his family in broad daylight, while weaponizing the Department of Justice to go after his enemies. In this episode, historian Ken Hughes, an expert on Nixon's secret White House tapes and Watergate, compares and contrasts how America's constitutional system responded to each president's rogue behavior.
Recommended reading:
By Ken Hughes
Chasing Shadows: The Nixon Tapes, the Chennault Affair, and the Origins of Watergate
Fatal Politics: The Nixon Tapes, the Vietnam War and the Casualties of Reelection