Shows / 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
My History Can Beat Up Your Politics"WHO WILL SHEW US" Two Presidents After Midterms
A look at John Quincy Adams in 1826 (his midterm held 200 years ago) and Cleveland in 1894. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsMIDTERMS: THE "SEINFELD MIDTERM" OF 1990 AND THE "DISCO MIDTERM" OF 1978
There's an expectation that every midterm will be a wave. 2026 well could be, in line with 1994, 2014 or 2006. But it's not automatic. In this episode we…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsWHAT WE SAID LAST MIDTERM ELECTION: The 2022 Midterm Result, and Listener Questions
4 years ago we said this... Call 2022 the Mick Jagger midterm - neither party got fully what they wanted. Both parties experienced win and losses. It is, so…
- My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
TEDDY'S TEST: THE 1902 MIDTERM ELECTIONS
A normal midterm with its usual issues between the parties becomes a test for a new President when a labor strike unexpectedly reaches his desk. The opposition…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsMIDTERMS: NIXON'S LONELY MIDTERM, 1970
Nixon's first presidential midterm election (the election in which the House and Senate would be up for election) would turn out to be his last, but no one…
- My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
OBSCURE (BUT IMPORTANT) MIDTERMS 1886, 1914, 1898
Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson and William McKinley's midterm elections are not remembered. But each one changed history in its own way. One confined a…
- My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
FIRST LADIES: JULIA TYLER DEBATE and Other Stories
In the run up to the Civil War, former first lady Julia Tyler participated in a political debate. Moderns will appreciate her participation in politics as an…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsMIDTERMS: 2002 Bush Goes Against The Trend
The midterm election that didn't. In 2002, With national security on the minds of voters and a poor message in opposition, the President's party gained seats…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsMIDTERMS: CRANKY CONFEDERATES ..C.S.A. CONGRESS ELECTIONS OF 1863-4
It had a short history, but within the time of the Civil War, the Confederate States had two Congressional elections. The second in 1863 (and 1864 in some…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsHERBERT HOOVER'S STRANGE MIDTERM OF 1930
Hoover did a difficult thing. He beat back challenges and his party won control. Until a string of congressional deaths changed the picture. The 72nd Congress…
- My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
HOW BOOMERS WERE VIEWED IN 1966
Strange, introspective, radical, achieving, protesting, scoffing. These words could all be used in TIME magazine's Men and Women of The Year to describe late…
- My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
REFUSING A CROWN? WASHINGTON AND HIS DECISION w/ RICHARD LIM OF THIS AMERICAN PRESIDENT
It's oft said that Washington refused a crown. With Richard Lim of This American President, we get real about this topic. His book Refusing a Crown is the…
My History Can Beat Up Your Politics"I WILL TELL YOU WHAT THE NEWS IS" OUR MEDIATED REPUBLIC, EIGHTH AND FINAL
In our final episode, we look at a few historic media that truly sought to tell readers not just the news, but what the news was. From Bennett to Drudge, we…
- My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
COXEY'S ARMY, MEDIA AND OTHER THINGS WITH JERRY SPENCER
A talk with Listener Jerry Spencer about Coxey's Army, which marched to DC during a depression in the 1890's. And also about how Hearst and Pulitzer's papers…
- My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
MIDTERMS DONT ALWAYS GO BADLY FOR PRESIDENTS: (But Mostly They Do)
In the past 100 years, over 80% of the first term midterms went badly for Presidents, and their party lost seats. But in a few cases they did not. And a few…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsBIAS: OUR MEDIATED REPUBLIC, PART SEVEN
We've talked about who owns media, who writes it. Now will talk about the debates about what is in it? This episode is about bias in the news media. Learn more…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsANDREW JACKSON'S MEDIA SPOILS: OUR MEDIATED REPUBLIC, PART SIX
"To the victor goes the spoils" True of government jobs after a 19th century election. Also true of newspapers. Much of the spoils system perfected during…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsGIGGLE CLUB: FDR'S PRESS STRATEGY - OUR MEDIATED REPUBLIC, PART FIVE
