The Whiskey Rebellion

Earlier this week, AG Jeff Sessions announced that the Trump administration would be abandoning DACA, the Obama era program for undocumented immigrant children. Frank and David discuss the history of legal and illegal immigration, including:

• What the first Congress thought about immigration and immigrants
• Why Asian immigrants were treated differently at the end of the 19th century
• How World War I changed US immigration policy
• Why the 1965 Immigration reform didn't turn out as its drafters intended
• The long-term consequences of the Bracero program

Last Drops

Frank: The problem of aging detectives in fiction

David: Ta-Nehisi Coates' article "The First White President" in the Atlantic

In light of Hurricane Harvey, Frank and David look at how natural disasters have influenced American history, including:

• how a hurricane may have saved Jamestown
• how the Johnstown Flood demonstrated class divisions in Gilded Age America
• how the role of the federal government in disaster relief has evolved

Last Drops

Frank: Child of a Civil War soldier still alive and receiving pension

David: James Garfield NHS twitter feed

 

In light of President Trump's recent comments on Afghanistan and North Korea, Frank and David discuss:

• Why Trump learns the wrong lesson about counterinsurgency from Gen. Pershing
• Why a military solution probably won't work in Afganistan
• Why American presidents have practiced patience with North Korea and what might happen if Trump doesn't

Last Drops

Frank recommends Gary Younge's book Another Day in the Death of America

David recommends Backstory's recent episode on Charlottesville and congratulats Liz Covart (Ben Franklin's World) for winning the Academy of Podcasters Best History Podcast Award

In our first live episode, Frank and David discuss Donald Trump's recent comments about Charlottesville, how a monuments to Washington might be different from monuments to Lee, and whether its okay to call the alt-right Nazis.

The last 15 minutes of the show is Q&A with the audience -- the audio is a bit dodgy, but worth a listen.

 

With major upheavals in President Trump's White House staff, Frank and David look back at the folks who have advised presidents, including:

• Whether Lincoln's cabinet really was a "Team of Rivals"
• How the Chief of Staff position has evolved
• Who had the most and least effective staffs

Last Drops

David: See whether you'd qualify for a visa under Trump's proposed point system. 

Frank: Congratulations to David for his promotion to Senior Lecturer.

 

A reminder that we have our live show on August 16 at 1pm. Free tickets are available.

In light of President Trump's ban on trans soldiers serving in the armed forces, Frank and David explore the history of who could and couldn't serve in the U.S. military, including:

• The role of African American troops in both the Revolution and the Civil War and how both Washington and Lincoln changed their minds about black soldiers
• How women like Deborah Sampson served by disguising themselves as men
• How World War II and the Cold War shaped the ban on gays in the military

Last Drops

Frank: Madeline Miller's Song of Achilles

David: Historian Nina Silber's take on HBO's Confederate

President Donald Trump has recently asserted his "complete power to pardon." Frank and David look at the origin and history of the president pardon power, including:

• George Washington's pardon of the Whiskey Rebels
• Lincoln's pardon of Copperhead Clement Vallandigham
• Andrew Johnson's generous use of the pardon for former Confederates during Reconstruction
• Gerald Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon

Last Drops

Frank: SHEAR conference in Philadelphia, including a controversal tweet about yellow fever, and Pod Save America

David: Manisha Sinha's prize at SHEAR for The Slave's Cause and This American Life episode "Fear and Loathing in Homer and Rockville"

 

With ongoing revelations about Russia's role in the 2016 elections in the headlines, Frank and David explore the long and complex relationship between the United States and Russia, including:

• Why Thomas Jefferson had a bust of Russian czar Alexander I
• Why Abraham Lincoln compared the Know Nothing Party to Russia
• Why World War I fundamentally changed the US-Russian (USSR) relationship

Last Drops

Frank: The Americans on FX

David: Freak Out and Carry On with Ron Suskind and Heather Cox Richardson on WBUR

 

Remember to get (FREE!) tickets for our live show on August 16: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/frank-and-davids-whiskey-rebellion-podcast-live-tickets-35723952303

A special episode: Frank live at the National Library of Scotland on six months of the Trump presidency.

Tickets are now availabe for our (free!) live show on August 16: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/frank-and-davids-whiskey-rebellion-podcast-live-tickets-35723952303?aff=erelexpmlt

With the Republican healthcare plan making its way throught the Senate, Frank and David step back to look at the history of healthcare in the United States, including:

• Why Franklin Pierce thought the federal government shouldn't fund insane asylums
• Why the AMA opposed healthcare as a part of Social Security
• Why health insurance and employment became linked
• Why health care reform has been a perennial topic over the past several decades

Last Drops

Frank: Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History and the programs they sponsor for American teachers.

David: The Stonewall Inn (and the Phil Sheridan statue outside)

 

Check out the new outro credits by Edinburgh doctoral student Catherine Bateson (thanks, Catherine!)