250 Most Impactful Moments in American History

Epizode

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  70-66: The Last Days of Martin Luther King Jr.  16.09.2026 41min

  70: WWI: The RMS Lusitania is sunk by a German U-boat, killing 1,198. Two years later, in 1917, the U.S. declares war on Germany (they would later declare war on Austria-Hungary) ft. Historian, Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the University of St Andrews, & Author of The First World War, Sir Hew Strachan.   69: Martin Luther King Jr. gives his "Mountaintop Speech". The next day, he is shot and killed by James Earl Ray in Memphis, TN. ft. Chair of the Center for the American Dream at the AFPI, Dr. Alveda King, & Member of the New Orleans Four & Founder of the TEP Center, Dr. Leona Tate.   68: The first billion-dollar corporation, U.S. Steel, is incorporated by J.P. Morgan  67: Secretary of State George Marshall outlines the Marshall Plan, a rebuilding of post-WWII Europe; it is signed by President Truman the next year  66: The Mexican-American War: The Battle of the Alamo and the ensuing response led to Texas declaring independence from Mexico Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  75-71: The Challenger Disaster 09.09.2026 40min

  75: Robert F. Kennedy is shot and killed by Sirhan Sirhan after a victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, CA  76: President Andrew Johnson's attempt to dismiss Secretary of War Edwin Stanton results in his Impeachment by the House. He is acquitted by the Senate by one vote  77: The Great Chicago Fire, as well as three others, displaced nearly 100k people, while the Peshtigo Fire killed 2,500, making it the deadliest fire in U.S. history  78: Henry Ford's Model T is launched in Detroit, Michigan, with an initial price of $850. In 1913, the Ford Motor Company's magneto assembly line is utilized, igniting the era of mass production ft. Ford Archives & Heritage Brand Manager Ted Ryan.   79: Space Shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after launch, killing everyone on board, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, ft. Founding Chair of the Challenger Center Dr. June Scobee Rodgers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  80-76: Assassination Attempt in Butler 02.09.2026 42min

  80: 52 American hostages are released from Iran after 444 days in captivity ft. Fox News Contributor and Retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent James Gagliano.    79: President Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act into law. The most impactful of the New Deal initiatives   78: President Trump is shot while campaigning at an outdoor rally in Butler, PA. The former president was grazed in his ear while an audience member was killed and two others injured. The shooter was killed at the scene ft. National Political Reporter for the Washington Examiner and author of Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland, Salena Zito.  77: The House Un-American Activities Committee begins investigating communism in the film industry. Three years later in 1950 US Senator Joe McCarthy accuses the State Dept. of being filled with 205 Communists.   76: The Soviet puppet regime of East Germany begins construction of The Berlin Wall separating East and West and challenging U.S. foreign policy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  85-81: Roe v. Wade Overturned 26.08.2026 41min

  85: Former President Theodore Roosevelt is shot on his way to a speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Not only did Roosevelt survive but he gave (an abridged version of) the speech   84: The Supreme Court decides in Roe v. Wade that states could no longer ban abortions   83: The Supreme Court rules that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion this decision overrules 1973's Roe v Wade and 1992's Planned Parenthood v Casey. The issue of abortion is returned to the states ft. Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Chicago and co-author of Roe v. Dobbs: The Past, Present, and Future of a Constitutional Right to Abortion, Geoffrey R. Stone.  82: The U.S. begins work on the Panama Canal 81: Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces launch the Tet Offensive, though a tactical defeat for the Vietcong forces, it is successful in driving US public opinion against the war ft. Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Washington Post Columnist, and NYT Bestselling Author of Reagan: His Life and Legend, Max Boot.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  90-86: The Forgotten War 19.08.2026 38min

  90: The infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh is kidnapped and later found murdered   89: Korean War: North Korean forces invade South Korea, America sends troops to intervene ft. President of Geopolitics and Foreign Policy at CSIS, Georgetown University Professor, & author of China's Weaponization of Trade .   88: Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white person in Montgomery, AL   87: The Washington Monument is completed 36 years after construction began ft. Business and economic historian, American Heritage contributing editor, & author of Washington's Monument: And the Men Who Built It, John Steele Gordon. 86: John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  95-91: “Oh, The Humanity” 12.08.2026 42min