First rule is: Nobody talks about Giggle Club. Second. When he says no pencils, it's no pencils. Third. Get a buddy. Fourth. Don't take it so seriously, my…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsGRANT'S TROLL AND THE MAN IN THE CASTLE: OUR MEDIATED REPUBLIC, PART FOUR
Press has power. Can it be too much? Or is it needed to offset governmental power? We look at some interesting, powerful, and at times problematic press…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsGET ME ON TV: OUR MEDIATED REPUBLIC - PART THREE
TV technology arrives on the scene half press and half novelty. Politicians learn they can bring messages on at times that won't be critiqued. Yet twice, in…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsLINCOLN'S CRITIC: OUR MEDIATED REPUBLIC - PART TWO
The Battle of Chancellorsville. The Union has got the Confederates in their sights. But not for long. All the while, a reporter named Whitelaw Reid is tracking…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsOUR MEDIATED REPUBLIC, PART ONE
Eisenhower gets irritated. Lincoln finds a friend. Theodore Roosevelt seeks the truth at lunch. Madison sees talent. Greeley won't miss his dinner, despite the…
- My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
20 YEARS OF MY HISTORY CAN BEAT UP YOUR POLITICS
It went by fast! Show update. We've reached a milestone. And a few things you can do if you are interested. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsPROTEST: HOW CHANGE IS MADE -(From 2013) Montgomery Bus Boycott, Freedom Summer and Other Change Movements
Does Protest work? Maybe, with other steps & factors. Looking at the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Freedom Summer, Mothers of the Disappeared and the American…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsPRESIDENTS AND MIDDLE EAST: 1979 US EMBASSY IN PAKISTAN INCIDENT
A now forgotten incident about an attempt to have a second hostage crisis during the Carter administration, only narrowly averted by heroic of the embassy…
- My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
INFLATION: NIXON VERSUS PLYWOOD, LBJ AND COPPER
Stories of Presidential inflation fighting and fund-raising that seem to have a similar ring to today's events, in this episode. Nixon's plans to cut housing…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsPROTEST, ARMS, RIGHTS: SHAYS' REBELLION
The history behind a rebellion against a state of the new United States, why it happened, its impact on our Constitution, and what it means today. From a 2014…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsZACHARY TAYLOR - Part 3 - We May Have to Reconsider
It comes down to milk and cherries? Plans change when a nation's hero falls, and historians go to work, reinterpreting the events of 1850. Learn more about…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsZACHARY TAYLOR - PART 2: What Do You Mean He Has a Plan?
They thought he was an illiterate frontier colonel. They thought he'd never use the veto. Never comment on issues. Let Congress do the heavy lifting. But he…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsZACHARY TAYLOR - Part 1 - He is Ready
A new President comes to Washington. No one knows what to expect. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsCIVIL WAR: THE MAN WHO SOLD YORK, PENNSYLVANIA. AND OTHER STORIES
A.B. Farquhar would go on to be an advisor to President Cleveland and run his successful non consecutive re election campaign. But prior to that, he was part…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsPRESIDENTS, WAR AND BOMBING: THE NIXON ZILCH MEMO
Nixon's long buried memo reveals a lot, maybe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsEARLY TRUMP: Trump and Harrah's
an early project doesn't go so well. A corporate entity finds it can't work well with the Don, and walk away, after court battles. For Trump, it's formative…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsPRESIDENT'S FAMILIES: CHESTER ARTHUR'S SON AND GRANDSON
A brief look at the family legacy of Chester Arthur, his son and grandson. From the White House to San Francisco's hippie scene. Learn more about your ad…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsTARIFFS: CHESTER ARTHUR TAKES AIM AT TARIFFS
Many know of President Arthur's work on civil service reform. Less known is that he also sought to change his party's position on the use of tariffs. He had…
- My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
ECONOMY: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GOLD STANDARD?
