History As It Happens

Subscribe now to skip ads and support the show!
As inflation fuels a cost-of-living crisis, millions of Americans are getting a bitter taste of what past generations dealt with. From the mid-1960s into the Age of Reagan, high inflation (or stagflation) bedeviled economists, frustrated presidents, and shrank the horizons of middle-class Americans. And not just inflation! Policy-makers' responses also caused pain. In this episode, historian Nelson Lichtenstein delves into inflation's historical causes and pokes holes in the conventional wisdom that interest rate adjustments by an independent Federal Reserve are the wisest way to tame inflation.
Nelson Lichtenstein teaches labor and economic history at U.C. Santa Barbara. He's the author of Why Labor Unions Matter (2026).

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Subscribe now to skip ads! Keep the narrative flow going with ad-free listening.
When John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln in April 1865, the United States would have its third accidental president.
The Southern unionist and Democrat Andrew Johnson of Tennessee at first seemed to be an ally of Republicans in the monumental task of Reconstruction, for he agreed that the Southern states could not come back unless they ratified the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery. But Johnson's presidency quickly spiraled as he bitterly fought Congress over Reconstruction's control and sought to obstruct all efforts at achieving Black equality.
In this episode, historian Jim Oakes tells us what made Andrew Johnson arguably the worst president in U.S. history.
Further listening:
The Worst President? Meet James Buchanan w/ Jim Oakes

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Subscribe now to listen to the full 28-minute episode (or preview 14 minutes without a subscription).
If any Washington journalist can take us inside President Donald Trump's mind, it's Edward Luce. The Financial Times columnist and astute observer of American politics has frequently talked to Trump over the phone about the Iran war, the U.S. economy, and much else. Does the president have a plan, or is he winging it? Luce explains Trump's thinking as his second term collapses around him.

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Subscribe now for ad-free listening, early access, and all of our bonus content!
On April 4, 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a powerful address at a New York City church. "Beyond Vietnam — A Time to Break Silence" was a searing indictment of a U.S. war on a poor country. King's expansive critique of militarism and violence explained how the war was "devastating the hopes of the poor at home" by draining resources from LBJ's Great Society programs. The cause of civil rights, argued King, was not separate from antiwar activism.
Where are such voices today? Our guest is historian Michael Kazin.
Michael Kazin is a distinguished historian of U.S. political and social movements at Georgetown University and the author of "What It Took To Win: A History of the Democratic Party."

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Subscribe now to listen to the full 28-minute episode (or preview 13 minutes without a subscription).
The 9/11 families are still awaiting their day in court. In lawsuits, hundreds of victims’ relatives and injured survivors claim that Saudi government employees directly and knowingly assisted Osama bin Laden's hijackers and fueled al-Qaeda’s development by funding Islamic charities that exported a radical strain of Islam to places like Afghanistan.
What did the Saudi government know, if anything, about the plot? Why did Islamic charities export Wahhabism to the Muslim world? Who was Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi intelligence asset who befriended two of the hijackers?
Our guest is Peter Bergen, the author of All the Presidents’ Wars.
Bergen is a journalist, documentary producer, and vice president for global studies at New America, a D.C. think tank. He’s a national security analyst for CNN and professor of practice at Arizona State University.
Further listening:
Who Was Osama bin Laden? (podcast w/ Peter Bergen)

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.