  95: German airship The Hindenburg bursts into flames while mooring in Lakehurst, New Jersey killing 35   94: President Reagan is shot by John Hinckley Jr - Reagan would survive the attempt along with two others that were injured in the attack ft. Emeritus Professor of National Security Affairs at the United States Naval War College, Dr. Stephen F. Knott.    93: War in Afghanistan: The US and a vast coalition of allies invade Afghanistan to depose the Taliban regime and capture Osama bin Laden   92: President Roosevelt addresses the nation in the first of his "Fireside Chats" ft. Professor of History and Judy and Peter Kovler Foundation Fellow in Roosevelt Studies at Marist University, & Senior Fellow and Resident Historian at the Roosevelt Institute, Dr. David B. Woolner.    91: J. Edgar Hoover is appointed to run the FBI Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  100-96: Breaking The Color Barrier 05.08.2026 39min

  100: Jackie Robinson breaks the color barrier, becoming the first Black man to play Major League Baseball ft. President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Bob Kendrick.    99: Zachary Taylor dies in office. Millard Fillmore becomes President   98: The USS Maine explodes off the coast of Cuba killing 266 escalating tensions that lead to the Spanish-American War ft. Walton Chair of Theodore Roosevelt Studies at Dickinson State University & Public Historian of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, Dr. Michael Patrick Cullinane.    97: President Kennedy sets a goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade   96: President Harding dies of a heart attack. Vice President Calvin Coolidge assumes the presidency Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  105-101: The Peaceful Transfer Of Power 29.07.2026 38min

  105: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of espionage and sentenced to death ft. Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research & author of Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy, Anne Sebba. 104: Alaska is purchased by Secretary of State William Seward from Russia for $7.2M. It is lampooned as Seward's Folly   103: In a 5-4 decision the Supreme Court declares the right to same-sex marriages to be Constitutional in the United States   102: President Clinton denies "sexual relations" with 22-year-old intern Monica Lewinsky. The President would later admit that he "did indeed" have a relationship with the intern. Later that year President Clinton becomes the first US President since Andrew Johnson to be impeached. ft. Chief Political Correspondent for the Washington Examiner & FOX News Contributor, Byron York. 101: After being defeated by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams becomes the first incumbent president to lose an election and peacefully transfer power to his successor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  110-106: What Hath God Wrought 22.07.2026 36min

  110: President Johnson signs The Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law abolishing racial segregation   109: Samuel Morse demonstrates electric telegraphy for the first time. Six years later in 1844 - "What hath God wrought" Samuel Morse sends his first telegraph message from Washington to Baltimore ft. Curator of Electricity Collections at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Hal Wallace.    108: Rev. Martin Luther King Jr pens his Letter from Birmingham Jail ft. Chair of the Center for the American Dream at the America First Policy Institute, Dr. Alveda King.    107: Vietnam War: Two US destroyers come under fire in the Gulf of Tonkin. President Johnson expands the war effort based upon this incident.   106: The New York Stock Exchange nosedives nearly taking out the American economy. It is given a reprieve by a group of investors led by J.P. Morgan who pool $25M to invest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  115-111: Operation Desert Storm 15.07.2026 41min

  115: Andrew Carnegie consolidates all of his business under one umbrella with the Carnegie Steel Company   114: President Roosevelt signs an executive order directing the internment of Japanese Americans   113: President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time in Geneva, Switzerland ft. Executive Vice President & Provost at UT Austin and Author of The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the World on the Brink, Dr. William Inboden.     112: U.S. Military Academy at West Point opens   111: Operation Desert Storm: United States forces repel Iraq from Kuwaiti territory ft. Former White House Press Secretary (serving under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush) Marlin Fitzwater.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  120-116: The Right To Vote 08.07.2026 39min