Officially, as any part of US policy, tiny room in 1982. We tell that story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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STATUES AND STATUE REMOVAL : NATIONAL VAHALLA: ALL ABOUT STATUES
From the early attempts to depict Washington, to the first Congressional attempts to block Confederate statues, to today's debate. In this episode Bruce…
- My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
IMMIGRATION: SCOTUS BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP DECISION Plus Kavanaugh and Gorsuch's Takes
not a surprise in my book, but the SCOTUS recently ruled on Trump's executive order of 2025 denying citizenship by birth in the United States. We look at the…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsPATRIOTISM: "WHY BRITAIN LOST" Whitelaw Reid 1906 London Speech Explaining The American Revolution
Forgotten but once famous, Whitelaw Reid was a top journalist and politician of his time. In 1906, as ambassador to Britain, the former vice-presidential…
- My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
GUNS: THE WORD "INFRINGE": History of a Word and The Gun Debate
What's in a word? Lots, maybe, when its a key word in the most contentious debate in America. The word "infringe" determines the threshold of how the…
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WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DECLARATION after Signing? Also: Playing Cards With the Signers of The Declaration w/ Jason Petri
First - The history of the Declaration -- the actual document, and how it was saved from British capture. Then we speak with listener Jason Petri about his…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsA SECOND LOOK AT THE EVENTS of 1776 w/ Tom McMillan, Author of "The Year That Made America"
With Tom McMillan, we take a look at some of the assumptions of 1776 in the history books. First of all, why July 4th and Not July 2nd? And what about May…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsDEMOCRACY AND FASCISM: THOMAS WOLFE TURNS AGAINST TOTALITARIANISM
The writer Thomas Wolfe, known for his large novels and spewing prose, was a fan of Germany. On a trip there for the 1936 Berlin Olympics, he found joy, and…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsPRESIDENTS IN PEACE AND WAR: Snack, Dessert, Dinner, Supper: Vietnam War Negotiations
Nixon's first bombing campaigns had the names of mealtimes which seem to also correspond with the years of his first term: 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972. In this (…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsWAS WATERGATE A BIG DEAL?: Part III: Grand Jury Anger
Average Americans, in the form of a DC jury, get the evidence. They hear the tapes, and they are shocked. But what will shock them more is what happens when…
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ARTICLE ONE GUY: Listener Talk with Page Brousseau
Congress should be doing a lot more, and they would in Listener Page Brousseau's world. He and Bruce talk about Michigan, Article I, tariffs, and partisanship…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsWAS WATERGATE A BIG DEAL?:- Part 2 The Nixon Shove, The Other Break-in
Nixon shoves, Bob Strauss declines money, and another break-in happens, and no one talks about it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsWAS WATERGATE A BIG DEAL?: Part I - Almost a Shooting
In this series, we uncover the lesser-known stories of Watergate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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BOLD IDEAS AND CATHARTIC TRUTHS - Listener Talk With Chris Novembrino
Chris joins the show again - it' s been a while. We catch up and talk today's politics. Chris's Instagram is @doctor_nov Learn more about your ad choices…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsMIDTERMS: LINCOLN'S BLUE CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS: 1862
From 2010, but still spot on...Lincoln had just one miderm in his Presidency, and it didn't go well. He very nearly lost control of Congress during a war…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsFREE SPEECH AND THOUGHTS
In this episode, no big deal, we just tackle about every significant problem we have in our politics today (back in 2021). norm-breaking, free-speech and…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsNIXON IN FULL: Part 2
A great accomplishment and a historic scandal. And not the scandal you are thinking of, probably. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsNIXON IN FULL, Part 1
Nixon - a mix of what you know and what you may not. First part of a 2014 episode. I don't know whether time has changed this cast, or if this cast has more…
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CALIFORNIA BANK ROBBERIES: Talking With Listener Peter Houlahan
I talked with Peter about bank robberies in California in the 1970's through the 1990's and why it was the bank robbery capital of the country. Peter's book is…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsIRAN-IRAQ WAR - PART TWO - "THIS WAR WILL NOT BE IGNORED"
Stalemate breaks in a surprise operation. An apathetic America gets involved on both sides. The fighting stops, but nothing is the same after 1988. Learn more…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsTHE IRAN-IRAQ WAR - PART ONE "THIS WILL BE EASY"
This terrible war, fought in the 1980's, changed everything. Both in the Middle East, and America. We tell the story in two parts. We are part of Airwave Media…
My History Can Beat Up Your PoliticsHOW THINGS WERE: HUMPHREY HAS GOT NO CASH and ALICE's REAL RESTAURANT: 1968 Stories
Stories from the 1968 election, including an important factor driving it, and a bit about 1968 radio. And a little bit from the late political advisor David…
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BONUS ARMY March of 1932: Ohio v. The World Featuring Bruce Carlson of My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
We join Alex Hastie of Ohio v. The World Podcast once again! and Author Paul Dickson (https://www.amazon.com/Bonus-Army-American-Epic/dp/0802714404) to discuss…
- My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
TUNING IN FROM MAINE: Talking to My History Can Beat Up Your Politics Listeners: Kevan Whitten
Kevan Whitten has been listening for at least a decade and a half. He's from Maine (So we have to talk James Blaine) and he's talks about the program and asks…
- My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
ZUNE MEMORIES: Talking to My History Can Beat Up Your Politics Listeners - Billy Paige
We've been podcasting for 20 years and Billy Paige has listened to the show for all of those years. We talk to him and other listeners in some special episodes…