  120: Homegrown terrorists Timothy McVeigh and accomplice Terry Nichols set of a bomb at the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, OK killing 168 people including 19 children  119: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter's Mill setting off the California Gold Rush ft. Elizabeth MacMillan Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, Anthea Hartig.   118: Construction on the Hoover Dam is completed  117: Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Women's Suffrage Association in New York. Three years later in 1872, Susan B. Anthony votes for the first time in defiance of law. She is arrested and fine $100 dollars - which she never pays ft. Professor of History at Carnegie Mellon University & author of the prize-winning book, The Myth of Seneca Falls: Memory and the Women's Suffrage Movement, Dr. Lisa Tretault.   116: The Teapot Dome land scandal cripples the Harding Administration Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  125-121: Lady Liberty 01.07.2026 38min

  125: Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer is killed by Native American forces led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse at the Battle of Little Bighorn ft. Author of Vengeance: The Last Stands of Custer, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull, Tom Clavin.     124: President Lincoln signs the National Banking Act into law establishing plan for a national currency backed by securities   123: The United States military and a coalition of allies invades Iraq to disarm the country of weapons of mass destruction they believed Iraq to possess.   122: President Nixon is the first US president to visit the People's Republic of China   121: The Statue of Liberty is dedicated in New York Harbor ft. Professor of History and Director of the NYU Institute of French Studies, Edward Berenson.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  130-126: Cops And Robbers 24.06.2026 43min

  130: The 18th Amendment authorizing Prohibition is passed. Prohibition would be repealed in 1933 with the passage of the 21st Amendment  129: Gangland: A shootout between policemen led by Texas Ranger Frank Hamer and Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow end in the deaths of the bank robbers. Gangster and Public Enemy No. 1 John Dillinger is killed by FBI agents outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago. Bank robber Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd is shot and killed by FBI agents in East Liverpool, Ohio. A shootout between FBI agents and George "Baby Face" Nelson ends with the death of Nelson and FBI Special Agent Samuel P. Cowley ft. Author of Texas Ranger: The Epic Life of Frank Hamer, the Man Who Killed Bonnie and Clyde, John Boessenecker.  128: Tulsa Race Massacre: A mob attacks Black owned businesses in Tulsa, Oklahoma killing between 100-300, destroying 1,250 homes and imprisoning 6,000 African Americans  127: The US begins a final drawdown of forces in Afghanistan. In the chaotic withdrawal 13 American service members are killed in a terror attack carried out by ISIS-K $7B in military equipment is captured by the Taliban ft. FOX News Chief Foreign Correspondent Trey Yingst.   126: Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  135-131: Socially Distant 17.06.2026 44min

  135: The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is dedicated at Arlington National Cemetery   134: Four Black students in Greensboro, NC begin a sit in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter   133: America's fourth largest bank Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11, kicking off a month of possible worldwide economic collapse ft Former US Attorney, Senior Partner at Jenner & Block, & Court-Appointed Bankruptcy Examiner in the Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy, Anton Valukas.    132: The first case of COVID-19 is confirmed in the United States. President Trump declares a national emergency in response to the COVID-19 outbreak freeing up $50B in emergency funding as schools and businesses begin closing across the country ft Clinical Professor of Medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center & FOX News Senior Medical Analyst, Dr. Marc Siegel.    131: President Johnson announces his Great Society during his State of the Union Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  140-136: The Wild West 10.06.2026 38min

  140: Jesse James and his gang commit the first train robbery in the American West in Adair, Iowa. In 1876 Lawman Wyatt Earp begins work as a peace officer in Dodge City, KS. The same year outlaw Wild Bill Hickok is shot dead during a poker game in Deadwood, Dakota. In 1881 Tombstone, AZ is sight of the gunfight at the OK Corral. And in 1882 the legendary Jesse James is killed by fellow outlaw Robert Ford in his home in St. Joseph, MO. ft. Author of Bandit Heaven: The Hole-in-the-Wall Gangs and the Final Chapter of the Wild West, Tom Clavin.   139: The first major wagon trail heads west on the Oregon Trail with over a thousand pioneers from Missouri  138: African American teenager Emmett Till is lynched in Money, Mississippi  138: African American teenager Emmett Till is lynched in Money, Mississippi 137: President Reagan announces SDI a missile defense program intended to intercept enemy missiles ft. Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute & author of Ronald Reagan and His Quest to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Paul Lettow.   136: The Spanish Flu Pandemic hits the US Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  145-141: Peace With Honor 03.06.2026 39min

  145: Vietnam War: The U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war ends  144: President Eisenhower sends federal troops to Arkansas to escort Black students into a newly integrated Little Rock Central High School. Three years later in 1960 Ruby Bridges becomes the first Black child to attend an all white elementary school. ft. Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and author of Beyond Little Rock: The Origins and Legacies of the Central High Crisis, John A. Kirk  143: The Brooklyn Bridge is open to traffic in New York City 142: The Senate rejects joining the League of Nations and refuses to ratify the Treaty of Versailles 141: President Johnson announces he will not seek re-election ft. Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Arkansas and author of LBJ: Architect of American Ambition, Randall B. Woods  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  150-146: The Golden Spike 27.05.2026 40min

  150: Whiskey Rebellion - President Washington mobilizes a federal army to put down an insurrection in western Pennsylvania ft. Historian, Lecturer at Robert Morris University, Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Revolution, and author of The Whiskey Rebellion: A Distilled History of an American Crisis, Brady J. Crytzer   149: Truck bombs kill 241 American servicemen in Beirut, Lebanon - Terrorist organization Islamic Jihad would claim responsibility  148: The first transcontinental railroad is completed in Promontory, Utah with a golden spike  147: In Selma, Alabama Civil Rights protestors make two attempts to the Edmund Pettis bridge on a march to Montgomery but are met with violent resistance by police forces injuring scores and killing one. A third attempt is successful.  146: Jonas Salk's polio vaccine is approved for mass distribution by the FDA ft. Son of polio vaccine developer Dr. Jonas Salk & Adjunct Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, Dr. Peter Salk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  155-151: Miracle On The Hudson 20.05.2026 38min

  155: US Airways Flight 1549 loses both of its engines after striking a flock of birds. Pilot Chesley Sullenberger successfully lands the plane in the Hudson River saving all 155 passengers. ft. Resilience Partners Group’s Chief Strategy Officer, Best-selling author, & Last Passenger off US Airways Flight 1549, Dave Sanderson.    154: U.S. Supreme Court finds Standard Oil to be a monopoly and orders it to be dissolved. ft Vice Chairman of S&P Global, Daniel Yergin.   153: Frederick Douglass delivers his "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" speech   152: Oxygen tank aboard the Apollo 13 spacecraft. Astronauts abort the mission but return to Earth safely   151: The legend says the game of baseball is "invented" in Cooperstown, New York by Abner Doubleday Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  160-156: The Gold Standard 13.05.2026 40min

  160: Black Monday - DJIA falls 508 points - 22.6%, its largest single day percentage drop in history   159: The Land Act of 1820 lowers prices in the Missouri and Northwest territories with the goal of encouraging western movement ft. Director of The Papers of Andrew Jackson, Professor Emeritus of History, & Author of The Public Lands in Jacksonian Politics, Dr. Daniel Feller.    158: Members of a cult following Charles Manson murder actress Sharon Tate and four others in Los Angeles, CA. The next day they would kill businessman Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary. ft. Clinical and Forensic Psychologist, Licensed Private Investigator, and True Crime Author, Dr. Joni Johnston.    157: A bomb explodes in the World Trade Center killing seven. The attack was planned by a small terror cell including Sheik Abdel Rahman and Ramzi Yousef. Yousef would later be captured in Pakistan and found guilty in a NY court.   156: The Gold Standard Act is ratified, putting American currency on the gold standard Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  165-161: Trial of the Century 06.05.2026 42min

  165: The first televised presidential debate takes place between Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard Nixon ft. Author of Presidential Debates: Risky Business on the Campaign Trail, Alan Schroeder    164: Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman murdered in Los Angeles. The prime suspect former running back O.J. Simpson evades capture by leading police on a low-speed chase before his eventual arrest ft. attorney and host of the Crime & Justice podcast,  Donna Rotunno.    163: American Express is founded by Henry Wells and William Fargo   162: Sacco and Vanzetti a pair of Italian-American anarchists and convicted murderers are killed via electric chair   161: Clara Barton establishes the American Red Cross Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices